Page 40 of So Twisted

“Can you expand on that?” Faith asked.

“Sure. I’m bitter about losing my job at Global Wildlife Experiences. I was a good trainer. They told me all the time how much they liked my work and appreciated my expertise.”

“They?”

“The executives. I was held in high regard. Then the whistleblowing happens, and all of a sudden, I’m a disease. They fired me for ‘not upholding the standards expected by Global Wildlife Experiences.’ What really happened is they changed their expectations several times until they found demands I couldn’t or wouldn't meet. Then, they used that as an excuse toretaliate for the fact that I reported severe ethical violations that endangered the lives of animals and people. And yeah, I was pissed off about it."

They reached the wolf enclosure. Turk stopped growling. His ears perked up, and he tensed and looked warily at the wolves.

If the bears and tigers were frightening, the wolves were like something out of a nightmare. They were beautiful animals, sleek and powerful and glistening in the sun.

They were also silent. That was what really unnerved Faith. The tigers had growled and the bears had huffed, but the wolves didn’t make a sound as they padded over to wait patiently for their meat. They held the eyes of the three visitors and stared without fear—without identifiable emotion of any kind—as James loaded the trough and pushed it closed. Even with the meat in front of them, they held the strangers’ gaze until Faith and Michael looked away.

Only then did she hear the soft sound of their teeth tearing into flesh. She shivered and looked at James. “Why don’t we continue this conversation inside?”

James gave her a half-smile. “Wolves got you feeling the heebie-jeebies, huh?”

She narrowed her eyes. “The wolves, yes. You? Not so much.”

James chuckled. “Loud and clear. Sorry if I’m not the most personable guy right now. I wasn’t expecting to be accused of murder today.”

“As long as we keep this conversation friendly, you have nothing to worry about from us,” Michael said.

Turk’s growl seemed to belie that statement, but James didn’t seem worried. “All right. Let’s go back inside.”

The sound of the wolves’ meal followed Faith as they headed for the house. She wasn’t sure why it disturbed her so much. Dogs came from wolves. Turk looked a lot like a smaller, darker-furred version of a wolf.

But wolves weren’t dogs. That was what really disturbed her. When Turk was ready to eat, he would get visibly excited, whining, barking and wagging his tail. The wolves seemed devoid of emotion, only possessing the cold stare of a predator.

They looked like dogs, but they weren’t. They were far more dangerous. Just like killers. They looked like people, but they operated on a far more brutal set of instincts.

Once they were inside, Michael resumed the questioning. “All right, so you hate the executives of Global Wildlife. They’re alive, so clearly you didn’t kill them. Let’s talk about the people who are dead. What are your thoughts on them?”

James raised an eyebrow. “My thoughts?”

“Yes.”

“They were pieces of shit. Again, I don’t know about this Alison Chen girl, but Dr. Vasquez was a snobby, arrogant bitch who thought she deserved some sort of pampered, spoiled life and Marcus Reeves was a greedy little coin-counter who treated animals like furniture.”

“And yet you were made a pariah when you reported them,” Faith said.

“Yes. But that wasn’t their fault. That was Global’s fault.”

"Still," Michael pressed. "Kind of sucks that Vasquez and Reeves never faced justice. Vasquez kept her license, and Reeves avoided jail time. All of those dead animals, and they got the equivalent of a slap on the wrist."

“Yeah, it’s pretty shitty,” James agreed.

“It almost makes you think that someone ought to take justice into their own hands,” Michael suggested.

James laughed. “Boy, you really like me for this. Look, I’m not crazy. I believe that animals should have rights, but I’m not one of those kooks who thinks if you hit a deer with your car it should be treated like manslaughter. It’s possible to use animals to meet our needs in a responsible way. I train animals for filmsets and stage shows. You won’t find wild bears balancing beach balls on their noses.

"I say this to point out that I don't see anything morally wrong with training animals to do what we want them to do. But drinking while working with large predators is dangerous for a lot of reasons, in addition to the animal cruelty problem. Running a zoo full of starving lions stuffed into cages that couldn't hold a sufficiently dedicated bobcat is a problem for reasons beyond the fact that the lions are starving and going crazy."

“Are you saying that you reported their violations because they endangered people?” Faith asked.

“Both people and animals. They were disasters waiting to happen. What I did was the equivalent of warning someone that they were driving on a flat tire, and I was treated like the guy tossing nails onto the road. But I didn’t kill anyone. That wouldn’t accomplish anything.”

“Take the wheels off of a car, and it’s not going to blow a tire out on the freeway,” Michael pointed out.

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