by Ruby Loren
“Why not Tiff? She’s beautiful and she’s kind. I’ve never known anyone who wasn’t interested in her, one way or another,” I said.
Auryn looked at me in surprise. “Isn’t it obvious?”
I shook my head, wondering what terrible revelation he knew about my best friend that had thus far escaped my notice.
“It’s because I’m in love with you,” he said.
I froze for a couple of moments, all words flown from my head.
“Auryn, I…” I started to say, but he just shook his head.
“You don’t need to say anything. I just wanted you to know. I’ve felt that way for a while, but you’ve already said all you need to say. I keep hoping that one day things will change,” he said with a brave smile.
I managed to return it, although I knew it came across a little wobbly. Auryn had acted out of deep feelings he’d harboured for a long time. He’d also had no idea that Tiff felt as strongly for him as she did, but I’d known, and I hadn’t stopped Auryn.
I was a horrible friend.
I spent the rest of the day cleaning out enclosures and packing more straw. I worked as hard as I could and managed to give myself blisters from shovelling so much dirty bedding. Even so, it wasn’t enough.
The guilt over the way I’d betrayed my best friend ate away at me, and I wondered what to do. Did I pretend that it had never happened, or did I come clean and tell her? I didn’t want to risk losing my best friend, but I also hated lying to her.
I shut my eyes and tightened the straps around another bag of loose straw. I needed to do some more thinking…
My phone rang and I answered it to find Officer Kelly on the other end of the line. She said that there was something new they wanted to discuss with the zoo owner, and would I come too, because they needed to ask if there was anything I might be able to add.
I’d agreed, pleased that the police were behaving a lot more politely. When I started walking towards the restaurant foyer, where we’d agreed to meet once more, I was hit with the reminder that Auryn was going to be there. This morning, he’d told me that he loved me, and now I didn’t know how I was going to face him. Did I pretend he’d never said it? I wasn’t sure if I could.
I wasn’t even sure that I didn’t feel exactly the same way.
Something was twisting through my stomach, warning me that a wrong decision had been made. The problem was, I wasn’t sure which decision was the wrong one. Had I been wrong to finally give in to passion with Auryn earlier today, or was I wrong for letting what had always been meant to be, pass me by? I didn’t have a clue.
“Better go for ‘pretending it never happened’,” I muttered as I walked past the Winter Wonderland, waving to Barnaby when I passed.
He looked up from his iPad and waved back before frowning down at the screen again. I hoped it wasn’t anything serious. He would have had that meeting with Claudia, I remembered, and silently prayed they hadn’t found a financial problem that had been overlooked until now.
“Such a negative attitude. They may have underestimated their success,” I said to myself, trying to think positively.
The police, firefighters, and Auryn, were already chatting in the foyer when I arrived. I apologised for being late and the meeting commenced.
“This is not to be shared, as the investigation is still ongoing, but we were hoping you might have some answers for us. Our initial belief that a single smoked cigarette was what caused the fire has proved incorrect. It was entirely believable that Mr O’Reilly, with his unfortunate habit you told us about, might have smoked a cigarette and perhaps fallen asleep. I actually believe that’s what we were supposed to think, but further investigation of the evidence revealed it to not be the case. There was a smoked cigarette near the scene, but the source of the ignition was a whole pack of them that had been ignited at the same time and left - we can only assume - deliberately.”
“Someone set the fire on purpose?” Auryn clarified, and the firefighters nodded.
“Someone who knew about Lawrence’s bad habit,” I observed.
“Yes, very probably,” Detective Treesden cut in. “We were hoping you might know who would possess that kind of knowledge. We’d also like to know who may have a grudge against either Mr O’Reilly, or your zoo, Mr Avery.”
“Anyone who worked in the office would have known about Mr O’Reilly’s smoking habit. He’s never kept it particularly quiet,” I said, dryly, remembering him lighting up when I’d been there. “He’s a cantankerous old devil, but I don’t know why anyone would bear him ill will.” I hesitated. “I mean, he hasn’t done anything specifically out of the ordinary recently that might warrant it.” During the brief period of time I’d been around him, he’d made remarks both to staff members and me, that had made me want to give him a good kick, but I doubted it would drive anyone to murder. And in such a strange way!
“Someone must have waited until he was alone and asleep and taken the opportunity. Especially as they clearly wanted to make it look like he was the one responsible for the fire,” I observed.
The firefighters shifted, awkwardly. “If the fire had caught on the way it would have, if it had been a usual carpet up in there, we’d have probably just found the remains of cigarettes, with no way to tell which one had been lit. We’d have made the assumption they wanted us to make,” the ginger man said.
“And Lawrence would probably be dead,” I observed. “It must have been after the marketing meeting.” I turned to Auryn for confirmation.
He nodded. “Unfortunately, there’s a back entrance into the office through the staff area. Whoever did this planned it. I’m willing to bet they’re not going to show up on the CCTV we have. You’re welcome to look through what we have. It could at least give an idea of the time frame.”
“It could be anyone who was at the meeting. That was the whole zoo!” I said.
“Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?” Treesden commented with a grim look.
We all paused to think about the parallels this incident shared with Jenna’s death.
“Are we concluding that no one could possibly have wanted Lawrence O’Reilly dead, much like no one could have possibly wanted to murder Jenna Leary?” Treesden sounded more tired than sarcastic.
I was midway through raising my eyebrows at Auryn when he looked away, troubled by something. With a jolt, I remembered his earlier admission and felt those spiders with trampolines bouncing around in my stomach - and not in a good way.
“I’ve just thought of something Lawrence did, which could have angered someone close to him,” he confessed.
We all looked at him.
He sighed, and for a second, he looked much older than his twenty years of age. “Lawrence has never liked computers. He puts everything he does in a ring binder. Last week, I happened to walk through the office after lunch and found it open on his desk. I don’t know why I read it, but I did. It turned out to be his Last Will and Testament.” He took a deep breath. “Lawrence has always been a wealthy landowner. Whilst my grandad decided to open a zoo with the farm he’d been left, Lawrence inherited a manor house and grounds that he hired out for hunting rights. The family’s investments meant that he never truly had to work, but he chose to work at his friend’s zoo, helping my grandad out, and then my father, and now me. I suppose he’s always been like a second grandad to me,” Auryn admitted. “But I never expected…” He cleared his throat. “He’s leaving all of his money and the estate to me. When he dies, it bypasses his family.” He raised his gaze. “I don’t know if it was his real will, or even the reason for him doing it. I never asked for any of it!” He ran a hand through his blonde hair. “I don’t know why he’d cut his family out.”
“Might someone else have seen the will, too?” The detective asked.
Auryn looked uncertain but then nodded. “At the time, I thought Lawrence himself might have left the folder open for me to see, so I’d know he was valuable to the zoo, or something. I’ve been a little hard
on some of his ideas recently,” he confessed. “After what’s happened, I think it may have been left open because someone else had discovered his secret and wanted Lawrence to know that they knew.” A muscle twitched in his jaw. “And I closed the folder after I’d read it. Lawrence would never have known.”
“Claudia,” I said, and Auryn nodded.
“Claudia Grant is Lawrence’s granddaughter. Lawrence recommended that I employ her, but I really did so because she told me that her family wanted her there to keep an eye on Lawrence and try to persuade him to go back into retirement. He’s old and getting frail. He was only ever supposed to come back for a very short time. Before what happened with my father, he sat on the board of directors, but it was more of a ceremonial position than an actual one. These days, he’s working full time again, whether he’s needed or not,” Auryn said and then looked a little shamefaced. “He’s in hospital now, which is terrible. I hope he’s recovering?”
Detective Treesden looked blank but Officer Kelly’s expression wasn’t as hopeful as I’d have liked.
“Do you think if Ms Grant saw the will, she’d have been angry?” Officer Ernesto asked, in-between taking notes. The detective threw him a withering look for asking such an obvious question.
“Yes. Her family has been completely cut out of their inheritance. It was a ridiculous will,” Auryn said, still shaking his head. “I have no idea why he’d have done it!”
“I think I might,” I said, realising a few things. “When I happened to be working near to Lawrence and Claudia, Lawrence made it pretty clear that he’d recommended Claudia for the financial advisor position so she could get close to Auryn. I think he wanted there to be a union between his family and Auryn’s. In order to encourage the union, perhaps he thought giving you everything would make you more likely to accept Claudia’s advances.”
“Claudia’s after me too?” Auryn said, looking completely baffled.
“Well…” I said, thinking about it. “I think she was, but then Barnaby came along. Unless that was a ploy to make you jealous.” I shook my head. “Women can be confusing.”
“Tell me about it,” Treesden said, completely inappropriately. He looked up, as if startled that he'd said it out loud.
“So, Mr Avery… you believe that Mr O’Reilly had made a will, leaving you absolutely everything. You think one of his family members discovered the contents of the will and has since perhaps attempted to murder Mr O’Reilly,” Detective Treesden summed up.
I was starting to get a bad taste in my mouth.
“Yes, that’s exactly right,” Auryn confirmed.
“I see,” the detective continued. “There’s just one problem with that. If a close relative murdered Mr O’Reilly, they’d have nothing to gain. Everything would still go to you. In fact, the person who would benefit the most from his death would be you, Mr Avery.”
12
A Logical Puzzle
“Auryn stayed late after the meeting, talking to me,” I said.
“We’ve cross-referenced the times with the suspected window in which the fire was started. We believe it happened a while after the meeting had ended. The zoo owner would have known exactly how to get into that office unseen, too,” the detective pointed out.
I felt like tearing my hair out. If it wasn’t one of us, it was the other! I wondered if Detective Treesden could be persuaded to give Auryn and I neighbouring jail cells when he finally snapped and locked us both up.
“But I didn’t do it,” Auryn said, looking baffled.
“I think you still have a lot of investigating to do,” I said, trying to tactfully persuade the police to drop it for now. “At the very least, you’ll need to question Claudia to try to ascertain if she did see the will.”
“Thank you Ms Amos, we know our job,” the detective snapped back.
I bit my tongue to keep from saying something like ‘well, go and do it then!’.
“Excellent, then we’re all agreed,” I said, grabbing Auryn’s arm and steering him out of the foyer and back outside, before the police could think again.
“What just happened?” Auryn asked when we were outside and alone once more.
I shook my head. “They were trying to trip you up. It wouldn’t have worked if you were really a seasoned crook.”
“I just want to run the zoo and make it a success again. I don’t want anything Lawrence is trying to give me.” He looked at me, his grey eyes worried. “Do you really think he did it, just so I’d be guilted into marrying Claudia?”
“I don’t know,” I confessed. “Perhaps there’s more to Lawrence’s family than you know. Families are complicated things.” I remembered who I was talking to and blushed.
“Don’t I know it,” Auryn said with a smile.
We continued walking back through the zoo together for a while, but I was glad when we parted ways. I had a lot to think about, and I wasn’t sure how to behave around Auryn in the meantime.
This is exactly the reason why you’ve always said you should stay friends! the voice in my head complained. I was forced to admit that it was right. But there was also a smaller, quieter voice in my head, which whispered, things could be better than you ever imagined!
I wasn’t sure which voice to trust.
Barnaby waved me over when I walked past the Winter Wonderland the next day
“How’s everything going?” I asked.
“Pretty good, considering there’s been a removal team walking past the entire day.” He pointed to where a couple of the reception staff were hauling a dust covered sofa - I vaguely recognised as belonging in the old restaurant - along the path.
“Where are they relocating to?” I asked. I’d been so busy dealing with theories about the fire, I hadn’t even considered where the staff would go to work. Auryn was clearly one step ahead of me.
“There’s a storage place above the shop where everyone’s moving stuff to. It’s a bit of a nightmare for my team, to be honest, but we’ll make do. As long as we’ve got Christmas spirit, right?” he said and rolled his eyes. “That’s what I keep saying to everyone who complains that this isn’t the cushy Christmas job they signed up for. You won’t believe how whiny Santa gets when he doesn’t have his own private dressing room space anymore.” Barnaby shrugged.
“But things are still going well?” I enquired, bracing myself for the answer. I hadn’t engaged with the visitors to the zoo all day after the funeral.
“The snow actually encouraged people to come here. I think they thought it would look more Christmassy, which it does.” We paused to look at the genuinely snow-crusted trees. They were starting to lose their newer white covering, but the effect was still pretty. “I just hope it doesn’t half-thaw and then freeze. That’s when the trouble will start.” Barnaby tilted his head from side to side. “It’s the nature of the beast. It’s always a gamble running a big event like this in the winter. You never know what the weather will throw at you.” He said it so cheerfully, I felt like reminding him that Avery Zoo had folded a significant amount of money into this, and if it didn’t pay off, the business could be in big trouble.
I decided to let it go, realising that I was feeling a little oversensitive right now.
“Hey, I heard you were involved in the fire?” he said, clearly fishing for gossip.
I hid a smile, privately thinking that Barnaby would fit right in at Avery Zoo.
“I wouldn't say ‘involved’,” I said, wanting to make it clear that I had not had anything to do with what the police now knew to be an arson attack, and likely, attempted murder. “It wasn’t as bad as it looks when you go into the office. It was mostly smoke damage,” I said, deliberately keeping the details vague. The police had asked Auryn and I to keep what they’d shared with us private, and I knew better than to confide in anyone, no matter how trustworthy I thought them. Even saying something aloud could get it picked up and spread around the zoo. I was already on the police’s bad side.
“You were there, thou
gh?” Barnaby pressed.
I nodded. “I saw Lawrence was still inside, so I went in and got him out. It wasn’t a big deal,” I said, but Barnaby looked shocked.
“You’re a hero! Why is no one congratulating you?”
“Thank you,” I said, appreciating someone being impressed by what I now thought might have been a pretty stupid thing to do. “Anyone in the same situation would have done it, I’m sure,” I said, suddenly wanting to downplay it. “Not long to go until Christmas, is there?” I said, deliberately changing the subject back onto more neutral ground.
“Yes… the company boss is going to be here for a day or two from tomorrow. She always checks every single event to make sure it’s up to par.” He pulled a worried face. “Wish me luck!”
“You’ll be fine. I don’t see how anyone could criticise what you’ve achieved,” I said, honestly.
“Oh, believe me, she’ll find a way to,” he said, but he grinned at the same time.
“I know this is a complete change of subject, but I was in a small road accident earlier today, which landed me at the police station to sort out a minor disagreement. I couldn’t help but notice that quite a few zookeepers from here were at the station for questioning. Is there something they know that we don’t?” Barnaby looked curiously at me.
“I have no idea. Who else was there?” I asked.
Barnaby screwed up his face, trying to remember. It was frustrating having someone who didn’t know everyone’s names yet try to describe who’d been there.
In the end, I was very surprised by what he described. I’d been able to figure out that the zookeepers he’d seen were Vanessa, Adam, Ashley, and Leah. Julia, the new fiancée of Harry, had also been there again. I wondered what it all meant.
“Why would they bring in the zookeepers?” I mused aloud, for that was surely what they must be doing. There was no way I could see Vanessa having a problem with Jenna. She was in her sixties and had only ever had a thing for Colin - a zookeeper who’d been tragically killed in the bomb blast during the summer. I didn’t see how she would have any motive for killing Jenna. I’d never even seen her speak to the head of reception! I knew Vanessa pretty well. She had no time for nonsense and even less time for things that weren’t insect or reptile related. It made no sense at all that she would have been brought in.