by Betty Webb
So the bane of Gunn Landing Harbor was a criminal, too. It made for a certain kind of justice, one crook blackmailing another. At least I didn’t have anything to do with the situation. Now the Merilee could remain in her slip, along with the Tea 4 Two, the Running Wild, and all the other floating homes.
“I still think it’s shoddy,” I grumbled.
A chuckle from my father. “Much of life is, Teddy. We just muddle along the best we can.”>
He was right. So I gave Al a kiss, after all.
Then I kissed Caro.
As I walked toward the plane’s exit and approached Aster Edwina, I was in such a kissing mood that I even thought about bending over and giving her a peck on the cheek, too.
Common sense reasserted itself and I kept moving.
Chapter Twenty-five
The past few nights had been odd, Lucy reflected, as she prowled her enclosure in the early morning sunshine. First, the soft-voiced human thing had attempted to share her enclosure, promising bananas. Lucy had given her welcome, but no bananas had been forthcoming. Then that other human-thing, her voice shrill and squawky, had fallen in.
Maddening!
But this morning...
First came the belly-pain, which was terrible. To ease it, she had reared up on her hind legs and propped herself against her strong tail. The belly-pain didn’t go away, just kept up. She grunted and hissed, hoping the soft-voiced human-thing might hear her and bring a banana—that might help the belly-pain—but her friend was nowhere around.
After a forever, something big and wet slid from between her legs. Exhausted, she slumped to all fours and found a wiggling creature snuffling along the ground toward her, its long nose so much like her own.
What’s this?
Then she remembered. The soppy-wet thing was a baby! Long ago she’d had one of these and oh, how she’d loved it! The baby had suckled at her teats, ridden on her back, played Wrestle with her, sometimes even Chase! When it grew as big as Lucy, it had wandered away, never to return. But sometimes in her dreams, she remembered the feel of its tiny, soft snout.
With a joyous squeak, she trundled over to the baby. Carefully, talons tucked under her leathery pads so not to cause harm, she drew it to the nipple underneath her armpit.
Here, baby, here!
While it suckled, she licked it clean with her long, blue tongue. Soon the baby, its belly full of milk, crawled up on her back, dug in with its tiny talons, and went to sleep.
Proud and happy, her baby safe and warm, Lucy looked down the trail, where she heard the hum of a nearing zoo cart. A screech of brakes, feet running through the brush on the back path, the clank of metal locks being opened, the squeal of gate hinges.
That familiar voice whispering, “Oh, my sweet Lucy!”
Lucy leaned against the holding pen where her friend, the human female with hair the color of flowers, stood laughing and weeping.
Feeling magnanimous in her own joy, Lucy flicked her blue tongue through the metal fence links and kissed her friend’s hand.
Wait. Was that...?
Oh, yes, it was.
Banana!
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Front Cover Flap
The Anteater was framed! But if Lucy, the pregnant Giant Anteater from Belize, didn’t kill the man found dead in her enclosure, who did? California zookeeper Teddy Bentley must find the real murderer before her furry friend is shipped off to another zoo in disgrace.
Then another human bites the dust, the monkeys riot, and the wolves go nuts. Things get worse when the snooty folks at Gunn Landing Harbor attempt to evict Teddy from the Merilee, her beloved houseboat.
That’s just the beginning. Her father, on the lam from the Feds for embezzling millions, gets targeted by a local gangster; and Caro, Teddy’s socialite and former beauty queen mother who loathes Teddy’s dangerous job, starts introducing her to eligible bachelors. But Teddy has already given her heart to Sheriff Joe Rejas, a migrant worker’s son. Caro is not pleased.
Zoo life, animal lore, and the leaky ups and downs of Central Coast California houseboat living create a thrilling backdrop for murder.
Back Cover Flap
Betty Webb, author of the popular Lena Jones mystery series, has been a journalist and book reviewer for the past 20 years. As a reporter, she has interviewed U.S. presidents, Nobel Prize winners, astronauts who walked on the moon, the homeless, and polygamy runaways. Her Lena Jones detective series—Desert Run, Desert Shadows, Desert Wives, Desert Noir, and Desert Cut—has garnered rave reviews from the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and other prestigious national publications.
Webb’s work has also been collected in several anthologies and magazines. The Anteater of Death is first in her new Gunn Zoo Mystery series. Betty teaches creative writing at Phoenix (Arizona) College.
www.bettywebb-zoomystery.com
Back Cover Material
Praise for The Anteater of Death...
id="filepos687217">Webb, author of Desert Cut and four other Lena Jones mysteries, launches a new series featuring a warm and unconventional heroine, zookeeper Theodora ‘Teddy’ Bentley ... deftly weav[ing] zoological lore into the fast-moving plot.”
—Publishers Weekly
“I’ve been impressed with Betty Webb’s edgy mysteries about the Southwest, so I was surprised to find she has a softer side and a wicked sense of humor in a book that can only be described as ‘High Society meets Zoo Quest.’ I also relished the animal details in this highly enjoyable read.”
—Rhys Bowen author of the award-winning Molly Murphy and Royal Spyness Mysteries
Praise for earlier Betty Webb novels...
“If Betty Webb had gone undercover and written Desert Wives as a piece of investigative journalism, she’d probably be up for a Pulitzer....”
—The New York Times on Desert Wives
“...a first-rate plot that mixes the history of Geronimo’s war with contemporary immigration issues and contrasts the harsh conditions of border life with Hollywood glitz. It also sheds light on the cruelty of an ancient custom and a growing underground railroad working to save its victims.”
—Booklist starred review of Desert Cut
“Webb masterfully imbues each part with intrigue and suspense. This thought-provoking novel is a gem.”
—The Denver Post on Desert Run
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