Katie's Rescue. Pamela Tracy

      She nodded but didn’t comment.

      “By the way, when you let your guard down in those films, like when you were dancing with Aquila, you had the audience eating out of your hands. You were quite good in front of the cameras, and some of those long-ago smiles actually seemed real. I think you protest too much. Maybe working with animals and showcasing what they can do is in your blood. If not, you could have fooled me.”

      She pushed away from the wall, arms tight to her sides. Looking him right in the eye, she said, “Maybe you’re easy to fool.”

      She stood, muttering something about exploitation and fools.

      He formulated a comeback, only by the time he said the words aloud, she was too far away to hear them: “I may be a fool, but unlike in those clips, you haven’t smiled once since I’ve met you.”