Page 84 of Talk Birdie to Me

Then Cody remembered that the man was in jail for some funny tax business. Nothing violent.

Still, maybe not the guy you go to for financial help. That would be Geena.

Geena.

Nope, he couldn’t think about her right now. He had to focus on getting the information he needed from this man.

“I didn’t think I recognized the name,” Anthony said in a voice laced with soft edges. “Am I supposed to know you or something?”

“Or something.” Cody nervously adjusted the phone angle, so his own face was more clearly centered on the screen. “I’m calling about Gary.”

“Gary?” Anthony’s voice rose in pitch. “What’s wrong with Gary?”

“Nothing was wrong with Gary.” Cody used the past tense because he had no idea of Gary’s current condition. He was hoping the man on the other end of this video call could clarify that. “I’m calling to find out what you know about him over the last couple days.”

Anthony looked around the room he was in. “How am I supposed to know what’s going on with him from in here? Who are you, man? And why are you asking me about my bird?”

“I’m a keeper at the zoo you turned Gary over to.”

The man’s face scrunched. “Shouldn’t you know how he’s doing, then? What happened to my bird? He was supposed to be in good hands over there. You guys were supposed to take care of him.”

There was a sense of panic in the man’s voice that grew with each word.

There went Cody’s theory.

“I was calling to see if you knew who would want to steal Gary.”

Every visible muscle in Anthony’s lanky body clenched as his panic morphed into anger. His next words came out as a low growl. “Someone tried to take my bird?”

Crap. Cody would never have called and kicked this hornet’s nest if he thought the man had nothing to do with Gary’s disappearance.

But maybe this could be helpful, anyway.

As angry as Anthony was, if he had any idea who might have stolen Gary, he’d be sure to lead the investigation in the right direction. Because the police weren’t doing anything to help.

“Someone tried to take him from the zoo a week or so ago,” Cody explained. “But I caught them in the act. They got away, so we moved Gary offsite to live with a foster from an animal rescue group. On Sunday, someone broke into her home and stole him.”

Cody’s memory wandered back to the day Gary had been stolen. The kiss he’d shared with Geena, followed immediately by the security system notification. Geena’s guilt. Geena spending the night in his apartment.

And, least of all, the email he finally opened yesterday, and the decision he now had to make.

He shook those thoughts away and returned his attention to the man on the other end of the video call.

A vein on the side of Anthony’s neck throbbed as he inhaled and exhaled sharply, his mouth screwed in a menacing snarl.

“He was supposed to be safe with y’all,” Anthony said. “I never would have turned him over if I thought you’d be so careless.”

“We had a security system installed,” Cody said in his defense. “Whoever took him knew what they were doing, and they were after Gary in particular.”

“Why? What the hell does someone want with my bird?”

“That’s what I’m trying to find out,” Cody said. “Can you think of anyone who would do that? I thought maybe you had second thoughts and wanted him elsewhere, but maybe someone wanted to hurt you by taking him? Can you think of anyone?”

Anthony chewed over Cody’s questions with his eyes staring off at something in the distance Cody couldn’t see. Something in the jail call center. Probably just a random spot on a wall, because he was clearly lost in his thoughts and barely registering his surroundings.

After what seemed like hours but was mere seconds, Anthony returned his attention to Cody.

“I got nothing, man.”

---