by Ruby Loren
“Why do they even think it would work? It’s going to be obvious to anyone that there’s been a break in and that the food supply may have been contaminated. It doesn’t make sense,” I whispered and suddenly felt super self-conscious about just how close I was lying to Lowell. He’d been on top of me just moments earlier and we were currently pressed tightly together on the floor. I felt the heat rise to my cheeks and thanked my lucky stars that it was pretty dark inside the shed.
“They’re hoping it’ll take people a while to notice the window and a break in in the middle of the day is less likely to be looked for. All it would take is one keeper to need some extra supplies and not see the broken glass” Lowell whispered back. I half-shrugged my shoulders, which turned out to be a difficult feat in such a confined space. It could be that, but it still seemed like a big chance to take after taking the risk of breaking in. So far, the group hadn’t been caught committing crime, so why risk it all now with a long-shot?
All of a sudden, I saw red. It didn’t matter that their plan was doomed to failure because Lowell and I had witnessed it all firsthand. What mattered was that any second now, they were going to get that deadbolt slid open and put their plan into action. I couldn’t stomach the thought that there was even a chance of any animal in the zoo being subjected to their murderous tactics.
“I’m going to try and sneak around the other side. If I can make it by without being seen, I’ll be able to go round and enter the warehouse from the other side. Hopefully I can surprise them and they’ll run.” I pushed up from the floor while Lowell turned on his side and stared at me as though I’d sprouted an extra head.
“Are you crazy?! If they see you, they’ll probably kill you. Look at the evidence. You heard the rumours about extremists coming here? It looks like they’ve arrived and they’ve done a hell of a lot worse than poisoning food before,” he said. I opened my mouth to ask him why he would know so much about these so called animal rights activists but at that moment, one of the men grunted in triumph as the deadbolt slid across. I watched through a knot in the shed door as they both entered the building, pulling the door closed behind them.
It was now or never.
I pushed the shed door open and slid out before sprinting across the sunlit grass on my way around the front of the zoo - the quickest route back round to the food store. I didn’t wait to see if I had been spotted or followed, but there was no shouts or sounds. Just the long, yellow grass whipping across my legs as I ran.
“Call the police, there’s a break in happening right now,” I shouted as I tore through reception, wishing that someone would take me seriously. Hopefully the fact that I was flat out sprinting would be enough. It was a rare sight to say the least.
I raced through the zoo, pleased for once that I was small. People probably mistook me for a child and moved aside far more considerately than they would have for a regular-sized adult. It also meant I fitted through the small gaps between visitors who were content to move at a snail’s pace.
It seemed an eternity before I reached the entrance to the food store. I stopped running and wiped my sweaty hands on my trousers, wondering if they were still inside the warehouse… wondering if this was the worst idea I’d ever had in my life. I pulled my mobile phone from my pocket and pretended to be speaking to a friend on the other end of the line. My mind, which was currently working in overdrive, supplied that it would be good pretend insurance to put off an attack, while not cluing up the men inside the warehouse that I was onto them. If I didn’t hear them leaving after I entered, I’d simply go back out the same door and wait for the police to arrive. Now wasn’t a good time for heroic stunts. Actually, there was never a good time for heroic stunts when you were my size.
I pushed the door open and pressed the phone to my ear, taking a breath before I began my pretend conversation. Here went nothing. I pushed the door to the food prep area open.
“Hey, Tiff, how’s it going?” I paused for a second, listening as I waited by the counter. Nothing. That probably meant the intruders were listening too. “Yeah, I’m not so bad. I’m doing food prep at the moment, but…” I heard a door slam shut and felt my heart jump a little, before settling down. Had they really left, or was it a ruse?
I lowered the phone, no longer pretending, and made my way cautiously to the door that separated the man food prep area with the large warehouse. I looked through the window. In the dim light, I couldn’t see a sign of anyone moving and the main door was definitely shut. Had they gone, or were they still hiding in the room? I rested my palm against the dividing door before I made a decision and pushed it open.
My head snapped from side to side as I checked to see if anyone was pressed to the wall by the door, waiting to attack. There was no one in sight, not even when I scanned the warehouse. It was possible that someone was crouched down below the big food bins, but the hairs weren’t standing up on the back of my neck anymore. It felt as though they'd really gone when I’d heard the door slam.
With any luck, the police would be on their way by now and the lengthy checking of all the food supplies for contamination could begin. I wouldn’t want to be the person saddled with overseeing that job.
I turned my back on the empty room with a shrug and pushed on the door that led back through to the prep room, only to meet resistance. I raised my head and saw Tom looking back through the small window at me.
“Sorry, I didn’t see you there!” He said, standing back from the door to allow me through.
“You’re not on your way into the warehouse, are you?” I asked, feeling stupid for asking an obvious question, but not knowing another way to bring it up.
“Yeah, we’re running low on several dried foods,” he said, moving to sidestep me.
“You can’t,” I said firmly, blocking his way and then feeling silly all over again when he looked at me in surprise. “I just saw two men break in and they were carrying a bag of some kind of powder. I’m not sure what they were planning, but it’s possible that they might have been trying to poison the food.”
His face paled. “Why would anyone do that? Do you think it’s something to do with animal rights again?”
I half nodded. “Well, they do seem to hate the zoo. You must have heard the rumours of extremists coming here. Perhaps this is one of their more extreme measures.”
“Killing animals?” Tom said, raising an incredulous eyebrow. He was taking the same view that I had… until I'd seen it happen with my own eyes.
“Who knows? The police are on their way though, so we should probably just wait here until then,” I said, as firmly as I dared. I looked up at Tom and noticed his face hadn’t regained any of its colour
“I just… can’t believe anyone would do that,” he said, thrusting his hands deep into his work jeans pockets.
I merely nodded in reply. There was nothing further to say, so we just stood there in silence until the police arrived.
Perhaps it was because they’d been getting a lot of practice recently, but the investigation didn’t take as long as I’d feared. The warehouse was cordoned off and large samples were taken from every one of the food containers, with the reassurances that even the tiniest amount of contaminant would show up. The zoo could do without having to bin what was probably thousands of pounds worth of food, but they also wanted assurances that the animals would all be safe.
With such a worrying potential threat, it wasn’t long before Erin Avery, the head of the board of directors, showed up. More surprising was the appearance of Mr Avery senior, the zoo owner. Perhaps the recent troubles had inspired him to re-engage with the zoo’s affairs.
It wasn’t long before the police got round to interviewing me and I found myself with a dilemma. Did I admit that I hadn't been the only witness to see the break in? My gaze swung across the room and met with Mr Avery senior’s watery blue eyes. He shook his head once from left to right. I immediately dropped my eyes and focussed on the question the police officer had just asked.
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So, Mr Avery didn’t want Lowell’s involvement to be known, at least, that was what I assumed the signal had implied. I wondered why.
I frowned and said a few more words about how it was that I’d been in the right place to witness the break in. I told them about the cats in the barn.
Fortunately, the police never asked if I was alone or not when I’d seen the intruders, so I didn’t have to lie. I guess they assumed I must have been on my own, as any honest person would have no reason to cover for someone else. I bit my tongue. I liked to think of myself as an honest person, but the lines were definitely blurring right now.
The police officer had just finished up his questioning when Detective Rob Treesden himself walked over. My belly did a flip, as I wildly entertained ideas that the detective already knew I’d not told the truth and was coming over to arrest me. Or worse - what if this little mis-truth had led to them suspecting I was responsible for the death of Ray? I slammed a lid down on all those wild thoughts and summoned up what I hoped passed for a smile.
He frowned at me, which probably meant it wasn’t one of my best. Or perhaps he just didn’t like smiling. “Whilst investigating the recent incidents that have occurred at the zoo, your name came up in connection with something that happened in the past.” My stomach flipped again before I figured out what he must be referring to.
“Do you mean what happened to Danny Emeridge?” I cautiously asked and the detective nodded. I tried not to breath a visible sigh of relief over avoiding being tripped up. Not that I was a criminal by any stretch of the imagination, but talking to the police always made me feel guilty of something.
“If you could tell us everything you remember from the night you found Danny,” the detective prompted.
I nodded, thinking back to something I would rather forget. “Everything I saw, I put in the statement I gave then,” I said, but he made a ‘go on’ gesture with his hand.
This time I didn’t hide my sigh. “Well, I’d stayed late, although I forget the reason why. I was walking across the car park to where my car was parked, and I passed the picnic barn and saw something out of the corner of my eye. I guess because I spend all day looking after animals, the movement attracted my attention, but as soon as I took a few steps closer, I realised it was a person, huddled in a ball on the ground. I realised it was Danny, the apprentice keeper at the zoo back then. I saw blood on the gravel and while he wouldn’t show me his face, I could tell he was hurt pretty badly. I pulled out my phone and called the ambulance. I remember looking around, but there was no one in sight and no sign of anyone. I’d done first aid training and they always say that when people are badly injured, you should try and keep them talking, so I did what I could. Danny didn’t want to talk, but I kept talking to him. I never managed to get a word back and every time I’d try and get a look at whatever had happened, he’d just pull away. Eventually, the ambulance and police arrived and I told them what I’ve just told you. I’m guessing you know they never caught the people who did it,” I finished.
The detective nodded, not bothering to write anything down, which didn’t surprise me. I hadn’t been lying when I’d said I’d already told them everything I remembered from that night.
“Who do you think was responsible?” He asked me and I looked at him in surprise. His aquamarine eyes regarded me seriously.
“No evidence was ever found but… there were a lot of animal rights people protesting at the zoo back then. Danny would have made a convenient target. He was wearing the zoo’s uniform and walking on his own. I thought it was probably a few crazy members of the group who did it then and I think it probably is again now,” I said quietly.
The detective inclined his head. “Thank you,” he said, dismissing me, before walking away to confer with the other officers.
I stood in the warehouse for a few moments longer, looking at the broken window and wondering what would have happened if they had managed to execute their plan without anyone bearing witness. I considered what might have befallen me if Lowell hadn’t dragged me into that shed. Most of all, I wondered what Lowell was really doing at the zoo because I was damn sure that he wasn’t just a builder.
CHAPTER FIVE
The Great Escape
Monday was rather wetter than I’d been expecting. The source of the water was not the weather, which remained uncharacteristically good for British summertime. It was the fault of Olive the otter, who had decided that she definitely didn’t want to be caught by me or anyone else. I’d drafted Leah in to help me, but as the otters were my responsibility (ever since Ray had died) she’d spent more time laughing at my efforts than actually helping.
“Leah!” I yelled, as I slipped on the slick stones and sat down in the stream. Olive eluded my net again, but ran straight to the other keeper, who neatly scooped her up. I tried not to scowl as I clambered out of the stream with the sounds of visitors’ laughter following me.
“We got her, yay!” Leah said, raising the net a little and grinning. I rolled my eyes but couldn’t help smiling back. I knew I looked ridiculous. Now I’d have to squelch my way back to the staffroom and see if there were any trousers I could borrow for the rest of the day - no doubt with the legs rolled up a lot.
“If she’s just been eating too much after all this effort, I’ll be pretty ticked off,” I admitted to Leah, who just kept smiling. The reason we’d had to catch Olive the otter was because I’d noticed her putting on a bit of weight and exhibiting a few other signs as well. As Olive was a relatively young otter, and quite a new addition to the zoo, this could be her first potential litter, so I’d decided a trip to the vet for a checkup would be wise. If it turned out she wasn’t pregnant after all, the vet would probably have a thing or two to say about diet.
I made eye contact with the otter, whom Leah had just transferred to a travel carrier. She looked back at me with resentment in her beady eyes before squawking. I felt my mouth twist and Leah started giggling again.
“Right, I’m going to get her to the vet before she causes any more comedy at my expense,” I said, already feeling tired despite the day only just beginning. I thanked Leah, a little dubiously, for her help and she assured me she’d be willing to do it again any time - any time at all.
I walked through the maze of paths behind the exhibits. It wasn’t long before I arrived at the staffroom with an irate otter making her presence known in the carrier by my side. I rested her on a table in the middle of the room and she settled down as soon as she lost sight of me, presumably to sulk.
I shook my head and wondered if Ray had put up with the same kind of behaviour. I looked back over at the travel carrier and wondered if perhaps over time, Olive and I could become friends. I knew it probably wouldn’t happen. There was a zookeeper position open at the zoo and I was hoping that the directors would attempt to fill it soon. Things might feel more normal then.
After delving around in the lost property box, I came up with a pair of jeans that would do and popped off to the loo to change. While I was changing I thought some more about that job opening and couldn’t help wondering if the board were deliberately delaying their decision to see if we could get by without an extra keeper. It wouldn’t surprise me if they saw it as an opportunity to cut the budget. It seemed to me that they were focussing on bringing in large, flashy, amusement park style attractions. It felt like the animals were being pushed into second place.
Clad in my poorly fitting ‘new’ jeans I walked back into the staff room to pick up Olive but found my eye drawn to a bright, orange bit of paper that had been pinned to the noticeboard. An emergency meeting of the board of directors had been called and the meeting title was listed as ‘Resolving the activist problem’.
My forehead creased. It was clear that the board had had enough, but while I couldn’t blame them, I privately thought that coming up with ways to strike back was not the solution. While the notification didn’t exactly spell it out, I had a strong feeling it was what they had in mind.
As always, staff members were invited to attend and contribute to the meeting. I bit my lip, knowing that I would have to go. I at least had to try and curb anything that might get the zoo in even deeper trouble. I only hoped that the rest of the zoo staff would recognise the potential for problems by leaving decisions like this one to a group of people, who for the most part, didn’t actually work around the zoo.
I sighed and picked Olive up, intent on leaving the zoo via the main entrance. Perhaps I’d be spotted and shouted at by the protesters, but I refused to be cowed and alter my route. Especially when I was actually in the process of doing something for the good of an animal’s health.
My short blonde hair frizzed around my head as I shook it, dispelling such self-righteous notions. What ever happened to enjoying the day-to-day life of working with animals?
A slight smile tugged at my lips. “Nothing’s ever that simple, is it?” I said aloud and nearly bumped into Jenna, who was coming round the corner of the corridor.
“Hi. I was just getting coffee,” she said. I watched as her eyes darted around, looking anywhere but mine. There was a mobile phone in her hand. I inwardly sighed and wondered who she’d been texting this time. Tiff and I had assumed she must have run out of male staff members who worked at the zoo, having either achieved rendezvous with them, or badgered them enough to know she wouldn’t be getting anywhere.
“Having a good day?” I asked out of politeness.
Jenna shrugged. “Busy as usual. I hardly get a minute’s rest,” she said, and I tried to look suitably sympathetic.
Tiff had informed me that Jenna’s colleagues told her tales all the time about how little their supposed manager really did. Her idea of busy was apparently sneaking off on endless coffee breaks to chat to more guys.