5 Big Bunny Bump Off (3 page)

“We were kids when we used to punch each other on a regular basis
, but I know what you mean. It seems like there’s been a lot of change in the past few months. It’ll be nice for the three of us to hang out. I’ve been spending all my time with Zak, and Ellie has been spending all her time with Rob, and you? Who exactly have you been spending all your time with?”

Levi shrugged.
“No one in particular.”

“Really? Levi Denton
, the Casanova of Ashton Falls, has been living the single life?”

“Well
, I haven’t been a monk. I’ve dated, just not the same person more than once or twice.”

“I see. Maybe being single for a while will be good for you. Have you heard from Barbie?”

“No. After we broke up and she moved away, she seems to have cut all ties with Ashton Falls. I even asked a few of her girlfriends if they’d heard from her, and they said they hadn’t.”

“I guess that’s good.”

“Maybe, but she left on such a strange note, I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

The rehearsal was over and the actors were beginning to disperse. I waved to Ellie
, who acknowledged my gesture with one of her own, putting up a finger to let me know she’d be just a moment.

“What do you mean?” I asked Levi.

“I don’t know exactly. It’s probably just my imagination, but I have this feeling I haven’t seen the last of her, and that when she does show up again, it’s going to be like the sequel to a really bad horror flick: twice as bad as the first.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it. I doubt she’ll be back
, and if she is, I’m sure she will have moved on.”

“Yeah, I guess. I’ve been thinking about asking out Carly Wilder again. We had a great time togethe
r at our birthday party, but at the end of the evening, when I mentioned getting together again, she seemed sort of evasive. I don’t suppose you know her story?”

Levi had first hooked up with Carly Wilder at the Sweetheart
Dance on Valentine’s Day, when they’d both shown up alone. They hadn’t seen each other again until the joint birthday party Zak had thrown for Levi and me a few weeks ago. My birthday is on March 10 and Levi’s is on March 8, so we often celebrate together. Ellie had invited Carly, who’d seemed thrilled at the chance to renew her friendship with Levi, although the two hadn’t hooked up since. Although Carly is two years younger than Levi and me, she’s mature and settled, whereas Levi tends to focus on having fun and mixing things up. In my opinion, the two aren’t really suited, and I think Carly realizes that.

“I don’t know Carly really well,” I answered. “I do know that she recently graduated with a nursing degree and is looking for a job.
I imagine she’ll leave the area once she finds what she’s looking for.”

“
I’m just looking for a date, not a wife,” Levi reminded me.

“Maybe you should ask Ellie about her.
They took the same dance classes for years, so Ellie knows her better than I do. And I suppose if all you’re looking for is a date, it couldn’t hurt to ask. All she can do is say no.”

It had been a long and labor-intensive weekend, but Mom and Dad were moved into their new home and Zak and I finally had some privacy. Not that I hadn’t relished the fact that having Mom living with Zak had given me the opportunity to really get to know her, but it had also thrown off the equilibrium we’d just begun to establish before she arrived. I love Zak, and I assume that someday we’ll discuss the idea of a permanent living arrangement, but for now the ability for each of us to have our own space and share as we choose seems to be the best option.

“Are we expecting a delivery?” I asked my assistant
, Jeremy Fisher, after I arrived at Zoe’s Zoo, the wild and domestic animal control, rescue, and rehabilitation center we run.

“Bunnies,” Jeremy answered as he clean
ed one of the larger pens we normally used for wildlife. “Lots of them.”

“Lots as in how many?” I was afraid to ask.

“The woman I talked to made it sound like there were hundreds. The county is shutting down a breeder in the valley for refusing to adhere to regulations regarding cleanliness and odor control. The Bryton Lake animal control facility is booked to the gills as usual, so they’ve asked us to dispose of the livestock.”

“Hundreds?” I paled. “How are we going to find homes for hundreds of rabbits?”

“Well, they were raised as livestock,” Jeremy pointed out.

“You think we should butcher them? Over my dead body.”

“Don’t have a coronary. I was just kidding, and I’m not sure there are actually hundreds, though there are quite a few. We should think about a special adoption clinic. At least it’s Easter and people are looking for bunnies.”

“A special adoption
drive would be a good idea. Once we take possession of our new guests, have Scott look at them to make sure they’re healthy, and then work up an ad we can run in all of the newspapers and social media sites in the area. Maybe we can find no-kill facilities in other areas that might be willing to take a few as well.”

“Okay, I’m on it.
By the way, a reporter from Channel 2 called and wants to do a feature story on the Anderson fire cubs. I told her you’d call her back.”

“They
’ve put on a lot of weight and look significantly better than when we first got them six weeks ago. I suppose it could be good publicity for the facility. Perhaps we can work in a mention of the bunnies.”

“Her number is on the pad
on your desk. Oh, and Ellie called. She said your cell was off. She wants you to call her as soon as possible. She said it’s important.”

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and looked at it. It
was
off. I’d really been working at being better about remembering to turn it on after I charged it, but apparently some bad habits die hard. I powered it up and saw that I had eight messages, four of which were from Ellie. I punched in her cell number and waited for her to answer.

“Thank God you called,” Ellie answered after the first ring. “I need a favor. A big one.”

“Sure, anything you need.”

“I have to go to the county offices in Bryton Lake this afternoon to deal with a small kink in the outdoor permits for
Ellie’s Beach Hut, and I promised Blakely I’d drop by the final menus for him to look at after the bank closed for the day. The menus are at the printers and won’t be done until after three, so I can’t drop them by early. It would be a huge help if you could pick them up from the printer and then drop them off at the bank on your way home from the Zoo. Blakely said he’d be there late and would be listening for you to buzz him from the delivery entrance. I’ve done it before. There’s an intercom on the outside wall just to the right of the door. All you have to do is push the button and speak. Blakely will come and let you in.”

“Absolutely, no problem.”

“Thanks. With all the snow we got yesterday, I really want to get down to the county early enough to do what I need to do and be back before dark.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea. I heard we
’re expecting more snow this afternoon to go with the almost two feet we got yesterday. Maybe while I’m at the bank I can have a chat with Ol’ Jack about laying off the snow machine,” I teased.

“Seriously,” Ellie agreed. “My plan for the opening was to feature both the indoor and
the outdoor seating areas. Now I’m seriously thinking about postponing the event.”

“I wouldn’t worry too much. Spring snow usually doesn’t stick around too long. It could very well be sixty degrees by the time you open on Friday.”

“Here’s hoping. And thanks again. Tell Blakely that if he has any questions, he can call me tomorrow.”

“Will do.”

“Everything okay?” Jeremy asked after I hung up.

“Yeah
. Ellie just needs me to run an errand for her later this afternoon.”

“Do you have time to go over the applications we received this week?”

“Certainly. Anyone look promising?”

“A few
.” Jeremy had organized the files so that the best candidates were on the top. He opened the first file so we could both view it together. “This application is from a woman who moved into my apartment building several months ago. Her name is Tiffany Middleton and she’s twenty-three years old. She worked at an animal control center in Tampa, Florida, for two years and has a certificate in dog training as well.

“Why’d she move to Ashton Falls?” I wondered.

“She came here last winter to go skiing with some friends and fell in love with the place. She cashed in her savings, quit her job, and moved to the area just after the first of the year. She’s currently working as a waitress but would really like to get back into working with animals. She asked me about getting a job here when she first arrived, but we hadn’t reopened yet, so I told her that we didn’t have anything for her. She seems enthusiastic and eager to work. We’ve had several discussions about how to handle problem animals, and I think she’ll fit in with our overall philosophy really well.”

“Sound
s good. Let’s set up an interview.”

“Actually, I was hoping you could talk to her today. If you have time
, that is. I really think she’ll be great, and with Morgan on the way, I’d like to get someone trained so I don’t leave you hanging while I’m off on my daddy leave.”

“Okay
. Call her up and ask her to come in. Who else do we have?”

“
Lilly Evan’s grandson Bobby is interested in the cleaning job. He can work weekends and every day after school, if we need him. He just got his driver’s license and seems motivated to earn some money to buy a car.”

“I know Bobby. He’s a good kid. If you think he’ll work out
, go ahead and have him come in and do the paperwork. You can get started training him right away.”

“Perfect
.” Jeremy smiled. “And last but not least, I only got one application from someone interested in the graveyard shift. To be honest, I’m not certain if this will be a good option or not. Two brothers applied and want to share the job, taking turns sleeping over. It seems they live together and figure that each will have their small cabin to themselves on the night the other is at the Zoo.”

“Let me guess
—Tank and Gunner Rivers?”

“How did you know?”

“Ashton Falls is a small town. It wasn’t hard to whittle down the candidates and figure out which set of brothers sharing a cabin might be interested in the job.”

“They
’re a little rough around the edges,” Jeremy warned.

Jeremy wasn’t wrong
about the men being rough around the edges. Tank and Gunner were middle-aged twin brothers who worked together running fishing charters in the summer and doing snow removal in the winter. They lived in the same tiny cabin where they were raised. Their parents had died in an automobile accident when they were eighteen, and they’d stayed on in the cabin when they’d graduated high school. Neither had ever married, so both were still in residence. I’d need to look at the application to be certain, but I’d be willing to bet that the men were forty-five or forty-six.

Both men had a tendency toward colorful language
, but they did own several pets, and based on my experience with them, it seemed like they’d be good working with the animals we housed. We really just needed someone to be on-site in case of an emergency, or to tend to sick or injured animals we might house in the future. Tank and Gunner seemed like the type who wouldn’t be squeamish about a less-than-pleasant job, should one arise, so they might work out if we could keep them away from the customers we dealt with during the day.

“
Let’s set up a time to talk to them,” I decided. “Anyone else we should look at?”

“You can look through the files yourself if you’d like. There are other interested parties for the full
-time position, but I felt Tiffany would be the best choice.”

“Okay, I’ll talk to her
, and we can take it from there.”

The fact that I had to put my truck into four-wheel drive to get out of the parking lot at the end of the day was absurd. Yes, Ashton Falls is in the mountains, and yes, our weather can be unpredictable, but to have close to two feet of snow fall in April was almost unheard of. Luckily, the main thoroughfares had been plowed, so once I got onto the highway the travel was relatively painless. In spite of the weather, it had been a good day. Jeremy and I had managed to get the pen we planned to use for the rescued bunnies cleaned in plenty of time to accept delivery of the sixty rather than the hundreds of animals we feared. Our veterinarian, Scott Walden, had looked them over and declared them fit for adoption, so we went ahead and posted an ad for an adoption clinic to be held the following weekend. I contacted the reporter who was interested in doing the story, and she was more than willing to advertise all of the services we provided, including bunny adoption, as part of her feature about the cubs.

I interviewed Tiffany and found that Jeremy was correct in his assumption that she’d make a wonderful addition to our staff. She was bubbly and friendly
, with an impressive background and a natural ease with the animals. I hired her on the spot, and Jeremy planned to begin training her this week. To add icing to the cake, I found the perfect doggy daddy for a hard-to-place greyhound with emotional issues that I was close to giving up hope for. By the time I stopped by the printers, the menus were ready and waiting. The printer and I chatted for a few minutes before Charlie and I headed over to the bank.

By the time I pulled into the lot
, it had stated to snow. Again. Maybe Blakely
was
the real Jack Frost. The crazy weather seemed to indicate that something magical as well as sinister was in play. I knew that Blakely wouldn’t appreciate my bringing Charlie indoors, but it was cold outside, and I feared the temperature in the truck would drop to an uncomfortable level for the little dog should Blakely engage me in a lengthy conversation, as he was prone to do. As I was helping him out of the truck, I noticed a figure scurrying away from the back of the building toward the wooded area behind the bank.

“Did you see that?” I asked Charlie, afraid that I was losing my mind.

Charlie barked.

V
isibility was bad as the snow combined with the darkening sky made individual images difficult to decipher, but I could swear the figure I saw scampering away was none other than the Easter Bunny.

“I must have rabbits on the brain,” I
said, laughing at the absurdity of the real Easter Bunny leaving the bank. I had, after all, been processing rabbits all day and that, combined with the play, had most likely skewed my perception.

I tucked one of the menus into my jacke
t, picked Charlie up, and made my way to the back door of the bank. I reached for the buzzer just as I noticed that the door had been left ajar. The bunny must not have closed it when he fled. I stepped inside, hoping I wouldn’t set off any alarms. I set Charlie down on the tile floor and removed my boots before making my way down a dark hallway toward Blakely’s office. When I poked my head into his office door, it was empty.

“Mr. Blakely,” I called. “It’s Zoe Donovan. I’m here with the menu.”

I listened, but there was no answer. The rest of the bank appeared to be dark, and I hesitated to wander around without knowing what, if any, security alarms might have been activated. I was preparing to leave a sample of the menus and a note for Blakely when Charlie took off down the darkened hallway on his own.

“Charlie,” I called.

He didn’t respond, which was odd, because he usually came running at the sound of my voice.

“Charlie,” I tried again
, in a louder and sterner tone.

Charlie barked in the distance but refused to come. A knot formed in my stomach as I remembered
the last time Charlie had refused to obey a direct command. An image sprang to mind that I quickly repressed. I didn’t need to think about that as I made my way slowly down the dark hall.

“Charlie,” I called again.
“Get your furry butt back here this minute.”