Sam believes she may be on to a trail of clues when she’s approached by one of the zoo’s wealthy private donors in what seems to be an attempt to draw her into the illegal sale of rare and endangered plants. With the help of Dan Saunders, the zoo’s Head of Security, Sam devises a plan to get to the bottom of what looks to be a murder, a suspicious disappearance, and her own near-death.
The mystery deepens when one of the zoo’s security guards goes missing. Will another dead body turn up? As things heat up between Sam and Dan, they realize they could lose everything if they can’t solve these mysteries before another murder takes place.
EXCERPT
I parked my
cart at the edge of the marsh and tromped up the boardwalk. “Hey, Jo, what’s up?”
She leaned
over the wooden railing and pointed to the concrete catch basin that traps
refuse and keeps detritus from contaminating the lake when the waters overflow.
“Have a
look,” she said.
I bent over
the railing and blinked wildly. A large sheet of black plastic tied with
strands of rope stuck halfway into the catch basin. A few inches of water lay
in the bottom of the trough. Protruding from the far edge of the plastic I
could see a pair of mottled, purplish-gray human feet. An Eastern Box Turtle
nibbled away on the big toe of the left foot. Jodie pried the turtle off with
the handle of her rake and moved it away, but the stubborn creature crawled
right back and snagged another toe.
“What the—”
I nearly bit off my tongue for the second time that evening.
“Yeah,” Jodie said, with a grim shake of her
head, “see why I told you we had an emergency here?”