cops and wait thirty minutes for someone to show up? Hope that whoever was roaming around the property didn’t end up hurting the animals or releasing them or getting eaten?
A rough voice muttered, “Over here. I already told you, over here. The tiger.”
I tensed. Was that Geordie? What the hell was he doing back? He never worked after-hours, which was another reason he was a shitty manager. Everyone else had to be on-call, but not him. A scowl tightened my forehead and only worsened the headache I’d been fighting since fleeing... whatever had happened at the Evershaw house. How dare Geordie pitch a fit about the delivery, make me do all the work, then show up after the fact, probably to complain about the way I’d done things?
But... there was definitely more than one flashlight, and who was he talking to? Other male voices answered him, too low and gruff to make out what they said. Boots scuffled through the dirt and into the building reserved for vet check-ups, quarantining the animals when they first arrived, and other special cases. The tiger had been moved in there for a dental cleaning the next day, so the building definitely wasn’t empty.
I craned my neck and made out a large SUV with heavily tinted windows parked on the grounds where only company trucks were supposed to drive. The back gate yawned open, a large tarp on the ground beneath it. A large bundle waited on the tarp, also wrapped up in something like heavy plastic sheeting. I held my breath and didn’t get any closer as the voice grew louder, returning, and four massive guys appeared.
Three of them went to pick up and carry the bundle from the tarp and into the building, while Geordie stood back and did nothing. Typical. They all returned to the vet building, talking loudly and arguing about how heavy it was and who was slacking off. I frowned. Whatever it was they carried, it looked like it weighed a ton. All three men exerted all of their strength and still seemed to struggle.
What the hell were they up to? Were they moving a new animal in while it was still tranquilized? Had they wrapped it up to make it easier to transport, though it meant the poor animal suffered even more? I gritted my teeth and steeled my courage. Whatever Geordie was up to, I needed to know. I didn’t want to keep working at a place that supported shady business and sneaking around in the middle of the night.
I waited until I couldn’t hear their voices before I sneaked closer to the building and the half-open door near the service entrance. It wasn’t difficult to follow their tracks. Whatever they carried dripped something dark and slightly greasy along the halls and corridors, practically leaving a trail to the kitchen part of the building, where the keepers prepared meals for all the animals. The massive fridge and freezer contained sides of beef, antelope, sheep, and other assorted meats for the predators to eat, as well as the fruits and veggies they needed for a balanced diet. The big work tables also had grinders and saws and sharp knives. I’d done a tour through there only once and been impressed with the stainless steel, ultra-modern tools, and large bins filled with assorted meat already chopped into good-sized chunks for tigers and lions and bears.
But it wasn’t particularly conducive to peeking around to find out what people were doing in the only half-lit room. I frowned and edged to the very side of the door in the hall, not quite ready to crane my head around. I strained to hear what they said, but the men seemed to communicate only in grunts and gestures. Nothing useful came through to clue me in on what they were doing.
Something heavy and wet fell to the floor with a squish and a thump, and one of the guys laughed. “Bet he didn’t see that one comin’.”
“He didn’t see none of it comin’,” another voice said, and was answered by chuckles. “Put that over there before more blood gets on the floor. I don’t wanna be here all night cleaning.”
Blood? One of the electric saws buzzed to life and then immediately cut into something firm and possibly bony, grinding as it encountered something harder than just... My stomach turned over. Were they cutting something up?
I steeled my courage and held my breath as I peeked around the corner. I couldn’t see much;