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

  “Madi, this is Alison Rowley. She’s going to be helping out in the shop and everywhere else this summer,” Tiff said with a smile.

  I extended my hand and the other girl shook it with a shy smile. We made eye contact and I immediately got the sense that this was someone I would get on with. “It’s nice to meet you. So you’re a summer odd job worker?”

  She nodded. “That’s me! I need to get some cash together. Trips to Thailand don’t fund themselves,” she said, raising her dark eyebrows.

  “How are the fennecs doing? I’m guessing they’re up to see what’s going on in their enclosure, given that they’re usually nocturnal.”

  “They are rather curious,” I admitted, looking back at the three pairs of giant ears that could be seen poking out behind an artificial dune I’d just re-dug.

  “Are those the mated pair?” Alison asked and I nodded. The third, smaller fox hopped along behind them. “That must be a pup, but he looks pretty old. How come you decided to let him stay? I know in the wild they sometimes stay together, but couldn’t it bring problems in a zoo?”

  “We’re seeing how it goes, actually. As they’re a mated pair, he’s not exactly a threat and no other zoo wants to involve him in their breeding programme, due to a little defect you might have noticed. See the way he hops along? It’s because he was born with one leg significantly shorter than the other three,” I explained.

  I tilted my head at Alison, taking in her rather tatty jeans with the rainbow ribbon pinned to a safety pin adorning the side seam. She may only be doing odd jobs, but she’d need to be careful or she’d have one of the managers on at her case about dress code.

  “You’re a fan of fennec foxes then?” I asked and to my surprise her cheeks turned pink.

  “Yeah, I just like animals, I guess,” she said with a shrug and turned back to Tiff, who’d been busy texting whilst we’d had the conversation.

  “Oh, yeah I guess our break is over. Nice seeing you Madi!” Tiff said, whisking Alison away with her. I watched them go with slightly narrowed eyes. I found myself wanting to like Alison, which was probably why Tiff had bothered to introduce us in the first place, but there was also something a little off about her. If she had that much animal knowledge bursting out at the seams, why was she content to just take a summer ‘odd job’ role? Her claim that she was saving for a trip to Thailand also seemed a little fishy. Perhaps I was stereotyping, but she didn’t behave like your average adventure seeking ‘Instagram girl’, who thought Thailand was the exotic location to be.

  I shook my head. Perhaps I was just being paranoid, but Alison’s in depth knowledge of animals did make me wonder. I frowned as I walked to do my next job. I hoped the zoo's screening policy was up to scratch. Of one thing I was sure, I was going to keep a close eye on Alison Rowley.

  “Madi! How’s it going?”

  I turned to see Tom climb out of the squirrel monkeys’ enclosure.

  “Good, thanks,” I said, mystified as to why he was speaking to me. The only words Tom and I usually exchanged were words of disagreement.

  “I never got a chance to say when I saw you the other day, tough break finding Ray.” He pulled what I assumed was his attempt at a sympathetic expression. It wasn’t pretty.

  One hand went to his thick thatch of sandy hair and he ruffled it unconsciously. I waited for him to speak, figuring there must be some favour he needed.

  “Hey, uh, you’re looking good at the moment, Madi. I was wondering if you fancied going and getting dinner sometime?” He asked, his blue eyes deadly serious.

  I made a small choking noise and did my best to stamp on the urge to laugh.

  What on earth was he thinking? We’d spent the last two years arguing over the various changes and additions to the zoo and now he wanted to take me out on a date?

  I suddenly realised that Tom was still staring at me, waiting for a response. “It was nice of you to ask, but no thank you,” I said, hoping that would be the end of it.

  “Oh, you already got someone else in your life then? No one from the zoo, right?” He said, and I fought the urge to roll my eyes. I hated men who assumed that when you turned them down it couldn’t possibly be because you weren’t interested in them. It had to be because some other guy had got there first.

  “No, I just don’t want to go for dinner,” I said, keeping my voice as light as I could. “By the way, you might want to trim that clematis. It’s getting pretty close to the squirrel monkey enclosure.” I nodded to the twisting tendrils of plant that were escaping the trellis on the side of the bridge that ran across the wide stretch of water which marked the squirrel monkeys’ enclosure boundary on the west side. The plant had started to creep across the wood panelling towards the monkeys.

  “Looks okay to me,” he said with a shrug and threw me a final unreadable look before striding away.

  Now I really did roll my eyes. That was Tom through and through - he’d never take any advice you tried to give him.

  I thought about that look he’d given me and figured it was disbelief, plain and simple. He couldn’t believe that someone like me had dared to turn someone like him down.

  I snorted. “Proves it was the right decision,” I said to myself, but I hadn’t even been tempted. The most mystifying thing was why he’d even thought to ask in the first place. I’d assumed we had a respectful mutual deep dislike thing going on. I shrugged it off and decided to get back to work.

  The next stop was the still-miserable capybaras. I’d filled some rubber toys with treats. The balls needed to pushed around to get the treats to fall out and I was hoping it might distract them from their less than salubrious surroundings - at least for an hour or so.

  ***

  I’d just finished giving a talk to the public about the zoo’s echidnas when I saw the new builder, Lowell, walk by. Having finished up, I thanked my audience and walked off in the direction he’d been going. It wasn’t long before I had to conclude I’d lost him and I wondered why I’d even considered following him in the first place. It was day time and he was supposed to be working. What reason did I have to suspect he was up to something?

  I shrugged off my worries and pushed open the gate between the giant anteater enclosure and the wallabies, that led to the intricate behind-the-scenes passages used by zoo staff. I was on my way to the food store when I heard male voices, deep in conversation. They were from the back entrance of the bat exhibit.

  I took a step towards the door and hesitated, realising I didn’t have a good reason to be going that way, as I’d only fed the bats half an hour ago. Unfortunately, it was at that moment the door swung open and Lowell stepped out.

  We stared at each other in surprise.

  “You startled me. I was just popping in to check that Binky had her dinner. She hasn’t been eating for a couple of days,” I invented, quickly realising I was over explaining. The man in front of me just kept on looking with his intense, dark eyes.

  Then, to my surprise, Mr Avery senior walked through the door after Lowell. I tried not to change my facial expression as I realised it had been these two men I’d heard talking just now. I wished I’d been able to catch the words, but all I’d heard were two voices speaking in the serious undertone you used when you didn’t want anyone to overhear you.

  “Mr Avery, Sir, it’s very nice to see you,” I said, giving the owner of the zoo his due respect. The old man nodded back and said hello in a vacant way that proved he had absolutely no clue who I was. Then he walked away, leaving me alone with Lowell.

  We looked at each other for another long beat before turning and walking off in opposite directions.

  My mind was racing as I went through the motions of the tasks I had planned for the remainder of the day. What was a rookie builder doing talking with the owner of the zoo? Perhaps I could have justified it if it were Rich, the leader of the gang, but Lowell was the new guy. I couldn’t think of any business he might have with Mr Avery senior. Come to think of it, I wasn’t too su
re what business Mr Avery himself had being at the zoo. He was still the registered owner, but he’d handed the control of the day-to-day running over to his son, Erin Avery, a long time ago. Erin now sat as the head of the board of directors.

  I struggled to piece together a logical reason for the two unlikely men to be together and I could only think of something that would surely raise an eyebrow or two, if it ever got out.

  My mind replayed the intense look that Lowell had given me and I found, to my surprise, that I wasn’t sure if I wanted to believe what the facts appeared to suggest.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Cat Burglars

  The posters appeared just in time for the weekend.

  I had felt like I was holding my breath all through the week after what had happened to Colin’s car, but absolutely nothing had happened. When I’d walked past the group of protesters, I’d even noticed that their number had diminished.

  As it turned out, that was probably because half of them were busy putting together their next dirty trick.

  I saw my first poster when I exited the giant anteater enclosure. A piece of blue, A4 paper was being blown about by the breeze and landed facedown on the floor in front of me. I picked it up and read the headline.

  CONDEMN the Avery animal MURDERERS!

  I skimmed my eyes over the obviously hastily prepared poster. It cited the recent death of the serval, the zoo’s employing of one Colin Campbell, a known villain of the dairy industry, and…

  My eyebrows rose in disbelief. They were claiming that Ray Myers’ death in the penguin pool was a clear sign that the zoo was abusing animals, as his incompetence must have got him killed.

  Well! I was about to crumple the nasty piece of paper up when I read the call to action at the bottom of the page. It was pushing for all zoo workers to turn their managers in and reveal the dark truth of what was really going on at Avery Zoo. I frowned. That was a little more interesting. I’d assumed that this poster was intended to shock the general public but it was infinitely sneakier than that. They were trying to pull us apart from the inside by making everyone question who could be trusted.

  I closed my eyes and realised their plan might actually succeed. The volunteers were already furious about the managements’ handling of their private social media conversations. It wouldn’t take much to drive a wedge in when one was already in place.

  I crumpled the paper into a ball and pushed it into the nearest bin. A flash of blue caught my eye and I spied another poster taped to the meerkats’ enclosure. I tore it down but my eyes were attuned to the colour now and I began seeing them everywhere. The protestors must have found someone to pretend to be a visitor and then plaster the zoo with posters. They’d done it just after opening time, while half the staff were admittedly, still waking up.

  I shook my head and wondered if there would be repercussions for this. There was CCTV within the zoo, although it didn’t cover every space, otherwise the police would know the identity of whoever was helping Ray in the penguin enclosure. I frowned as I suddenly realised it probably wasn’t just by chance that they’d known where the blind spots were, but the more I thought about it, the more likely it seemed to me that it was someone he knew who had done it. They’d had to get close enough to him to either drop, or swing the sledgehammer - depending whether you subscribed to the ‘accidental death but too scared to admit to it’ theory, or murder. They’d also known where the light switches were to turn the lights off when they left and they’d done so out of habit. So where did that leave the theory about the animal rights peoples’ involvement? Perhaps Ray’s death was completely unrelated.

  I shook my head again and started pulling down the posters, feeling sorry for both Colin and Ray Myers’ memory. All Colin was guilty of, was working in the dairy industry and daring to prosecute a group of activists who had broken into his farm with the misguided intention of freeing the cows. They’d let them loose and they’d promptly run onto a motorway, killing both cows and motorists. It was a terrible tragedy which had resulted in lengthy prosecutions for the perpetrators. It had somehow turned Colin into animal rights public enemy number one, for daring to seek justice.

  People were going to be very angry when they found these posters. Tensions were already running high at the zoo, with wild theories flying around about how far the activists were willing to go for their cause. The police had so far failed to share any progress on Ray’s case and I suspected it would be the same story with this new incident. The animal rights group would have found a stranger and paid them to do their dirty work. Their face on CCTV would mean nothing and the group would gleefully deny any involvement.

  I crumpled up my tenth poster and binned it, nodding to members of the shop team who I saw doing the same. A death, a vandalised car, and now these hate posters… something was bubbling away at the zoo and I didn’t think it would be long before the pot spilled over.

  ***

  Beams of late afternoon sunshine sliced through gaps between wooden slats, illuminating thousands of tiny dust particles in the barn. I stopped poking my head around the corner and risked a silent step forwards. At least… it had seemed silent to me. There was the usual flurry of activity as the feral cats retreated behind their bales.

  “Come on, it’s not as if I’m the one who is responsible for making sure you get fed and survive! Oh. Wait.” I muttered, as I rounded the corner carrying a fresh bowl of cat food.

  Not all of the cats had fled. That was because one of them wasn’t able to do much running at the minute.

  “My, my, you are pregnant!” I said, placing the bowl down and dashing over to the rotund black cat. It did its best to slink away at top speed, but top speed wasn’t much at the moment, so I was able to untie the sweater from my waist and nab her.

  Once four of the five pointy ends were safely encased in the sweater (which I very much doubted would ever be the same again) I gently felt her tummy and noted the movement within. I was no vet by any means, but I thought I felt four separate moving lumps. While I did this, the black cat actually settled down and sat still, albeit in a sulk. I risked a stroke of the head and was tolerated. A second later I heard a purr and the cat and I stared at one another.

  “How embarrassing for you,” I said, releasing the cat’s legs from captivity and letting her slink off into the shadows again. I wasn’t fooled. Much as this cat coveted the feral lifestyle, I suspected I actually had a disgruntled ex-pet on my hands.

  “Well, I won’t take you back, but I’ll keep checking to make sure you and the kids are doing okay,” I said, figuring she would probably give birth in the next 48 hours. Again, I was no vet, but she looked really fat. I sucked my cheeks in and reflected that judgements like this one were the reason why I was never invited to baby showers.

  I was smiling when I walked back out into the sunshine. I strolled along the slim pathway I’d worn in the grass from my regular trips to visit the cats, attention fixed on the blue sky and not the gaggle of sheds and outbuildings that stood opposite the entrance to the main storage warehouse.

  That was why I didn’t see who grabbed me.

  I was yanked backwards into the dark interior of one of the sheds. The door swung shut and I struggled against the vice-like grip on my shoulders. I blindly swung an elbow behind me and was rewarded with a grunt of pain as I made contact with… well, I wan’t sure, but I hoped it was something vital. The grip loosened for a second and I lurched forwards, only for my attacker to follow the movement. I ended up facedown on the floor with their full weight pressing down on top of me.

  “Stop fighting me or you’re going to get us both killed,” a man’s voice hissed. I recognised it, but what I was more familiar with was the smell of sage and sea salt that I’d noticed followed in Lowell’s wake.

  “What are you talking about? And what the hell are you doing here on a Saturday?” I hissed back, erring on the side of caution with a whisper. He covered my mouth with a hand but before I could bite him to show him just
how much I appreciated that, we both heard the sound of breaking glass. The light from beneath the door illuminated his dark eyes and I inclined my head to let him know he could let go. We both wriggled on our stomachs, until our heads were right next to the wooden door. It had a gap of two inches or so between the slats and the dirt floor. I ignored the pain coming from several points of my body, caused by the struggle. Instead, I focused on what I could see through the narrow gap.

  Two men wearing balaclavas over their otherwise innocuous jeans and long-sleeved black tops were looking around them - probably waiting to see if anyone was coming to check out the noise. I tried not to groan in frustration, knowing that while this was an area with a CCTV camera pointing directly at the door, the men’s disguises demonstrated they had known it would be. I wondered if they also somehow knew that none of the zoo’s cameras had a live feed. They were only there for insurance purposes, in case footage needed checking after an event had occurred.

  They must have walked across the fields. That’s the only way no one would have spotted them, I thought.

  I watched as one of the men reached a hand through the shattered side window and stretched. He was struggling to reach the deadbolt inside that kept the door shut. The other guy held a plastic bag full of… something. It looked like white powder.

  “What is that?” I whispered to Lowell, figuring the men were pretty well occupied right now.

  “I’m not sure, but I think they’re going to try and poison the food. I’ve heard about it happening before, although it’s pretty extreme tactics,” he said.

  “Killing animals in order to make the zoo look like they’re responsible for killing animals, so you can close the zoo down and save the animals. Well, that just makes perfect sense,” I muttered. Lowell quickly raised a finger to his lips and I realised I was probably speaking too loudly. We both paused and checked on the men, who were still failing to get at the deadbolt through the small window.