Done with his cursory look through of the office, Iliya decided it was time to move on to one of the other two rooms. He decided to start with the room on the left. When he went in, Iliya realized it wasn’t a normal room at all- it was the door that led to the back area of the habitats of some of the reptiles.

The air in the room was humid. Hot, heavy and oppressive. Moving through the room was like moving through water. Iliya hoped that the animals that lived in the reptile area were happier with the conditions than he was. Or maybe the ones that didn’t had individualized tanks for a reason? Controlling temperature and all that.

Almost a dozen tanks and enclosures of different sizes lined the walls. They ranged from small, dark glass cages with lots of foliage for a little frog to a massive, open area for a lazy looking lizard that Iliya couldn’t identify. It looked happy enough, dozing under its heat lamp.

The largest animal in the room was some kind of snake. Not only was it long, but it was huge. Lumpy and fat. It didn’t look unhealthy, though. Its green patterned scales shined with the evidence of a good diet and regular cleanings. And unlike most of the animals in the room, its eyes followed Iliya wherever he went. Maybe this kind of snake was just smarter than most reptiles? Or it thought Iliya was bringing it more food. Didn’t look like it needed any extra food, though.

Unfortunately, Iliya did not know much about exotic pets. He hoped that he wouldn’t need to do something to the animals to solve the murder.

Iliya approached the snake and looked in its enclosure. It looked almost like a cut away part of a tropical rainforest. Branches and logs decorated the floor, and there were some leafy plants that provided cover and let the dense soil stay moist. The snake was wrapped around one of the sturdiest looking branches, but when it saw Iliya approach it slithered down onto the floor of its tank.

The snake moved until it was pressed right up to the glass. Its tongue flickered in and out of its mouth with hurried motions.

“Hello. Can you understand me?” Iliya asked the snake, unsure of its intelligence.

Immediately, he felt dumb for trying to talk to a snake. The snake showed no indication that it understood Iliya. It probably just wanted to be fed and thought Iliya was one of its keepers.

“Mr. Snake?” Iliya tried. Again, the snake didn’t hint at any response. It just continued staring. “Guess you can’t hear me, huh?” Even though he couldn’t communicate with the snake, it was nice to look at. Its scales shined bright against the light of the lamps in its enclosure. And strangely enough, its face was kind of cute. The snake had an almost puppyish looking pout, with the lips (or whatever snakes have for lips) turning up at the center of its mouth. Iliya didn’t know snakes could be cute. Maybe it was a game thing?

Unsure with what his next step was meant to be, he returned to the office and went through the other unopened door.

The door of the third room released a sudden, refreshing chill as it was opened. Iliya stepped in. The room was a giant freezer. Ice rimmed the edges of the walls, and Iliya could see his breath in the air.

I should have brought a jacket. Iliya shivered. He wondered if other games would take him to strange, exotic locations. If they did, they better provide proper clothes. Otherwise, Iliya and his hoodie would be screwed in certain locals. Especially if theming got more intense and he was brought somewhere formal, or magical. Iliya shook his head, and forced his mind to return to the task at hand.

Right. Reptiles. And food? The room was filled with stacks of food. The variety ranged from lettuce to pinkies laying still in a basket. Lined on the walls were feeding schedules, with the name and species of each animal underlined. Interestingly, not every animal had to be fed every day.

The animal with the most detailed notes was a female reticulated python creatively named Pythia. There was a photograph of Mercedes holding Pythia around her shoulders. The woman had a bright smile as she supported the patterned snake. Aside from the typical notes on diet and health, Pythia had a special note: DOES NOT EAT LIVE FOOD. Despite her giant size, apparently live food frightened Pythia. Even the scurry of a mouse would get her to tense up and hide.

Iliya thought that was kind of cute, for a giant snake. Especially considering it was Pythia who was that intelligent looking, puppy mouthed snake he had met eyes with earlier.

It also looked like Pythia was due to be fed soon. According to the notes on the wall, she ate about once every two weeks. And if he matched up the picture with the snake he saw in the other room… Well, that python looked a lot fatter than the one hanging on Mercedes’s shoulders in the picture. Either someone had fed her recently, knowing an investigative force was going to come in, or… Iliya had a sinking suspicion he knew where the rest of Mercedes might have been.

Rubbing his shoulders, he continued to look through Mercedes’s things. In her private journal, along with notes on diet, attitude and other important details, Mercedes left some anecdotes about how she was feeling. Iliya flipped to find one of the earlier entries.

I know it’s a bit unprofessional and all, writing some bits about my life in the work journal, but it’s just me who’s gonna be reading it!! And besides, little memos will help me go back and find data more easily. It’s a memory thing! :D Anyway, Pythia looks like she grew another few inches. She keeps getting bigger and bigger… I love my chonky gal.

One of the guys from mammals, Bill, asked me out today!! He’s tall and buff so I’m kind of into him lol. We’re going to be going out for drinks! I hope it goes well, workplace drama can get kind of awkward haha even if we’re in different departments. Plus he seems sweet…

Mercedes had a few entries like this, detailing her growing relationship with Bill. They were all in little snippets in the corners of pages.

Bill took me to see a tiger today! A TIGER! A real life, bona fide tiger. Don’t get me wrong, I love my scalie babies, especially Pythia, but everyone dreams of doing stuff like feeding and petting tigers. Eventually even handling three hundred pound pythons can get mundane after a few years, haha!

Bill and I are going out again tonight! Henri asked me to ask him if he has any single friends, lol. I feel like we haven’t hung out in forever, and it’s nice to know that she thinks so too. Bill just likes to be the center of my attention. Haha, he’s just like one of our animals.

One of the other guys in the office tried to warn me away from Bill. Says he’s heard not good things about him from some of the other guys in the department. That’s how it is in offices sometimes, people are just catty. :3

Worried, Iliya flipped towards the back of the journal, and looked at Mercedes’s final entry snippets.

Henri says I should leave him, but I think she’s just jealous that she’s single. She keeps going on and on about that time he accidentally hit me. It wasn’t on purpose though. He just has a temper, and he lost control. No big deal. Sometimes the reptiles get a bit nervous and mouthy. It’s not because they hate you, they just don’t know any better.

Maybe… Maybe I should end it. I realized that I started to dread phone calls with my mom. I can’t tell her what I’m up to. She’d be so scared and disappointed. He doesn’t even want me to answer her calls anymore.

The final entry was written with an unsteady hand. There were faint tearmarks staining the page.

He tried to choke me today. I’ve been looking at the statistics. If I don’t end it… Well. I’m a woman of science. I won’t go against the data. I’m going to break up, get my life back in order, and start again. Build my friendship back up with Henri. She was better to me than I deserved.

Iliya was pretty certain he knew what happened to Mercedes. The journal all but confirmed it. There was just one more thing he needed to make sure he was right about before giving his answer to the Moderator.