Penguins and Mortal Peril: Mystery (Madigan Amos Zoo Mysteries Book 1) Read online

I wondered how many of them were dead.

  “Excuse me please,” I said to a passing police officer. She looked harried and her brown hair was flying free from her french plait, but she stopped all the same. “It was a bomb that did this, right?” I asked.

  She bit her lip. “We can’t say so soon, but…” She left it hanging. We’d both seen the casualties carried out with nuts and bolts embedded in them. This was no gas explosion.

  I sat down by the bush where I’d left the kitten and pulled his little carrier onto my lap. I spent a moment checking him, but he was sound asleep, his little belly moving up and down rhythmically. It was only then that I realised he’d probably saved my life, or at the very least, saved me from grievous injury.

  “Pretty Lucky, huh?” I said, and smiled, knowing I’d already found his name.

  I was still smiling when the police officer came over. Fortunately, she must have passed it off as shell shock, as she didn’t comment on my inappropriate facial expression.

  “I’m so sorry to bother you, but we’re talking to all witnesses able to give a statement.” She pointed and I followed her finger to where a group of dusty and disheveled people were sat on the plastic outdoor chairs. They were all staring into space with empty looks of disbelief on their faces. I knew the feeling.

  “Sure,” I said, making my way over with a heavy heart. The ambulances had been coming and going for a while, but the stream had stopped when no one was left inside. I’d overheard one of the medics say that we were lucky the structure of the building had held up, so at least no one had been buried. With the exception of me, I doubted anyone was feeling that lucky right now.

  I nodded to Katrina, one of the receptionists, and she nodded back before returning to her vigil of staring blankly at nothing. My manager, Morgan, sat next to her. His eyes met mine but we stayed silent. Words didn’t seem right. I realised the ringing in my ears had faded to a distant hum, which was something at least.

  I gave my statement. The officer finished writing down everything I’d said about what I’d seen but I felt like it wasn’t enough. He wasn’t asking the right questions.

  “You know what this meeting was about, don’t you?” I said.

  The young officer raised his eyebrows enquiringly.

  “It was looking at ways we could stop the animal rights activists from interfering with the zoo. They’ve been protesting ever since the serval died after eating a poisoned rat. We’ve had a zookeeper die under some pretty suspicious circumstances, a car vandalised, and then a break in, where I think the activists were trying to interfere with animal food supplies to make the zoo look even worse.” I took a breath while the officer scribbled away. It was typical bureaucracy. He probably hadn’t a clue about any of the other cases and how they all connected.

  “And you think this attack has something to do with all of that?” He asked. I saw him immediately bite his tongue afterwards.

  “Yes, I do. I think it’s probably a group of extremists who are responsible. They’re here and they’re willing to kill people in order to close the zoo down.” They might have just succeeded too, I suddenly realised. If they’d managed to take out the head of the board of directors and son of the zoo owner, Erin Avery, they may have achieved their aims.

  I looked around at the ragged bunch of people, but didn’t recognise the blonde hair of Erin Avery, even covered with dust.

  I tried to remember the moments before the bomb had gone off. He’d announced a refreshment break and I remembered him walking out a side door. Had he made it to safety, or had the blast caught him?

  “When will you know more about what happened?” I asked the young officer.

  “We’ve got a team of bomb specialists coming in and we’ll of course be keeping everyone updated.” He looked at me with his serious green eyes. “Don’t you worry, we’ll catch the people who did this,” he said, and by gosh, I thought he probably believed what he was saying.

  I did my best to make my lips curve up and keep the sigh inside.

  They hadn’t figured out what had happened to Ray, uncovered the identity of the car vandals, or caught the two men who’d broken in. What would make this incident any different? All fingers were pointing at the culprits and still they were slipping away.

  A flash of anger burrowed through me when I wondered what damage had been done today. How many were dead? How many were injured? How could anyone profess to love animals and then do something like this to other human beings?

  “It’s a mad world we live in,” I said to the little kitten, who woke up and squeaked his agreement.

  “You can go home now, if you think you’ll be okay getting yourself home?” The officer said, reappearing after conferring with his seniors.

  “I’ll be fine,” I said, suddenly wanting to be anywhere but here. I wanted to get home and jump in the shower to wash away all the filth of the aftermath of the bomb. It wouldn’t be enough. I’d seen so many bad things this evening. I knew they would stick with me for a long time… probably forever.

  I barely noticed the drive home. I was just numb. I knew I’d seen dead bodies, but I had no idea who they were. I was sure by tomorrow, everyone would know the truth.

  I thought about calling around people I knew, but everyone was probably doing the same. I’d already been texted by Tiff, Auryn, Lucy, and Leah, asking if I was okay. I’d replied with the affirmative. Jenna had also texted, but had been asking after juicy details rather than my wellbeing. I hadn’t bothered to respond to that message.

  “You’ve had quite a first day of life, Lucky,” I said to the black and white ball of fluff, who was settled in my hand. I stroked him a few times and then returned him to the warm comfort of the toy duck. Despite all the drama, he seemed just fine.

  Running on autopilot, I sat down at my desk and looked at the blank comic strip in front of me. I’d been in the process of documenting the squirrel monkeys’ adventure but the idea of drawing a caricature of Rich being attacked didn’t seem as hilarious as it had last night.

  I opened up my comic’s web page and posted up a guest comic I had in reserve. That would do to keep the fans happy.

  I tilted my head, remembering I now had fans. It was still so strange to me. I flicked across to my email inbox where another four messages from people who’d read my comic awaited. After a moment’s hesitation, I left them unopened. I felt bad about making people who’d taken the time to write to me wait, but I was done with today. What I needed now was a massive hot chocolate - mostly consisting of cream and marshmallows - and bed.

  After going to all of the trouble to put together the incredibly indulgent hot chocolate therapy, I realised I wasn’t tired anymore. My body had passed through the exhaustion stage and was now running on adrenaline. I sighed as I thought about lying down on the bed and gave it up as a lost cause. Instead, I sat in front of my computer and did something I should have done days ago.

  “Lowell…” I muttered, searching Facebook. It soon came up with a profile that only showed updates going back a couple of months. I raised an eyebrow. Lowell Forrester was looking shadier by the second. I ran a few more searches and came up with nothing, which in this day and age was throwing up all kinds of red flags.

  On the off chance, I copied his profile picture and pasted it into Google. I promised myself this would be the full extent of my snooping. If Tiff could see me now, she’d probably say I was acting like a lovestruck teenager, or professional stalker (similar). I told myself it was nonsense. I was just trying to check he was who he claimed to be, simply because he’d been turning up in the strangest places. Tiff’s voice whispered that perhaps it was because he was doing everything in his power to get close to me. Those foolish thoughts faded away when the image search loaded.

  There was only one match, and it was from this web page that Lowell had so unwisely selected his current Facebook profile picture.

  “Rogers and Riordan Private Detectives, Lowell Adagio,” I read the caption below the picture on
the website. “Well… that explains a lot,” I said aloud. In truth, I was more confused as ever. So Lowell was a private detective. Who had hired him and what had he been hired to investigate?

  “I think Lowell and I need to have a chat,” I said to Lucky, who was hungry again. Hopefully, I was the first person to have tried that Google image search trick. If not, Lowell was probably in serious danger.

  ***

  The zoo was subdued the next morning. The ongoing investigation and the shocking turn of events meant Avery Zoo was closed to the public, but the keepers still had to go in. Animals didn’t stop needing to be cared for when the doors closed to the public. As a result, there was only a skeleton staff working and everyone walked around with heads dipped low, looking solemn. It was only when I found Leah in the staffroom with tears running down her cheeks that I heard the final damage report.

  “Hey, are you okay?” I said, sinking into a grey seat next to her. I awkwardly reached my arm up to rest across her shoulders.

  She blinked tears from her big eyes and rubbed a hand across her cheeks, smudging foundation. “I’m sorry, it’s just so terrible. I can’t believe that Colin is gone. He wasn’t the friendliest keeper here, but he was a character. He was a part of this zoo and now he’s dead… murdered,” Leah said, her voice suddenly filling with anger.

  “Colin’s dead?” I said softly, reeling when I remembered he’d been stood pretty much right next to me in that meeting.

  Leah nodded. “Yeah. Him and two other members of the board. So many people are injured. Vanessa’s got stitches all the way up her arm but she still came in today to look after those stupid insects and slimy things…” A strange laugh bubbled from Leah’s throat and the tears dried up for a second.

  “Have the police arrested anyone yet?” I asked, wondering if Leah had heard any more.

  She shook her head and her irises seemed to grow darker. “No, they haven’t. They say they’re still investigating who might have had a cause to plant the bomb.” She turned to me, her eyes completely dry. “We all know who did it. It’s those activists. They’ve finally gone too far and now people are dead. Why don’t the police care?” She said, and I heard the anger of so many of the zoo’s staff echo in her voice.

  “I’m sure they’ll find the people who did this,” I said, feeling like I was now playing the role of the police officer who’d told me much the same last night. I wasn’t naive enough to truly believe it.

  “Hey guys,” Leah said as Tom, James, and Lucy all walked into the staff room. They sat down near us, no one really saying anything.

  Morgan poked his head around the door and and asked if anyone could cover for Colin, before he became so choked up he talked himself into doing the round himself, to honour the keeper’s memory.

  “Were any of you at the meeting last night?” Tom asked, while Lucy went off to get everyone teas and coffees. The animals were having to wait a little longer for their breakfasts this morning. I glanced down at Lucky’s carrier, but he was sound asleep, and no one was in any shape to notice the little kitten inside.

  When I looked up again, the other keepers were shaking their heads.

  “I think only Vanessa and Colin were there. They usually like to have a say,” Leah said, smiling sadly.

  “I was there too, but I arrived late and then ducked out to get some fresh air right before the blast,” I said. Everyone stared at me. I self-consciously rubbed the cuts on my forearms that the glass had caused.

  “Wow, Madi! You sure are queen of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. First you find Ray, then you walk in on those people breaking in when it’s not even feeding time, and now you almost got blown up,” Tom said, shaking his sandy head. “How unlucky can you get?”

  “I don’t know, I’m still here, aren’t I?” I said, trying to put on a brave face.

  In truth, I was rattled. Colin had been right there. He’d been right there! It was not a stretch to put myself in his position. Although no one should have died at all! I furiously reminded myself, redirecting my feelings towards the perpetrators of the crime.

  “I really hope they find whoever did it,” Leah said, speaking for us all.

  “Did you hear? Erin Avery got away without so much as a scratch. He left for the bathroom right before the bomb blast and the walls protected him,” Lucy said.

  That must have been why he called the break - he needed the loo, I thought. Erin Avery was probably counting his lucky stars right now, same as I was.

  ***

  The unusual quietness of the weekday made it drag on and the few people that were working at the zoo that day seemed to be avoiding each other. We all needed our space to process the terrible thing that had happened.

  I’d thought that the press would be knocking down the door as early as that morning, but somehow, it was being kept quiet. The only report I’d seen in the local paper was that the zoo was shut today due to an incident, but that was the only detail. It didn’t mention what was essentially a terrorist attack that had stolen lives. I wondered just how long they could sit on the news before it exploded.

  I winced.

  Not the best choice of words, even to think.

  Lucky was doing just fine in his carrier, so I decided to check on his brothers and sisters. The mother cat was in the same place and everyone looked healthy. There’d probably been bedlam when the cats had heard the blast, but I saw no lasting effects. I was glad that the restaurant was way over the other side of the zoo, so there was no chance of emergency services coming here.

  I took a few moments out to sit on a hay bale. There was less to do than normal because the public weren’t around and I needed some time to reflect. There were so many thoughts swirling around in my head, I knew I had to put a few in order. I was sure there was important information right in front of me that I wasn’t seeing. The answers were there, I just needed to open my eyes.

  My thoughts drifted to Lowell and his secret. The builders weren’t working today and I wondered what he was up to right now. Did he know who was behind the attacks? Had he been hired to find out who murdered Ray, or was his job to take down the animal rights extremists?

  With everything else that happened, it was obvious Ray's death was no tragic accident. But even with that knowledge, I was still no closer to figuring out why anyone would specifically go after the penguin keeper. Had his death merely been opportunism, or had he known something that had meant he’d had to die? Perhaps he’d known who was working for the activists inside the zoo…

  Alison Rowley and her suspiciously comprehensive knowledge of animals popped into my head. Yes, she’d saved my bacon when I’d needed help catching the squirrel monkeys, but I didn’t think I’d be able to forgive her if she was a part of the bomb plot. Was it as I suspected, and she was currently working as an inside woman for the activists? I chewed my lip, knowing I should probably go to the police with a piece of information like that. The thing was, I still wanted to give her a chance. It was nuts, but I thought I’d try and question her myself before getting the police involved. Even if she was an activist, I knew better than to tar them all with the same brush. She may not be an extremist.

  It was a complicated situation that seemed to be spiralling further and further out of control.

  ***

  I was in the bat enclosure again when Auryn found me. I’d been observing Amelie, the bat who’d been acting strangely recently, and I now wasn’t so sure everything was okay. She didn’t seem to be gripping the branches as dextrously as her kin, and her coat definitely lacked lustre.

  I was on the verge of climbing over the fence for a closer look when the plastic flaps parted.

  “Hey Madi, are you okay? I’m so sorry you were there when it happened,” Auryn said, and suddenly looked sheepish. “I know I said I was going. I was going to turn up before the end… I just thought the first half would be my dad’s usual waffle.”

  “I’m glad you missed the action,” I said to him, finding it comfort
ing to see his golden face unmarred by shrapnel. “Is your dad okay?” I asked while Auryn bent down and examined Lucky’s carrier. I smiled to myself, secretly pleased that he was so observant. It boded well for his ambitions to become a zookeeper.

  “There’s a kitten in there!” He said, and tilted his head in a ‘may I?’ gesture. I nodded and he gently scooped up the sleeping kitten.

  “One of the feral cats rejected him, so I took him in. He started crying for food about ten seconds before the bomb exploded. That was why I was outside when it happened,” I told him.

  He turned white.

  “I didn’t realise you were that close to it.”

  “I had a lucky escape, thanks to Lucky here,” I said, but my smile was wan. The disaster hung heavy in the air.

  Auryn returned Lucky to his carrier and the kitten continued to snuffle in what passed for a tiny snore.

  He lowered his grey eyes to meet mine, giving me a look so serious it made him appear far older than his nineteen years. “If anything happened to you, Madi, I don’t know what I’d do.”

  “Oh, Auryn, I’m okay. I just wish nobody had got hurt at all,” I said, feeling a lump in my throat as I thought about poor old Colin. It made what happened to his car seem like nothing at all.

  “I just never want to lose you,” Auryn said. I looked back up at him in time to see him leaning forwards.

  The next second we were kissing.

  I froze up for a moment when his lips pressed against mine, hard and urgent, and then softening as I melted into the kiss, willing myself to forget everything else that had happened. Something tapped away at the back of my mind until I pulled away. He gave me a confused look and I blushed, knowing I was probably well on my way to looking like a blonde beetroot.

  “Auryn, I really like you and I think you’re great but this is just a reaction to the scary events that have happened,” I said, playing the part of the rational adult.