Page 110 of For the Birds

Chapter22

We went backto the office, and we tried Mr. Whipple again with no response. We decided to go check on him, but first I told Neely Kate and Witt all the details about my vision.

“So there’s at least two of them left,” Neely Kate murmured.

“Let’s look at what we know,” I said, sitting on the edge of my desk so I could face them both. “We know there are at least four men. Elijah Landry, who lived in Shreveport and had grandparents in Henryetta. He was part of both my kidnapping and Scooter’s.”

Neely Kate nodded.

“Then there’s Paul Beagle. According to the newspaper article, he lived here in Henryetta fifteen years ago, and we know he was also part of Scooter’s kidnapping. Based on my vision, his brother is involved. Then there’s the guy who was in on my kidnapping attempt. The man at the liquor store called him Bud—if he was even the same guy. For all we know, he could have taken the burner phone from someoneelse.”

“So the fourth guy is Merlin Beagle,” Neely Kate said. “The one you heard in your vision telling Paul to finish off Jeanne.”

I glanced over at Witt. “Any luck finding information on Paul Beagle?”

“Not a single thing. It’s like he doesn’t exist.”

I frowned. Neely Kate and I were pretty new to investigating, but people usually left some kind of footprint online. “How many search pages did you goback?”

“I know what you’re gettin’ at,” he said. “But I promise you that I searched every which way I could, and the only thing I found was that article in the Henryetta Gazette. The other Paul Beagles I found were in other parts of the country, and they were all too old to behim.”

Neely Kate’s phone rang, and she glanced at the screen and smiled. “Hello, Miss Mildred,” she answered. “Why yes, I am surprised you tracked Mr. Whipple down.” She looked amused. “You don’t have to do that, Miss Mildred. We really don’t mind takin’ Squawker home . . . Uh-huh . . . Okay, we’re coming over right now. Don’t leave, all right?”

She hung up and said, “Miss Mildred not only figured out who Mr. Whipple was, but took it upon herself to track him down. He’s on his way home, and she says she’s takin’ the parrot tohim.”

“That bird’s gonna fly away if she doesn’t wait for Mr. Whipple to come over,” I said in disbelief. “She needs to leave himbe.”

Her eyebrow lifted. “Do you think she’s gonna listen to me? She says she’s gonna keep him on her shoulder by feeding him a carrot.”

“Oh, mercy,” I grumbled, grabbing my backpack as I stood. “Let’s get over there before she loses Squawker. We need to talk to that bird.” That was something I’d never expected to hear myselfsay.

We all piled into Witt’s car, and we were halfway to my old neighborhood when I got a call from Dermot’s number. “Hey, Dermot.”

“I’m checking on your progress.” He sounded tense.

“We’re making some headway,” I said, “but we still have a ways togo.”

“Malcolm’s demanded that Buck return his brother by eight p.m., or he’s gonna start awar.”

I resisted the urge to release a groan. “Who made thatcall?”

“Malcolm himself only a few minutes ago. Buck’s shittin’ his pants, demandin’ to know what you’redoin’.”

“We have a name for the third kidnapper, and we’re trying to find out more about him. We’ve also verified there’s a fourth guy, but we know next to nothin’ abouthim.”

“The third guy. Who ishe?”

I wondered if I should tell him, but giving updates was part of our agreement. “We figured out that Elijah Landry had ties to Henryetta through his grandparents. We found a photo of him with his grandparents, parents, and his cousin. We showed the photo to a witness, and she recognized both Landry and his cousin as the guys who kidnapped Scooter.”

“Witness? What witness?”

I didn’t want to give up Jeanne, so I said, “It doesn’t matter. It’s reliable.”

“And how do you know about the fourthguy?”

“That’s a professional secret. We’re about to see if we can find out more from the parrot. I’ll let you know what we learn.” I hung up before he could answer. Turning to Neely Kate, I said, “I need to call James.”

“I knew it!” Witt said. “You swore you weren’t gonna be involved with him anymore, but here youare—”

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