“Alright, we’ll let you know what we find,” Gabriel tells them.
“But only if you’re worthy,” I add.
They ignore me for some odd reason. It really is annoying that I can’t bully them as easily as I did in the past. Something about Gabriel makes them think I’m joking all the time when I’m simply not.
We get into the car and touch base with the department and are told they have someone in contact with the zoo who will meet us at the gate.
“Is it weird that I’m kind of hoping we get to see behind the scenes with the cats?” Gabriel asks while I drive.
“I can bully them into letting you pet a cheetah. Better yet, would you like me to buy you a cheetah?”
“Absolutely not to all of that,” he declares.
“Why are you so picky?”
“Is it… Is it considered picky that I don’t want a wild animal that couldeatme in my sleep?”
“That is true. That is true. I could tell them that you must feel the fur of a cheetah to understand how this man died,” I say.
“None of this is going to go well,” he realizes.
“You should be able to have anything you want, Gabriel. I will give it to you. Cheetah sanctuary, then?”
“I’m happy with Lucille Pawl and Butter, I promise.”
“How could you be happy with either of those things? One is Satan’s spawn and the other just… exists.”
“You love them both and you know it,” Gabriel says.
I grimace as I question how my one true love could possibly be so confused. Does he not know me at this point?
I glance over at him. “So… when are you moving in? Before Christmas, I assume. So far, all you’ve brought over are necessities. It feels no different from when you were just staying the night.”
“We could work on packing stuff this week, if you’d like. I think the issue is that I amnotlooking forward to going through all of my stuff. And I know you said you could hire a moving company, but I really want to go through everything before I just haul it over,” he says with a sigh.
“I don’t blame you. Ninety-seven percent of what you own are discarded cat toys that Lucy Fur took one look at, hacked a hairball on in pure disgust, and walked away.”
“You strangely seem to think she’d even look at them,” Gabriel says with a grin. “So what do you think of our head? Have you already figured the entire thing out and we’re just going for a romantic stroll through the zoo?”
I smirk at him. “I haven’t come to a conclusion yet, but I will. And then I will drag you to your old home and pack everything up. I have a better idea. What if I buy you all-new things and you sell the house with your clutter inside?”
The look on Gabriel’s face tells me that he’s not interested in that in the slightest.
“I can buy your cat a Gucci bed and a Tiffany bowl for her to look into with disgust before drinking from the sink as you snap countless pictures. Anything you or your cat wants, it will be yours.”
“I feel like you’re getting off track.”
“What is on track?”
“The head.”
“Ah. I forgot about the head.”
“I feel like… it’s kind of hard to forget about a head.”
“Right! Well, I can tell you that the person who severed it is quite talented with a knife. It took no sawing; the knife was sharp and likely meant for butchering meat. I have to assume that at least some meat butchering goes on at a zoo. I doubt all of the meat they receive is packaged to the perfect size.”
“That’s true. So they likely have multiple people who deal with the feedings.”
