Chameleons and a Corpse Read online

  When Auryn had contacted Scarlett to ask if she intended to keep the dog, she’d made noises about potentially passing him onto a breeder - who was apparently a very dear and close friend. Fortunately, Auryn was well-versed in animal dealing and had read it for what it was - she wanted money.

  Out of interest, I’d done some research into Scarlett’s underwear firm in the days that had followed Ethan’s arrest. I’d discovered that the merger was indeed her company swallowing up a smaller competitor, and that Scarlett herself was incredibly well-off. It might have seemed greedy for someone of her wealth to ask for money for a dog she didn’t want to keep, but I thought I understood. She had loved Timmy, but he’d given her the runaround. She’d paid him back in kind, but beneath all that they’d played some pretty spiteful games. Selling Rameses was just a final equaliser to match Timmy’s surprising will and the shocking truth it had revealed.

  When Auryn had gone to pick up all of Rameses’ pedigree papers, he’d asked about Lizzie and Will Marsden. To my surprise, Scarlett had informed Auryn that the couple were still going strong. Apparently, Will had been very accepting of the decision Lizzie and Timmy had made at that relatively early time in their lives. And although it hurt him to think of his brother with his now-wife, Will had apparently acknowledged that without the relationship between Timmy and Lizzie, he might never have met her at all. For once, it seemed that true love had found a way.

  “Tiff!” I said, surprised to see my friend standing on my doorstep.

  “Madi!” she said in response and then giggled.

  “Someone’s in a good mood.” I smiled at her.

  “You bet I am! Look!” Tiff thrust out her left hand to show a glittering diamond ring taking pride of place on her ring finger. My stomach seemed to do several somersaults before settling somewhere down by my feet.

  “Is it… Pierce?”

  “No! Of course not,” Tiff frowned. “Did you really think he was the one?”

  “No, well… yes, maybe. But I hoped not. It just struck me as the sort of thing he might do in order to win,” I explained.

  Tiff’s frown deepened. “But you don’t think Detective Gregory would have done the same thing for the same reason?”

  “Detective Gregory asked you to marry him? That’s great!” I said, injecting as much enthusiasm into my voice as I could. Tiff’s expression let me know I was making a mess of it.

  Fortunately, my best friend knew that I only meant well, so she rolled her eyes and walked into the house.

  “I know it’s all a bit sudden, but when you know, you just know. Do you understand?” She looked searchingly at me.

  “I do,” I told her, managing a real smile this time around. “All I want is for you to be happy. I think he’s a good man. I really do.”

  “Thank you,” she said with a smile and then, thank the heavens, she breezed right on back out of the house. “I have to tell my parents. They’re going to be so excited! I’m pretty sure some people will have to pay out! Because they were betting against it ever happening,” she clarified.

  “What? Why would anyone think that?”

  She shrugged. “Some members of my family seem to think I’m some kind of man eater. Roar!” She mimed claws.

  I shook my head. “It’s not your fault you’re amazing.”

  “Oh, you,” Tiff said with a grin before bouncing off full of sunshine and joy.

  I watched her go while my own stomach filled up with butterflies on her behalf. I wanted Tiff to be happy, I really did, but I was also very used to seeing her with a broken heart. I hoped that this incredibly hasty proposal wasn’t just Detective Gregory’s move to get one over my PR and marketing manager. If that's all it was, he was going to be very sorry indeed…

  My phone rang before I could dwell on it anymore. The knot of worry in my stomach grew bigger when I saw Pierce’s name flash up on screen. “Now what?” I muttered, answering the phone.

  “It is with regret that I would like to tender my resignation,” he began. “I hope you are able to find a suitable and good replacement soon, but I am unable to continue to work for you due to unforeseen personal circumstances.”

  “I don’t suppose you mean because you lost out on Tiff?” I asked, bemused.

  “It’s far more complicated than that,” Pierce told me airily. “Anyway, good luck!” And with that, he hung up.

  I silently reflected that it was the first time Pierce hadn’t managed to sell me on him being right. Typical. Now I needed to find someone at least half as talented as Pierce, or my restaurant, and perhaps even the zoo itself, could be dead in the water.

  It was like being stuck in eternal torture. After the last shambles of an interview, I’d changed the criteria to describe someone a lot like Pierce. I’d even upped the salary to his initial requirements, but still the same bunch of inept and uninspiring candidates mooched through the door.

  Worse than that, word must have got out that I conducted interviews personally. Some of the people who’d applied had straight up lied on their applications just so they could get an ‘exclusive interview’ with me. They’d been kicked out as soon as I’d smelled journalism. Right now, it was a toss up between an ex-marketing manager from a high street store, who I knew had no experience of small business marketing, and a very enthusiastic mum who had made her cat a star on instagram.

  I sighed and rested my head in my hands for a moment before pulling myself together and steeling myself for the next candidate. I glanced at the name on the list before walking to the door and opening it. “Joe Harvey, please come in,” I said to the last few remaining people waiting in line.

  A young man with dark hair stood up and followed me into the room. I observed that he possessed the kind of jawline other men would die for and women surely flocked to, before I shut the thought down and remembered I was conducting professional interviews. And who knew? Perhaps this one would be the one.

  I’d been telling myself that for the past ten candidates.

  “Please, take a seat.” I gestured to the chair behind my desk. “I’m Madigan Amos, owner of The Lucky Zoo. But please feel free to call me Madi.” I smiled. It was a little idea I’d thought of to break the ice and make things a little more informal. I wanted to see people at their best, and I knew that nerves often crept in during an interview situation. Having said that, the man opposite the table was watching me with an amused look that somehow reminded me of the way Pierce had seemed to treat everything like a joke. And yet, he’d still managed to alter my opinions and, more importantly, prove his worth by bringing in people and publicity.

  “How about we start with prior experience? What experience do you feel you have that makes you right for this role?” I asked, making sure to continue to smile. The amusement in the man’s striking blue eyes was starting to unnerve me. Whilst he thought about the question, I cast an admiring look in the direction of his dark hair. It was longer than a conventional short back and sides, but he kept it swept back from his face, apart from a few strands that had flopped forwards, like a dark comma above his eyebrows.

  “While I don’t have a degree or even any qualifications in marketing or PR, I do have a fantastic track record.” He flashed his white teeth at me. “If you employ me, you will see my salary come back to you several times over within a year.”

  I felt my ears prick up. Was this man cut from the same cloth as Pierce? He wasn’t quite as devilishly smooth, but I found I was almost willing to take him up on the offer. “Would you mind letting me know more about that fantastic track record?”

  “Sure! I’ve got a lot of experience with international companies who specialise in import and export. Perhaps more relevant to this role, I’m well-versed in marketing unique products that need to be packaged and marketed creatively. I was recently part of a team who launched a new author. She then went on to become a global success.”

  I lifted my head sharply, meeting the striking blue eyes of the man sat opposite me. Then I looked, I really l
ooked at him. For a moment neither of us said anything.

  “Jordan?” I said, almost as a whisper, wondering if I was going crazy. This man had a far more prominent jawline and his cheeks had been filled out, so that those cheekbones I’d once admired were no longer visible. Then there was the hair and the eyes. He'd even bulked out a lot, and I sensed there were more muscles than slenderness beneath the charcoal suit he wore. He looked like a different man.

  Perhaps he was a different man.

  I looked up again, wondering if my most eligible candidate was about to run out of the room shouting about the crazy woman who’d just called him by another name.

  “It’s Joe,” he said, but his smile told a different story.

  I was right. My old literary agent, who was currently wanted by MI5, was sitting across the desk from me.

  The silence stretched on for a few more seconds before he leant forwards and raised his eyebrows. “So… have I got the job?”

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  Books in the Series

  Penguins and Mortal Peril

  The Silence of the Snakes

  Murder is a Monkey’s Game

  Lions and the Living Dead

  The Peacock’s Poison

  A Memory for Murder

  Whales and a Watery Grave

  Chameleons and a Corpse

  Foxes and Fatal Attraction

  Monday’s Murderer

  Prequel: Parrots and Payback

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  Ruby Loren

  Also by Ruby Loren

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  The Leaves of Llewellyn Keep

  The Snow of Severly Castle

  The Frost of Friston Manor

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  HAYLEY ARGENT HORSE MYSTERIES

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  The Starling’s Summer

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  JANUARY CHEVALIER SUPERNATURAL MYSTERIES

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