Koala Killer Sixth Installment

She knew she'd feel better dealing with animals anyway. When she worked with them, a kind of peace came over her. Intrerns do not have permanent charges; they rotate care of the animals. In one way this is good because they learn about different species and get close to individuals. In another way, it's hard because you tend to want to stay with the ones you get attached to. Currently Mari had the feeding of the birds, both in the aviary, and the birds of prey in their separate enclosures. Everyday she tried to find time to visit her former charges. Today she would definitely check on the expectant mama giraffe, who was due in the next few weeks.

First, she took Owen on his 'short' walk, around the Taco Bell, down the alley and back. She felt like she was cheating him because he didn't get to check out new territory the way he likes to. She stopped to pick up the mail as they headed back to heir little nest. In the common yard, Owen sees Bea come out of her gate. He rushes over to her full of friendly joy. They are old friends and Bea greets him in her usual way.

"Don't jump up, there's a good boy."

He restrains himself to small no contact hops. He'd come a long way from the totally unrestrained leaper he'd been a year ago when they'd found each other.

"Mari did you get my message?"

"Yes, Bea. I saw it on TV too. Don't worry, the police will figure it all out."

"Are you in any danger, Mari?"

She dismissed the idea out-of-hand and patted Bea's back. She was now in a hurry to get back to the zoo.

On the short drive she thought about Bea's comment. She'd found Stan. He didn't shoot himself in the eye and he shouldn't have died from it. She supposed she could be in danger if the person who shot Stan thought she knew something. Which she was sure she didn't. Well, she knew the koala shouldn't have been there.

"I'll ask Jorge what he's found out about that koala."

Koala Killer Fifth Installment

Chapter 2

No one took any note of her going into Stan's room. His head was slumped over. The eye that had been pierced by the dart was covered in bandage. His bed was in an upright position and the bed's tray table with his untouched breakfast in front of him. She assumed he'd fallen asleep.

"Stan?"

She touched his shoulder and his whole body slumped toward her and she shrieked. She ran out into the hallway and shouted, "Please help me!"

The nurse came, then the doctors. When she asked if he was allright they asked her if she was family and when she told them she wasn't they sent her out into the hall. She sensed that he had died. When she saw the police coming down the hall she decided to leave. She hadn't seen anything that could help them and she really felt she needed to gt home as soon as possible for her own sanity, Needless to say, she didn't get her ticket validated, but she was more than willing to pay to get out of there.

"Oh, poor Stan," she thought. She didn't know him well. Just that her was an excellent veterinarian. She'd admired the way he could handle all types of animals. But he didn't have an outgoing personality. And he certainly wasn't subject to idle chitchat. The girls in the office called him a loner. He is, or she corrected herself, was, attractive, so they all flirted with him without any apparent effect. Her friend Shirley, who used to work there in the office, told her he was single. She had no idea how Shirley had known that.

When she got home, Owen did his joy dance. No matter how long you're gone, your dog always acts like you have returned from years away at war and, thank the gods, have finally made it safely back. She turned the cooler from fan to cool. She heated up some zucchini casserole in the microwave. She tried not to think about Stan. She turned on CBS'news at noon. They were covering a fire that had broken out in Sidewinder Canyon in the Rimrock Mountains. They hoped it would be under control that day, the newscaster said.

"The poor wildlife," she chattered to Owen, "the bobcat, the deer, the javelina, the birds and bunnies, oooh."

Owen could tell she was sad and came up to lick her knee.

It just added to her mounting depression. She gave Owen a slice of zucchini with some of the mushroom soup on it and set her timer for a short nap. As she started to turn the TV off with the remote, she realized they were talking about Stan's death.

"Stan Reed, Pueblo Valley Zoo's veterinarian, was attacked last night in the zoo's infirmary and died today in County hospital. Police are withholding the cause of death pending further investigation. More at eleven."

"Attacked and died," a tragic and painful event reduced to one sentence and read with a smile by a beautiful woman posing for the camera.

Mari zapped the TV off and closed her eyes. But rest, let alone quiet thought, was not to be. The phone rang, her answering machine clicked on. It as her neighbor, Bea, "Mari, did you see the TV? The zoo where you work?, the veterinarian guy, they said he died. You don't have to pick up, honey, I just wanted you to know what they said on the TV."

No sooner had she hung up than the phone clicked again. She got back up to turn the volume all the way down. Most of the time she didn't like using the telephone at all. She was the last of her friends and family to hold out against owning a cell phone. Then the alarm she'd set went off. She knew she had little time before she was due back at the zoo. She abandoned the nap attempt and hopped in the shower.

Koala Killer Fourth Installment

Making a note on his pad, the detective asked, "Miss Nuclett, won't you go on? You saw the koala and ...?

"Right then the security guard, Joseph, came in and her attention went back to Stan. The ambulance came soon after, then the police, I called Manny to take care of the Lar. He's only here temporarily..."

"Manny is temporary?"

Jorge came in with, "No, the gibbon is temporary, lieutenant. He's to be shipped on to the Milwaukee County Zoo today. Oh dear, I've got to get another vet to certify his health for shipping, I suppose..."

Mari could see Jorge's shoulders slump. He did not have the cool exterior of many executives. He worried visibly.

"Okay Miss Nuclett?"

"Manny got there after Stan had been loaded into the ambulance. I told him briefly about the koala, knowing he could handle it too, but come to think about it, he just looked puzzled when I mentioned it. Things were confusing. I was exhausted. With Manny there and Stan gone to hospital, all I wanted was to go home to bed. Jorge arrived about then and told me to go home."

"Speaking of which, Lieutenant, Mari needs to get some rest. She was here 'til all hours. The whole thing is stressful. I asked her to come in this morning to speak with you, but I think she needs to get more rest before she comes back to her duties this afternoon."

"Yes, that should be all for now. Thank you, Miss Nuclett. If you think of anything, please call me," he said, as he handed her his card.

She felt sleepy with Jorge's talk of needing rest. She tried to smile but it felt pretty lame, so she backed up toward the door.

"I think I will go home and lie down for an hour or so. See you later, Jorge. Bye."

But instead of heading home, Mari decided to go by the hospital on her way home to see if she could find out how Stan was doing. Maybe she could get in to see him. She found the right entrance on the third try. They'd changed things around since her last visit. She was always uncomfortable in hospitals. It disturbed her to see helpless people lying on gurneys in the hall. This was going to take longer than she thought. Like her ex-boyfriend used to say, "Everything takes longer and costs more than you thought it would."

Little did she know how true that was going to prove.