The private tour was over.
Katie texted her little sister a quick note that she’d arrived safe. Then she checked her watch. She had maybe ten minutes before the front gate opened and the day’s visitors arrived. She’d rather try facing her fears again without a crowd watching.
Luke’s prediction came back to her: If we don’t do something soon, we’ll lose him. Aquila needed her.
It took Katie a few minutes to get her bearings in the park, but soon she was standing once again in front of Aquila’s enclosure.
That’s when she heard the scream. Her knees locked and before she could sit down, the world tilted.
* * *
SO FAR, KATIE VINCENT was a disappointment. At least in the potential-to-help department. In the beauty department, he wasn’t disappointed at all. The couch in his office had never looked so good. Tinker, his cat, didn’t agree, though. She gave Katie a look of disdain and settled down on one end, close to Luke.
“She didn’t faint because she’s scared,” Jasper said. “The girl has more grits than that. She must be hungry.”
“I hope that’s all it is,” Luke observed dryly. “She can’t weigh more than a hundred pounds.” And he should know. When they’d found her in a heap, Jasper had run to get one of Bridget’s carts, while Luke had picked Katie up from the walkway and gathered her close. She weighed less than Terrance the Terrible, more than the antelope jackrabbit and about what the full-grown javelina did.
She smelled better than all three.
But he didn’t need a woman who smelled good. He needed one willing to roll up her sleeves and get dirty. “She’s not going to be able to help with Aquila,” Luke said mournfully.
“You can’t give up yet,” Jasper said. “She just got here.”
“And she’s fainted twice!” Luke argued.
Meredith came in from the break room and set a glass of water on the table next to Katie.
“Hard to believe this is Bob Vincent’s daughter,” Fred the vet stated drolly. “Nothing got in that man’s way.”
“Katie’s very much his daughter,” Jasper protested. “She was always right there alongside her father, couldn’t have been more than four or five when she started, quite the little handler.”
“I’ve seen the videos,” Luke said.
“Her father was never one to miss a marketing opportunity,” Jasper said. “She was basically in charge of Aquila while Bob worked with Tyre. A visiting journalist snapped a photo of her with Aquila, and it made it into some big-time magazine. Bob got calls from all over.”
“Tyre was the aggressive one,” Luke remembered.
“Yes, Aquila’s litter mate. I told you about him. He’s the one who attacked Janie. Bob sold him years ago. Not sure exactly where he finally landed.”
Luke remembered the conversation about Tyre. There’d been a few articles written about the attack, as well, mostly of the wild-animals-and-small-children-do-not-mix slant. Not one article, though, said exactly how the little girl had been hurt or why both girls had been sent away—unless Bob Vincent had suddenly bought into that opinion that wild animals and small children do not mix.
Jasper hadn’t been exactly forthcoming about the attack, either.
“Maybe you ought to think about doing some videos,” Meredith suggested. “A before-and-after feature about Aquila. Get some advertising for Bridget’s.”
“Katie always took a good photo.” Jasper brushed the hair away from Katie’s forehead.
“Right now,” Luke said drolly, “the only picture a magazine would get would be of her fainting and me picking her up.”
“And of a very skinny panther,” Meredith added.
“Katie will come around,” Jasper insisted.
“She didn’t faint before, when you knew her?”
“Not once,” Jasper said.
“Could it be exhaustion?” Luke asked the vet.
Fred shrugged, “I think you should take her to the walk-in clinic. Get a real opinion.”
“It’s not exhaustion.”
All three men turned at the sound of Katie’s voice. Her eyes, a somber shade of green, were now open. She sat up with Jasper’s help. Tinker jumped off the couch, gave an indignant meow and walked over to settle on Luke’s desk.
“Then what is it?” Luke couldn’t keep the impatience from his voice. Bridget’s opened in ten minutes. He’d not done rounds or even checked to make sure his crew was in place. Instead, he’d been saving the woman who was supposed to be saving him.
“I heard someone scream.”
“You probably heard a peacock,” Luke said. “Do you know what a peacock sounds like?”
She shook her head.
“Are the memories that bad?” Jasper asked softly.
“What memories?” Luke interjected.
“The memories are that bad,” Katie whispered.
“Katie, the attack wasn’t your fault. Your daddy gave you way too much responsibility, and he should have been watching over you. Give it time. Your confidence will come back to you. Like riding a bike.”
Clearly Luke should have demanded that Jasper fill him in on exactly what had happened that long-ago day. Secrets didn’t belong in a wild animal park. They could get you killed. “I thought Janie barely had a scar?” Luke said. “You said they got her to the doctor in time. I realize that’s why your father sent you to live with an aunt, but your sister is fine, right?”
Katie and Jasper exchanged a look, one Luke couldn’t read. Finally, Katie nodded but didn’t look convinced.
“Not your fault, little girl,” Jasper repeated. “Tyre was always a bad-tempered cat.”
Fault?
“Jasper, what are you trying to say?” Luke was losing patience. It was quickly becoming clear that Jasper had left out a few vital pieces of the story, especially when he’d claimed Katie Vincent could deal with Aquila. “I didn’t buy a cat named Tyre. I bought one named Aquila. Why would anything be Katie’s fault?”
“What he’s trying to tell you,” Katie said, her voice getting clearer and red spots appearing on cheeks that had previously been white, “is that I’m not afraid of Aquila, or of what Aquila might do. I’m afraid of what I might do.”
“Lady, you’re going to need to be a little clearer because I’m not getting the picture here.”
Her eyes closed once more. For a moment, he thought he’d lost her again. Then, almost as if she were talking to herself, she said, “I’d just finished working with Tyre and something distracted me. I don’t even remember what. But I left the pen, just for a minute. Next thing I knew there was a snarling sound and screams. My little sister’s screams.”
“She’d wandered into the cage,” Jasper explained, as if Luke couldn’t figure it out.
“She thought I was there,” Katie said. “Janie always followed me around. Next thing I knew, there she was on the ground and Tyre was at her throat.”
“So why is that your fault?” Luke asked.
“I