Page 23 of For the Birds

Chapter6

We gotin the truck and drove to Chuck and Cluck to get a snack and discuss what was on the paper.

“Squawker is a twenty-year-old blue-fronted Amazon parrot and lives with Boomer T. Whipple,” Neely Kateread.

“Twenty?” I asked in surprise. “I wonder how long theylive.”

“A long time, I think,” she said, looking at the paper again. “This says he was last seen Saturday morning at thepark.”

I nodded. “Squawker loves the park. He also loves carrots and Wheel of Fortune.”

Neely Kate did a double take. “Wait. How do you knowthat?”

“I saw a flyer at Levi’s office this morning.” I pulled in behind two cars in the drive-thru of the Chuck and Cluck. “It said there was a five-hundred-dollar reward. Does that sheet say anything about how much Kermit’s gettingpaid?”

She looked it over. “No.”

“You know, if you really want to investigate this case, we could just do it on our own and collect the reward money. Shoot, I saw the flyer in Levi’s waiting room this morning, and I was gonna ask if you wanted to investigate.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. We could probably find the parrot in time to collect the award money before the carnival tonight.” I lifted an eyebrow. “If you were going to the carnival instead of havin’ your secret rendezvous with a certain someone . . .”

She ignored my comment. “This doesn’t say much. Mr. Whipple put up flyers and got a few calls, but his bird is still missing. That’s why he hired a private detective to look for him. And sure, we could get the reward out from under Kermit, but what we really need is for a P.I. to sign off on the hours forus.”

“And you think that man is gonna help us?” I asked in disbelief. “I’m pretty doggone sure we have to know things for that test, things he’s supposed to teach us. What if we spend two years doing free work for him, only to find out it was a gigantic waste oftime?”

“We’ll handle this one case and see how itgoes.”

I had a feeling the next time wouldn’t be any different, despite what Kermit had said about teaching us. Besides, I wasn’t so sure there’d be a next time. He hardly seemed like he had a booming business.

I shrugged my shoulders in concession. “Let’s focus on this case. How about you call Mr. Whipple and see if we can meet with him this afternoon?”

I checked my phone while she placed the call. Violet had sent a selfie of herself, Mike, and the kids all snuggled on the sofa watching a movie with a one-wordtext.

Home.

She looked content. She looked happy. So why did I still feel like something wasn’t right? I almost texted her back asking her to call me, but I wasn’t going to steal this from her. My concerns couldwait.

Levi had sent me a message reminding me to send him the details, so I texted him to pick me up at six from the office. That would give Neely Kate and me a couple of hours to start working ourcase.

Working our case. Neely Kate was rubbing off onme.

* * *

A half hour later,I parked my truck in front of Boomer T. Whipple’s white bungalow-style house. It was in my old neighborhood, it turned out—three blocks from my childhood home, but I’d never met Boomer Whipple, let alone heard anything about him. The yard was pretty sparse, and the maple trees and yews in front of the windows needed trimming in the worst way. I shook my head. Since I’d started my new profession in earnest, I couldn’t help noticing people’s landscaping.

“I think I should warn you,” Neely Kate said as we walked up to the front door. “Mr. Whipple thought I was Kermit’s secretary when I called.”

“Okay . . .”

She stood on his front porch, rang the doorbell, then glanced back at me. “He’s not too happy we’re girls.”

“What?”

The front door opened, revealing an elderly man on the threshold. He curled his upper lip in disgust the moment he saw us. “You two are gonna find my bird?” His gaze lingered on me. “Or are you planning on takin’ him on adate?”

In hindsight, I realized I probably should have changed, but he was being rude, so I gave him a hard stare. “We’ve nailed bank robbers, kidnappers, and murderers, Mr. Whipple. Finding a bird shouldn’t be that hard, but if you find us lacking, then maybe you should get someone else. Come on, Neely Kate. He’s wastin’ ourtime.”

---