Page 70 of Tiger Queen

Both David and Jake gave a start. “You do?” they said in unison.

“We can’t let this drag on,” I explained. “We need to be able to focus on our jobs, and we can’t do that while looking over our shoulders or keeping an eye on Mary Beth all day. We should confront her. See what she says.”

“If she’s lying, she’ll crack,” Jake said darkly. “That girl won’t be able to handle the pressure.”

David nodded. “I hope you’re right. Let’s go.”

It was a short walk over to the employee trailers. Brandon was sitting in a beach chair outside of his, smoking a joint. As soon as he saw us he scrambled to put it out on the ground and then covered it with his shoe.

“Hey, uh, I mean, nice evening,” he said awkwardly. His eyes were already bloodshot. “I was just sitting here, man, enjoying the weather…”

He relaxed as we kept walking. We went past Mary Beth’s beat up Volkswagen Beetle and up to the door of her trailer. She answered after the first knock.

“Can we come inside?” David said. “We want to discuss something with you.”

Her first reaction was alarm. Pure panic. But she quickly covered it up and put on her perky smile. “Sure! Come on in.”

The ease with which she changed expressions made me certain. She was hiding something. We followed her inside and closed the door behind her.

“Welcome to my humble abode!” she said, turning in a circle. “I haven’t done much to the place, as you can see. But I have ideas. I want to get some red curtains! I know the job’s temporary, but that doesn’t mean I can’t spruce up the place, right?” She punctuated the act with a giggle.

Jake made no effort to hide his suspicion. He walked into the kitchen part of the trailer and began opening cabinets and drawers noisily.

“Can I get you something?” Mary Beth asked nervously. “I think I have some wine left, if you’re a Chardonnay guy! I don’t think you are, but it’s all I have unless you want Diet Pepsi…”

“Mary Beth, we have some questions we would like to ask you,” David said formally. He leaned against the trailer door and crossed his arms.

She sat in a beach chair, which was the only furniture in the living room section of the trailer. “Um. Okay.”

“What do you think of the zoo?”

She frowned with confusion. “What do I think of the zoo?”

“Yep.”

“Kind of a vague question! I’ll be honest. I thought this place was kind of a dump when I first got here. All the YouTube videos and stuff made it seem run-down. But now that I’m here and have seen what you guys have done to the place, I really like it! And I love working here. I really do. I’m learning so much from all of you, especially you, Rachel…”

She looked to me as if I would help her. I stared back blandly. Meanwhile, Jake was making noise in the bedroom area.

“Do you think the animals are treated well?” David asked.

“Sure, I guess? I mean, you guys seem to really care about them. I had heard rumors about Crazy Carl, who I guess was your dad. I don’t want to speak ill of him…”

“Go right ahead,” David replied. “You won’t offend us.”

“I mean, he seemed like he didn’t put the well-being of the animals first. He cared about making money, even if it meant treating the animals like crap. I don’t know if that’s true of course, I’m just telling you what it looked like from the videos I watched. But you guys are different! Totally different. The animals are treated so good here.” She swallowed the lump in her throat. “So good.”

In the bedroom, Jake cursed. He passed in front of the doorway and started rummaging through the bedside table.

“Any thoughts on the quality of the food?” David asked.

“I… no. Not really.”

David raised an eyebrow. “No thoughts at all?”

She shrugged and smiled that perky smile of hers. “I don’t know much about that. Just what Rachel told me. I guess I trust whatever she says.”

I glanced at David. Mary Beth seemed nervous—which was understandable—but she didn’t seem guilty. If she was hiding the truth, she was doing a good job of it.

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