Page 101 of For the Birds

“Bud?”

“Yeah, the guy said he’d been waiting for Bud’s call. We hungup.”

I cast a quick glance at Neely Kate before shifting my gaze back to Dermot. “How longago?”

“A halfhour?”

“Any of your men been out there?”

“Notyet.”

“Don’t send anyone. We’ll take care ofit.”

“So you’re still gonna look for Scooter?”

I glanced from Dermot to Buck, then back again. This man had sense—the very opposite of his boss. “I’m answering to you, Dermot.”

Buck started to protest, but Dermot elbowed him hard in the stomach, without so much as a glance at his boss. “Done,” he said. “You were askin’ about a parrot?”

“We think the missing parrot we were looking for might have seen something to do with Scooter’s disappearance.”

“What the hell?” Buck scoffed. “My dog might have seen me knock Johnny Bueller’s lights out, but he’s not tellin’ anyone.”

Dermot looked like he wanted to punch his associate. “Parrots talk, Buck.” Then he shook his head. “We haven’t heard anything about a parrot. Are you tryin’ to find him so he’ll tell you what he heard?”

“We’ve already found him,” Neely Kate said. “He won’t stop talking about Scooter going bye-bye, and we’re tryin’ to figure out what he witnessed and where.”

Dermot shifted his gaze to my best friend, and his eyes widened slightly. It was like he was noticing her for the first time—and very much liking what he saw. “You don’tsay.”

“We think someone tried to steal him from his owner and he escaped in the process,” I said. “We’re hoping his owner can shed some light on the situation. Do you know anythingelse?”

“No, we’re trying to find out more about Landry. The car was registered in his name, but that’s as far as we got. If we find out anything else, I’ll let youknow.”

I nodded, then ducked into the car, and Neely Kate and Witt followed.

Witt didn’t waste any time leaving the property, and he let out a loud whoop as soon as he turned onto the main road. “What the hell just happened back there?”

“That was Rose in action,” Neely Kate said. “I told you she wasgood.”

He glanced over his shoulder at me. “You realize what you did back there, right?”

“Stood up to Buck Reynolds? The man’s dumber than a doornail. The fool was so anxious to one-up me last night, he shot me in the leg. And here he was today trying to do it again.”

“Shot you?” Neely Kate asked, her voice going up an octave.

“It was barely a scratch,” I said in dismissal.

“I wasn’t talkin’ about you standin’ up to him,” Witt said. “Sure, that too, but I’m talking about the power shift that just happened.”

“What are you talkin’ about?”

“Dermot just usurped Buck Reynolds.”

“What?No . . .”

“Yeah. I’m tellin’ you, Dermot’s in charge. Otherwise, Reynolds’ men would have stopped him. You didthat.”

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