“Whatever that woman has done to it, it badly wants payback,” Declan mutters, eyes locked on the cat’s movements. Step by step, it continues to circle the car, though its movements become less coordinated until it staggers, collapsing to the ground.
“Wait a little longer,” I murmur as the big cat struggles to get back to its feet. Eventually, it gives up and lays its head down.
“Okay, let’s go.” I leave my empty tranq gun on the back seat and take the one from Thomas. “Just keep your weapon on you. I want us to have at least one ready to go if needed.” Declan hands it back to him, and we slowly get out of the car. I’ve got my stethoscope wrapped around my neck and the tranq reversal in the bag I’m carrying. I grabbed a couple of blankets when we left, which come out with us too. I’m going to lay them over the tiger to block out any stimulation that might force it out of sedation too soon. We’ve only taken a few steps away from our car when the woman in the car opens the door and climbs out.
“Did you kill it? Is it dead?” she screeches, and we get a good look at her for the first time. She’s holding her arm, which looks to be bleeding, so I pull my cell out of my pocket and hand it to Declan. “Can you call an ambulance, please?” I ask him, not taking my eyes off the cat. As I get to it, I slowly crouch down, and it’s definitely out.
“Not dead, sedated,” I answer as I put my stethoscope to my ears so I can listen to its heart rate. Its pulse is a little slower than I’d like, and its lungs don't sound great, but I think it’s going to be okay for now. Now that I’m closer, I can see that its fur is matted, and there’s a distinct smell that tells me the cat hasn’t had proper hygiene habits for a while. Not letting myself get caught up in those details, I scan its whole body and realize it’s very obviously female. Not to mention another urgent problem. Crap!
As I pull the things out of my ears, I hear a commotion, and when I look up, Thomas is restraining the woman. The insane bitch has her foot pulled back like she’s actually under the misguided idea that kicking a motherfucking tiger is a good plan.
“You should have put a bullet between its eyes! It attacked Jim and was coming after me. I ran, but it wouldn’t let me leave.” Her shrill, upset voice is like nails on a chalkboard, exactly what Idon’twant filling the silence while we have a sleeping tiger in front of us.
“Sit your ass down,” I order the woman, pointing to the nearby dilapidated porch. “I need to have a look at your arm. Did the tiger get you?” Now that I know it’s going to be okay, I need to ask some more questions because I’m almost one hundred percent sure that the tiger has a litter of cubs somewhere, from the look of its teats.
She shakes her head but does as I said. “No. I scraped it on one of the enclosures as I was running away.” She has a bit of cloth wrapped around it, and after pulling on some gloves, I unwrap it, hoping the authorities get here soon. A syringe of saline helps wash away some of the blood, giving me a better look at her. The woman has a deep slice down her forearm that’s going to need stitches. She hisses in pain, but I’m not feeling a lot of sympathy at the moment.
“The ambulance will be here soon, and you’re definitely going to need stitches,” I say just as the sound of sirens hits my ears. “Now, are there any more animals or people on the property that we need to be worried about? Anything else that might have escaped?”
She closes her mouth and clams up as soon as the question leaves my mouth, so I press into the wound until she grimaces. It’s all fun and games, owning an exotic pet, until someone gets hurt. The police will search the property anyway, but I’d rather hear it straight from the idiot’s mouth first. Plus, it’s a matter of safety. “Come on now, you don't want to be held responsible for anyone else getting hurt.”
She snarls at me much like the cat had been doing before shaking her head. “No, it’s just me and Jimmy here, and I don't think any of the other animals got out.”
“Is there anything that’s as dangerous as that?” I ask her. Once I see the stubborn set to her jaw, I pull the reversal syringe out of the bag. It’s definitely a big needle, and it’s not my fault if she assumes it’s going intoherarm if she doesn’t answer me. Besides, I’m pretty sure I’ve got a bigger threat than sticking her with this.
“Well, okay. I guess we can just get back into our car and leave. After I’ve reversed the sedative, anyway.”
“NO! No, please don’t. Yes, there are some big snakes, a jaguar, and a male tiger.”
Fuck. “Are they all locked in safely?” She nods, and I breathe a sigh of relief.
“What happened here?” I point to the escaped cat, and she groans, probably with the realization that she’s not getting away with this.
“Shinto was our family pet. She used to live indoors with us, and she was lovely. But then Jim got the idea that we should breed her for profit. He got his hands on another tiger, they hit it off, and she did have a litter. Jim wanted to get them out so he could hand raise them, but she attacked him when he tried to take them away.”
I just stare at her in disbelief. “You’re both idiots.” I stand up and walk away before I can say anything else. It’s only then that I notice the police and everyone else have arrived. Doc Davies and an animal control officer are examining Shinto, and police officers are talking to Declan and Thomas. A paramedic approaches me, so I point the woman out. “If you couldforgetto give her a pain blocker; none of us would say anything.” All I get is a raised eyebrow in return, but I refuse to feel bad about saying it. That woman deserves every bit of discomfort coming her way.
I crouch down with the two around the cat. “She seems fairly stable, but she was agitated and aggressive when we got here.” They both groan when I explain the rest. “The male is here somewhere, but I haven't searched yet. I wanted to make sure nothing else was going to surprise us.”
“And is there?” the AC officer asks, and I grimace.
“They’re all locked up, but aside from the male tiger, there’s a jaguar and some large snakes.”
Then it’s their turn to grimace. “Harlow, this is Jay. How about the two of you go have a look, and I’ll stay to monitor the cat. It might be best to leave the others where they are while we take her back to your clinic. She needs fluids and these mats in her coat cut out. I can see she has fleas, and she probably has worms too. Thankfully, we can treat all of that. She may have been their pet, but I’m pretty sure she wasn't loved. The other animals probably have problems too, but we can’t take them all to your place. We may have to leave them here with a guard overnight while we work out what to do with them.” Doc sounds upset but resigned, and it’s sad to say the feeling is mutual. “Who would have guessed this was practically on our doorstep?”
With nothing else to do, I reload my gun with a rapid-acting tranq and wave Thomas and Declan off so they know I’m heading out to explore with Jay. I can see Declan on the phone, so I’m assuming he’s either updating the rest of the siblings or maybe he’s tattling to Dad, but Thomas hurries over and puts his hand on my back as we move away from the ramshackle house and toward the outer buildings. There’s a convenient trail of blood to follow—likely the woman’s.
We push through the doors of the barn-like structure, and Jay sucks in a deep breath at the sight. Very much like a stables, it has a walkway through the middle and enclosures on either side. The roof has windows to let the light in, and one of them is broken, the sunlight just so happening to shine a beam of light down on a body. A body which has beeneviscerated. Intestines hang out from what was once his stomach, and his left arm looks to be quite badly mauled. The smell should have given it away, but the sightless eyes confirm that Jim most definitely isn't living to see another day. My heart sinks; even though it clearly wasn’t the tiger’s fault, the state authorities will likely argue to put her down. Generally, any exotic pets are placed somewhere safe, but it becomes a whole issue if the animal has harmed a human. Too many people argue that the animal will be more likely to harm more people now that it’s happened once.
“Fuck, I guess Jim didn’t make it.” The words slip out before I can stop them, accompanied by a nervous giggle, and Jay and Thomas both give me a weird look. “Sorry, I think the stress is getting to me.”
On the right side of Jim, running the length of the building, are cages. I can see another white tiger pacing up and down in one that’s not really big enough for him to get four paces before he has to turn around.
I step around Jim and walk past the tiger, the poor animal paying no attention to me since his eyes are locked on the corpse. What’s in the next enclosure has me shuddering and stepping back. Thankfully, it’s all glass; otherwise, I would be running for the hills. Not realizing the others had followed, I shriek when I touch something, whirling around and aiming my gun.
Both Thomas and Jay hold their hands up in defense. “Harlow, hey, it’s just us,” Thomas cajoles, and I shake my head and lower my gun, sighing.
“God, I’m sorry. This is all so upsetting, and… well… out of all the animals, I really,reallydislike snakes. Which I know might be weird for a vet, but… ugh.” I can’t control the shudder as I point back to where there are three humongous pythons. I don’t really want to get any closer, but Jay’s face lights up as he decides to get a closer look.
