Bill slowly nods. “That’s what I was afraid of.”
I walk up to Gabriel. He’s deep in conversation with Greta, who evidently likes to talk using all of her emotions and both of her hands at all times.
“Yeah, we have five hyenas, and boy are theygluttons. But they kind of just wandered over and slowly chewed on the food I put out this morning like they were doing it just because it was there and not because they were hungry.”
“Has their pen been cleaned since last night?” I ask.
“With the chilly weather, we pull them in toward the end of the day and clean it as needed, so it hasn’t been cleaned at all today.”
“Can you send them in early, Greta?” Pat asks.
Greta shrugs. “Sure can do. I’d already wondered if the vet should give them a good look. They’re such handsome boys, but boy, oh boy, gluttons! And when gluttons don’t eat, there’s usually something wrong.”
“Would you have cleaned their pen tonight?” I ask.
“Honestly, probably not. It was cleaned yesterday morning. They have such a large area that we’d have waited on it, especially in this weather and with them only out for a limited amount of time.”
While we were talking, some techs from the department arrived. I send them over to document and collect the knives and any equipment that could make such a clean cut. They shoo everyone out of the area and set to work to see what they can find while Bill and the man who’d been pushing the cart stare at us and everyone else whispers about what might be going on. Pat pulls us back outside and onto the golf cart.
She drives us over to the pen and takes us through an employee-only area before heading over to the door. I watch as the hyenas trot through a small doorway that lets them into their indoor pen. Pat radios to Greta who confirms that all of the hyenas are inside, and then she opens up the outdoor pen for us to enter.
“Do hyenas eat the bones of what they’re given?” I ask.
“Sometimes they do. Depends on how large of a bone it is. One of the males will eat anything he can chew on. Dens, wood, you name it. He’s been better since we started hiding the food and making him work for it. He was caught in a trap, damaging his hind leg enough that he can’t be rereleased, so he’s with us now.”
It’s a large area, but I’m prepared to walk it. Before I do, I turn to Gabriel. “My theory is that the bones easiest for an amateur to identify as human are the bones in the head. Sothe killer decided to dispose of the head in a different way to avoid the possibility of those bones being discovered. I’m sure they didn’t expect that the bag would be opened on a necropsied animal that wasn’t having a private cremation.”
Gabriel nods. “Since hyenas can consume bones, there’s a chance that the killer thought they would dispose of the evidence, or at least enough to clean up the following night once the hyenas were put away.”
“Right. We don’t know that this is the only area the body was tossed into, but there’s a high likelihood. See the camera there?” I ask as I point to it. A tree has completely obstructed the view of it, telling me that seeing into this area is probably impossible.
“Oh lovely.”
Gabriel stops in front of a bone and eyes it for a second before glancing at me. “Bone here, but it doesn’t look human. Let’s split off.”
I see another golf cart hurrying this way before it stops next to where Pat parked.
“Go see what she has. I’ll keep looking,” Gabriel says.
I head back to the gate where a woman with red hair is handing a stack of papers over to Pat before turning to me.
“Hi, I’m Lacey, I work in HR. The lady who deals with the scheduling is out today, so I broke into her computer and got what I could for you. Wasn’t too hard; her password was her dog’s name,” she says. “I’ve put a call into her but she’s not answering. I wanted to verify what I could about the schedule. I don’t have access to her program to see who clocked in and clocked out, sorry.”
“This is very helpful,” I say. “Did the lady who does scheduling call in sick?”
“No. She just… didn’t show up. She’s not…” Lacey swallows hard. “Is she the one who…?”
I’m too busy looking over the names that mean nothing to me at this point to realize she’s near tears, so I’m a bit startled when I lower the folder and see them at the corners of her eyes. “I’m sorry, what’s that?”
“Is it her? Is Nadine… dead?”
“No. It’s a male body. There aren’t any men who haven’t shown up, correct?”
“Everyone who was scheduled to work today is here,” Pat says. “I would…” She takes a deep breath. “I would be willing to look at a photograph to see if I recognize him.”
“Thank you.” I lift up the papers Lacey brought me before passing her a contact card. “Can you email me these?”
“Of course.”
