“I don’t suppose he told you who or why?” Because he’d only just arrived. Surely the general hadn’t already found him.
Her wild headshake sent her red locks swinging. “He said nothing about who hired, only that he was offered a large sum.”
Worrisome. Not even here a day and already being targeted.
“Thanks for letting me out of the cage to defend myself.”
“I did it more for me,” she admitted.
His lips quirked. “Guess that worked out for both of us, then.”
“Not really. How am I supposed to explain the body?” Her lips pursed as she regarded the dead body.
“This is a zoo, right?” At her nod, he added, “We could toss the body into one of the carnivore pens. Let them tear it apart so it looks like a misadventure.” Not met five minutes ago and he’d already asked her to help him cover up a murder.
He expected her to refuse or even go into hysterics.
To his surprise, while her lips flattened, she nodded. “We can feed the body to the crocs; they’re not too far from here. However, I’ll need help to carry him.”
“You don’t have to get your hands messy. I’ll do it, but first, I don’t suppose you have some clothes I can borrow.” While not usually a shy man, it did feel awkward to be standing around in the buff.
“I’m afraid I don’t have anything here. I could go see if the office has something.”
Let her leave? What if she went running and told people about him? He needed time to escape before she blabbed about his secret.
With that worry infecting his mind, Phoenix’s gaze went to the dead body. Shorter than him and unbathed, still, a man couldn’t walk around bare-assed. With a grimace, Phoenix quickly stripped the trousers from the corpse and put them on. The pants wanted to fall down, the waist being larger than his, while the legs were too short, ending a few inches above the ankles. The blood-stained shirt he left alone, as well as the shoes, which wouldn’t fit.
As he crouched to lift the body onto his shoulders, the woman, who’d been silent while he partially dressed, said, “You are American?”
“Canadian, actually.”
“How did you end up on that ship?” she asked. “Were you abducted?”
“I smuggled myself aboard.”
“Why?” she exclaimed, sounding startled.
“Because I’m looking for answers.” He stared right at her as he added, “And I do believe, seeing as how you recognized what I am, that you might be able to help me find them.”
“I doubt that. You are the first weretiger I’ve met.”
“But you know of them.”
“I’ve heard stories,” the woman corrected as she led him outside the building. She glanced left and right as if she could actually spot anyone who might be spying. She couldn’t. Luckily, he scented and heard no one nearby.
“I’d like to hear those stories,” he stated as he followed her quick steps.
“You travelled all this way for legends?” She whirled to address him as she spoke.
“I didn’t know what else to do. My condition isn’t exactly common.”
She made a noise. “You don’t say.” She waved to the waist-high wall behind her that overlooked a sunken marshy area. “You can dispose of the body here in the crocodile pen.”
Phoenix happily dumped the corpse, which landed with a splash in the brackish-smelling water. The intrusion immediately led to some reptiles coasting over for a peek and then some thrashing of excitement. Hopefully they’d rend the flesh thoroughly enough to mask the tiger bite to the neck.
“Now that we’ve taken care of the body, we should probably go somewhere else before more hired thugs arrive,” he suggested.
“You think more will come?” She cast him a startled glance.
