LITMIR.BIZ

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Strong coffee eased the cravings a little bit, but not entirely.

      It definitely didn’t help that when he headed up to the main house to see if that woman DiNero had hired was ready to join him on the daily rounds, Jordan discovered Magnus had laid out a spread. DiNero’s personal chef believed in hearty, down-home cooking. Gumbo, jambalaya, but also breakfasts that could feed an army. Jordan nodded at Karen and Bill, two of his assistants, who were helping themselves to the buffet on the sideboard, but he didn’t dare get any closer to the food. He’d fall on it like...well...like a starving man.

      He spotted Monica and DiNero on the terrace overlooking the yard. She looked fresh faced and ready to take on anything, her dark red hair pulled into a neat ponytail at the base of her skull. He gave her a grudging nod, noting her work pants and boots. At least she’d dressed appropriately.

      “Morning, Leone. How the hell are you? I was just telling Ms. Blackship here about the elephant.” DiNero gave Jordan a gator grin.

      “We don’t have an elephant,” Jordan said.

      DiNero waggled his brows. “Not yet.”

      Jordan sighed. He’d told his boss an elephant was too much to handle. The sheer size of it would mean a habitat that would require far too much upkeep, unless the man wanted the poor thing to be hemmed in. Not to mention that elephants were smart and could be vengeful if mistreated—not that Jordan would ever mistreat an animal, but you never knew how they’d been treated before. Elephants did not belong in a private zoo. Then again, he thought with a bland smile as DiNero kept blabbing away, no animals really did, even if it meant Jordan would be out of a job.

      “Grab a plate,” DiNero said.

      “Already ate. Thanks.” To Monica, Jordan said, “You want to come on my rounds with me today?”

      She tucked a final bite of toast into her mouth and nodded, wiping her hands on a napkin. She swigged some coffee and stood. The way DiNero ogled her ass when she turned made Jordan want to punch the other man in the face.

      “He’s kind of a douche bag, huh?” she murmured as they left the dining room.

      Jordan gave her a glance. “He’s my boss.”

      “He’s totally looking at my butt, isn’t he? I can tell.” She slanted Jordan a sideways smirk.

      Jordan didn’t answer her, but Monica laughed softly anyway. They’d just started heading for the golf carts when Jordan’s third assistant, a white-faced and shaking Peter, ran toward them. Jordan knew before the other guy had even said a word what had happened.

      “Where?” he asked.

      Peter shook his head and pointed toward the mountain-lion habitat. Jordan took off running, Monica on his heels. In minutes they made it to the habitat, where Jordan skidded to a halt. The entire interior of the habitat had become an abattoir. There was no sign of either of the mountain lions.

      “It took both of them.” Peter sounded as if he was going to be sick.

      Jordan knew how he felt. He ran his hands through his hair, stalking, pacing. He became aware of Monica next to him.

      “Can you let me inside?” she asked.

      Jordan nodded. “Yeah. We need to check everything out.”

      They spent the next hour doing that. Monica took notes on the drag patterns in the dirt and blood spatter while Jordan had Peter, Karen and Bill ready for the cleanup. All of them were silent as they worked.

      “No signs of damage to the habitat walls. The lock on the gate looks picked,” Jordan said.

      “Scratched.” Monica looked at him. “All around it.”

      Jordan shook his head. “An animal didn’t do this. You can’t tell me that something came and picked the fucking lock.”

      She tucked her notebook into her pocket and then pushed her hair behind her ears. “There have been instances of tool use in some—”

      “I need to check the outer wall. See where it got in.” Jordan wasn’t interested in her lame theories about tool-using monsters.

      Monica followed him. “Jordan, wait.”

      He stopped but didn’t turn. He could tell that Karen, Bill and Peter were watching, though none of them said a word. Jordan waited for her to continue, but she didn’t. After another minute, he stalked off.

      There was nothing. No breaks in the wall. No holes. No bent barbed wire this time. The lock on the gate nearest the mountain-lion habitat had similar markings to the one on the habitat gate. Scratches.

      “It’s something smart,” Monica said from behind him.

      Jordan frowned and shook his head. “Smart enough to pick a lock? I’m telling you, poachers are doing this. Someone with a grudge against DiNero, maybe...”

      “Poachers would take the animals. They wouldn’t kill them. Would they?”

      He looked at her. “About seven years ago, DiNero got into a fight with some Japanese billionaire over a rare breed of panda they both wanted. Neither of them had the right habitats for it, but they were going head-to-head over it anyway. DiNero won the auction. The billionaire had someone come in and kill the panda before DiNero could take delivery. Some people don’t want anyone else to have what they want.”

      She gave him a long, steady look, then reached to touch his shoulder. Just briefly. Just once. “Jordan, I know this is killing you. Believe me, I want to find out what’s going on.”

      He put a hand on the wall and leaned, shoulders hunched. “This is fucked up, Monica. I know DiNero brought you in here because he thinks you can help figure out what’s happening. But I just can’t...”

      “You don’t have to believe me,” she said. “Honestly, if it’s a chupacabra or a poacher, does it matter, so long as we find out and stop it?”

      Grudgingly, he looked at her. “No. I guess it doesn’t.”

      “We’re going to find out what...or who...is doing this.” She looked grim.

      Though he hadn’t known her long at all, Jordan had no doubts that woman meant what she said.

Chapter 4

      Vadim’s face was a little blurry for a moment on the computer screen before the picture cleared. He was sitting, as he almost always was when they video-chatted, behind his oversize mahogany desk. Behind him, bookshelves overflowed with textbooks and papers. He adjusted his glasses and leaned forward to look at her.

      “Strong enough to drag a tiger over a wall but now picking a lock instead?” he asked.

      Monica sipped some more of DiNero’s excellent whiskey and nodded. “Yes. Maybe whatever it was got tired of the heavy lifting. It looks like it figured out how to get through one of the gates along the perimeter wall, then let itself into the mountain-lion cage. Both were missing. Some blood, some hair, but nothing else. No bones, even. If it’s actually eating the animals, it’s consuming them entirely.”

      “DiNero’s man thinks it’s human, eh? An inside job? Does he have a grudge against his boss?” Vadim sat back in his chair.

      Monica shrugged. “It’s possible. DiNero is kind of a dick. But Jordan seems to really care about the animals. If he was somehow working with an outside source to steal the animals away from DiNero, he couldn’t hurt them.”

      “He could be making it look as though they’re hurt,” Vadim pointed out.

      “He could, I guess. Seems pretty elaborate to me. And he seems genuinely upset by what’s going on. He runs a clean house here. The habitats are expensive and well maintained, not just cages. There’s a wide variety of animals, but they’re all really taken care of.” She paused, sipping. “He’s a little odd. The zookeeper.”

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