Predator. Faye Kellerman

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СКАЧАТЬ to get an idea of costs. If it’s just paying to maintain all the animals, that’s bad enough. But if you have a mortgage, wow, that’s really hard.”

      “Tell me about it. Seen enough?”

      “Whatever you want.”

      “I’m a little cold. Let’s go back.” The woman reversed directions, and the two of them started down the trails.

      Decker said, “I’m just wondering how Fern got the money to pay for all of this.”

      “I don’t know.” Vignette bit her lip. “But I do know you’re asking questions out of more than just plain curiosity.”

      “Did Penny help Global Earth buy the land?”

      “The first time I ever talked to Penny was when he called up and asked about tiger cubs. If he had contact with the organization before that, I don’t know about it. Like I told you, after Fern died, Allan Gray worked as the acting head of Global Earth.”

      “The vet who took off for Alaska to study grizzlies.”

      “Yes. He left behind a real mess. Records were incomplete and indecipherable. I could have reached him and asked questions. But it was easier to just start from scratch. I took this job out of love for the animals, not because I was particularly good at leading organizations.”

      Decker nodded. “So you don’t have any old records or …”

      Again, Vignette stopped. “Why are you asking me all these questions?”

      “There’s no good way to tell you this, Vignette.” A pause. “Hobart Penny didn’t die a natural death. He was murdered.”

      The eyes widened and the color drained from her cheeks, which had been red because of the cold. “Murdered?”

      “Yes. That’s why the police are involved. It’s not just because of an errant tiger.”

      “Oh my God!” She brought her gloves to her cheeks in a silent scream. “What happened?”

      “Investigation is ongoing. That’s why I’m talking to you. Mr. Penny seemed to have been a recluse the last twenty-five years. You’ve had recent contact with him. Anything you can tell me about him would be very helpful.”

      “Oh my God!” She stared at Decker. “And here I am talking about a will. You must be looking at me as a suspect!”

      “Right now all I’m just trying to do is get some facts.”

      “I had absolutely nothing to do with his murder! I just want you to know that.”

      Decker nodded. “Would you mind answering a few more questions?”

      “Not at all.”

      “You said the last time you saw Penny was three or four days ago, when you gave Tiki her shots?”

      “Yeah, that’s—How was he murdered?”

      Decker rubbed his hands and ignored the question. “My homicide detectives and I have had a lot of discussion about the crime. One question keeps coming up. How could anyone get past a loose tiger?”

      “Tiki wasn’t chained up?”

      “Oh … so when you came over to visit, Penny chained her up?” Decker asked.

      “At first, she was chained up … for sure.” Vignette thought a moment. “Slowly we started to trust each other until we both felt comfortable being around each other. Tiki’s a very gentle soul. Not much of the wild in her.”

      “So she got used to your presence?”

      “Yeah, pretty quickly, too. We used to knock her out before I gave her the shots so she wouldn’t realize that someone was hurting her. You always take a chance when you knock a big animal out. Even if they remain healthy, when an animal comes out of anesthesia, it’s always unpredictable.” Again Vignette seemed lost in thought. “Hobart had a collapsible cage in the closet. Maybe Tiki was caged when the murderer came in.”

      “We didn’t find a cage in the apartment. She did have about a six-foot-long chain around her neck.”

      “The chain makes sense.” A pause. “Maybe Penny got rid of the cage. Initially we used it so I could give Tiki her shots. Then she got wise to us—that the cage meant shots and she wouldn’t go in. That’s when we started to knock her out with drugs.” Vignette sighed. “She never held it against me. She’s just a real nice tiger.”

      “But she’s still a tiger.”

      “Yes, of course. But even among wild animals, there are different dispositions.” She hesitated. “Was it a robbery? He didn’t keep a lot of stuff in his apartment.”

      “From our observations, I would agree with you.”

      “Who on earth would want to hurt an old man?”

      “I don’t know that, either.”

      “Talk about wild animals.” The woman shook her head with woe. “I’ll take my beasts over your beasts any day of the year.”

       CHAPTER TEN

      The descent seemed faster than the ascent: standard in travel as well as in life. Decker hardly remembered driving down the mountain, each twist of the wheel on autopilot as his brain fired one idea after another, none of which would explain why Global Earth Sanctuary had anything to do with Hobart Penny’s death. As soon as the car hit the bottom of the foothills, his Bluetooth sprang to life.

      Marge’s voice. “I’ve been trying to reach you for the last half hour. Where were you?”

      “Out of cellular reach,” Decker told her. “What’s up?”

      “Hobart had an interesting past, more than the usual sex, drugs, and rock and roll. It seems our guy liked to go to sex clubs all over the country, dressed up like a tiger and screw women from behind.”

      Oliver added, “Sometimes it was a lion or a leopard … just for variety’s sake.”

      Decker glanced at Gabe. The boy had his head tilted back with his eyes closed. He appeared to be lost in his music. “Who told you this?”

      “The ex,” Oliver said.

      “And you believe her?”

      Marge said, “We found the snapshots in a few leftover boxes in the storage wing of Sabrina Talbot’s house.”

      “Storage wing?”

      “Yep. Her house is big enough for an entire storage wing. The bigger question is why she kept the pictures. She certainly didn’t need them for blackmail. Sabrina Talbot is filthy rich.”

      “Filthy, filthy rich,” Oliver added.

      Marge СКАЧАТЬ