by Ruby Loren
“Thanks. I’m sure it’s nothing. A lot of people got the wrong idea when those photos were published.”
“Perhaps you’re right,” Katya said, but then made an uncertain noise. “I don’t want to alarm you, but the last person to get involved with Ben Ravenwood wound up murdered.”
“Then it’s a good thing I’m not involved with him,” I firmly reminded her before hanging up.
11
Life’s a Box of Chocolates
The first day of work at the marine park was every bit as fun as I’d hoped. Once I’d handed over the letter and filed an account of what had happened, I was free to begin work on my review of the park. Something I’d come to learn was that every animal institution was different. The best way of figuring out what was great and what could be better was getting to know how everything was done. I’d spent the morning following various keepers as they went about their work and had asked them any questions that popped up. At first, I’d sensed they were nervous having me there watching them, but I’d reminded everyone I shadowed that I was, first and foremost, a zookeeper. I wasn’t out to get them and they certainly wouldn’t be in any trouble, as I could already tell that the animals were well cared for. Once I’d explained that, all of the keepers had loosened up and I was having a fun and educational time. Even better, the keepers themselves had begun to confide what they wished could be improved. Things like, larger enclosures for certain animals and more stimulating environments. I noted it all down and promised them I would lobby for the changes on their behalf.
By the time lunchtime rolled around, I was starving. The food catering van and the thought of a chat with Aimee was inviting, but I didn’t want to be around the documentary crowd any more, not when it was now certain that Leona had been murdered - and I thought it was more than likely that one of her colleagues was the killer.
Instead, I headed to the shell building, hoping there would be a staff kitchen where I could grab something to eat. ‘Something’ turned out to be a microwave pot noodle. I made a mental note to bring a sandwich in with me tomorrow.
I’d just stirred in the hot water when I happened to look up and nearly threw the entire thing in the air. Doreen Lopez, the PA, was standing in the corner of the kitchen, staring at me. I had no idea how long she’d been standing there for.
“How are you?” I asked, trying to cover up how startled I was.
She shrugged and didn’t ask me the question in return. “Do you know what the police are up to now? They must be nearly done. It’s causing us all a lot of inconvenience.”
I inwardly raised an eyebrow. The person it had caused the most inconvenience to was the woman who’d been murdered, but the PA didn’t seem to be thinking about that.
“Things are coming along, I believe,” I said, careful not to say too much, lest it get Katya in trouble. “Actually, I think they should be coming in to arrest you any second now.”
I’d said it as a joke to repay Doreen for her strange attitude but for a split second the PA looked utterly terrified. She practically threw her coffee mug down in the sink and hurried out of the room like a scalded cat.
A man with grey, thinning hair wearing a baggy suit walked into the kitchen a second later, glancing over his shoulder with a frown on his face. When he saw me, the frown deepened. “What on earth did you say to her?” he asked with a clipped British accent.
“Nothing. It was just a joke.”
“Well, I suggest you don’t joke with my PA. I’m Donovan Powell, manager at The Big Blue. I’ve been away for the past week, but I don’t like what I’ve been hearing since my return. I’ve come back to find there’s been a murder, and for some unknown reason, we’re apparently now employing a comic book artist to tell us all what to do.”
“The shareholders made the decision, didn’t they?” I asked, unafraid to go above this man’s head.
“Harrumph!” was all he had to say to that.
I decided I would make an effort to at least try to rectify this man’s quickly formed poor opinion of me. “I’m sorry I upset Doreen. I never thought she’d take me seriously. It was just a joke about the police.”
“I’m shocked that anyone is joking about any of this. It’s a terrible tragedy.” I had a feeling that he meant for the park, rather than for Leona and those who had known her, but I tried to keep an open mind. “If you’re going to be working here, you will endeavour to not upset members of staff. I know Ms Lopez was in charge of communications between the park and various members of the documentary team prior to their arrival here. She spoke highly of Ms Richards, so it is understandable that she is upset by what has happened.”
I was relieved when Nile poked his head around the corner of the kitchen. “Hey Madi. Sir,” he added in a respectful tone that made me figure I may have just made a sizeable error by upsetting Donovan Powell. “Apparently you’re needed by the documentary guys. No idea what it’s about.”
“Thanks,” I said, silently wondering if it was better or worse to remain in the kitchen with the irate manager. I decided to roll the die and find out what the documentary people wanted.
Ben waved to me when I walked out into the bright sunshine and felt the heat of the day, in spite of the relatively early time of year.
“Hey, was I needed for something?” I asked, pleased to see Ben looked brighter than he had the other day.
“Kind of. I wanted to talk to you about something. I sent a runner so it would look like official business.”
“It’s not official business?”
Ben shot me a slightly hurt look, but I was still wary of being seen hanging out with him, for reasons already proved by the media.
“You’ve got access to staff areas, haven’t you? We should go there to talk,” he suggested.
I thought about it for a second and then agreed. I trusted the park staff far more than the fame-obsessed documentary crowd.
“I need your help figuring out who might have killed Leona,” Ben said, once we were safely hanging out next to the food supply building.
I wrinkled my nose a little at the smell of rotten food and realised it was coming from the huge dustbins several metres away from the food building. I’d been expecting rotten fish, but there were stale bread rolls with wilted lettuce falling out of them, and sour milk splashes from half-drunk coffees. What a lot of waste!
I shook my head and focused on what Ben had just asked. “That’s the police’s job,” I reminded him, curious as to what had brought this on.
Ben looked troubled. “I know. I just don’t think they’re doing a good job. They think I did it, for goodness’ sake!”
I foolishly opened my mouth to ask if he had done it, but then shut it again. This was the other reason why I hadn’t wanted to spend too much time around the documentary team. One or more of them were likely to be killers.
Ben saw my doubt. “I didn’t do it. I had no reason to. We were dating and then it fizzled out. I’ve already explained I knew we weren’t right for each other that way.” He sighed. “The police think that me punching that reproduction actor was some sign of jealousy. I will admit that I got carried away, but just because he’s a complete slime-ball. Why aren’t the police looking at him?!”
“I’m sure they are. I’m certain they’re considering everyone who was near to Leona at her time of death.”
“Do they know exactly when that is?” Ben asked.
I shrugged. “No idea. The police haven’t told me anything,” I covered.
“Me neither. Apparently they’ve only just figured out what she died from. They told us this morning… she had something called sickle cell disease.”
I put a shocked expression on my face, remembering I wasn’t supposed to know. “I’ve heard of it. You didn’t know she had it?”
Ben shook his head. “Looking back, a lot of things make sense now I’ve had a chance to look the disease up online. I can’t believe I didn’t know, but she was great at hiding it all, believe me. I just though she had
insecurities…”
I was glad when he left it at that. I didn’t want to delve too deeply into the deceased’s relationship with Ben Ravenwood. Especially as I’d promised myself I wasn’t going to be tied up with the documentary people at all.
“The real reason I wanted to talk to you was because you were in makeup right before she was found, right? I was just wondering if you saw anything?” Ben looked hopefully at me.
“I didn’t see anything suspicious. Otherwise, I would have told the police. Anyway, I wasn’t watching the caravan all the time. Before I saw Darius and went inside the caravan, my hair was being fixed for ages, remember? It might have even happened then.” I recalled the fish on the carpet and remembered one of them had moved. How long had it been out of the water for? Hopefully the police investigating would have a better idea than I did about the time of the crime.
“You’re right. It’s hopeless.” Ben shook his head and looked forlorn. “The new presenter they’ve hired is coming out today. I’ve no idea what she’ll be like. I wish…” He looked at me in a way that made me wonder whether it hadn’t just been grief and mixed up feelings that had made him decide to try and kiss me.
I was glad when we were interrupted.
“Madi Amos?” A baffled looking courier dressed in the yellow uniform of the Correos peered over the top of the fence running alongside the food building.
“How did you find me?” I was alarmed that the courier had known where to look.
“I asked and someone said they saw you go into the staff area.” He shrugged. “Sometimes, I deliver the fish for the animals here, so I know where to look to find people. I have your delivery.”
I walked over to the fence, feeling rather apprehensive at what someone might have given him to pass on to me. This morning, I’d received that nasty letter. What was on the menu for this afternoon, a bomb?!
“Just sign here please,” the courier said, handing down a clipboard. I squiggled my name and accepted the package and the envelope that came with it.
“You don’t look pleased,” Ben observed.
“Someone sent me a death threat this morning. I’m just worried this might contain, I don’t know… severed toes?”
“Has that happened to you before?” He meant it as a joke, but I had seen my fair share of the grisly. I understood what certain people were capable of.
Ben took in my grim expression and then reached out and undid the paper-wrapped parcel himself.
“Ben…” I said, concerned for his safety, but the parcel was already open, revealing a box of my favourite fancy chocolates - the ones I bought for myself when I’d done something worth celebrating. I opened the card, showing I could be brave, too. In truth, I already had a good idea of who it was from.
“Is it a death threat?” Ben asked, looking over my shoulder.
“No, it’s from Auryn, celebrating our new jobs here at the park.” I shut the card, hopefully before Ben got to the more suggestive part about Auryn’s plans for this evening.
When I looked back up at Ben he’d taken a step away from me and was rubbing his tousled hair, looking a little sheepish. “Sorry for dragging you out here just to ask a stupid question. I guess I’m so bored, sitting around waiting for things to happen that I forgot you’re now working.” He raised his eyebrows. “Given up on the holiday all together?”
“To be honest, I don’t think Auryn and I are holiday people. It was nice having time to ourselves, but when your job is doing what you love, breaks aren’t exactly necessary. All I’d hoped was that we’d be able to sit down and figure out a couple of things that need thinking about - like the name of the new zoo we’re opening! But we haven’t got around to that.” I lifted my shoulders and then relaxed them. “Doing something here seemed like the best way to pass the time. We don’t have that long left of our holiday anyway.” I thought about it. The days were melting away. “I hope the police find who’s responsible before we have to fly back, or we’ll be stuck out here for longer.” I bit my tongue. Hard. I’d forgotten who I was talking to. “It was a stupid thing to say, I’m sorry.” I’d unthinkingly been speaking the practicalities that were on my mind.
“It’s okay. You know I don’t think any of this is being handled brilliantly. It’s plain as day that you had nothing to do with it. You didn’t even know Leona.”
I had to bite my tongue again to keep from playing devil’s advocate and pointing out she had tricked me into attending a meal where the press were invited the night before she was murdered. Sure, I thought it would be a heck of an overreaction, but who knew how crazy the police thought I was? I frowned, hoping that Katya was steering them away from me, rather than towards…
“I’ll see you around,” Ben said, giving me a friendly nod that I thought spoke of understanding that he was barking up the wrong tree. At least, I hoped it did.
I looked down at my chocolates when he was gone and decided to take a little ‘me’ break. While I ate my way through slightly melted caramel cups and deeply delicious strawberry creams, I thought about what Ben had asked me. I didn’t think I’d seen anything suspicious prior to Darius supposedly finding Leona dead in her caravan - and I decided that he’d looked so sickened, he wasn’t the one responsible - but what if I’d been too quick to brush Ben off? What had I seen?
I thought back whilst I ate. I’d seen Patrick walk past with the drinks tray. Then I’d seen Gina bang on the door and then leave. Skye had opened the caravan door a bit and called in. Then I’d missed a bunch of time when the makeup guy had fixed my hair. When I’d next looked towards the caravan, I’d seen Darius walk out and nearly collapse. Had I witnessed something significant? I wasn’t sure. The problem was, I had no idea when Leona had actually been killed. I could only hope that the police were doing a better job of piecing it together than I was, but the current lack of arrests suggested otherwise.
I looked down and discovered that the chocolate box was empty. I hoped Auryn hadn’t been expecting me to share. He knows me too well for that! I thought with a smile, finding a bin to dispose of the box in. It was time to get back to work.
Tourists were milling around in the sluggish sort of way that spoke of the early afternoon. I’d retrieved my review sheets and had decided to tackle the pacific reef enclosure, which consisted of sharks and other reef fish. It was one of the main attractions of the park, as it included the classic immersive walkway tunnel that took you below all of the action. It was in this tunnel that I assumed Leona and Ben had been spotted getting friendly in when they’d first arrived. After my morning spent with the keepers, I decided to go up to the top of the tank and review a few practicalities that had been mentioned.
I was scuffing my shoes along the walkway next to the open top of the tank, silently agreeing that it could do with some safety grip laying down, when I was shoved hard from behind. I went sprawling forwards. My hands and head landed in the water before hitting the concrete at the rear of the giant tank. I was lucky that the water slowed the movement down enough that I didn’t make impact too violently, but I was still stunned for a moment. As soon as I’d recovered my senses, I rolled back out of the water and coughed up what felt like half an ocean. Then I looked around for my attacker.
I must have been more stunned than I realised because there was no-one there, just a few fast-drying damp footprints. I blinked and realised someone was shouting in Spanish. Thirty seconds later, one of the keepers I’d met that morning rushed into the enclosure and over to me.
“Are you all right? Visitors said they saw you fall into the tank.” The woman with caramel hair examined me with a concerned expression on her face. She inspected my scuffed knees and banged head but visibly relaxed when she realised that nothing too serious was wrong with me.
“Did they see who pushed me?”
The keeper’s eyebrows shot up. “Someone pushed you in? I thought it was just that cursed slippery edge. We’re always nearly falling in.”
“That’s why I was so close t
o the tank. I was figuring out what to put in my review.” I looked out across the top of the tank and discovered my papers were scattered across the surface of the water.
“We’ll net them out,” the keeper reassured me.
“Good thing I took notes using biro,” I muttered, although the paper would still need to be rescued fast.
“Who could have come back here and pushed you in? Maybe one of the protesters managed to break-in again?”
“I’m not sure,” I said, baffled by what had just happened. And why push me into a tank? It was only because their push hadn’t been quite hard enough that I hadn’t ended up fully in the water. In with a whole bunch of sharks, I mentally added, starting to form a theory of why someone might have thought pushing me into the tank would be a good way to get rid of me.
Someone who knew absolutely nothing about the marine life at the park.
This tank contained sand tiger sharks, who looked scary, but were fairly docile. It also featured nurse sharks and black tip reef sharks, none of whom had a track record of being dangerous to humans. I’d have been in far more danger if I’d been pushed into the aquarium’s ‘toxic’ tank, which contained stone fish and lion fish, amongst other venomous varieties.
“I should go talk to the police,” I said, realising that although I was only suffering from a few cuts and bruises, if someone really had acted the way I’d hypothesised, it might have actually been an attempt on my life.
As I walked out of the staff area with the worried keeper still by my side, I remembered the death threat I’d received that morning. It looked like the sender had decided to act upon it sooner, rather than later. The question was, who was responsible, and when were they going to try again?
They’d picked the wrong tank this time, but I would be checking over my shoulder for sure if I ever got up close and personal with the great white shark.
“You say you were attacked?” Katya repeated, after I’d told her about what had happened. She was flanked by two Mallorcan members of the police force and I thought she was pretending to be deliberately obtuse right now.