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surprised me to hear him go all traditional and rejective. Sam needs to let go of that negativity and of this gun thing, or he’s going to hurt his back again.”
    I wasn’t sure whether this was a non sequitur or actually made sense, aside from “rejective.” Sam
was
prone to back trouble. The idea of him packing a pistol was alarming. In our little zoo, full of visitors, most of them children? It was also troubling to hear Sam speak so disparagingly of alternative methods, on top of denying what had happened to Wallace.
    â€œThis is all very interesting, but it does not help a bit,” Kayla said. “I can’t go into the elephant barn anymore, and Dr. Reynolds wants the project completed. How’s that going to happen?”
    â€œShe’ll figure it out,” Linda said, getting up to go.
    Kayla folded her arms under her breasts. “Yeah, maybe. She’s not dealing at all well with this. You’ll call me when the kittens come? Please?”
    Linda said, “Of course,” and headed back to work. Everyone else left, Kayla last, and I sat for a moment gathering my energies.
    When they were first hired, Linda had watched Kayla and Dr. Reynolds closely and concluded that they were not a couple. Linda had reason to care. She asked me wistfully whether I thought Kayla dated girls. “I know how to find out,” I’d responded. “Ask her.” Linda had plenty of guts when it came to her job, but none for dating. The question answered itself when Kayla commenced flirting with any guy who would play. Linda went back to researching lesbian bars she didn’t have the nerve to enter. I worried that being around Kayla was tough on her, but if Linda had feelings for the vet’s assistant, she kept them well buried.
    Denny/Kayla was less complicated. She’d flirted, he’d shared his view that since swine flu was a mix of bird and pig genes, it was an effort by the planet’s animal consciousness to combat global warming by killing off most of humanity and that, on the whole, this was not a bad idea. No need after that for me to intervene and keep him safe for Marcie.
    â€œHow can any guy that hot be so weird?” Kayla had asked.
    â€œRaised in a yurt by Wiccans,” I told her. She’d thought I was kidding.
    I got up and tossed my lunch trash into the crocodile-jaw garbage can. Jackie wasn’t in today. No Wallace updates available from anyone. I stopped by the tiger exhibit and said “hello” in my best tiger poof-rumble-growl. Raj prüstened back at me, which never failed to delight. He was laid out in a patch of sun, looking bony and faded, but he had his head up and was paying attention. My chest tightened at the thought of losing him.
    I ignored the lions in the next exhibit over. I couldn’t logically blame them for killing Rick, it’s what predators do, but we were hardly friends.
    Walking on, I pondered the fragments from lunch. Sam was stressing out, and I didn’t envy Ian working under him. Sam was meticulous almost to a fault—my first week, he’d trained me exactly how to coil a hose properly—and he’d been taking care of the two elephants for years. I hadn’t thought of him as closed to new ideas, but Ian hadn’t sold him on a different style of handling the animals, any more than I convinced him that Damrey was dangerous.
    Who did Sam think he needed to defend himself against? My skin prickled.
    Soon Wallace would recover enough to tell us what happened. Then this would all make sense, and we could settle down again. I looked forward to that.

Chapter Four
    â€œShe’s licking it,” Linda murmured, to a chorus of soft “ahhs.” We spoke in whispers, as though the clouded leopard a city block away behind thick concrete walls might somehow hear us.
    It was five in the morning and we were transfixed by the video monitor in the Education office. For an hour, the den