Page 25 of For the Birds

“Officer Ernie,” Neely Katesaid.

Mr. Whipple looked up in surprise. “Maybe.”

He was the worst one of all. If he’d investigated the robbery, I had no doubt he’d missed things. “Do you know what time the robber broke in?” I asked.

“It wasn’t all that late. Maybe ten? I go to bed early, so I was asleep. Whoever did it came in through the backdoor.”

“You heard the break-in?” I asked.

“I heard Squawker havin’ a fit. I jumped up and ran into the livin’ room, and the front door was wide open with my TV layin’ in the grass.”

“So the only thing they took was Squawker?”

His lips pinched into a tight line. “The officer said they didn’t take him either. That he escaped out the open frontdoor.”

“But you still think he was stolen?”

“I believed him at first. But Squawker didn’t comeback.”

“So he’s gotten loose before?” Neely Kate asked.

“Yeah, and he always camehome.”

I shifted on the sagging sofa. “You said a neighbor claims to have seen him in thepark?”

“Uh-huh. At first I wasn’t surprised. I take him for walks in the park. He likes to fly into trees so he can watch the kids play. He’s a people watcher. That’s part of the reason he likes to go to thepark.

“There was no sign of him when I went to look, so I made the flyers.” He licked his bottom lip. “If he’s loose, he’s bound to be scared and hungry. I just want to bring himhome.”

I waited while Neely Kate made more notes. A moment later, she asked our next question. “Do know who might have taken Squawker?”

“No.”

“You took him out in public,” I said. “People saw him. A parrot is an unusual pet. Maybe someone liked him and decided they wanted him as theirpet.”

“Huh,” he said as though consideringit.

“Did anyone ever express an interest in him on your walks? Make comments that he was cute and they wanted a parrot likehim?”

Mr. Whipple shook his head. “I don’t remember anything like that happening.”

“When was the last time you took him out?” I asked.

“It’s been a couple of weeks since we went to the park, but I let him hang out in the backyard all day on Wednesday. He likes it out there.”

“And he doesn’t fly away?” Neely Kate asked.

“No. I built him a big cage. I’ll show you.” He got up from his chair and hobbled through his small kitchen to a backdoor.

As soon as I walked onto his patio, my mouth droppedopen.

“Holy moly,” Neely Kate said as she tilted her head to look up. The cage—about twenty feet wide and deep and over ten feet tall—filled up most of the small backyard. There were multiple perches and swings and even a couple of small trees.

“Squawker is happier out here than inside. I had a couple of appointments on Wednesday, so I left him outside.”

“Wasn’t it too hot for him?” I asked, trying to remember what the weather had been like last Wednesday.

“He’s a blue-fronted Amazon parrot. His ancestors were born in the heat. And besides, I have a mister I turn on for him.” To prove his point, he turned a knob next to the cage, and a fine mist started spraying from a plastic tube and hitting me and Neely Kate in the face. If Mr. Whipple noticed, he didn’t leton.

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