Adieu at the Zoo_A Jefferson Zoo Mystery Read online

  “Nate, you couldn’t be more wrong about this. I suggest you not make a hasty decision here that you’ll come to regret.”

  If that comment hadn’t come from Ginger, I’d have seen it as a direct threat, but Ginger’s not the type to threaten anyone, even when she’s angry, and I could read fury on her face. Whatever she meant, Nate apparently took her remark as a warning.

  Turning to Bob, he said, “We need to know where you got your information, Bob, because Ginger’s right about not jumping to conclusions.”

  Wait a minute. What was going on here? Did Nate just do a one-eighty in front of everyone?

  “We can’t go around making accusations like this,” he continued, as if he had no involvement, “without solid evidence.”

  I wondered if Nate had had any so-called solid evidence before he leveled his initial accusations at me, or he’d simply seen an opening and jumped in. I decided on the latter, listening in disbelief as he went on as if he were Ginger’s puppet. “If we take an undeserved action against Sam or Jodie,” he said, nodding in my direction, “we open the zoo to a serious lawsuit, and before we dig ourselves in deeper, you need to tell us the exact nature and source of your information.”

  What a move—typical of Nate. First, he does serious damage to my credibility and then turns Bob into the bad guy in order to cover his own butt.

  Bob hesitated, then blurted out, “Alice Pickett.”

  You could have knocked me over with a cactus quill.

  “For those of you who don’t know her,” Bob continued, “she’s the new President of the Jefferson County Horticultural Society. She called me at home last night to say she’d been assisting the State Bureau of Investigation in tracking down this illegal operation. She said the SBI had uncovered a link to the zoo and she wanted to give me a heads up.”

  I couldn’t believe my ears. “And Alice told you the SBI suspects me?” Was this what she and Mooney were up to, I wondered, trying to frame me?

  Bob shrugged. “Not by name, but she might have led me to consider you first. You are the most natural suspect, especially after your unauthorized trip to the conservation tract on Saturday and then again yesterday. You have to admit it looks suspicious.”

  “Unauthorized? Please. Since when do I need authorization to be on zoo property? I’m the one who takes care of the place. I’m afraid you and Alice put two and two together…” I hesitated, shooting accusing looks at both Bob and Nate, “and came up with five.”

  With that I pushed my chair away from the table, grabbed my pen and notebook and stormed out, adding as I went, “Maybe next time something like this crops up, you’ll do me the favor of talking to me privately before going public with unsubstantiated accusations.

  “For that matter,” I added, “I might have a few suggestions of my own as to the person at the zoo involved in illegitimate affairs.” I glared at Nate, telegraphing the fact that I knew about his relationship with Alice Picket and if he didn’t back off, I might have to go public and inform his wife.

  I would have slammed the door on my way out, but the conference room door has some kind of soft closure device like kitchen cabinets. Too bad, I thought, maybe a loud noise would have brought Bob to his senses.

  Chapter 29

  I returned to my office suite seriously in need of sympathy. My life was falling apart and I had no idea what to do about it.

  “I’m taking a personal day,” I told Maddy. “Call me on my cell only if it’s an emergency. Otherwise, funnel everything to Glen. He knows what needs to be done on the Desert. Let him know I’ve gone home and he’s in charge.”

  I knew I should have phoned down to Glen myself, but I couldn’t bring myself to talk to anyone.

  Maddy gave me a puzzled look, sensing, I suppose, that something was dreadfully wrong. “Will you be in tomorrow?”

  “I don’t know,” I told her, because at this point I had no idea if I’d ever return.

  I snatched my purse out of my desk drawer and stalked out of the office, taking the stairs down two at a time on my way to the front door.

  On the ride home, I occupied my mind by writing my resignation letter. Maybe I should consider the last few days as a sign, a portent, a lemonade-making opportunity.

  I’d been thirsting for a change of scenery, perhaps now was the appropriate time. I decided to spend the rest of the day on the web checking out Hort positions around the country, and calling my network of friends at other zoos to see what jobs might be available. I wondered if Pittsburgh had any Hort openings, but changed my mind about asking, knowing it never works to go home again.

  An overseas job might be what the doctor ordered, I thought. I wouldn’t mind spending a few years abroad since there seemed to be no future for me in this country.

  As for the Jefferson Zoo, how could I ever work for Bob or respect him again? And what had I done to deserve his low opinion of me? The idea that he’d take Alice Pickett’s word over mine was the lowest of blows. I turned into my driveway, a torrent of tears streaming down my face. All I wanted to do was curl up and die.

  §

  The minute I walked into my house on that miserable Tuesday morning, I brewed myself a second cup of coffee. I’d only grabbed a piece of toast for breakfast before leaving for work, but even so I wasn’t hungry. My urge to overeat when stressed hadn’t kicked in, a sure sign of how freaked-out I was. Never in my life had I been accused of committing a crime. I could only imagine how people felt who were sentenced to jail for crimes they never committed.

  I thought about contacting a lawyer, but I hadn’t the foggiest notion who to call or what to say. I realized I suddenly no longer ascribed to the view that only guilty parties were in need of lawyers. I reviewed the accusation, first made and later retracted by Nate. Had he and Bob talked before the meeting? Planned their strategy? If so, toward what purpose, since their effort was a dramatic failure thanks to Ginger?

  As hurt as I felt, I knew in the back of my mind that Bob couldn’t help himself. The zoo’s board of directors had hired him from the business world, a background that’s helpful when it comes to budgets, but a drawback for riding herd over a fractious zoo staff. The fact that he knew nothing about animals put him at a decided disadvantage in dealing with Nate, who liked to pull General-Curator rank on him.

  Despite Bob’s best efforts, he’d proved hopeless at preventing Nate from riding roughshod over him in the same way he dragoons the rest of the staff. Apparently, the same can be said for Alice Pickett. In my opinion, it was way past time for Sally Ann to step in and do what had to be done. In the past, I hadn’t hesitated to share my opinion with her even though she’s tone deaf and only hears what she wants to hear. I wished she’d been at the meeting to witness what happened to me.

  Although I’m fully capable of sitting around feeling sorry for myself, I decided to take action and follow through on my plan to put out job feelers. After calling my Pittsburgh friends, one of whom I was able to reach, I opened my computer and set to work. At least I’d keep my mind occupied as I touched base with people I hadn’t talked with in months, asking their help with job leads.

  If I moved to a different zoo, I wanted to find one with a similar philosophy. Jefferson Zoo’s founders designated us an ecological zoo because each of our exhibits represents a distinct ecological zone in some part of the world. Most people would use the term natural habitat zoo, but our directors favor uniqueness and North Carolina already had one natural habitat zoo.

  Like our sister zoo to the south, there are no cages at Jefferson, unless you count the cubicles in the administration building where we house the world’s most dangerous animals. Every one of our exhibits provides maximal space for the animal along with plenty of private places to hide away from the prying eyes of zoo visitors.

  The downside, of course, is that we parry any number of complaints from paying customers who feel betrayed if they’ve paid the zoo’s entrance fees and never had the opportunity to see their favorite animal. We r
emind complainers that their ticket is a donation to wildlife conservation, and spotting zoo animals is not too different from seeing an animal in the wild. Sometimes you catch sight of them, sometimes you don’t.

  I sighed in resignation as I thought about the future. I’d been longing for a change over the past year. Almost anywhere felt more interesting to me than where I’d been living for the years since I left Pittsburgh, moving away from a city that is far more exciting than most people imagine.

  What had I been thinking?

  In my heart I’m afraid I knew. I’d had no choice really, thanks to an early widowhood and a lot of pain I thought I could escape by moving away. Now, here I was, thinking about moving again just to escape another painful situation.

  Two situations really, if I took into account my non-existent relationship with Dan.

  Chapter 30

  Shortly before five in the afternoon when I still hadn’t eaten, my cell phone chirped.

  “Hey, Sam, Jodie.”

  “What’s up?”

  “Can I come over? I’ve got something to tell you.”

  “Sure.”

  “Good, ’cause I’m parked out in front of your house. I’ll be in in a sec.”

  That was Jodie. When I opened the front door, we hugged, which set me off on another crying jag. “I guess you heard,” I boo-hooed.

  “I did, and here I thought he was such a nice guy.”

  “I don’t know how I can ever work for him again,” I said, still blubbering.

  “Work for who? I’m talking about that two-timing Head of Security who stood you up.”

  “Whom,” I said.

  “What?”

  “Work for whom, not who.”

  “Who cares?” Jodie said, examining me as if I’d lost my mind.

  I realized we were doing a poor imitation of ‘Who’s on First,’ before the impact of Jodie’s statement hit home.

  “What do you mean two-timing? Did Dan go out with somebody else Sunday night?”

  “Well, I decided to treat myself to dinner at El Provencal on Sunday after I drove Andy’s mom home from the hospital. Anyway, when I walked into the place I saw Dan having dinner with a blonde woman, someone I’d never seen before.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I walked out and drove over to Pizza Hut. I’m pretty sure he never saw me. Anyway, I realized he must have stood you up, the creep.”

  “He told me we couldn’t have dinner because he had to work.”

  “Some work. What a jerk. Boy, did I ever read him wrong. I’m sorry, Sam, and I apologize for talking you into going out with him.”

  “No problem,” I told her, feeling even worse if that were humanly possible. “Anyway, I never went out with him and he’s nothing more to me than a vague memory. What I’m upset about is this morning’s staff meeting. Haven’t you heard?”

  “Oh, I heard all right. I’ve been wondering all day if Bob’s finally lost his mind. A stressful job can do that to you, you know. And his job is stressful you have to admit. Dealing with Nate on a daily basis is enough to drive anyone bonkers.”

  “I know he’s got a stressful job,” I said, “but it doesn’t excuse him in my book. He allowed Nate to accuse me and then he joined in on the accusation.”

  Jodie shared my look of disbelief. “I still can’t believe he accused you of stealing plants.”

  “Not only me, he included you, too. According to Nate, poaching plants is the reason we were out there on Saturday, and the reason I was out on the old logging road yesterday.”

  Jodie listened to me, shaking her head. “The two of us, out there stealing plants.”

  “Right. You and me,” I paused again, too incensed to contain myself, “poaching rare plants on zoo property and selling them on the black market. Like, excuse me, when do I have time to run an illegal horticulture business? Did he ever consider that?”

  “Probably not,” Jodie said, clearly less upset than I was.

  “Anyway, Ginger set Nate straight after he suggested she also might be in cahoots with us. Bob should have ended it there,” I said, “but he didn’t.”

  To my surprise, Jodie collapsed into a fit of laughter. “Coming to the TV set nearest you—The Three Amigas, international plant thieves, starring Jodie, Ginger and Sam, three girls with thyme on their hands. Can’t you see it, Sam?”

  I allowed a smile to crack my lips. “I can see it, except you’ve got the names wrong. The show should star Jasmine, Ginger, and Rosemary, or Rue, maybe, the way I feel.”

  “Possibly,” she said, “except Spice Girls is taken already.”

  Joking around with Jodie must have re-set my appetite, because I realized I was starving and so was Jodie, which wasn’t surprising because she’s always hungry. “How about a little Mexican?” I ventured.

  “Find a cute one and you’ll forget all about Dan Saunders,” she said, still on a roll.

  “I’m talking about food, but if you find one who won’t mind staying home to cook and clean for me, I’ll marry him tomorrow.”

  Arching one eyebrow, which she does better than anyone I know, she added, “Nothing like having your priorities straight.”

  On our way out the door, Jodie added a few additional choice comments, some of which included rude plant names for Bob and Nate, but within minutes we were howling again.

  Unfortunately, the laughter couldn’t cover the pain I felt inside. If I never saw Nate Olson or Bob Anderson again, I thought, I’d be happy. As for Dan Saunders, he could go suck an egg.

  Chapter 31

  Fifteen minutes later found the two of us at my favorite Mexican restaurant where I planned to drown my troubles in strawberry margaritas.

  “I have to drive,” Jodie told the young woman taking our drink orders. “Since I’m driving, I’ll stick with lemonade.” By the time the Mexican waiter arrived, we’d both decided to order fish tacos.

  “He’s cute,” Jodie said once the waiter left, “do you think he’ll do?”

  Since I had a mouthful of chips and was starting on my third Margarita, I only nodded and mumbled something incoherent. Whatever it was, Jodie laughed and I realized I needed to make this drink my last.

  Between gorging ourselves on chips and salsa while waiting for our tacos, Jodie finally remembered the real reason she’d stopped by my place earlier.

  “Oh, I almost forgot what I came over to tell you,” she said.

  “More bad news?”

  “I’m not sure. I spent the morning at the hospital with my mom and Andy’s mom, who’s a mess by the way, even though Andy’s improving.”

  “Has he opened his eyes yet?”

  “No. He’s still hasn’t come around, but the doctors say the swelling is going down in his brain and that’s a really good sign. If it keeps up, the doctors say they won’t have to operate and he should wake up sooner or later.

  “I really like Andy’s mom a lot. She and my mom are such good friends and I know they’ve been hoping for years that Andy and I would marry each other.” Jodie hesitated, before admitting, “if they’d stop pushing us together, maybe we could work things out. I’ve always liked him except when he starts thinking too much of himself and acting like a big shot. He needs to grow up a little and I’m not sure how long I’m willing to wait for that to happen.”

  “Some men never grow up,” I told her, my words slurring, “like my sister’s ex. I feel sorry for his current wife.”

  “Current?”

  “He’s on his third. Anyway, enough about men, what were you saying?”

  “The three of us left the hospital, stopped for lunch, and then went on to Jack Dubois’s funeral. Jack was Andy’s Mom’s nephew, and so she had one more thing to be upset about besides Andy. Anyway, the big surprise was that Tony Pope didn’t show up to his cousin’s funeral.”

  “Maybe he had to work,” I said, my reasoning abilities somewhat impaired.

  “He could have gotten off. He works for Mooney, like Jack. The whole construc
tion team was there, but not Tony, which was really odd.”

  “Yeah,” I mumbled, “it is odd if they were cousins and good friends.”

  “Exactly. So I stopped by his house, but his mother said he was at work.”

  “He still lives with his mother?”

  “Yeah, pitiful isn’t it? Even I don’t live with my mother, though if I did, I’d eat better and have more money in the bank. Tony’s father was military. He died in Iraq two years ago.”

  “Where does he work?”

  “I told you.” She reached for my glass, pulling it across the table out of my reach. “I think you’ve had too much to drink. Tony works for Mooney Construction. More interesting yet, he’s on the crew that’s building our animal barns.”

  “I take it you drove out there to see him?”

  “You bet I did. I haven’t been back there in a coon’s age, so while I was in the area I took a tour of Design. Ginger filled me in on what happened at the staff meeting, which is how I knew all about it. She’s royally pissed. In fact, I had no idea her language could be so colorful.”

  “She’s an artist,” I stammered, unable to pronounce my words clearly.

  Jodie smiled and rolled her eyes.

  “That’s what you drove over to tell me about,” I said, “Ginger’s vocabala, er, voculaberry?”

  “Vocabulary.” Jodie took a deep breath. “No. About Tony Pope. By the time I’d finished yakking with Ginger, the crew had returned from the funeral. I walked over when I saw the trucks drive in. Mooney’s Construction manager, who is a hunk by the way, though no Dan Saunders, intercepted me. Handed me a hard hat. Said I needed to wear it to walk around the construction site. Tony was there. He turned white as a sheet when he saw me coming his way.”

  “What did you say to, hic, him? Excuse me.”

  Jodie did the eye-roll thing again. “I asked him why he hadn’t gone to Jack’s funeral and he said he just couldn’t do it because he knew he’d cry in front of everyone. Then, I asked if he’d heard about what happened to Andy. He studied his shoes for a while before saying yes, he’d heard. So, of course, I asked if he’d stopped by the hospital yet to visit Andy. He admitted that he hadn’t. Said he’d only heard the news this morning, but he planned to run by the hospital after work. Then, and this is the interesting part, he asked me what Andy said to me when I visited him. I told him Andy was unconscious and not saying anything.”