Animal Whisperer: Take Back My Life and Love Chapter 11: The Giraffes' Testimony

"The head was still there!"

The short giraffe nodded its long neck.

"I'm telling you, that man was twisted. He took out a little knife and started sawing the corpse's head off bit by bit."

Nancy's eyes widened. The killer had actually beheaded the victim right there in the tiger enclosure!

"He was laughing while cutting the head off."

"We giraffes sleep standing up. I was so scared I just pretended to be asleep." The short giraffe still shivered at the memory.

"My legs went weak. I was terrified he'd notice something was off!"

Nancy pulled a pencil and sketchbook from her backpack.

Ever since childhood, her parents in the Summers family had trained her to draw—especially animal skeletons—so she could better study veterinary medicine.

Now Nancy was an excellent artist, particularly skilled in portraits of both people and animals.

She had originally planned to draw the little animals in the zoo to help herself get familiar with her coworkers.

"Did you get a clear look at the killer’s face while he was cleaning up the scene?"

Giraffes’ eyes were set high on the sides of their heads, giving them an almost 360-degree view.

"I saw him! He took off his cap to wipe away sweat!"

The short giraffe replied, "His skin wasn’t as pale as yours, but not too dark either. His nose wasn’t as tall as yours—it was flat.

His eyes weren’t as big as yours. Yours look like a fawn’s eyes. His were more like the steppe fox in the zoo—narrow, just a slit..."

The tall giraffe suddenly kicked him with a long leg. "You little fool, only a few words in and you’re already flattering the director!"

The short giraffe looked aggrieved. "I’m not, I’m just telling the truth."

"The new director really is pretty—like a fairy."

The tall giraffe swished its tail at him. "Still flattering!"

Nancy couldn’t help but laugh at their bickering.

"Don’t worry. I treat every little animal here the same."

Curious about their relationship, Nancy asked, "Are you two brothers?"

The tall giraffe shook his head. "No, we’re not related. Just coworkers."

The short giraffe’s eyes showed a hint of hurt. "Aren’t we partners in gossip?"

Nancy understood. These two were colleagues who usually teamed up to gossip about tourists—the tall one just had a bit of a prideful streak.

She asked, "How tall was the killer?"

The tall giraffe quickly answered, "Shorter than the tiger enclosure fence by one head."

Nancy walked over to the fence and roughly compared. "So, around five-foot-seven."

She kept pressing the giraffes for details, gradually completing the killer’s portrait.

An hour later, on the sketchpad appeared the face of a man with a square round face, small eyes, and a flat nose.

Nancy held the sketch up for the giraffes. "Does this look like him?"

The giraffes bent down to take a closer look.

The short giraffe exclaimed, "Whoa, that’s him!"

The tall giraffe rushed to impress the director, blurting out every phrase he’d ever picked up from the tourists. "Your art is exquisite, a stroke of geniust! It's literally worthy of becoming a museum piece!"

"Stop, stop." Nancy laughed until her stomach hurt. "You’re laying it on a little too thick. After cutting off the head, where did he take it?"

The tall giraffe answered, "He wrapped it in plastic wrap, stuffed it back in the bag, then cleaned up the scene."

Nancy quickly asked the most crucial question. "Which way did he leave the zoo?"

The tall giraffe hesitated. "He went west. After that, we couldn’t see anymore..."

"Do any other animals know where he went?"

The tall giraffe thought for a moment. "Yes, the crow that always comes to drink from our water trough—it followed him."

The short giraffe nodded. "It wanted to eat the brains and eyeballs from the corpse’s head."

Nancy shivered at the thought but knew it made sense.

Crows were omnivores, often feeding on carcasses. They usually went for the soft parts first—eyes and brain tissue.

Nancy’s eyes lit up. "Where does this crow live? Can I find it now?"

The tall giraffe said, "On the road you came in on. The biggest birch tree."

Nancy packed up her pencil and sketchbook, patted the giraffe’s neck as it leaned toward her, and said, "Thank you. Your clues are really helpful!

Tomorrow I’ll bring you extra food."

Soon, Nancy found the biggest birch tree the giraffes had mentioned.