Page 91 of Talk Birdie to Me

James ignored her last statement and waved the gun toward the back of the house. “Let’s go.”

Geena followed his orders and entered a room that seemed intended as a bedroom. It was as empty as the previous room, except for one thing.

Gary.

He was in a much-too-small cage in the back corner of the room with an also-too-small green fabric carrier nearby on the floor. The poor bird was puffed up on a perch near the rear of the cage. He was unmoving except for his head, which turned toward Geena. He made a tiny clucking sound at her.

Geena had never heard him so quiet.

“You have to know someone will trace him to you. Anthony is going to figure out it was you and want his bird back.”

“If I’m right about how much money is in that secret account, we’ll be long gone by then.”

So she knew the what and the who and the why. She was just missing the full how.

“I know I locked that door. How did you know how to pick my lock? And the zoo’s lock. And disarm my security system?”

“I told you, I worked at a locksmith place while I was finishing school. You would have remembered if you’d cared to remember anything about me.”

That was right. He had told her that. But she hadn’t forgotten because she didn’t care.

“Been a little busy with my own marriage woes lately, in case you haven’t noticed.” There was just one last piece of the puzzle. “What about the security system? How did you dismantle it and put it back together so we couldn’t figure it was tampered with?”

James shrugged, the gun wobbling in his hand with the motion. “You can find anything online these days.”

“Does Chelsea know about this? You plan to make her live a life on the run and not tell her? You won’t have to worry about how expensive that wedding is. Anthony will find you and Gary before then.”

“You think I haven’t thought of any of this?”

James looked flustered, like he hadn’t actually thought through any of the details. Like his plan was more of a fuzzy idea than anything well considered.

“I can help you,” Geena pleaded. “We can figure a way out of this, and you and Chelsea can still have your wedding and live happily ever after.”

“We’re way past that now,” he said with a slight tremble in his voice. “But you can still help.”

Geena couldn’t think of where this was going, but the fact that he needed her help meant she wouldn’t die anytime soon. At least if she played this smart.

James waved the gun at the cage. He definitely wasn’t comfortable holding the thing. But that didn’t make him any less dangerous with it. If anything, Geena figured, his clumsiness might make him more dangerous.

“Seriously, when did you get a gun?” Geena asked. “I thought you hated guns.”

“I did,” James said. “I do. But I got one after I started working for Tony. I figured being his accountant could make me a target at some point. So I kept it in my car, just in case.”

James wasn’t the one in danger here. But Geena figured she shouldn’t point that out at the moment. Or maybe…

“I can help you,” she said.

He waved the gun at Gary again. “The only way you can help is to get him talking.”

Get him talking?

Geena rarely experienced Gary not talking. The poor guy must be terrified.

Or he was a lot smarter than any of them gave him credit for. And Geena already thought he was pretty smart.

“Why do you need me to make him talk?”

She knew darn well what the answer to that was, but she wanted James to spell it out.

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