Page 32 of Talk Birdie to Me

Geena looked like she wanted to throw up, but she followed his instructions meticulously, only requiring guidance as reassurance. She cleaned out and replaced both his food and water and made sure both doors were securely latched when she was done.

The sight of Geena taking such care with Gary made Cody feel even more at ease leaving the parrot with her. He knew this was way out of her comfort zone, and her earnestness, despite that, was impressive. The comfort he’d had sharing dinner with her was growing into something a bit more. Something stronger.

Something completely unacceptable.

“You’re a natural,” Cody said. “Sure you never did this before?”

“I assure you, I haven’t. But I appreciate the cheerleading.” She took a deep breath. “Okay, what’s next?”

He showed her how to remove and replace the liner at the bottom of the tray. “Newspaper works just fine, but no one has that around anymore. You should have plenty of these liners in the box to last awhile.”

“This isn’t too bad.” She eyed him curiously. “You never told me why he can’t stay at the zoo.”

Cody rocked back and forth on his heels. He’d been dreading this part.

“Someone broke into the zoo. We think they might have been trying to steal Gary.”

“I’m sorry… what?”

“Bullshit!” Gary shouted.

Geena put her hands on her hips. “What he said.”

“Sorry, but this is the safest place for him. And there’s no reason anyone would know to look for him here, so you’re safe, too.”

“I don’t understand,” she said. “Why would someone want to steal him?”

“Not sure. I mean, these birds are expensive, but not break-into-a-zoo level of expensive. It would probably be easier to snatch one from a pet store.”

“Didn’t you say the owner was in jail? Could they want him back?”

“The guy’s still in jail. Maybe when he got out, I’d wonder that. But the timing isn’t right.”

“What’s he in jail for, anyway?”

Cody thought back to what his boss had told him. “His name was Tony something. I think. He was convicted of… laundering? Tax evasion? Something with money. Not my circus, so I forgot.”

“Could he be buying birds as a money laundering thing?”

Cody shrugged. “No idea. But it was just Gary they needed to re-home. I got the impression he didn’t have any other birds.”

“Weird.” Geena stared at Gary, puzzling over the mystery like he had done yesterday. She seemed as if she’d latched onto something out of place, and she had to figure it out to make the world make sense again. “Was it a big case? The owner’s, I mean. Like, could someone else have heard about it and want to hold the bird ransom or something like that?”

“I don’t remember it, but that doesn’t mean much,” Cody said. “I don’t pay attention to the news.”

“I was just thinking,” Geena said. “If it was personal, like revenge or bird extortion?—”

“Bird extortion?”

“—then maybe it would be worth it to them to hunt Gary down.” She took a long pause before adding, “Here. What if they hunt him down here?”

“Highly unlikely.”

“But what if they did?”

There was a glimmer of fear in her eyes. She was going to back out.

More than the hassle it would cause him, he hated seeing her afraid. He wished he could take care of the bird on his own, but that wasn’t an option. Lauren couldn’t take him in either. Not even Taylor. No one could, and he felt like crap having to drop this on her.

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