The Sierra Files Box Set: Books 1-3: Plus a bonus Christmas novella!

by Christy Barritt

  “Jim bought Chalice from this guy in North Carolina. The snake had been the guy’s uncle’s. His uncle died, and this guy just wanted to purge the house of all his things, so he sold everything for super cheap”

  “Okay . . .” I wasn’t sure where he was going with this.

  “Jim doesn’t consider himself a snake expert, by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, in case you ever noticed, he doesn’t actually sell any snakes in his pet store. He ended up keeping Chalice at home and began asking around about anyone who wanted to buy it.”

  “Okay.”

  “Tag told Jim about me. Jim contacted me, and I bought Chalice. She was beautiful and unique, and I paid nearly three hundred dollars for her—more money than I should have spent, but I couldn’t resist.”

  “You didn’t know Jim before this, correct?”

  He nodded. “That’s right. Tag had connected us. Before that, I’d bought most of my animals online. I don’t love pet stores, so I try to avoid them. But I couldn’t resist Chalice. She was beautiful.”

  “How does that mean Jim is guilty? Just because he sold you the snake?” So far, this conversation was getting me nowhere.

  “Jim wanted Chalice back. I don’t know what changed. He seemed perfectly content to sell her to me. But, about a month later, he started calling me, making up all these excuses about why an apartment was no place for Chalice.”

  “Why’d he change his mind?”

  Patrick frowned. “Out of the blue, Tag was uncomfortable with the snake. That could have been part of it.”

  “But you think there’s more to it?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, of course. I mean, Tag was the one who connected us, and suddenly he did a one-eighty? What sense does that make?”

  I had to agree. It seemed weird. Too bad Tag wasn’t around anymore to explain himself. Something was fishy.

  “Any theories as to why?”

  He shook his head. “I have no idea. But something else was going on. Tag went as far as to report me to Animal Control for a violation.”

  “He actually did that?” I’d thought it had only been an idle threat.

  Patrick nodded. “Yeah, I got a notice right before I went into hiding.”

  But there was something that still didn’t fit . . .“What about the one thousand dollars the two of you were talking about at The Grounds a few days ago?”

  Patrick’s face went pale, and I knew I’d caught him in some kind of untruth. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  I wasn’t letting him off the hook that easily. “Someone overheard the two of you discussing it.”

  He stiffened. “Well, they heard wrong.”

  “Time’s up, Ms. Davis. We’ve got to wrap this up,” the detective said.

  “What about Mandee? Why did you involve her in all this?” I rushed.

  “I knew she loved animals,” he finally said.

  “You knew she was naïve,” I countered.

  He looked away again, and I knew I’d hit on the truth. He’d used Mandee, knowing no one else would want to take care of his snakes. No one else would have stayed around through all the drama.

  And now she was in jail because of it.

  The detective took over and began questioning Patrick again.

  As I left, I felt in one way that I had some answers. But those answers just led to more questions. I needed a few more minutes to question Patrick. I couldn’t let this drop.

  I needed to talk to Patrick again sometime. I hoped it wasn’t as hard—or dangerous—to track him down the second time around.

  I went to church with Gabby the next morning, and we grabbed lunch together at a local Mexican restaurant known for its canned mariachi music and the cheerful paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling.

  Riley and Gabby sat in the booth across from me, and Reef was tucked in his car seat beside me, staring at a colorful toy strapped across the handles.

  As soon as the chips and salsa were delivered, the conversation had turned to Mandee.

  “Mandee is a very interesting girl,” Riley said, popping a chip in his mouth. As soon as he swallowed, he picked up another chip and stared at it. “I knew we shouldn’t have come to this restaurant. These chips are irresistible.”

  “Just pretend they’re full of protein instead of processed corn and fat,” Gabby told him.

  Riley raised his eyebrows. “Yeah, I’ll do my best.”

  “Apparently you made quite the impression on Mandee,” I told Riley.

  It was Gabby’s turn to raise her eyebrows. “Did you?”

  He raised his palms in innocence. “I’m sure it was my legal skills that impressed her.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure.” Gabby flashed a knowing smile.

  These two were so in love. I wished they’d go ahead and get married. I wasn’t sure why Gabby seemed to keep coming up with excuses to delay. I’d tried to talk to her about it, but she never had much to say. She seemed to just be enjoying the moment.

  “What do you think will happen to her?” I asked Riley, taking a sip of my lemon water.

  “It’s hard to say. If you put all the evidence together, it doesn’t look good. Especially the crowbar and the fight and the Facebook threats. I don’t think a jury will be compelled to convict her, but I’ve seen some crazy trials lately. One of the other lawyers at my firm was representing a family where the guy shot a burglar who broke into their home. The burglar won. None of us could believe it.”

  Reef cooed beside me, and my heart did flips. I wanted to treasure these moments.

  “That’s crazy,” I muttered.

  A man sitting in the booth on the other side of the room raised a newspaper, and I squirmed when I saw it. The second part of Chloe’s editorial should be in there. I really had to figure out how I was going to handle that whole situation. It was just one more thing on my plate.

  Why couldn’t we be getting attention for our crusades against animal testing? Or against fast food chains that used barbaric practices to slaughter animals? Or the fur industry, which had no redeeming qualities whatsoever?

  Instead, we were getting attention for Chalice.

  “What’s wrong?” Gabby’s eyebrows knitted together.

  I explained my dilemma.

  “I guess this is one of the downsides to being the boss, huh? The buck stops with you,” Gabby said. “What do you think about Chalice?”

  That was the question of the hour. Of the day. Of the week, for that matter. “A year ago I would have welcomed any attention I could get for our causes. But now I just keep thinking: What if it had been Reef? What if my son had been the victim? Then would I still want this snake out there?”

  At that moment, our food was delivered. A bean burrito for me, chicken fajitas without tortillas for Riley, and a beef chimichanga for Gabby. The sizzling scent of grilled peppers and onions wafted toward me, and my stomach growled.

  Reef let out a loud cry of joy beside me. I looked over and saw him staring at my food. He looked like he was hungry also. In the blink of an eye, I would be ordering tacos for him. He’d be seated beside me in a little booster, and eventually he’d want to feed himself. The days were going by so quickly already. I wished time would slow down.

  “You mind if I pray before we eat?” Riley said.

  “Not at all.”

  I closed my eyes as Riley offered thanks for the food, and then we all dug in. The conversation picked up right where we’d left off.

  “Being a mom has a tendency to soften people and smooth out rough edges,” Gabby said. “That’s what I’ve heard, at least.”

  “I just keep thinking: What if Chalice goes to another home and does this again? What if I had a role in this? If I had a role in keeping her alive? That would make the blame partly ours. Partly mine.”

  “The fault wouldn’t lie with you, but I can understand the pressure you’re feeling,” Riley said. “It’s people’s lives that are on the line.”

  “Which is so weird because I’m
usually so focused on animal lives.” Animal Lives Matter.

  The slogan was brilliant. Catchy. Chalice made a good poster animal for the crusade, I supposed. But something in my gut just couldn’t go along with all of this. It was like I told Patrick last night: Friends’ Lives Matter. People’s Lives Matter. Everyone got one chance at this thing called life, and we all deserved a fair shot.

  “So what are you going to do?” Riley asked before taking a bite of his lunch.

  “I still don’t know. If I pull the plug on this, I look like a bad leader. Truth is I have been a bad leader lately. I’ve been distracted, and I don’t feel like I’m doing anything well: not being a wife or a mother or the director of a well-known animal rights group.” Tears popped to my eyes.

  Tears? Where had they come from? I wasn’t a crier.

  “Cut yourself some slack.” Gabby patted my hand. “With time, things will start feeling normal again.”

  “You speak as if you know.”

  She shrugged. “I have no idea. I’m not a mom, of course.” She glanced at Riley, and I could see it in her eyes that she wanted to have kids one day. “But I know life can throw curveballs. We have to redefine our normal. We have to adjust in order to survive.”

  Yes, Gabby did understand all of that. Her life had certainly been turned upside down enough times.

  Gratitude filled me that I had understanding friends in my life. I’d thought for the longest time that all I’d needed was my cats. I’d been wrong.

  “Thanks for the talk, guys,” I told them. “What would I do without you?”

  After we ate, I ran to the grocery store with Reef. Loaded with some fresh fruits and veggies, at least I had that worry behind me. Then, back at home, I sat at the little desk tucked away in the corner of my bedroom to pay bills while Reef sat in his favorite bouncy seat, looking content to stare at the toys on the front of it and listen to “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”

  If I finished in time, Gabby and I had talked about going to the park for a walk. It was beautiful outside—not too hot and not too cold. Having some time alone with Gabby would be nice, so I hoped it worked out.

  If that didn’t work out, then I would probably end up calling back some of the reporters who had left me messages this weekend about the campaign to save Chalice. I’d been putting it off, which was unlike me. I wasn’t usually the wishy-washy type. But I needed to think this through and come up with a solution I could live with.

  As I wrote a check for my car payment, an idea hit me. I called one of my employees to pick her brain about something.

  “Julia, sorry to bother you on a Sunday.” Julia was a sweet employee who was on the younger side and who’d only been with us a few months. But I seemed to remember one of our first conversations, and I needed to ask her about it.

  “It’s no problem. What’s up?”

  “You used to work at Jungle Jim’s, didn’t you?” If I remembered correctly, it was her time at that pet shop that had made her decide to come work for Animal Protective Services. She couldn’t stand to see how some of the animals were treated.

  Silence hung on the line for a moment. “That’s right. I hate that place. If I could find a way to close it down, I’d do it.”

  “I hear you. Listen, the owner, Jim Benson. What do you know about him?”

  “Jim Benson? He’s a horrible man who puts profits above anything else. He’s despicable, as far as I’m concerned. He belongs right up here with Hitler.”

  At one time, I might have agreed with her assessments. I still felt like he was a horrible man. But Hitler? I wouldn’t take it that far.

  “And he has monkey lips.”

  Ah ha! Someone else thought so too. Hearing it voiced out loud didn’t sound very nice, though.

  “Listen, Julia,” I started. “Jim sold an albino python to someone, and later said he had second thoughts about the safety of his decision. How does that hit you?”

  “Like I said, if Jim makes money, that’s all he cares about. Safety has never been a top priority for him. For him to go out of his way to say he’s concerned? That sounds fishy to me.”

  I nodded. “I’ve met Jim several times, and I was thinking the same thing. This guy with the snake—he said Jim even went as far as to offer to buy this python back. Jim is acting like he was being a good citizen and doing this for the betterment of community.”

  “I doubt it. That doesn’t sound like the Jim I know.” She paused. “Speaking of which, is this the same python that’s been on the news?”

  I remembered that whole campaign and let out a mental sigh. “It is.”

  “The media really picked up that story and ran with it, didn’t they?”

  “Yes, they did.”

  “You never know what’s going to stick. I guess that’s why you throw a lot of stuff against the wall, right?”

  “In a way. But, on the other hand, we need to be purposeful. But that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about.” I tapped my fingers together, trying to think all of this through. “Do you know anyone who works at Jungle Jim’s still?”

  “I do have a couple of friends there. Why?”

  “Would you mind doing some digging for me?”

  Her voice rang with delight. “I’d love to. In fact, I’ll do that right now.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  An hour later, Julia had some answers. And she became my new favorite employee.

  “I talked to two people who worked there. One was clueless. But the other guy—I think he used to like me—was more than willing to spill the beans. He just so happened to overhear a conversation between Jim and a man he’d never seen before. I think it might fit with what you were asking me about earlier.”

  I leaned back at my desk, where I was still paying bills, balancing my checkbook, and calculating how far Chad and I were in our quest to save money for a down payment on a house. Easy answer: not very far. It was going to be a long time before we got there.

  I turned back to my phone conversation with Julia. “When did this conversation between Jim and another man occur?”

  “About a week ago.”

  “Very interesting.” It fit the timetable for when things started going south with Patrick and his snake. “What was said?”

  “This other guy was from New York, and apparently he ‘collects’ exotic animals. He wants an albino python, and he’d heard that Jim had one.”

  My first thought was: collects exotic animals? What a monster. People were supposed to collect spoons or dolls or even cars. Not animals that they had no intention of loving and caring for.

  My second thought was: someone who was obsessed with albino pythons might go to great lengths to get what they wanted. I’d seen it happen many times before. In reality, I had gone to great lengths to get what I wanted. Usually it involved animals and their protection.

  Like this case right now. Even though I had a million things to do, I couldn’t drop this. It was about more than Mandee being accused of a crime.

  This whole predicament was a travesty for Chalice, for Mandee, and for Tag.

  “So this guy wanted Chalice for himself, huh?” I said.

  “Yes, he did. In fact, this guy was willing to pay top dollar.”

  I glanced at the number at the bottom of my checkbook. The only thing I could pay top dollar for right now was organic food, and even that was a stretch. “Did your friend define ‘top dollar’?”

  “About twenty grand.”

  “For a snake?” My mouth dropped open, and I forgot about my own checkbook. Who in their right mind would pay that much for a snake?

  “This guy is determined to get one.”

  I stared out the window at the house behind mine, trying to sort through my thoughts. “So what if Jim wanted to buy Chalice back, not for safety reasons, but so he could make a killer profit?”

  “It’s a possibility. A very real one.”

  I chewed on my bottom lip a moment in thought. “There’s only one thing that doesn’t make se
nse. Chalice is now in the custody of Animal Control. So if Jim was behind all of this, his plan majorly backfired.”

  “You can say that again.”

  I tapped my pen on the desk in thought. “I still think there could be something there.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  I glanced at my watch. “I’m going to swing by Jungle Jim’s and have a little heart-to-heart.”

  Jim’s hand was buried deep in a hamster cage when I spotted him in the store. He grunted when he saw me, and I hoped he wasn’t squeezing an innocent hamster in retaliation for my presence.

  “You again,” he muttered.

  “I have some questions,” I told him, coming to a stop beside the cage. Reef’s eyes brightened as he looked around the store at the colorful images of animals that had been painted on the cement walls.

  Jim continued to try and grab a hamster that was desperate to get away from him. Even rodents seemed to know Jim was trouble.

  “I’m sure you do,” he said. “I’m not interested in talking to you.”

  I took note of several customers within hearing distance and raised my voice. “I’d be more than happy to talk right here about how your actions may have led to the murder of one of your customer’s neighbors.”

  Several people nearby stopped and gawked. I sent Jim a satisfied smirk because that was just the reaction I’d hoped for.

  “Fine.” He pulled his hand from the cage and gave the hamster a dirty look. “Let’s talk in my office.”

  I didn’t necessarily want to be alone with the man, but several witnesses had seen me here. If anything happened to me, Jim would be the first person the police looked at.

  I hoped.

  Jim’s office was small, and it smelled like a litter box that hadn’t been cleaned in days. It was a wonder he was able to work in here with all of the clutter and inventory being stored in the space. Despite that, Jim cleared a chair and motioned for me to sit. Then he went to the other side of the desk, removed several stacks of paper that acted as a blockade, and then sat down in a battered chair.