Tiger Trap by Eric Walters Read Free Book Online Page A

back tomorrow. Is that okay? You two will take care of Kanga and Roo tonight?”
    “All taken care of, Sarah,” Vladimir said, turning to face the man. “Everything will be taken care of …”
    A shudder went up my spine. I knew what Vladimir meant. It was better I was leaving. I didn’t want to see what was going to happen next because it wasn’t going to be pretty.

Chapter 6
    “Sarah?”
    Startled out of my thoughts, I glanced at my mother beside me at the kitchen table.
    “Could you please pass Martin the potatoes?” she asked.
    “Yeah, sure, of course.” I picked up the serving bowl and passed it to my brother, who handed it to Martin.
    The police chief had dinner at our house a couple of times a week. He and my mother seemed to be getting pretty serious. Maybe I should have been unhappy about my mother having a boyfriend, but he was nice and he did make her happy. A lot happier than my father had made her the last couple of years of their marriage. I wondered if my father was happy now — we didn’t see him enough for me to know. Somehow I doubted it.
    “So,” Martin said, “your mother was telling me about the kangaroos.”
    “They’re really cute. I named them Kanga and Roo,” I said.
    “That’s cute, too. How are they doing?”
    “Really good. They’re eating well.”
    “And often,” my mother said. “Sarah was up all last night feeding them.”
    “That’s rough. Now that I’m chief I don’t work the graveyard very often, but I remember those night shifts. You’re so tired it feels like you can’t even keep your eyes open.”
    “That’s how you probably feel right now, Sarah,” my mother said.
    “I feel fine.”
    “Don’t be silly,” she said. “You must be tired. If I’d been up all night, I’d be —”
    “But it wasn’t you who was up,” I snapped. “It was me! Just because
you
feel cold doesn’t mean
I
need a sweater.”
    My mother seemed hurt by my comments, and I suddenly felt bad. I didn’t mean to upset her, but it was happening a lot lately. Words just popped out of my mouth as if I were hearing them for the first time myself, and I felt shocked by what I’d said.
    “You look pretty tired to me, as well,” Nick said.
    I shot him a dirty look. He could be such a little suck-up sometimes — as if he’d never done anything to anger or offend Mom.
    “I thought you were going to fall face first into your mashed potatoes,” he continued. “You just drifted off a couple of times.”
    “That’s not because I’m sleepy, but because I was lost in thought. Something you have very little experience with.”
    There was silence. Now if I could just think of something nasty to say to Martin I could have everybody at the table annoyed at me.
    “It’s been a week or so since I’ve been out to Tiger Town,” Martin finally said. “How are Angus and Vladimir doing?”
    “They’re doing great,” I said. “Everything’s great … well, good … well, okay.”
    “Just okay?” he asked.
    “Well … everything’s good with the animals, and that’s the most important part.”
    “Then what part is going just okay?” Martin pressed.
    “I guess it’s mainly the money,” I admitted, feeling as if I didn’t have the right to discuss Mr. McCurdy’s finances, though I knew them better than anybody, including Mr. McCurdy.
    “I thought that from the number of visitors I see at the park there would be enough money flowing in,” Martin said.
    “There’s enough coming in now, but what about later in the year when the weather changes and there aren’t as many visitors?” I asked.
    “I guess attendance might go down slightly,” Martin said.
    “I expect a sixty percent decline in attendance from November to mid-March.”
    “Sixty percent?” my mother said. “That seems awfully pessimistic.”
    “Is it?” I said. “Do you think I just pulled those numbers out of my head?”
    “No, I just thought that —”
    “I went on the Net and checked out