“Dead tissue samples would only get you so far. You’d need a living test subject. Naturally, you couldn’t kill a werewolf. That would defeat the purpose of setting up this alibi.”

“Naturally,” she said.

“A wolf-wolf, though... It’s not perfect, but there might be enough similarities there. Enough to establish a baseline, anyway.”

Freeman’s face abruptly turned cautious.

Cooper took a deep breath and leaned forward. “Did you know that every time an animal dies at the zoo, they collect tissue samples for long-term storage? We were able to pull up the samples from the three wolves who died there recently.”

Freeman froze, not breathing. He could practically see the wheels spinning behind her wide eyes, the slow, dawning realization that she had made a mistake. That it was over.

“I just heard from our lab,” Cooper said softly. “The toxin that killed them is an exact match for the one collected from James Finnigan and Arthur Crane.”

“Ryan—” she whispered.

“Ryan Basque didn’t even work that exhibit. Besides, the wolves were barely sick before you got there. It was probably nothing more than, what, some kind of viral infection? Tainted meat? But when Hirano called you in to consult, how could you resist such a perfect opportunity? Four live wolves in a controlled environment with all the equipment you needed to run an experiment. You were the only one allowed contact with them, at your own insistence. Something about limiting stress and exposure, I think Hirano said.

“First they even seemed to get better. My guess is you treated the original illness. Can’t have unknown variables screwing with your results. Then their condition suddenly, rapidly deteriorated—one after another. Three out of four dead, and you’re the only person who could possibly have done it. You destroyed the keeper’s notes so that no one would doubt your findings, but James Finnigan still suspected something about that story was off, didn’t he? That’s why he was researching natural poisons before he died.”

He gave Freeman a moment to respond, but she didn’t. Just kept shaking her head like she couldn’t believe what was happening. Like it was a dream she could shake herself out of.

“Killing a zoo animal is a federal crime, you know,” Cooper continued. “But it’s nothing compared to three counts of murder. People, this time. Though, to be fair, I don’t know if it was your plan to kill Neil Gerhart or if that was solely Ryan improvising.” He stood. “Director Cola will be by in a couple of minutes to officially charge you. Your lawyer’s already on his way.”

“No! Wait!” Freeman said desperately. “Fine, yes, I developed the toxin and tested it on the wolves. But that doesn’t prove I knew what Ryan would do with it. That doesn’t prove I was behind any of this at all.”