Chameleons and a Corpse

by Ruby Loren

  Pierce was still very much a mystery. Since employing him, he’d popped in and out of the zoo, but was always quiet about exactly what he was working on. I might have accused him of wasting my time had I not set him up with a unique promotion code for tickets for today’s event and asked him if he could do anything with it. I’d known it was short notice and had been prepared to give him a code he could promote for the next zoo event in the calendar, but he’d just shrugged and said it was no problem. When he’d managed to sell an extra hundred tickets for The Lucky Zoo’s side of the event I’d been very impressed - but I still remained mystified.

  “I went out with him for a drink last night,” Tiff revealed. “It was nice. Pierce is a great guy, don’t get me wrong.” I knew she was mincing words because he was my employee.

  “What is it?” I asked, preferring that she just tell me straight.

  “He’s almost too perfect. It’s ridiculous, I know, but he makes me feel inadequate. Everything about him is slick and polished. We’ve been out twice, and both times he’s chatted to a waiter or the man behind the bar, and by the end of the night you'd think they were best friends. It gets him all kinds of special treatment, which is nice, but it’s… it’s sort of hard to keep up with in a way.”

  I nodded understandingly. “You won’t believe the number of tickets he managed to sell in under a week for The Lucky Zoo’s arts and crafts side of things. In the end, I think it pushed us to outsell Avery.”

  “Auryn will be jealous,” Tiff said with a grin.

  “No doubt, although, it might help him with our wager.” I shook my head. “This is probably going to sound equally ridiculous, but it’s almost too good to be true, you know?”

  “Do you think he’s involved with them?” Tiff said, probably implying the government.

  I shrugged and pulled a face. “These days, I keep an open mind about everything, but I don’t see why helping me to sell tickets would benefit them. Who knows? Perhaps we really are being silly. But the detective is nice, isn’t he?”

  “You keep saying that. What the heck has he done to you?”

  Oh, the joys of having a perceptive friend. “It’s more what he hasn't done,” I said and briefly explained my flouting of civil duty.

  “He really does sound like a nice man. That or he likes me even more than I thought,” she added with an unselfconscious grin.

  “I know which one I’m betting on,” I joked.

  “So, that’s why you're so keen to push me towards him. You want law enforcement on your side! I am shocked and outraged.” Tiff pretended to be shocked and outraged. She looked moderately constipated, but in a charming way (how was that possible?!). “To be fair… you do have a knack for getting into trouble.”

  “Don’t I just know it,” I replied, but I reflected that for once, everything had gone to plan. The judging was nearly upon us and, if luck held, the day would end with no escaped animals, no major medical emergencies, and a financial success story for both zoos.

  When the last few visitors were leaving The Lucky Zoo and all of the awards had been given out, Auryn and I took a trip around the elephant enclosure.

  “I swear this is such a brilliant enclosure design. You outdid yourself. Elephants are such beautiful but large animals. I don’t know why, but you always forget that when you see them stuffed into zoos who don’t have enough space to accommodate them properly. Here it’s different. You can still see them really well because of the way the area is designed, but it’s more like watching a group of wild animals. They’re not used to you and you just hope that they’ll trust you enough to come a little closer. It’s not a certainty but a treat when it happens. That’s the way zoos should be, I think.”

  “You do all right at Avery,” I reassured him. Yes, it was lovely that the elephants, big cats, and other larger animals at The Lucky Zoo had space enough to roam a lot further than many of their captive comrades, but not all animals needed endless space and many actively did well when human interaction was involved. The crux of the matter was, you always had to compromise. No matter how hard you tried, a zoo was a zoo and the wild was the wild. All you could strive to do was find a happy medium.

  “It was a great day,” I reminded him when the mood started to feel sombre.

  Auryn and I watched the swallows swooping low to catch insects, and I tilted my head back to examine the sky. I didn’t feel the pressure build up before the storm, the way I usually did, but the low-flying birds after their sluggish prey suggested that something was on its way. I liked to think that the torrential rain in-between the sun made you appreciate those lazy summer days that bit more, but perhaps that was just my British optimism. If I had a penny for every time I’d heard someone say ‘it’s just a shower’ whilst monsoon level rain drenched summer events, I’d probably have a fortune close in size to the one that was sitting in my bank account right now.

  “This is just the start. Everything’s going to go right for us,” Auryn said, echoing my line of thought. “Well… almost everything.”

  “Almost everything?” I repeated.

  “Everything is going to go right… except for your restaurant. That’s going to do terribly,” he teased.

  “You just wait and see,” I batted back with a smile. I had big plans, and with a mysterious marketing genius on my side, I also had the winning edge.

  And all I’d have to do was ask him to take a break from making The Lucky Zoo too darn successful and focus his efforts on the restaurant instead.

  Auryn was going to be blown out of the water.

  9

  Oh Deer!

  The house phone rang the next morning while Auryn was in the shower. I answered it to find that it was Jon Walker-Reed. After I’d explained why Auryn hadn’t answered his mobile, I told him about the state the house had been left in after Will and Lizzie had left. To my knowledge, neither of them had been arrested yet, but I was hopeful that the police were doing everything they could to find evidence that would place either, or both of them, in the area at the time of Timmy’s death. Or perhaps the man in the cafe would turn out to be wrong. It was a police matter now, and I was rather glad to be rid of the couple.

  “Heavens! I heard it on the grapevine that Will wanted something or other at the house and then robbed the place. Believe me, it’s quite the scandal at the moment. I didn’t realise they’d trashed it, too.”

  “I don’t think anything was actually taken,” I said, bemused by the way gossip morphed the truth into something completely else.

  “That’s awful. I was never that friendly with Will at school,” Jon said, conveniently distancing himself from the dead man’s brother. If this was the reaction to a moderate offence, I wouldn’t like to be the person who’d committed murder. They were going to find they were friendless as well as fettered. “At least he was never invited into The Lords of the Downs. Will separated himself from Timmy’s parents as soon as he was free of education. He still got an inheritance, but his attitude made him an unsuitable choice - not to mention that he also moved to the back end of nowhere.” Jon paused for thought. “We should really do something for Scarlett. Perhaps we could club together and pay for a cleaner to sort out the mess? I almost feel like we’re the ones responsible. If only I’d gone round to pick him up and dragged him to the club in spite of his excuses…”

  “…you might have ended up just as dead as Timmy,” I finished, knowing that regret was a dark path to walk down.

  “Yes… perhaps you’re right,” Jon admitted. “But we really should do something. I know Scarlett. If she hasn’t been back to the house by now it means she’s not going back at all. She’ll let it stay how it is and sell it as seen. While cleaning the place would do someone’s bank balance a favour, it might do even better for Timmy’s memory - if you know what I’m saying.”

  I believed I did know what he was saying. I suspected at least two separate unsolicited searches of the house had been carried out after the murder. It was possible that neit
her searcher had found what they were looking for, but that didn’t mean it would hold true for future hunters. “It would do someone’s bank balance a favour?” I clarified, having picked up on the way Jon hadn’t specified that the proceeds from the sale of the house would go to Scarlett Marsden.

  Jon cleared his throat awkwardly. I realised he hadn’t meant to let it slip. “I’m not sure of anything. All I know is that when we were at the barbecue after Timmy drank that bowl of punch, he said something about cutting out people who didn’t really love him and making sure that when his time came, the money would go to someone who actually deserved it.”

  My heart dropped what felt like a mile. “How loudly did he say it?”

  “Quite loudly,” Jon said, sounding solemn.

  “Did you tell the police?”

  “I didn’t think it was relevant. Honestly, I thought it was just talk until now. Timmy was a rather dramatic drunk. But with all of this business about the house being turned upside down… I don’t know what to think.”

  “Auryn and I will do it. Auryn knew Timmy pretty well, and you know you can trust us, right?” When Jon hesitated, I continued. “You were with us at the time of Timmy’s murder.”

  “Of course… I wasn’t doubting you for a second. It just sounds like a lot of work. Shouldn’t we pay someone?”

  “Do you really think it’s a good idea to bring someone else into the mix when we have no idea what could be in the house?” I hoped it was a rhetorical question.

  “I suppose you have a point. I’ll suggest it to Scarlett.”

  There was a knock at the door and I told Jon to hang on whilst I answered it.

  I opened the door and then lifted the phone back to my ear. “No need to ask Scarlett. She’s just arrived, so I’ll suggest it myself,” I said, smiling at the woman on the doorstep. She looked a lot more impressive than the day I’d encountered her coming out of her lover’s house. She was also more formally attired than she had been at the barbecue, where Timmy had allegedly spoken so loudly and harshly about how he was going to pass on his legacy.

  “Hi,” Scarlett said, smiling at me. It looked a little wobbly. That’s when it sort of hit me for the first time that Scarlett, for all of her and Timmy’s faults, had lost her husband. “I just wanted to check on Rameses. I promise I’m doing everything I can to arrange for him to come and live with me. I just need a few more days. Thank you for keeping him for me.”

  “It’s our pleasure,” I said, politely not mentioning the trouble there’d been between Lucky and the dog. Hopefully Scarlett wouldn’t notice or comment on the scratches on the dog’s nose. “You wouldn’t happen to know if Rameses had ever escaped before, would you? It will be something to bear in mind when you make arrangements for him.”

  “If he ever got out before, I never heard anything about it.”

  The Pharaoh Hound materialised in the hallway and cocked his head when he saw Scarlett. The next moment he was running towards her with his whip-like tail wagging from side to side.

  “He was always Timmy’s dog. I hope he’ll get used to being mine,” she said.

  “I think he’s already showing who he’s meant to be with,” I reassured her.

  Scarlett ruffled Rameses’ large, pointed ears and focused on the dog. “I did love him, you know,” she said. It took me a couple of seconds to realise she was talking about Timmy. “I know what everyone thinks, but we loved each other. We had something that worked for us and I’m just devastated that he’s gone.” She gave the dog one final pat before pulling herself back upright. “Now Rameses is all I’ve got left.”

  “Have the police got any ideas as to who might have done it?” I asked as carefully as I could. I’d already decided that Scarlett was innocent - well, innocent of murder at least.

  “No. It feels like they aren’t doing anything! I can’t believe it.”

  “Who do you think killed him?” I knew it was probably insensitive, but if Scarlett had some idea, it could help put a few things together. And after the third degree she’d been given by the police, I wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d kept it to herself.

  “I wish I did! They wouldn’t be walking around free if that were the case. Everyone loved Timmy, apart from those that didn’t, if you know what I mean.” She arched a perfect eyebrow. “He rubbed people up the wrong way sometimes, but I can’t recall anything that might inspire what someone did to him. Although you wouldn't know it the way his family are behaving!”

  “About that… Auryn and I would like to offer to tidy things up at the house. Jon said you might be selling?”

  Scarlett nodded. “It’s likely. It was always Timmy’s house, not mine.” Her lips thinned for a moment, and I wondered if she knew about what may or may not have been written in Timmy’s will, or if she even cared. It didn’t strike me that a businesswoman as successful as Scarlett would be particularly cut up over what her husband did and didn’t bequeath to her. But was the business still as successful as appearances suggested?

  I remembered the contract Jon had mentioned. It had been a company merger. I’d assumed that her company was taking over another one, but what if I’d made the wrong assumption? Had that ever been mentioned explicitly? If Scarlett’s company had taken the hit, it could make Timmy’s will a more important factor. I shut the lid on that theory. I still didn’t believe Scarlett would have got her hands dirty. Not with her manicure! But it wouldn’t be completely out of character for her to have employed someone else to do the job for her, I suddenly realised.

  Scarlett had been talking whilst I’d been musing about murder.

  “Sorry, would you mind saying that again?” I asked.

  “I was saying, don’t put yourself out cleaning up. It’s very sweet of you to offer, but I know you’re both busy people.”

  “It’s no problem at all. Auryn and I had planned to take a few days off to do some tidying up of our own. Anyway, we need to swing by to pick up some more dog food for Rameses.” I knew for a fact that the dog food was currently strewn all over the kitchen floor, but I was banking on Scarlett not having visited the house.

  “Well, if you’re sure. You’ve still got the key, haven’t you? I was actually coming by to get it, but you can keep it for a while. I’ll pick it up when I’ve sorted things out for me and Rameses.” She smiled down at the hound, who looked lovingly up at her.

  I half-wished that Lucky was present to meet Scarlett. Dogs could be fond of all kinds of horrible people, but cats had a knack for looking at a person and knowing whether they could or couldn’t be trusted.

  “Thank you so much!” Scarlett waved a hand and then walked out of the house back to her sports car.

  Rameses whined a little when she started up the engine and drove away.

  “Don’t worry, everything will be all right in the end,” I said, hoping it would be true for both of us.

  “What exactly did you tell Scarlett we were doing?” Auryn asked when we arrived at the house later that day. I’d told him we were taking the day off, and he’d agreed it was probably as good a time as any. Our big event had been a success, and what was the point of being business owners if we couldn’t take time off when we wanted to? Normal people got weekends… we got a handful of days scattered through the year. At least - that was the way it looked so far. It was like an exhibition of workaholics.

  “I said we’d tidy up so that things look neat for her selling the house.”

  He pushed open the door and we looked in at the general disarray. “Tidy things up? It looks more like an industrial cleaning job.”

  “It’ll be fine once we get going,” I told him breezily. “Oh, if there’s any surviving dog food, we should grab it, but I think it was all spilled. Will Marsden must have thought Timmy had hidden something in there.” I shook my head. He’d clearly been desperate. “We should get his food and water bowl, too.” Rameses had been dropped off at Avery Zoo on the way over. Tiff had offered to babysit.

  Auryn’s eyes had
sharpened when I’d mentioned Will Marsden looking through the dog food. “That’s why we’re really here, isn’t it?” he said. “You want to find whatever they were looking for.”

  I turned and leant against the kitchen unit. “Isn’t it better that someone like us finds whatever it is? Especially if it’s something bad…”

  “I should have known you had an ulterior motive. You never want to clean!”

  “Hey, I’m not that bad!” I protested, but it was weak. “We’d better get started. Who knows? We might find nothing at all.”

  But in the end, we found quite a lot.

  I was upstairs tidying the bedroom when I came across my first find. Something had been taped to the back of one of the dresser draws. I pulled it out and opened up an old leather wallet, only to discover that its contents held something quite different from its original intended purpose. A stack of polaroids spilled out from the banknotes section. It took me a second or two to realise what I was looking at due to the closeup nature of some of the shots.

  “Oh… oh no,” I said, pulling a face. In some ways, I was glad I couldn’t recognise some of the women pictured. In other ways, I was horrified. I was about to look through to see if there were any recognisable shots (as it would definitely count as a motive for murder!) when a blast of music echoed through the house.

  “Sorry!” Auryn shouted a second later. “I just thought a tune or two might help this to go a bit faster.”

  I walked downstairs to find that Taylor Swift was playing at a far more comfortable level than before. “I found some photos.”

  “I gather they weren’t very nice?” Auryn said when he saw my expression.

  “Not something to go in the family photo album, no.” I sighed and shook my head. I’d come downstairs to give myself a moment to recover before I looked at any more of the pictures to see if there were any recognisable subjects. I listened to Taylor singing about how she ‘knew this man was trouble but had decided to give him a whirl for the heck of it’ for a few seconds before it hit me.