Page 82 of Talk Birdie to Me

He gave her one more quick, gentle kiss, then grinned like a cat on the verge of at last swallowing a canary.

“Yes. Sleep,” he said. “I’ll take a rain check on the rest of that kiss.”

Cody stood near a crowd of visitors who had gathered for the giraffe feeding session. He handed out dry feed for people to give to the mama giraffe and pet her over the railing, while Cody gave a presentation providing information on giraffe behavior, needs, and growth. There was a larger than normal group that Monday morning, all eager to see the new baby, Jelly Bean, that had been born on Easter just a couple of months ago.

Even though he wasn’t hungry, Cody was eager to relax a moment in the meal prep room. He had a brief break between that presentation and his check of the reptile exhibits before his snake encounter presentation scheduled in a couple of hours.

The meal prep room was a welcome blast of cool air after the heat and humidity that hung heavy over Cody and the visitors. The room was also quiet now since the Amazon parrot, whose vocabulary he’d rehabbed, was back in the aviary.

Lauren sat at the large table with a peanut butter sandwich. “What’s eating at you? Did you get another hit on your applications?”

There was an email waiting for him since the night before, but he hadn’t spared much thought about that. He certainly hadn’t opened it yet.

“Yes. But no, that’s not it.” Cody had been avoiding Lauren all morning, and he couldn’t put off this conversation any longer. “I don’t know how to not say this like an asshole.”

Lauren frowned at him. “Just spit it out, and let’s get on with whatever this is.”

He’d only slept a few short hours on his couch, as he struggled not to think about Geena in his bed.

And the other thing occupying his thoughts.

“I need you to tell me if you know anything about Gary getting taken last night.”

Lauren flinched. “Wait, someone took Gary?” She blinked hard at him, then her eyes flashed with recognition. “And you think I had something to do with it?”

The words were weighted with shock and hurt.

“I’m not judging,” he rushed to add. “I know you wouldn’t take him to sell or anything like that. But maybe you arranged to get him back with his owner? I can understand if he promised you something. We all know this job pays for shit.”

Lauren was still blinking at him, completely in shock. “You think… I… took Gary.”

“I don’t know. Maybe you arranged for someone else to take him. I just need to know.”

“I can’t believe this.” Lauren shook her head. “I thought we were friends. Or whatever passes for friends with you.”

That stung a little. But his friend-retention failings weren’t the issue right now.

“You’re the only one who knew where I brought Gary. And I told you about our date, so you knew Geena wouldn’t be home at that time.”

“Cody, this is insane.” Her lip curled into a snarl. “And pretty freaking offensive.”

“Plus, you were with me when I bought that security camera. You would know exactly how to tamper with it.”

Her stare was hard and icy. “And you think I’m the one who did all of that?”

“I just need to know if you are. I can’t fix it if I don’t know what happened.”

“No, Cody.” She blew out a short burst of air, and her voice lowered even more until it almost sounded like a growl. “I didn’t steal Gary.”

Cody’s shoulders relaxed. She was right. They were friends. At least close enough that he believed she wasn’t lying right now.

“I’m sorry.” He shook his head. “I didn’t want to think you did it, but with all the circumstances lined up, I had to ask.”

“Did you?” Lauren scoffed and looked away from Cody, clearly disgusted with him. When she looked back, she asked, “Is Geena okay?”

“Okay as she can be,” Cody said. “After the police left, I brought her home to stay at my place.”

He’d felt so terrible about the whole thing. Knowing there was no way for him to ease her sense of guilt was killing him. Hearing that she’d grown to really care for Gary just made the whole thing worse.

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