The Peacock's Poison

by Ruby Loren

  He collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

  There was no time for me to admire my film-worthy heroics, Sara was probably about to swing the axe again!

  I spun round and discovered she was gone. The door was open, but there was no sign of the other con artist.

  “She’s running!” I said, noting that she’d taken the axe with her.

  What happened next could only be karma in action. I heard Harry’s voice shout Tiff’s name in rage. The next moment, there was an ‘ooph’ that sounded awfully like two people colliding at high speed.

  Tiff and I rushed around the corner to find Harry rubbing his head and Sara barely moving on the floor, the axe on the floor, a little way down the corridor.

  Trust Harry to be thickheaded enough to be fine after that! I privately thought.

  “Make sure she doesn’t move, and I guarantee you’ll be a hero in the police’s eyes,” I told him, thinking fast.

  I pulled out my phone and dialled 999, just as Harry started to demand to know what was going on.

  “Oh, for goodness’ sake! If you want to have a shot at getting Julia to forgive you for being such an ass, make sure she doesn’t get away. Being a hero will give you major Brownie points!” I shouted at him in-between telling the police to get here right now because we’d caught some high level con artists who had also turned out to be the murderers and arsonists they were searching for.

  Harry obediently sat on Sara, who tried to get out from beneath his weight for a moment and then gave up.

  I hung up the phone, and Tiff came to stand next to me.

  “Do you know what? I’m feeling much better now,” she said.

  Epilogue

  The police arrived and only needed a moderate amount of convincing to arrest the still-unconscious Barnaby and the half-squashed Sara instead of the person responsible for knocking Barnaby out. The handy bag of poison swung it, and as soon as I showed them the CrimeWatch film I’d found on Jenna’s hard drive, and told them to look really carefully at the redheaded couple, they’d realised I was telling the truth.

  Even better, two days later, we’d received the news that all of the funds the zoo had made so far from the Winter Wonderland were safe in a brand new business bank account. As part of the ruse, the scammers gave genuine earning figures to the attractions they were working with, so there would be absolutely no chance of them working out a scam was going on… until one day, the scammers disappeared with all of the money. If that wasn’t enough good news, with Barnaby and Sara under arrest, all Winter Wonderland responsibilities reverted to Avery Zoo. There were still the trees and the hire of the animals to pay for, as well as the staff who’d been promised wages they were now going to receive, but it still left Avery Zoo with a lot more money than expected, when they’d still been paying a flat fee and the company’s commission.

  Auryn had thanked me for saving the zoo from disaster and had then asked if I wouldn’t mind overseeing the wonderland, as he needed someone reliable and trustworthy to finish the job. I’d told him it wasn’t a problem, just so long as Tiff could help me out with it. She was the one with the commercial experience. Auryn had been thrilled to learn that Tiff and I were friends again and that the past had been swept away. He’d promised us big fat Christmas bonuses and his undying gratitude, which I thought both Tiff and I valued more than the extra money.

  The biggest surprise had come a day after the press had heard about the two big-time scammers who had finally been caught. CrimeWatch had turned up with a reward for me, Tiff, and Harry. Julia had decided to forgive Harry in the light of his criminal-catching heroics, and the wedding was back on, with a little extra money to spend on it, too.

  With all of the added press attention on the zoo, (which actually resulted in even more visitors to the wonderland!) it should have come as no surprise that Diane would turn up again, shouting about her lineage and her right to everything the press saw before them. Fortunately, before she could become a quirky news story, the police arrested her on the grounds of property damage and causing a public nuisance. They were petty charges, but it was enough to hold her whilst some proper investigating was done. I suspected that the police had done it as a way to make amends for putting so much pressure on various members of the zoo to confess to Jenna’s murder. What they managed to turn up was interesting. According to Auryn, his grandad had been friendly with Diane’s mother, and there were even records of him sending money to her… but it had been as an additional pension after her husband had died, and she’d been forced to retire from working at the local post office to look after Diane. Diane had been born when her father had still been very much alive, and there had never been any doubt of her true parentage.

  From what the police had dug up, it sounded like a case of Charles Avery being charitable. However, even if Diane had turned out to be his illegitimate child, the payments he’d given to her mother equated to more than any child support payment would have been. Beyond that, there wasn’t any doubt over who owned everything. Charles Avery had changed his will prior to his death, writing out his son and specifying that absolutely everything was passed onto Auryn instead. Illegitimate or not, the zoo had skipped a generation.

  Unsurprisingly, when Diane had been presented with all of the facts, she’d dropped her claim and was never seen at Avery Zoo again.

  Now the truth was out in the zoo about who was responsible for the awful crimes of the past few weeks, and that the criminals had got what they deserved, the Christmas spirit was starting to appear. There was the ill-organised Christmas party to look forward to tonight (those plans hadn’t been on the hard drive, so we could only assume Jenna had been going to plan it at the last minute) and everyone was thrilled that the zoo was very obviously back in the black. Jobs were safe and Christmas cheer was everywhere.

  I walked up to Auryn’s office but met Claudia halfway up the stairs.

  “Well done for catching those crooks, Madi. I can’t tell you how stupid I feel for not asking them the right questions. I guess because I was new to this job and didn’t want to rock any boats, I was less inquisitive than I should have been. I even pushed Auryn into saying yes because I thought it was a good offer! My grandfather may have been mean, but at least he was starting to figure out something was wrong with the events team. I would never have had a clue. I can’t believe that I actually…” She trailed off and I knew she was thinking about Barnaby.

  I smiled at her. “He was easy to like. That was a big part of why the pair were so successful. Jenna’s the one we owe for figuring everything out. If she hadn’t hidden the hard drive, the scammers would have got away with it.”

  “How did you know where to look?” Claudia asked, curious.

  I thought back to the events of a rather dramatic Valentine’s Day almost two years ago. “It’s a long story. Let’s just say, I don’t think it was the first time she used that particular spot to hide a secret.”

  I shook my head. “Do you know what’s ironic about the whole thing? Their fake events company did a better job than all of the real ones I’ve seen in action. If they’d stayed the course and had just taken what they were owed, they could have had a real successful business, without the crime.”

  Claudia’s mouth twisted. “It would have made them some money, but less than you think. The offer was a bit too good to be true, looking back. The unexpected success of the zoo would have helped boost profits, but once you take into account the staff and the high quality of the Christmas trees, Father Christmas actor, and the animals they hired, there wasn’t that much profit left over.” She shook her head. “I should have figured that out, but the totals looked so big! I think that’s what Grandfather might have been getting at, and I just ignored him.” She frowned. “I thought he was just trying to be difficult. The same way he was when he asked me to persuade Auryn to buy the estate’s guard-peacocks that he’d purchased the other year. He grew bored when they learned that visiting family weren’t strangers and stopped going after
them. He knew full well that they were unsuitable for the zoo! They’ve been specially trained to attack anyone they don’t know.”

  My mouth dropped open. I’d known there was something supremely fishy about those peacocks!

  I wasn’t sure what to say to all of that, so I was glad when Claudia wished me a Merry Christmas and walked on down the stairs. I was surprised to find that I thought we were gradually becoming friends, despite not starting out that way. It just went to show, people weren’t always who you thought they were. My opinion of her had been strongly coloured by Lawrence’s words and actions. He’d pushed her towards Auryn so heavily that I had thought she was the one with those intentions.

  “Hi, how are you doing?” I said, pushing open the door to Auryn’s office.

  He looked up from the computer with a frown on his face. “Terrible! I completely neglected organising the Christmas party. At the moment, we have the last-minute hire of the village hall, but no way of getting enough food and drink. Everyone is going to have an awful time, and it was supposed to be a celebration of how well we’ve done!” He ran a hand through his blonde hair, making it stick up.

  I thought back to an autumn village fete in France I’d attended, not so long ago.

  “Ask everyone to bring something savoury and something sweet and you’ll have the food. We can buy the drinks from the supermarket, no problem. It will be great,” I promised him.

  He sent out a hurried last minute email and the job was done. With the way rumours spread in the zoo, I knew that the news of the Christmas party entry requirement would spread like wildfire. We’d probably get some interesting contributions, too, as people liked to compete. I had no doubt there’d also be some culinary failures, but that was why they called it potluck!

  “What sort of drinks do you think we should get?” Auryn mused.

  “Wine and some fizz. Definitely no cocktails,” I told him.

  “You always know the best thing to do,” Auryn told me with open admiration.

  I smiled down at him and felt something tugging on my heart. It whispered that I belonged with this man, and that he would never try to take my dreams away from me. Even if I needed to travel around for years working as a consultant, I knew he would be there for me, and I for him.

  For the first time, I listened to that whisper of my heart. I leant forwards and kissed Auryn.

  “What was that for?” he said with a smile.

  “It was for no reason at all,” I told him with one in return. “I feel ridiculous asking this but… Auryn, would you like to go out for dinner, or something, with me some time?”

  He looked confused for a moment before his expression cleared and pure joy danced across his face. “Are you asking me out on a date?”

  “Yes,” I said, making up my mind once and for all.

  I waited.

  “Well, do you accept?” I said, annoyed he was making me wait.

  “Oh! I thought it was obvious. After all, I already jumped the gun a bit by telling you I loved you,” he said, blushing a bit.

  “Thank goodness for that. I’d have felt really silly otherwise,” I said and kissed him again.

  It was Christmas Eve and the zoo had shut earlier than the events team had originally planned. Auryn wasn’t as keen to milk the cash cow for every drop of its milk, and he’d decided that all of the staff needed to have some time with their families at Christmas.

  Well, all of the staff except for me. I’d agreed to take on the majority of the animal care duties, with a couple of the other zookeepers popping in to help me at the end of Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day. Christmas had never been that big a deal for me, so I didn’t mind doing them a good turn.

  The only difference was, Auryn was coming in on Christmas Day to resume his old role as apprentice zookeeper. Then, we were going to attempt to cook Christmas Dinner round his place. We may have only just started officially dating, but I’d known Auryn for what felt like forever, and seeing as we both didn’t really have families to spend Christmas with, it had felt like the perfect way to spend the day. Lucky was going to be coming along with me, too, so no one would be left out.

  As the last few customers shuffled out of the zoo, my phone rang. Jordan’s name popped up on the screen.

  “Madi, just to let you know, I’ve sent all five contracts through to your email for your consideration…”

  I’d managed to arrange meeting up with all of the publishing companies in the week before Christmas. It had been hectic, but I thought things had gone really well. There was one company who had really stood out for me, and I was hoping that their offer would be the right one.

  “That’s great!” I told him.

  “I’m actually calling because I’ve had a look at all of them and the company I think you liked best has actually made an interesting amendment to their offer.” He hesitated. “They’re not offering the most money, or perhaps even the best marketing package, but they’ve said you can carry on with your webcomic and they’ll just handle the print versions and any exclusive material they may request. I never expected that!”

  “That’s amazing!” I told him, scarcely able to believe it.

  “I know,” Jordan agreed. “I was thinking we should go out for dinner to celebrate. That’s the kind of thing we agents to do for our best clients,” he said and then laughed. “Only if you want to, of course. I just thought we should do something nice to commemorate it.”

  “Sure,” I said.

  “How about tonight?”

  “I’m afraid I can’t. I’m working at the zoo until late and then I’m actually going out for dinner with Auryn, the owner of the zoo,” I told him. I’d questioned whether or not having dinner together two days in a row was normal dating practice, but Auryn had claimed we could never be normal if we tried. I’d been forced to conclude he’d had a point.

  “In that case, it will have to wait until after Christmas,” Jordan said. I thought he sounded a little disappointed, but it had only been to talk about business, hadn’t it?

  “I’ll look through the contracts later tonight,” I promised him. “Thank you for everything. Merry Christmas!”

  I lowered my phone and looked up at the already dark sky. The clouds were coming in, and although the weather forecasters hadn’t given out any warnings, I still hoped they contained oodles and oodles of snow. I didn’t think there was anyone alive who could remember a white Christmas in South East England! Perhaps this is the year, I thought, the same as I did every year.

  The clouds cleared a little, and I saw the moon already high up in the sky. In my mind, I whispered farewell to Jenna for the last time and thanked her for saving the zoo from a lot of heartache and financial difficulties.

  We would never know if she’d been planning to blackmail the scammers into giving her a cut, but I liked to think I’d known Jenna fairly well, so I was going to assume that she had simply been giving them a chance to hand themselves in before she took matters further.

  I smiled and shook my head. Jenna had been made to look as though it had been her weakness for men that had one day landed her in trouble when one of the men she’d picked had done something awful to her. Instead, it had been her strengths that had got her killed. Her passion for real-life crime and knowledge of the patterns in which criminals worked had obviously allowed her to see what I would have missed, even if I’d watched the same CrimeWatch episode as she had. It was only because I’d known that the shows were mysteriously missing from her laptop and that the episode had started playing right at the point when it featured the two scammers that I’d been able to draw the parallels and figure everything out.

  Although the police had taken the hard drive in as evidence, I’d managed to persuade Officer Ernesto to send me a copy of the crime novel. He’d sent it over, and in memory of Jenna, I’d read it.

  It was actually pretty good. I’d already sent it to Jordan and he’d agreed to shop it round his agent friends, who specialised in crime writing.
Even from beyond the grave, Jenna may still get her chance to achieve everything she’d ever dreamt of.

  I shook myself out of my thoughtful stupor. It was all well and good thinking warm and fuzzy thoughts now that everything was merry and bright, but I’d agreed to feed and care for a lot of animals, and the descending darkness meant it was going to take even longer. I’d have to get a move on if I wanted to be free in time for dinner with Auryn!

  I was walking back through the emptying zoo, looking forward to reengaging with some of my favourite animals, when my phone buzzed in my pocket.

  I pulled it out and discovered I had a new text.

  It was from Lowell.

  Sorry for being so brief in my last text. I was in the middle of a job. I’m coming back to Sussex. Would you like to meet to talk things over? I miss you. X

  I felt like I’d been punched in the stomach. All of my festive spirits fled in a rush.

  My apparently not so ex-boyfriend was coming back to Sussex. And I’d just switched all of my affections and hopes over to a man whose heart I knew I couldn’t bring myself to break for a second time.

  “You’d better do the right thing and fix this, Madi, or you’ll regret it forever,” I told myself, firmly. My finger hesitated on the call button before I closed down the message.

  No one wanted bad news on Christmas Eve. Surely it was kinder to wait until after Christmas to have that chat with Lowell? After all, he’d left me waiting long enough…

  “I will fix this… right after Christmas,” I amended and did my best to forget all about that confusing little text that had just popped up in my inbox.

  “Merry Christmas indeed,” I muttered and got started on my animal feeding round.