The Peacock's Poison

by Ruby Loren

  “Hard drive? Like an external one?” I asked.

  “Yes, it’s just come back to me. I think I saw Jenna with a little black thing that looked like a hard drive plugged into her laptop, from time to time. I don’t remember the police going through it. Do you think it’s still here?” he said, rummaging through the boxes again.

  “I’ve been through all of this stuff twice,” I told him. “It’s not here. Are you sure it was a hard drive?” If that was missing, it could be pretty important.

  “Not completely. It might even have just been her phone plugged in to charge.” He screwed up his face. “I can’t remember! It’s crazy how those little every-day details always slip your mind. I never realised it might matter.” His eyes grew misty again.

  “You can’t just come up here and start going through her things. They’re only here because her parents aren’t sure what they’re going to do with her belongings. They’re a bit fire damaged now, too,” Auryn finished, looking pointedly at the soot stains, which had infiltrated this office and the rest of the rooms down the corridor.

  “Are you going to report me?” Officer Ernesto asked, his eyes wide and panicked.

  I looked at Auryn, and he looked back at me.

  “We really should…” he began “…but I do genuinely think you were just here to look for the videos. How about we make a deal? We’ll tell the police that you came by wanting to check something, and I gave you permission to come up here to look. Then you can report to them that there might be a hard drive missing. How does that sound?” Auryn said, surprising me with his diplomacy. How could half a year make such a huge difference to a person?

  “Thank you,” Officer Ernesto said, still looking mortified. “I don’t know what I’d do if I lost my job, too,” he said.

  “Okay. Let’s all get back to the jobs we love so much,” I said, not ready to deal with any serious display of emotion. I was still feeling a bit raw from the frank discussion I’d had in Auryn’s office.

  Auryn and I stood for a moment outside of the office, watching Officer Ernesto walk back outside to the car park. It was eerily empty outside the front of the zoo today. All of the artists and crafters had arrived early, so they could make the most of the time allowed for them to complete their pieces, prior to the judging. Even the younger artists competing in the children’s section had arrived early, although that might have been so they would have time to squeeze in the Winter Wonderland, too.

  I glanced at the time on my phone and thought it might be nice to take a stroll around the zoo to see how everyone was getting on, and to also check how the animals were faring.

  “Hey, Auryn, did Jenna ever…?” I trailed off, not knowing how to ask the question I’d wondered about for a long time.

  I wasn’t entirely surprised when Auryn blushed.

  “She, uh, may have said a few things, but I never said yes, so nothing serious happened.”

  I raised my eyebrows at the ‘nothing serious’ part.

  He blushed even more furiously. “It was a couple of years ago,” he said and I decided to let him off the hook without further interrogation. I could hardly single out Auryn for bad behaviour when half the zoo had been involved with Jenna at one time or another. Anyway, Auryn had been young and single. His decisions were his own, as were Jenna’s.

  Even so, I was glad it had been so long ago.

  Uh-oh! I thought in my head, realising that my feelings about Auryn being with anyone but me were surfacing hard. That thin ice I’d been walking on had definitely started to break, dunking me in emotions I wasn’t sure it was smart to feel.

  But we never really have much of a choice when it comes to love, do we?

  I’d thought Auryn’s silence might have been him following my own line of thoughts, but when he spoke, I realised I was wrong.

  “Do you think that was really the reason why he was looking around? Or do you think he was looking for something else?”

  “You think he might be the one who killed her?” I asked.

  Auryn looked thoughtful and shrugged.

  “I hate to say it, but I think it’s far more likely to be someone in the zoo. I don’t know if the police have analysed the rat poison in the storage shed to check if it that’s what poisoned Jenna, but if it is, then it has to be someone who knew about its existence. Someone who’s been here long enough and either knew that it was being stored in the storage sheds, or was able to figure it out.” I said. I hadn’t known for sure that the rat poison had still been around, but it hadn’t taken me a great leap of logic to figure out the first place to look for it - and there it had been.

  “I didn’t see Officer Ernesto at the party,” Auryn confessed.

  “That’s probably a good thing. Jenna was up to her usual tricks,” I said, remembering back.

  “And yet, no one seems to know who she ended up with,” Auryn said with a sigh.

  “I guess not,” I agreed. If the police knew that, then they’d surely have their prime suspect.

  “Do you think the hard drive really exists?” Auryn asked, and I shrugged.

  “Who knows? It hasn’t turned up and Officer Ernesto said it himself - it might have been her phone she had plugged in.” I frowned. “But it is strange if there are some videos that should be there and aren’t. Perhaps there is a drive.” I thought about it. “But then, I wonder why it hasn’t been found?”

  “Hopefully the police will have more ideas about that than we do, when Ernesto reports his findings. We should probably get back to the arts and crafts day. As zoo owner, I’m trying to socialise with all of our guests to build up the idea of the Avery Zoo brand.”

  I blinked at Auryn in confusion. “What?”

  He deflated a little. “Sara said it was what I should do.”

  “She probably knows best,” I said, thinking that I wasn’t too sure about Auryn suddenly spouting marketing lingo. I liked him most when he was simply his genuine self.

  “I’ll see you later for the judging?” he said and I nodded, gritting my teeth. “It will be okay in the end,” he said, reaching up a hand, as if to touch my cheek, when he said it.

  I looked up at him and he let it fall… for now.

  After the recent flurry of snow and changeable weather, it was nice to have a clear night to look at the stars. The arts and crafts day had been a huge success, and most of the zoo had descended on the pizza place in town to celebrate.

  I’d made noises to suggest I might come along later, but I knew Tiff was going to be there, and I didn’t want to make things any worse than they already were.

  The judging had been rather painful.

  As four judges, we were supposed to have been discussing whose work we thought deserved the various accolades we were handing out. The discussing part had been a little tough when Tiff wouldn’t even look my way, let alone speak directly to me. I’d done my best to patch things up with the other two judges, but I’d felt that they’d been less than pleased by the lack of professionalism they’d experienced.

  In the end, we’d picked our winners, and I thought they’d been good choices. When the restaurant was refurbished, the zoo would exhibit the winning pieces and any further pieces the artists wished to put up for sale. That was a little bonus to go alongside the cash prizes they’d won.

  I smiled up at the stars, hoping that we’d given hope to artists who weren’t sure if they should carry on, or if they could ever make a living doing it. It had been my and Tiff’s idea to add in a few other prizes, as well as the main category winners, which rewarded things like ‘the most interesting subject choice’, and ‘the best use of colour’. I hoped that those artists would also be lifted by our judgement.

  Before everyone had rushed off to claim the pizza place, there had already been talk of the event putting in a reappearance next year, and perhaps even becoming bi-annual, with a summer themed event, too. It all sounded great to me, but I’d done my best to stay in the background, not wanting to share my downhearted mood. />
  Throughout the day, I’d thought about trying to talk to Tiff, but she’d said she needed time to think, and I knew I should give it to her.

  A star twinkled far away in the distance. I silently wished she could find a way to be my friend again.

  “Not going for pizza?” Auryn said, walking up and leaning against the reindeer’s fence in the heart of the Winter Wonderland.

  I smiled. “Shocking, isn’t it?” I said, referring to my rare decision to turn down food. “How did you know I was here?”

  “I saw you walk in from my office window. I was up there grabbing some bits.” He looked amused. “When we were up there earlier to carry some stuff across, I completely forgot to ask you to actually take anything.”

  “To be fair, we did think the murderer had returned to go through Jenna’s stuff, or set another fire,” I said.

  Now that was something! The fire looked like it had been aimed at Lawrence, and used to frame Lawrence at the same time… but could it be that the person who’d set it had really wanted to destroy Jenna’s stuff?

  I thought about it some more and concluded it wasn’t likely. Otherwise, they could have gone through it themselves and taken whatever they needed. If Lawrence had been asleep in the office, they’d have had ample opportunity to take something without anyone ever knowing.

  Unless they couldn’t find it, but thought it might still be hidden somewhere they hadn’t looked, my mind whispered and I started to wonder.

  “When do you think all of this will be over?” I said, tired of overthinking everything that had happened.

  “I don’t know. But I hope the answer is one day. That’s better than never.”

  We looked up at the stars in silence for a few moments more. I shivered in the sudden drop in temperature. The frost was already starting to form. Inside their enclosure, the reindeer browsed on the hay they’d been left. It really did feel like we were out in the middle of the woods, somewhere remote, rather than at the heart of Avery Zoo.

  Almost as one, our eyes moved down from the stars and the trees, until we were looking at each other. I felt the same pull I’d experienced that day after the funeral when we’d been at the barn, looking over the snowy fields.

  This time, if anything, it was stronger.

  I looked away, trying to break the moment, but the next second, I felt Auryn wrap an arm around my shoulders.

  “You’re freezing,” he commented and I gave in, embracing Auryn and enjoying the sensation of being enveloped in warmth by someone I thought might actually truly love me.

  We stood for an age, just being near to one another. I wondered if this could be it, the person that everyone waits for their whole life. Had I been ignoring what was right for me all along, simply because I’d thought it would be easier?

  I laughed a little and Auryn pulled back, looking surprised.

  I opened my mouth to explain my thoughts and then shut it again, choosing to show him instead. I leant forwards and kissed him, meaning it with every fibre of my being.

  Auryn was not a mistake.

  15

  Elves Behaving Badly

  I went to bed that night feeling a little warm glow I hadn’t expected to feel after the day I’d had. I knew I was still giddy because of the kiss I’d shared with Auryn - a kiss that had felt more ‘right’ than a kiss had ever felt before - but I thought there was more to it than that. I wasn’t sure why, but I thought things might be changing for the better.

  “What do you think, Lucky?” I said, angling the screen of my laptop towards him, so he could view my sketches of his own recent escapes, including the bad choice he’d made, getting too close to a cow.

  I looked at my cat, who wasn’t as little as he’d once been. “Maybe I should take you to the zoo again,” I said aloud. Lucky jumped onto my lap and tried to rub up underneath my chin.

  I grinned. “Only if you promise not to chase the peacocks this time… unless I ask you to,” I added. Having a guard cat might not be a bad idea!

  My phone buzzed and I was surprised to see a text from Tiff. I held my breath when I opened it.

  Sorry about today. Can I see you tomorrow? :) xx

  I raised my eyebrows at the text. My first thought was that it was some kind of trick, but Tiff would never do a thing like that. Was she really thinking of forgiving me? I sent a text back saying that I’d love to see her tomorrow and toyed with the idea of adding a smiley face. I decided not to. I was the penitent friend, hoping to get back into her good books. A smiley face was not something to send right now.

  “All’s well that ends well,” I said to Lucky, surprised that things were already looking up. I was meeting with my best friend tomorrow and hopefully, with a bit of luck, she might have decided to let me continue calling her that.

  “You know what you did was bad, don’t you?” Tiff said to me.

  I nodded, shamefacedly.

  We were both holding the rather fancy hot chocolates I’d put together. Knowing we were having this meeting, I’d brought extra supplies along, including toffee pieces and chocolate flakes. When Tiff had laughed at my offerings, I’d known we were on our way to recovery. It had nearly been enough to make me give her my flake.

  Nearly.

  “I’m so sorry, Tiff. I was an idiot and a bad friend.”

  She grinned. “Yes, you were, but…” she looked thoughtfully at me for a moment “…perhaps it’s the way it was always supposed to be. I just managed to get in-between something that was supposed to happen.”

  I blushed under her scrutiny. “I still don’t know…” I began, but Tiff flicked a blob of cream at me. It landed on my glasses.

  “Hush, no more talk about it. I know what you’re like! You always overthink everything, and I am still very angry at you,” she said - fortunately not meaning it in the slightest.

  “I have some interesting news,” she said, moving closer and looking around. Luckily, there was no one else in the staffroom. We were having our coffee break a little later than usual, due to Tiff getting caught up in a Christmas order catastrophe. The long story short was that an over-ordering error meant that they had hundreds of rather inappropriate leopard and zebra print wearing ‘naughty elves’ when Tiff had only wanted a sample. She claimed they were the most horrible things she’d ever seen.

  “Apparently, right after everyone finished having pizza last night, Julia went outside with Harry and they had a shouting match in the middle of the car park. I think being constantly dragged in for questioning must have got to them. Either Julia’s been told Harry was with Jenna not so long ago, or she’s figured out that much herself.” Tiff tilted her head at me. “Perhaps she thinks Harry might really have done it.”

  “Perhaps he thinks she did it,” I batted back.

  “Who knows? From what I heard, Julia was the one who decided they needed to have a break. I think that would move the focus onto Harry. But, if he did poison Jenna to keep her quiet about his cheating, it’s backfired.”

  I screwed my face up, trying to picture it. I wasn’t close to Harry by any means, but something about the idea of him being the killer didn’t feel right. I knew he had a reputation for having a temper. All the same, if he had killed Jenna, I honestly couldn’t see him being smart enough to do it the way she had been murdered. Poison was subtle, and Harry was not.

  “This is driving me mad,” I said.

  “Me too,” Tiff agreed. “It feels like the police aren’t doing anything! We haven’t even seen them here for a few days.”

  “I know I said I wouldn’t get involved, but how about we just talk through what happened? You never know, it could show us something useful.”

  Tiff nodded. “We have hot chocolate and…” she glanced at her phone “…about ten minutes before I have to hear the word ‘leopard print elf’ again. Let’s use it wisely!”

  “Practically the whole zoo was there on the night she died,” I began. “If we assume it was the zoo’s rat poison that was used, we can discount an
yone who wasn’t here in the summer when the serval died. After Erin Avery was arrested, it was hushed up pretty quickly.”

  Surprisingly, that was more people out of the running than I’d expected. A big shake up of zoo personnel had happened around that time. The familiar faces I now found myself looking at were not sitting comfortably with me. “It could also be a caretaker,” I added, hoping to widen things a little bit. “They’d know what was in those sheds.”

  “Is anyone springing to mind?” Tiff asked.

  I shook my head. “So far, Harry’s the only one who appears in any way suspicious and fits the criteria.” I bit my lip and thought back to Jenna’s stalker, the one who’d bothered her on Tinder. “It’s too bad the police never found out the identity of the person sending her those weird, obsessive messages. I heard that they were using a fake profile with fake pictures and had spoofed their IP address.”

  “So, it could have been one of the zoo staff who’d become unhinged,” Tiff allowed.

  “Someone who is otherwise hiding it very well and was smart enough to plan the whole thing meticulously.” I rubbed my temples, feeling pressure building there.

  “What about the scene of the crime?” Tiff said, a little more hesitantly.

  I sighed. “Jenna was lying on the floor. Her tights and underwear were thrown around, as was her necklace,” I recounted. “It looked like she’d been in the middle of something when she’d just… died,” I finished feeling ill at the thought.

  “Her necklace was off?” Tiff frowned a little.

  “Hmmm, yes, that is a bit weird,” I admitted. During the time we’d known Jenna, she’d never taken that locket off. I still wasn’t sure what it contained, but I couldn’t think of a time when she hadn’t had it on, so it was obviously precious to her. That definitely didn’t jibe with her leaving it slung over the end of a banister.

  “Do you think someone made her take it off?” Tiff asked and I didn’t think she meant it in a fun way, either.