Page 9 of So Twisted

“If you’re not comfortable, we can just go there after we finish talking to you,” Michael offered.

“No, that’s fine. It’s all right. I…” He swallowed again. “It’s just crazy. Nothing like this has ever happened here.”

He led the agents out of the building toward the zoo. “It happened in front of the gift shop.”

“Did the cameras catch anything?”

“No. It…” he reddened. “We have cameras in the buildings and the enclosures, but we don’t have any cameras for the exterior. I’m guessing we’ll get some installed soon, but for right now… well, no, the cameras didn’t catch anything.”

They reached the gift shop a moment later. Yellow tape still cordoned off the portion of the walkway that was covered in Marcus’s blood.

“Go check it out, Turk,” Faith said.

Turk approached the blood stained and sniffed around for a moment, then lifted his head and looked deeper into the zoo. He looked confused. An ache formed in Faith’s stomach again.

“So the panther attacks him here,” Michael says. “He tries to fight it off, but it drags him to the ground… here. Then it leaves him there.”

“That’s just it,” Saul explained. “It can’t be one of our cats.”

“Why not?” Faith asked.

“Because that’s not how cats behave. Cats wouldn’t leave a kill where it dropped, they would either eat it right there, or they’d take it to their den.”

“So because Marcus wasn’t eaten, it couldn’t have been a cat?”

“I know that seems farfetched, but it’s a lot more farfetched to suggest that a cat just left him there. If it was a different kind of predator, maybe a bear or a wolfpack, then it’s possible theywould have just killed him as a territorial act, but that’s just not how cats work. If they kill something, they eat it. Even when they kill each other.”

“So that’s why you had PD call us in.”

“That’s why we requested you, yes.”

“Is the owner of the sanctuary available?” Faith asked.

“That would be Lisa. She’s out of town today, but she’ll be back tonight, and you can talk to her then.”

Faith noted that and frowned as Turk trotted a few yards ahead, then shook his head.

“The animal scents are probably confusing him,” Saul suggested. “We get that sometimes with dogs. There’s so much going on that it overwhelms them, and they don’t know what to do with themselves.”

Faith’s frown deepened. “Tell me about Marcus. Was he well-liked here?”

“Well, he was the night watchman. He was barely seen here. People got along with him well enough, I guess. No one hated him. He was quiet, kept to himself, did his job well, made sure problems were dealt with quickly.”

“What kind of problems?”

“Usually kids sneaking in after hours to do drugs or hook up.”

Faith grimaced. “Seriously?”

Saul grinned sheepishly. "They know we won't prosecute. We just kick 'em out or sometimes lecture them, depending on whoever the night watchman is. Lisa has a soft spot for kids. She doesn't want to send someone to jail for making out with their boyfriend."

“Trespassing isn’t a good enough reason?”

Saul shrugged. “You’ll understand when you meet her.”

“I look forward to that.”

“So what happened with the cat the next morning?” Michael asked.

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