by Ruby Loren
“Questions I was about to ask Marie,” I told him.
He looked thoughtful for a moment. “You know, this discovery might change a few things. Perhaps it’s not a simple case of George pulling a vanishing act after murdering his fiancée. I could understand leaving a snake behind in the hurry to get out, but this amount of money? I’m more inclined to believe that he hid the snake to hide the money. The golden question is, who was he hiding it from and do they have something to do with his disappearance?”
“We should probably turn this over to the police,” I said.
Lowell inclined his head. “Of course. Right after we ask Marie a few more questions,” he promised. “For now, it would probably be best if you hid the cash.”
I looked down at the bundles uncertainly, wondering if fingerprints had been left on them. I remembered the bottom falling off and the mad grab I’d made. I’d probably touched every bundle and ruined any evidence that might have been uncovered.
I gathered the bundles together and thought about it for a moment, before I settled on the perfect place and quickly concealed the cash. Lowell raised an eyebrow but made no complaint.
“I should transfer Mr Limey to a different vivarium in case someone else knows about the false bottom and comes back for it. If they find he’s in a new tank and can’t locate the old one, they won’t be sure if their secret has been discovered or not,” I said, not overly excited by the prospect of moving the poorly Mr Limey again. I hoped he’d buck up soon and then I could palm him off on the Dracondia Manor keepers. So far, I’d learned more about snakes on this job than I’d ever imagined. Maybe I wouldn’t need the results of the questionnaire I’d planted at the manor after all.
“All right, let’s go and talk to Marie,” Lowell said when I’d gingerly placed Mr Limey down in the vivarium I’d used to bathe him in. He didn’t seem to care much about his new surroundings.
We walked down the corridor and I pushed the door of the office open.
It was empty.
Lucky meowed hello and half fell, half jumped onto the office chair. I gathered him up and looked around the office before my eyes fell on the settee, and the hank of dyed, red hair that was hanging out around the edge. My breath caught in my throat.
“Come out, Marie, it’s us,” Lowell said, with far more cool than I would have been able to summon. I concluded that he must have a better view and had not assumed the worst.
Marie crawled out from behind the settee, looking a little worse for wear. “I heard someone come to the door a little while ago. I was going to lock the door, but it doesn’t have a lock!”
I nodded. The lack of a lock was precisely the reason Marie had been able to find her way inside in the first place. “I knew he’d come in, so I hid behind the settee and he went away again.”
“Good move," Lowell said, approvingly. Marie smiled widely at him.
“We have a few more questions we’d like to ask you,” I cut in. Now was not the time for pleasantries. “First of all, why did I find £5,000 in cash in a false bottom beneath Mr Limey’s cage?” (I’d counted.)
Anger flashed across Marie’s face. She concealed it a second later, but Lowell and I had both seen. She knew a lot more than she’d been saying.
I raised an eyebrow at her and crossed my arms.
Marie looked down at her fingers - as usual - but this time she started to speak. “I told you we sold stuff. That must be some of the money we got for it.”
“Five grand in one go?” Lowell said, disbelievingly and Marie bristled.
“I thought you said George wasn’t involved in any of that,” I commented and now Marie squirmed.
“He wasn’t, not really. I mean, he thought the small-time selling we did was bad, but I had no idea he had this on the side. He must have sold to some bigger dealer and bypassed us!” Marie said, looking angry again.
“Selling what?” I pressed and she waved a hand.
“Snake venom. Some weirdos like to take it. They think it gives them special powers, or something.”
“Huh, is that why he had Mr Limey?” I queried but then shook my head. That much was obvious and wasn’t the important question. “How did you get your hands on Mr Limey and any other snakes. Were there other snakes?” I asked, suddenly having a horrible vision of a garage full of snakes being left behind, although surely the police would have searched George Ashdown’s house by now and found them?
“Mr Limey was the only one left. The rest are gone,” Marie said and I tried not to think too hard about how casually she’d announced that a whole bunch of venomous snakes were ‘gone’. I would definitely need to ask more questions.
“But I thought we had a deal. We were the sellers and he was the maker. I can’t believe he went round us like that,” she continued.
I looked sideways at Lowell. Something seemed off about this. Since when did drug dealers, even the slightly larger ones, pay using crisp notes of the same denomination, that looked like they’d been counted out by a bank?
“Where did you say the snakes came from again?” I asked.
Marie shuffled her feet. “I don’t know. I wasn’t involved in that, really. I was friends with Jackie and I kind of like snakes. I think they’re cool, but I don't know where George got them from, although he always said Mr Limey was like family to him. We never really got along too well.” A pink blush rose to her cheeks, as if we needed any further evidence that she was lying through her teeth.
Lowell nodded his head towards the door and we walked out of the room, but not before I’d shot Marie my most sceptical look. I’d kept her a secret from the police, fed her, and given her a place to crash and she still wasn’t going to talk?
Once we were outside Lowell shut the door and lowered his voice. “She’s lying,” he said and I tried not to roll my eyes.
“Yep. She’s pretty bad at it, too,” I replied, wondering why we were even bothering to whisper. “I say we hand her over to the police. Things have just got a lot more complicated and she might be involved after all,” I said, thinking of the money.
Lowell shook his head. “I just need a little more time to figure out how to get her to talk. She was definitely angry about the money, but it didn’t come from a drug deal. We need her to tell us the truth.”
I splayed my hands in exasperation. “Why? Can’t we just hand her in and let the police deal with it? We shouldn’t have got ourselves into this in the first place.” Now it was my turn to shake my head. “I can’t believe I let you talk me into this. What if we’re in danger now, because we know about the money?”
“I don’t know,” Lowell replied. “There’s so much here that doesn’t add up. I don’t think this is the simple case the police think it is, although finding George Ashdown will go a long way towards clearing it up.”
“He’s been missing this long already. I’m not holding my breath that they’ll conveniently find his car by the side of the road and discover his log cabin hideout.”
Lowell frowned at me. “Which detective series have you been watching?”
“Never mind," I hastily said, thinking about my trashy TV habits. “The point is, we don’t know what's going on, but we have someone who probably has a far better idea sitting in my office and not doing a thing to repay us for keeping her away from the police. I think it's high time she earned her keep, don’t you?” I said and moved to storm back in.
Lowell caught my hand before it reached the door and I stared at it, feeling the warmth of his fingers on mine. A memory of our single night together at Avery Zoo resurfaced and I blushed - surprise, surprise!
“How about you let me handle it? I was trained for this very thing. I’m great at getting people to share information,” he said.
I looked dubiously in the direction of the door. “One more day and then we turn her over to the police in such a way that means we don't get in trouble. I’m thinking drive her to a remote location and call in an anonymous tip off. If she says she was staying with us, we de
ny all knowledge.” I hesitated. “Lowell, are we criminals?”
“Some of the best people are,” he said, which wasn’t exactly the reassurance I'd been looking for.
“One more day,” I reiterated and then walked off to attempt to salvage my day. I had a review that was only half finished and Lord Snidely had made it achingly obvious that he already considered it overdue. My second consulting job was not going brilliantly.
Salvaging the day’s work turned out to be a bit of a challenge. I’d just finished my generous, five minute lunch break and was on my way back to my office, when I saw a familiar face walking down the corridor towards me.
“Tiff!” I called, surprised to see her so far away from Avery Zoo, where she worked as the commercial manager.
“Madi! It’s so good to see you,” she said, folding me into a hug.
We pulled away and in spite of everything that was going on, I smiled at her beautiful face. Tiff was something to behold and I was surprised she didn’t have a trail of besotted men following after her.
“What are you doing all the way up here?” I asked.
“I missed you. Auryn said you were too busy to come back down to Avery, so I thought I'd come to you. I’ve been waiting around here a while, hoping you’d show up. I asked a few people and they said you work all over the place, but your office is here. I also heard an interesting anecdote involving a lion,” she said, with a twinkle in her eye.
“That’s not the half of it,” I told her, and her eyebrows shot up.
“Oh? By the way, how come Lowell is outside talking to the police?” Tiff asked with a frown.
I froze with my hand on the handle of the door to my office as I realised why Lowell had chosen to take the police outside. As much as I loved Tiff, I wasn’t going to drag her into the mess Lowell and I had got ourselves into.
“Let's go somewhere where we can talk," I said.
We walked out and sat on a quiet bench on the edge of the grounds of Dracondia Manor.
“Something happened here that I should probably tell you about,” I began and then decided to move the focus of the conversation. “Lowell’s here because he said he needed a holiday. He decided to come up and see me. It was all so he could apologise properly for everything he did wrong working the case at Avery Zoo.”
Tiff laughed. “Oh, sure. I bet that’s why he came all the way up here.” She saw my sombre expression and frowned. “Why is he still here if that’s all he wanted? Is it something to do with the police?” she pressed.
I sighed and launched into an explanation of the night of the end of summer dinner and Jackie’s murder. The only part I left out was Marie. The fewer people who knew about that, the better. I was sure that Tiff wouldn't thank me for dragging her into any criminal activity.
“It sounds like you’ve got your work cut out for you,” Tiff said, when I'd finished explaining.
It was then I realised I hadn’t actually answered her question. “You asked why Lowell was still here. Trinity Snidely, who’s a cousin several times removed or something from the family, is SO angling for inheritance. It’s unbelievable…” I trailed off and Tiff arched an eyebrow. I cleared my throat. “Anyway, she’s employed him to look for some family heirlooms that were stolen but never resurfaced on the market.” I shrugged.
Lowell hadn’t updated me since, so I had no idea if he’d learnt any more information. Come to think of it, he might have been on his way to let me know exactly that when I’d distracted him with the hidden money.
“Well, it’s nice that you’re spending more time together,” Tiff said and I wondered if she'd fully comprehended the murder and tenuous situation. I supposed without knowing about Marie, it didn’t seem as though Lowell and I were involved in the situation. In reality, we were up to our necks.
“Oh! All of this talk made me forget about something I heard when I passed the police earlier, before I saw them with Lowell. One of them said they found a car by the side of the road. I think they were looking for this car?”
“Huh, who knew?” I said, thinking about my earlier conversation with Lowell. It looked like George Ashdown’s car might have turned up after all. I wondered if the police had thought to check any nearby log cabins…
“Anyway, you’ll probably want to know all about what’s happening at Avery Zoo?” Tiff said and I reluctantly turned my attention away from the case. My brain had been on the verge of figuring something out. I was sure of it.
“Of course! Fire away,” I said, half-listening to the anecdotes Tiff told about all of my old colleagues. The brand new group of builders had given Jenna - a notorious flirt - a fresh bunch of targets, but she apparently hadn’t had much luck - with the exception of one man who was completely besotted with her. Naturally, she didn't want a thing to do with him. I even managed to laugh about that. Then there were the ongoing worries about old Mr Avery’s health. Everyone liked Auryn, but it was clear from what Tiff said that they were all concerned about what would happen to the zoo - and their jobs - if Auryn was forced to take on all of the responsibility at such a young age.
“He really misses you,” Tiff finished.
I nodded vaguely. I missed him, too. “Perhaps after this job, I’ll be able to come back for a couple of days.” I noticed Tiff didn't look too happy when I said that. “What’s up?” I finally asked when we’d sat in silence for several seconds.
“Look, Madi, I know you’ve got a lot on your plate right now and that this new job is important to you, but please don't forget about your old friends. We all miss you a lot and you told me Mr Avery basically said you could come back and work whenever you felt like it. Could you not take time off between your new jobs and maybe do a little work back home at Avery? I’m just asking for Auryn’s sake. I know he needs all the help and support he can get right now. Especially considering how things are with old Mr Avery.”
I pricked my ears up. “Has something else happened?”
Tiff gave me a funny look. “No, but you know he is not recovering, right? He’s just slowly slipping away, at least - that’s what it seems like. Lawrence and Auryn are basically running the zoo by themselves, but I don’t think Lawrence has got a huge amount of time left on the clock either.”
I was shocked. “Auryn said his grandfather was doing really well!” I said.
Tiff threw me a sceptical look. “Of course he did! I bet you told him some of what happened here, right? He doesn't want to bother you but I bet the reason he called was because he wanted to ask you to come back, or at least for some help and advice. He probably just backed out at the last moment.”
I suddenly felt terrible. “I didn’t realise,” I confessed.
“I know you always mean well, Madi, but make sure you try to see things from other peoples’ points of view, too, okay?”
I nodded, wondering if everyone thought I was selfish. I’d never intended to be but then, I also hadn’t ever really thought about it before. Did Auryn really need me? I’d be a bad friend if I was ignoring his cry for help. “I could go back,” I said, more to myself than Tiff.
She sighed and tilted her head. “No, I don’t think that's what Auryn or any of us would want. Just, when this job is over, maybe a visit would be nice?” Her lips curved up into a smile and I managed to return it with one of my own, despite my inner turmoil.
“Do you want to come and look round Snidely with me?” I offered, inwardly worrying about the work that wasn’t getting done.
Perhaps Tiff knew it, too, because she shook her head. “It’s okay. I’m mostly up here to visit my grandparents. They’ve taken me around this place plenty of times before. I’ll be more interested after you’ve worked your magic,” she said with a twinkle in her eye.
I smiled, weakly. “I hope magic is what happens. Things aren’t exactly on track at the moment,” I admitted and then bit my tongue. It was wallowing like this that I feared made me seem selfish. Perhaps I really should try to think more about other people.
“How a
re things going for you, you know, in work and other things?” I said to Tiff and then regretted it. It sounded way too forced.
Tiff shot me a sideways look but accepted my attempt gracefully. Tiff could always be counted upon to be kind, which was why her revelation about me was so shocking.
“Things are good at the zoo. We’ve had our best year of sales in the shop yet, which is great. As for everything else, well, I’m still renting and saving for a house. It’ll be a relief to find somewhere permanent to house the menagerie,” she said and I thought about the many animals Tiff had at home. She seemed unable to say no to waifs and strays. Unfortunately, waifs and strays were also the type of men Tiff seemed unable to resist. I was always relieved when she was single.
“How are the maps?” I asked, brightly. Tiff had an Etsy shop that sold maps to different fandoms. Her business had just started to take off the last time I’d enquired.
Her face immediately brightened when she thought about her hobby. “They're going great! It’s actually getting tough to fit in all of the packaging and sending around my work hours. You really must let me set up a store for you. I’ve been watching your view counter on your comic’s site and it’s going crazy! I bet loads of your fans would be interested in buying stuff from you. You can even sell the original sketches from the comics. People love things like that!” she said.
“It does sound like a good idea,” I echoed, but Tiff just rolled her eyes upwards.
“You always say that and then it never happens! Look, as soon as I’m back, I'm going to email you and get you to send over some photos of the sketches and then I’ll make you your store. Deal?”
I nodded, knowing I didn't really have a choice. There was a reason that Tiff was the commercial manager at the zoo. When it came to sales, she got things done.
“Anyway, I’ll let you get along,” Tiff said. “Just remember what I said about not forgetting your old friends, okay?”
I nodded again, still chastened by her words. I had a thing or two to think about.
It was the end of the day when I finally managed to meet up with Lowell again. Rather than returning to the office where Marie lurked, we sat outside on the bench where I'd sat with Tiff. The sun was setting but the weather was still warm. It hadn’t been a bad summer, I reflected.