Did Not Survive

by Ann Littlewood

  The copy machine stopped cold. Jackie filled the paper tray with unthinking proficiency and pushed a button to reanimate it. “He may be way better looking than Wallace, but he’s trouble. Now I have to take minutes at all the manager meetings. He assumed we take minutes. That’s going to be a ton more work if he keeps it up.”

  “Oh. I almost forgot. Thor, that bushy-haired guy with the pickets. He has the code to the gate at the employee parking lot. Better get it changed and tell Hap.”

  Jackie leered. “‘Thor’ is it? You’re on a first name basis with him now?”

  “Yeah, we’re dating. He wants to take me to Hawaii. The sex is fantastic.”

  “Don’t be sarcastic. Ruins the complexion.” She took the stack of copies and tapped the edges even on the top of the copy machine.

  We climbed the steps back to the planet’s surface, where the air was better.

  And there was Neal, stepping out of his office. One look at me and his face clenched into a scowl. I turned to flee and bumped into Dr. Reynolds as she entered the building. “Oops. Sorry. I was just leaving.”

  She stepped out of my way. I fumbled with the door and heard Neal’s surprised voice. “Jeannie Franklin? Is that you?”

  I hesitated with the door half open, wondering who that could be.

  “I’m Dr. Jean Reynolds, the zoo’s veterinarian.” They stepped into his office.

  Interesting.

  The picketers were walking their circuit in front of the zoo like Shetlands at a pony ride. I hustled back to Birds in the futile hope of catching up on work. And froze on the path. Locked in place because the notion struck me that carjacking might be included in Thor’s felonious skill set. He seemed to circumvent locks with ease. Why would Thor want a zoo van? What would Thor do with a zoo van containing a recently deceased tiger?

  I unfroze. This would require some thought.

  Chapter Twenty

  Sunday was uneventful. No sick animals, no Neal, no implosions. No Linda to talk to, she’d taken the day off.

  Monday, I stepped out of the Commissary to walk to Elephants. The security guard’s electric cart, coming from the employee parking lot, stopped, and Dr. Reynolds stepped out of the passenger seat.

  “Iris.”

  The cart moved on, and I waited for her. She spoke in her sober way. “I have a little information for you. I ran into a police lieutenant at a veterinary mixer last night, a cocktail party the Vancouver veterinary association put on. His wife’s a small-animal vet. The husband said he’d heard they would close the case on Kevin’s murder soon.”

  “Any hint of who did it?”

  “No, sorry. I’ll be so glad when this is over. It won’t bring him back, but it will clear the air, and the NAZ committee can finish their report. I still regret that I tried to embroil you in this.”

  We agreed that this was good news and went our separate directions. I hoped that the police had the right person. But why wouldn’t they? It was their job, and that dour detective seemed capable enough. I could quit feeling responsible for screwing up the investigation. I expected to feel relief, but mostly I felt anxious about who would be arrested.

  At the elephant barn, Sam stood by while I collected the samples. That done, I was dumb enough to tell him I was sorry he didn’t get the curator job. Ian was in the rear of the barn, out of earshot.

  Sam’s mouth went hard. “I wasn’t surprised. Management’s looking for outsiders. Nobody here stands a chance of promotion, not for a good long while. Not until they figure out that knowing something about this place actually matters.” He gave me a look I could not decipher. “What did you tell Mr. Crandall and that police officer about Wallace and Damrey? About what I had to do with it?”

  My head jerked back. “What are you talking about? You were there. You know exactly what I told them.”

  He crossed his arms over his chest. “No, you had other conversations, with them and with other people. Did you tell anyone you thought I’d killed him?”

  I almost dropped the cups of pee. After a second’s paralysis, I said, “What? Of course not.” Which was true. I’d kept my vague speculations to myself.

  He didn’t relax. “I know there’s a lot of suspicion and distrust around here lately. I’m wondering if you’re stirring it up. Denny is, and I figure you’re working together.”

  I didn’t know what to say. Tears prickled the backs of my eyes. “I’m not making up any stories, especially not about you, and if Denny is, I don’t know anything about it.” Denny asking about alibis was a different matter. “Weren’t we friends once upon a time, or am I wrong about that?”

  The air seemed to fall out of him, and he put his arms down. He looked older and tired. “I used to love this job. Now it’s turned rotten. No matter what I do, nothing’s going to change. And I can’t get out of it.” He turned toward the workroom.

  I drew in a deep breath and walked with him. “Sam, it’s not all bad.” I couldn’t come up with anything better.

  “I can’t trust anyone, no one at all. Wallace backed off on the elephant exhibit because Asian Experience is over budget. Wallace! The guy who should have been leading the charge. Look out there.” He turned back and his wave took in the elephant door to the outside and the viewing window. “Did you know that kid picketer is videotaping us every day now? No one should have to put up with that on the job. I’m accused of hurting animals I’ve done my level best to take good care of. Who knows what Ian’s up to, or what he’s already done? I sure don’t. He’s the one nuts enough to murder someone, and I have to work with him every day. It’s not that hard to get somebody else killed in this line of work.”

  “Sam, before you start looking for a rope to lynch Ian, there’s a rumor that the police will make an arrest soon. I didn’t hear anything on the news this morning, so maybe tomorrow.”

  I followed him into the keeper work area, labeled the cups, and put them in the fridge. I could hear Ian hosing the back stall.

  He said, “I doubt that. The cops have nothing. I’ve tried and tried to figure it out. Ian’s all I can come up with. He won’t say where he was that night, tap dances all around it. But there’s no proof. Nothing. If he did it, he’s going to get away with it.” He hefted a box of carrots onto the counter and started sorting through them, pulling out the really wilted ones and tossing them in the garbage.

  Ian drifted through the work area and out toward the front stall without a word to either of us.

  Sam said, “I’d be really happy not to work with that guy anymore. And I wish my damn back didn’t hurt all the time. This is not a good job to get old in. And I’m stuck. Nothing else will open up for years.”

  I had no remedies to propose and left with a troubled heart. I’d thought Sam was my friend because he’d been helpful and thorough with my training, because we’d been in hundreds of lunch conversations, because he showed up at Hap’s parties and we drank beer together. Sensible, competent, secretive about his private life. But he’d manipulated me into the elephant barn before the committee visited to show me how docile Damrey was and filled me with his suspicions and convictions about Ian. Now he was looking for reasons to blame me for not getting a promotion.

  I wished for the old Sam back, the one I thought I knew, who brought grace and steadiness to his work and, I’d thought, to his relationships with coworkers.

  I gave Calvin a version of my encounter with our new boss as we prepared vitamin-enhanced fish. I omitted my personal melodrama and most of Neal’s comments about demolishing the bird exhibits. “He, ah, seems to have a lot of changes in mind.”

  Calvin said only, “We’ll see how that works out.” A few minutes later, he added, “A new broom sweeps clean, but the old broom gets the corners.”

  I told him the Wallace’s-murder-solved rumor. He looked thoughtful, no doubt wondering, as I was, who would be tagged, and didn’t say much after that.

  The good news of the day was bite-sized. Calv
in thought that Mrs. Brown looked fine. No need to catch her up for tests. The spectacled owl was eating well. The duck pond had at least fifteen baby mallards in three or four broods, cute but unwelcome given that mallards were wild free-loaders. The male Brazilian cardinal in the aviary was carrying bits of leaves around, planning a nest. Soon he would be diving at us aggressively as part of his parental duties.

  Dr. Reynolds came up to me at the duck pond under a sky regressing from sun to gray. I told her that Mrs. Brown was eating and that Calvin thought she looked all right. “Good,” she said. “Let me know if that changes. She’s a geriatric bird.” We talked about the water quality in the pond, always a problem when the weather warmed up. Calvin and I would need to drain and refill it soon, a mammoth task.

  She seemed relaxed, and I took a chance. Sam claimed that Ian was infatuated with her, and this was one of his hints and allegations that I could verify. “Um, I’ve been meaning to ask you…Has Ian been acting strange toward you?”

  Dr. Reynolds looked at me in alarm. Her voice was sharp. “Why do you ask? Is there a special reason?”

  “He’s been a little odd toward me.”

  A silence hung between us, full of unspoken concerns. A mallard drake quacked.

  Looking at my belly, she said, “If Ian does anything inappropriate, anything at all, please let me know immediately.”

  So I wasn’t going to get an answer without serious digging. My courage failed.

  Dr. Reynolds watched ducklings for a moment, then said, “How is your pregnancy going? You seem to be managing well, but it must be a challenge.”

  An attempt at friendliness, if not outright friendship? After my talk with Sam, I could use a little friendship. “Everything’s normal. I feel pretty good, and the job is fine. The mask is a nuisance, but it’s tolerable. I wish I could hang out more in Felines and see the cubs, but I’m staying out until the baby is born.”

  “Wise of you. I know your husband is deceased. Did he have family? If I’m not prying…” Dr. Reynolds sounded a bit lonely.

  “No, no, it’s fine to ask. His parents are dead, and his sister vanished long ago. Rick thought she’d probably died from drugs or alcohol, or he would have heard from her. I never had an aunt or uncle in my life, and I guess my kid won’t either. Just me and my folks.”

  She nodded and gazed beyond me at the swans swimming side by side. “Life can be even more difficult with a partner.”

  Ah, the bad divorce. “So I’ve heard.”

  She turned to leave. “Let me know if I can help with anything. Anything at all.”

  “Thanks. I really appreciate it.” I couldn’t think of anything warmer to say, any other way to connect. She was, after all, the veterinarian, and I was only a keeper.

  Weary and still behind, I staggered to lunch through a June shower. Linda and Denny sat at an inside table defending two empty chairs. The café was crowded, and I wouldn’t have had a seat otherwise. “Don’t say a word,” I said to Denny, “until I get this down.” A chicken burger and carton of milk later, I came up for air.

  Linda said, “Hyenas after they pull down a zebra.”

  Denny shook his head. “More like piranhas and a wounded tapir.”

  “Hilarious,” I said.

  Kayla showed up to claim the last seat. She was her usual stylish self, this time an apricot blouse with gold earrings that had sparkly bits embedded in them.

  “Hey,” I said, and scooted over for her. “Nice ears. That ex-boyfriend?”

  “Nope. Vintage. Inherited from my aunt. They were clips and I got them changed to studs for pierced ears. It’s tough to find anything to wear at work. Rings get beat up fast.”

  “Watch out for monkeys grabbing at those,” Linda said.

  “Has anybody seen Neal around today?” I planned to be scarce for a few more days.

  “What happened?” Linda asked.

  Was I that transparent? “I met him—the new curator—on Saturday. I missed the all-staff meeting, he caught me by surprise. It did not go well.”

  Linda said, “Denny came in late, and you didn’t show up at all. Neal was not happy. We’re a bunch of slackers, and he vill haf deescipline from now on.”

  “My tire was slashed,” Denny said. “Could happen to anyone. Happened today, too. Neal left me a note about being late. His letters slant left. Not a good sign.”

  “Two tires cut? What’s up with that?” Linda asked.

  “I think it’s a neighbor. I’m going to have to deal. It’s very negative.”

  So I wasn’t the only one off to a bad start. “I have news from Dr. Reynolds. There’s a rumor that the police will close the case on Wallace’s murder soon.”

  “Close as in ‘giving up’?” Linda asked.

  “No, I don’t think they do that. You read about all those cold cases they keep working on.”

  “Jean didn’t say anything to me.” Kayla seemed bothered. Not much bothered Kayla, and she shook it off. “She’s been distracted. There’s this vet inspection team reviewing every medication, all the stock and the records. It’s routine, but she’s in a really bad mood.”

  “I think it’s that Thor guy,” Denny said. “He whacked Wallace off-site and stuffed him through the bars as a message.”

  “Denny, that’s nuts. He wouldn’t let Damrey take the blame.” Why was I defending the guy? I considered him a prime suspect myself.

  “He knew we’d figure it out, and Damrey wouldn’t be affected. Yeah, that sounds right. A warning to us. What about weight gain? You’re looking really big.”

  “Play nice!” Kayla said.

  “We sexed the cubs,” Linda said before I could retaliate. “I lured Losa into the shift cage and Dr. Reynolds and I pulled them out of the den. They look great. They are loud when they’re pissed off.”

  “I got to hold one,” Kayla said.

  Jealousy stabbed me hard. I hoped my face didn’t show it. “Losa didn’t get too upset? What are they?”

  Linda said, “She calmed down as soon as we put them back. Two males, one female. One of the males is smaller than the other two, so we’ll need to check them again in a week to make sure he’s not being out-competed at the milk bar.”

  “Are their eyes open yet?”

  Kayla and Linda shook their heads.

  Lunch took a different turn as Arnie joined us with a chair he dragged across the room. He wore his usual big smile, big hat, and big belt buckle. “Howdy, ladies!” he said. “And gent,” with a nod to Denny, “but it’s Linda I’ve got news for.” He beamed at us.

  We waited, chewing, all of us declining to ask.

  “Neal said I got the new senior keeper job for Felines and Bears. Found out this morning. We’ll be even more of a team.”

  Linda and I did not choke on our food.

  After an awkward pause, Kayla said, “Congratulations!”

  Denny asked, “Who else applied?”

  “I did.” Linda folded her potato chip bag into a tiny triangle.

  “You’ll get your turn after a few more years,” Arnie said generously.

  “Gotta go,” I said. “I’ll talk to you guys later.” My head was ready to explode. I put one foot ahead of the other without seeing a thing until I was standing in front of Wallace’s office door. It was open. Neal was sitting at the desk signing papers. I knocked politely, he said “Come in,” and I closed the door behind me.

  “Iris. What’s up?”

  “You made Arnie Linda’s boss,” I said. My voice squeaked just a little.

  “That’s right. He was promoted to the senior keeper job.”

  “You took the least reliable employee at this entire zoo and made him a senior keeper. Can you tell me why, so that I can understand your management style? And then maybe you can cancel it?”

  “Sit down and calm down.”

  “I’m not yelling.” I sat down.

  He turned the swivel chair back and forth, restless. “I do
n’t owe you any explanations. I’ll tell you anyway because I do owe you an apology for my comment when we met.”

  “Yes. Explain. Please.”

  “He applied and Linda applied. He’s got eight years more experience than she does, a perfect attendance record, and a great reputation. There was no real—”

  “A great reputation. With who?”

  Neal leaned forward for the kill. “The director of this place and Calvin Lorenz.”

  I closed my eyes and opened them again. “Mr. Crandall is clueless about the real work. Calvin has carried Arnie for years. He thinks Arnie is a damaged soul who deserves every break. Arnie was wounded in Vietnam, probably by shooting himself, and then he got busted up riding rodeo broncs. Wallace would never fire him because that would mean crossing Calvin, and their relationship is, was…complex. We all help keep him out of trouble by fixing whatever he forgets when he’s our relief keeper. We conspire to keep him employed. He’s not a bad person, just…This is pathetic.”

  Neal leaned back, looking annoyed. “You didn’t apply, I notice. I don’t see that you have much grounds for complaint. Arnie’s got a new set of expectations to meet, and I’ll see that he does his job. It’s a done deal. I suggest you adjust your mindset and get back to your job. Excellent performance is what is going to work out best for you, I guarantee it.”

  “That has not worked out. Linda does work that is freakin’ great. That’s why we have clouded leopard cubs, and now she’s got to take orders from a guy who’s, who’s…Those cats are at his mercy.”

  “You don’t have to work here under these unacceptable conditions, you know.” The blue eyes were icy.

  I closed my own eyes again. Brain parts throbbed. I opened my eyes. Before I could speak, he started in.

  “Let me tell you something else. I can already see that no one wants one single thing to change at this zoo. Everyone wants best practices as long as they don’t have to do anything different. Well, I was hired to get this place accredited, and I’m going to do it. Arnie is not afraid of change. I suggest you try that on yourself.” A pause for effect. “Now beat it. And keep this in mind: you get one shot at barging into my office and yelling at me. Do not do that again.”