by Ruby Loren
Throughout the day, I’d thought about trying to talk to Tiff, but she’d said she needed time to think, and I knew I should give it to her.
A star twinkled far away in the distance. I silently wished she could find a way to be my friend again.
“Not going for pizza?” Auryn said, walking up and leaning against the reindeer’s fence in the heart of the Winter Wonderland.
I smiled. “Shocking, isn’t it?” I said, referring to my rare decision to turn down food. “How did you know I was here?”
“I saw you walk in from my office window. I was up there grabbing some bits.” He looked amused. “When we were up there earlier to carry some stuff across, I completely forgot to ask you to actually take anything.”
“To be fair, we did think the murderer had returned to go through Jenna’s stuff, or set another fire,” I said.
Now that was something! The fire looked like it had been aimed at Lawrence, and used to frame Lawrence at the same time… but could it be that the person who’d set it had really wanted to destroy Jenna’s stuff?
I thought about it some more and concluded it wasn’t likely. Otherwise, they could have gone through it themselves and taken whatever they needed. If Lawrence had been asleep in the office, they’d have had ample opportunity to take something without anyone ever knowing.
Unless they couldn’t find it, but thought it might still be hidden somewhere they hadn’t looked, my mind whispered and I started to wonder.
“When do you think all of this will be over?” I said, tired of overthinking everything that had happened.
“I don’t know. But I hope the answer is one day. That’s better than never.”
We looked up at the stars in silence for a few moments more. I shivered in the sudden drop in temperature. The frost was already starting to form. Inside their enclosure, the reindeer browsed on the hay they’d been left. It really did feel like we were out in the middle of the woods, somewhere remote, rather than at the heart of Avery Zoo.
Almost as one, our eyes moved down from the stars and the trees, until we were looking at each other. I felt the same pull I’d experienced that day after the funeral when we’d been at the barn, looking over the snowy fields.
This time, if anything, it was stronger.
I looked away, trying to break the moment, but the next second, I felt Auryn wrap an arm around my shoulders.
“You’re freezing,” he commented and I gave in, embracing Auryn and enjoying the sensation of being enveloped in warmth by someone I thought might actually truly love me.
We stood for an age, just being near to one another. I wondered if this could be it, the person that everyone waits for their whole life. Had I been ignoring what was right for me all along, simply because I’d thought it would be easier?
I laughed a little and Auryn pulled back, looking surprised.
I opened my mouth to explain my thoughts and then shut it again, choosing to show him instead. I leant forwards and kissed him, meaning it with every fibre of my being.
Auryn was not a mistake.
15
Elves Behaving Badly
I went to bed that night feeling a little warm glow I hadn’t expected to feel after the day I’d had. I knew I was still giddy because of the kiss I’d shared with Auryn - a kiss that had felt more ‘right’ than a kiss had ever felt before - but I thought there was more to it than that. I wasn’t sure why, but I thought things might be changing for the better.
“What do you think, Lucky?” I said, angling the screen of my laptop towards him, so he could view my sketches of his own recent escapes, including the bad choice he’d made, getting too close to a cow.
I looked at my cat, who wasn’t as little as he’d once been. “Maybe I should take you to the zoo again,” I said aloud. Lucky jumped onto my lap and tried to rub up underneath my chin.
I grinned. “Only if you promise not to chase the peacocks this time… unless I ask you to,” I added. Having a guard cat might not be a bad idea!
My phone buzzed and I was surprised to see a text from Tiff. I held my breath when I opened it.
Sorry about today. Can I see you tomorrow? :) xx
I raised my eyebrows at the text. My first thought was that it was some kind of trick, but Tiff would never do a thing like that. Was she really thinking of forgiving me? I sent a text back saying that I’d love to see her tomorrow and toyed with the idea of adding a smiley face. I decided not to. I was the penitent friend, hoping to get back into her good books. A smiley face was not something to send right now.
“All’s well that ends well,” I said to Lucky, surprised that things were already looking up. I was meeting with my best friend tomorrow and hopefully, with a bit of luck, she might have decided to let me continue calling her that.
“You know what you did was bad, don’t you?” Tiff said to me.
I nodded, shamefacedly.
We were both holding the rather fancy hot chocolates I’d put together. Knowing we were having this meeting, I’d brought extra supplies along, including toffee pieces and chocolate flakes. When Tiff had laughed at my offerings, I’d known we were on our way to recovery. It had nearly been enough to make me give her my flake.
Nearly.
“I’m so sorry, Tiff. I was an idiot and a bad friend.”
She grinned. “Yes, you were, but…” she looked thoughtfully at me for a moment “…perhaps it’s the way it was always supposed to be. I just managed to get in-between something that was supposed to happen.”
I blushed under her scrutiny. “I still don’t know…” I began, but Tiff flicked a blob of cream at me. It landed on my glasses.
“Hush, no more talk about it. I know what you’re like! You always overthink everything, and I am still very angry at you,” she said - fortunately not meaning it in the slightest.
“I have some interesting news,” she said, moving closer and looking around. Luckily, there was no one else in the staffroom. We were having our coffee break a little later than usual, due to Tiff getting caught up in a Christmas order catastrophe. The long story short was that an over-ordering error meant that they had hundreds of rather inappropriate leopard and zebra print wearing ‘naughty elves’ when Tiff had only wanted a sample. She claimed they were the most horrible things she’d ever seen.
“Apparently, right after everyone finished having pizza last night, Julia went outside with Harry and they had a shouting match in the middle of the car park. I think being constantly dragged in for questioning must have got to them. Either Julia’s been told Harry was with Jenna not so long ago, or she’s figured out that much herself.” Tiff tilted her head at me. “Perhaps she thinks Harry might really have done it.”
“Perhaps he thinks she did it,” I batted back.
“Who knows? From what I heard, Julia was the one who decided they needed to have a break. I think that would move the focus onto Harry. But, if he did poison Jenna to keep her quiet about his cheating, it’s backfired.”
I screwed my face up, trying to picture it. I wasn’t close to Harry by any means, but something about the idea of him being the killer didn’t feel right. I knew he had a reputation for having a temper. All the same, if he had killed Jenna, I honestly couldn’t see him being smart enough to do it the way she had been murdered. Poison was subtle, and Harry was not.
“This is driving me mad,” I said.
“Me too,” Tiff agreed. “It feels like the police aren’t doing anything! We haven’t even seen them here for a few days.”
“I know I said I wouldn’t get involved, but how about we just talk through what happened? You never know, it could show us something useful.”
Tiff nodded. “We have hot chocolate and…” she glanced at her phone “…about ten minutes before I have to hear the word ‘leopard print elf’ again. Let’s use it wisely!”
“Practically the whole zoo was there on the night she died,” I began. “If we assume it was the zoo’s rat poison that was used, we can discount
anyone who wasn’t here in the summer when the serval died. After Erin Avery was arrested, it was hushed up pretty quickly.”
Surprisingly, that was more people out of the running than I’d expected. A big shake up of zoo personnel had happened around that time. The familiar faces I now found myself looking at were not sitting comfortably with me. “It could also be a caretaker,” I added, hoping to widen things a little bit. “They’d know what was in those sheds.”
“Is anyone springing to mind?” Tiff asked.
I shook my head. “So far, Harry’s the only one who appears in any way suspicious and fits the criteria.” I bit my lip and thought back to Jenna’s stalker, the one who’d bothered her on Tinder. “It’s too bad the police never found out the identity of the person sending her those weird, obsessive messages. I heard that they were using a fake profile with fake pictures and had spoofed their IP address.”
“So, it could have been one of the zoo staff who’d become unhinged,” Tiff allowed.
“Someone who is otherwise hiding it very well and was smart enough to plan the whole thing meticulously.” I rubbed my temples, feeling pressure building there.
“What about the scene of the crime?” Tiff said, a little more hesitantly.
I sighed. “Jenna was lying on the floor. Her tights and underwear were thrown around, as was her necklace,” I recounted. “It looked like she’d been in the middle of something when she’d just… died,” I finished feeling ill at the thought.
“Her necklace was off?” Tiff frowned a little.
“Hmmm, yes, that is a bit weird,” I admitted. During the time we’d known Jenna, she’d never taken that locket off. I still wasn’t sure what it contained, but I couldn’t think of a time when she hadn’t had it on, so it was obviously precious to her. That definitely didn’t jibe with her leaving it slung over the end of a banister.
“Do you think someone made her take it off?” Tiff asked and I didn’t think she meant it in a fun way, either.
I shook my head. “I don’t know. Maybe it was done after she died. I still don’t even know why anyone would kill her. Did someone poison her and then have their fun with her, too? Or is that just what we’re supposed to think? That she was killed because she liked men too much, and finally picked the wrong one…”
Tiff echoed my head shake with one of her own. “Poor Jenna. She was never as confident as she liked to pretend. Gossip was her way of making sure she stayed relevant and that people found her interesting. Gaining the admiration of men was another way to further validate that she was attractive.” Tiff sighed. “It’s such a shame that she steeped so much of her self-worth in the opinions of others.”
“And one of them used it against her,” I finished.
16
Nightmare Before Christmas
Claudia glared at me whilst managing to smile and laugh at Barnaby in the next second. Whilst I admired her ability to multi-task so efficiently, I still found it tiresome that she seemed to think we were permanently in competition. I smiled to myself, remembering that if I chose to, I could be out of the race.
This time, I had a feeling it might be for good…
I was forced to stuff the happy thoughts deep inside, lest my dreamy expression was misinterpreted when Barnaby walked towards me with a fuming Claudia in tow.
“Well done for yesterday. I didn’t get a chance to thank you for all the hard work you put in,” he said.
“It was a team effort,” I said, nodding to Claudia in turn. The dark-haired woman turned away in disgust. Well, it had been worth a shot.
“Madi, I heard you might be clearing Jenna’s house out soon?” Barnaby said, and I confirmed it. “It’s a bit of a strange request, but I think you may find a video with me on it.”
He must have seen my sudden change of expression because he laughed. “Not that kind of video, although, I did hear…” He cleared his throat.
“Rumours spread around here,” I said, letting him off.
“I sent Jenna a promo video for the events company because she was getting her interns to post about White Trees on social media, and I wanted her to get the wording, and so on, right. It’s silly, but my computer at home crashed a few days ago, and I’ve suddenly realised I don’t have a copy of it.” He sighed and shrugged. “I’ve resigned myself to the probability that I’ll have to record it again, but you never know. Perhaps it will still be in her emails, or something.”
I assured him I’d keep an eye out, if, and when, we were asked to sort out her apartment. I knew that Auryn had offered, but all had been quiet from her parents for a few days. I wasn’t even sure if they were still staying locally, or had gone back to their retirement home.
“Thanks Madi, you’ll be saving me if you do find it. Sara will kill me if it’s gone.” He pulled a panicked face and I smiled.
“Is Sara still around?”
“Yes, that’s actually why I have Claudia here with me. We were going to go over all of the projected and current finances, before she moves on to bother the other events teams.” He raised his dark eyebrows.
“I’d better let you two get on then,” I said, politely backing away.
Claudia’s gaze had got to the point where I worried I might be about to spontaneously combust at any moment. I thought Barnaby looked a little disappointed that I was leaving him with Claudia, but I was not going to get between anyone else.
I walked back through the zoo, instinctively sticking to the fences when I passed the patrolling peacocks. It was second nature these days. I was on my way to check on Lucky. I’d brought the little cat with me to the zoo today. Earlier this morning, I’d walked him out the back to see the cat barn. I’d undone his leash and let him loose, backing off to a safe distance, ready to dive back in if he needed help. I knew feral cats operated on a scent basis and there was every chance they might reject him as not fitting in. However, I also knew new cats joined the group of cats at the zoo all the time, and part of me had wondered…
I sighed as I walked further into the zoo.
Part of me had wondered if Lucky might be happier as a quasi-feral cat, just as his mother was. From my safe distance away, I’d seen the cats cautiously come out to meet the new arrival and had watched as Lucky had behaved even more cautiously. Even more fascinating was when his brothers and sisters had appeared. A second later, they’d sniffed each other out and were playing together! I’d taken it as my cue to leave but had resolved to return later to see what Lucky’s feelings were. If he decided that this was where he wanted to stay, I would respect that.
If you love something let it go, I reminded myself as I walked around the corner of the staff area and continued until I was out the back of the zoo. I quickened my pace a little, suddenly fearing that the cats had turned on him when I’d gone, although that wouldn’t have been logical. Lucky had been neutered, and I’d watched him get accepted. He wasn’t a threat to anyone.
I rounded the corner of the cat barn and there was the same old rush of movement as the cats scattered and hid. I’d hoped to see Lucky sitting there waiting, but he was nowhere to be seen.
So that was his decision.
I bit my lip, remembering I’d left his harness on. I would have to find him again, but I was sure it could wait a little longer. I’d just have to come back at the end of the day.
I turned to walk back to the zoo and heard a familiar meowing sound. Lucky was trotting through the long grass towards me. He sped up and in a flying leap, was on my shoulder, rubbing his head against my face.
“Oh, Lucky. I would never leave you if you didn’t want me to,” I said, feeling overcome with emotion.
Until I smelled it.
“Have you been getting too close to cows again?” I said, taking a tentative sniff. The smell only got stronger. I realised that Lucky was caked in cowpat, and he’d just done his best to wipe most of it off onto my cheek.
“You little horror!” I told him, pushing him off my shoulder. It was too late, the damage was
already done.
Lucky swirled around my ankles, deliberately making it worse. “What did I ever do to deserve you?” I complained and walked back towards the zoo. Lucky trotted along by my side, firmly establishing himself as my partner for life. If he could have spoken, I was certain he’d be saying something like ‘you couldn’t get rid of me if you tried!’.
In spite of my cowpat-caked cheek, I smiled.
I’d only just cleaned my face up and pulled out my last set of emergency clothing from my locker when Harry steamed across the room towards me. I turned around to look behind me, but was forced to conclude that his war path was leading him straight to me.
“You ruined my relationship!”
I looked around. No, he was definitely talking to me.
“I’m… sorry?” I said.
“You! You were the one who told the police that I’d been seeing Jenna and Julia at the same time. We were engaged. It was perfect! Auryn had given me his blessing to propose at the celebration of life party. He thought it would cheer everyone up and now… ruined.” He shook his head. “All because you couldn’t keep your lying mouth shut.”
I did a bit of rapid blinking. I didn’t even know Harry other than by name and sight! “I didn’t tell the police anything of the sort. If you were seeing both women at the same time, then you probably should have been honest about it a long time ago.” I bit my tongue as soon as I said it. Great idea, antagonise the man who was still my prime suspect for Jenna’s murder!
“You must have been the one. I’ve seen you talking to the police all the time. You’re great pals, aren’t you?” he hissed, taking a threatening step forwards.