The next morning, Tim woke up overflowing with a sense of satisfaction. He had not felt that well in a while. The night he had spent with Josephine was wonderful, for more reasons than just their passionate, sexual encounter. Unexpectedly, she had shared with him the secret that had been haunting her mind. Then his mood was effectively ruined as he recalled her rejection and her advice. Tim was not used to being turned down, especially by women that intrigued him as much as Josephine had. More than that, her suggestion to date Laura frustrated him. The last thing on his mind was going out on a date with her. He didn’t have a problem keeping his encounter with Josephine a secret, but deep down, Tim knew that his boss would insist on finding everything out about her activities. Despite her claims, he still believed Laura would attempt to get the information she wanted for free. After all, she had proved to him that she could be quite persuasive. In order to find out if his hunch was right or not, however, he had to take Josephine’s advice and go out on a date with Laura.

Still, he had another, much bigger, problem to deal with: things would be quite awkward between him and Josephine. He thought that she would try to avoid him. She had made it clear to him that she regretted their actions of the night before. Much to his disappointment, she was adamant: they could not date each other. Her attitude would definitely make his job much more difficult. Tim would have to spend many hours in her lab and keep his mouth shut most of the time, pretending that nothing had happened between them. Nevertheless, the former outlaw had faced bigger issues in the past. In his mind, handling her would be much easier than the hardships he had been through so far in his life.

As their gazes met in her lab, Tim discovered that the icy look in Josephine’s eyes had returned. In fact, she was acting the way she did on the day that they first met. It was still early in the morning; she was having a cup of tea, and browsing the internet on her computer. She would not even address him, despite the fact that they were all alone. Tim’s eyes lit with rage. Disgusted by her behavior, he stormed out of her lab and slammed the door behind him.

We did all sorts of crazy things in bed last night and now she’s acting like she doesn’t even know me. Damn … I hate it when I’m right.

Revisiting the spot where they had captured the chimpanzee the night before, he found Wally dragging a large box across the snow.

“Morning, kid …” The aging security guard murmured, casting an intent glance at Tim. “Good job last night.”

“Thanks,” Tim replied in his deep, masculine voice. “Listen, you’ve been here a lot longer than me. Has this happened before?”

“Yeah,” Wally snorted. “It’s happened twice before. About a year ago, a rock python escaped. We were all scared shitless. We’re talking about a twenty-foot reptile; the damn thing could kill us in a heartbeat. We got lucky. She had other plans.”

“Lucky?” Tim squinted at him. “What do you mean?”

“It all happened about two hundred yards north of here. We watched the whole thing. The snake found a mountain lion lair. She made the mistake of attacking the cub. The mother wasn’t far away. Jitter and his fiancé thought that the python would kill them both. They ordered us to wait until she killed those cats. The cub’s mother just pounced on that snake. She grabbed her by the head. What a fight … I swear, I’ve never seen anything like it. It lasted almost three hours. The mountain lion tore that python to pieces. Last summer, another chimp escaped. He started chasing a deer, right outside the fence. He killed it, but the noise attracted an oncoming pack of wolves. That guy was pretty bold; he wouldn’t give up his prey. Jitter wasn’t here; the doc was terrified. The wolves jumped him. He was dead in seconds. I saw Dr. Taylor cry that day.” Wally finished his narrative with a long, deep sigh.

“You’re kidding, right?” Tim laughed.

“Nope,” Wally shook his head sideways. “She cried; and I mean hard. That girl doesn’t just like her job, son. She’s married to it. That’s why she kept …” He faltered “shooting down Maddox. I’ve lost count of all the times he’s sent her flowers. He’s even visited her a few times.”

“He kept doing that after she got engaged to Jitter?” Tim’s voice raised in pitch.

“Yeah, he did alright,” Wally’s response sent shockwaves up and down Tim’s body. “He threw a fundraiser, a couple of months ago. Judging by the way he looked at her, he’s head over heels in love with her. I guess her engagement didn’t mean anything to him.”

Tim’s initial thought was to continue asking Wally about Josephine and her dead fiancé. His answers had triggered his imagination and convinced him even further that Maddox was behind Jitter’s murder. At the same time however, he realized that convincing her to date him would be much more difficult than he anticipated. Josephine had already turned down a rich man who had feelings for her. He wasn’t in love with her, but the fact that she had repeatedly rejected someone as powerful as Maddox made his heart sink. It showed him that she could not be influenced; Tim’s desire to approach her again evaporated.

“What’s the matter, kid?” His prolonged silence and his drifting gaze made Wally curious. “You look a little distracted.”

“Nothing,” Tim assured. “She’s in love with her job, isn’t she?”

“You bet,” Wally agreed. “I’ve been doing this job since before you were born. I’ve met dozens of scientists. They all thought that they would make a breakthrough, discover something that would change the world to the better. They mostly all failed. But that’s not what bothers me. The things they’d been trying to do were tough in the first place; losing is just part of the game. It really pisses me off to see young people waste their lives like that, though, and not enjoy the simple things in life, you know?”

“Thanks a lot for the info, Wally.” Tim said, unwilling to discuss it any further. He would have to find a way to stop thinking about her and treat her exactly like she did him. After all, his colleague’s words had left him no choice.

Keep it professional? I don’t know if I can do that; not after last night. I don’t even know if I want to do that. Hell, things have become so complicated that staying in this job doesn’t make any sense. Laura and the doc don’t like each other and I’m in the middle of it. Now that I can’t date her, why would I want to stay here anyway? I need to talk to Laura. She won’t like it, but I have to tell her…