Free Half-Off Ragnarok: Book Three of InCryptid by Seanan McGuire Page B

you’re working with large predators. “She’s been nothing but one problem after the other since the start of her assignment.”
    “So did she get eaten? Because it sounds like that would solve the problem.”
    Shelby laughed. “Not quite, but not for lack of trying. Mimi, our big female, was almost on her when I finally got her to move away from the bars. Poor kitty looked awfully betrayed, seeing her midmorning snack step out of range like that.”
    I grinned. “I’m sure she’ll find the strength to carry on.”
    “Don’t much care if she doesn’t; we’ve only got Nicole for another two weeks. Then she’s off to harass the keepers responsible for the elephants, and good riddance, too.” Shelby’s smile was fast, and showed far too many teeth to be comforting. “If she disappears after
that
, nobody’s going to be looking for incriminating evidence inside my kitty cats.”
    “That’s fast. The transfer, I mean, not the murder plot. If we had someone that careless in the reptile house, I’d probably have fed them to the snapping turtle by now.” That was an exaggeration . . . but not by as much as many people would think.
    Shelby shrugged. “What can I say? We’ve got a double crop of interns this year.” The big cats saw a much higher turnover rate than the reptile house, since working with the flashy carnivores was a plum position for trainees and interns. We could hold onto people for as much as a year before someone else wanted their slots. Shelby was lucky if she got to keep someone long enough for them to learn not to feed themselves to the lions. It wasn’t just the big cats, either. Pretty much anything mammalian was more attractive to your average aspiring zookeeper than a bunch of snakes and snapping turtles, even though I’d never personally seen the appeal.
    “Earth to Alex, come in, Alex.” I turned to see Shelby leaning forward, elbows on her knees. She looked faintly annoyed. “I’ve been doing all the talking again, and you’ve been letting me. I thought we’d talked about this. I want you here when you’re here, or we shouldn’t even bother.”
    “Well, you talked about it, mostly,” I said, trying to elicit a laugh.
    It didn’t work. Her annoyance deepened. “If we want this to work out, Alex, we’ve both got to do our share of the heavy lifting. That means sometimes you’ve got to tell me about your day, even if you’d rather not.”
    “Ah. Sorry—distracted.” It was hard to talk about my day when I had to constantly revise it to remove the feathered frogs, the supposedly mythological creatures, and the little girls who liked to cuddle cobras. Shelby was a smart girl. That was part of the problem. She could see the holes. “It was hectic at the reptile house this morning. Three back-to-back school groups, and one of the juniors didn’t show up, which meant poor Dee had to do half the feedings for me.”
    Shelby blinked. “Your assistant? But she’s not even a zookeeper. Is that safe?”
    “She’s been working here for a lot longer than the interns, and you hand them raw meat and put them in front of predators.”
    “Yes, but they’re doing it for college credits. We
pay
her.”
    I snorted laughter. Shelby shrugged.
    “Just being pragmatic, although I’m sorry you’ve had a lousy morning. Who’s on shift now?”
    “Kim and Nelson came on just as I was getting ready to start lunch. Dee’s finally doing her own job, which has got to be a relief for her. I’ll be able to work on my research during the afternoon.”
    “Oh? Does that mean you might be done in time to grab a spot of dinner with me?” Shelby tried to make the question sound innocent, but I could see the pointed interest in her eyes. I did a quick mental count of the nights since our last official date, and winced.
    “I’m sorry,” I said. “I really can’t. But we’re still on for tomorrow, right?”
    “Tomorrow,” she said. “You can’t blame a girl for trying, can you?”