Page 114 of For the Birds

And if James didn’t believe me, he’d probably try to figure out a way to stop me from looking into it. So then I’d be dodging Merv and Brett while trying to investigate. “No.”

“He’s gonna think Reynolds playedyou.”

“There’s something else,” Isaid.

“What?”

“Reynolds may not be in charge anymore.”

“What does thatmean?”

“I met with Buck Reynolds this morning. He let his idiocy show through again, and I took a stand. When I was about to walk away, Dermot stepped forward and took charge. And nobody stopped him. Witt says Dermot usurped his power.”

“Well, shit. Did Dermot kick you off thecase?”

“No. He gave me more information to keep lookin’.”

“Then Reynolds really didn’t take him,” Jed said, sounding surprised.

“What do you know about Maynard’s junkyard?”

He hesitated, then said, “I know it changed ownership a few months back. Why?”

“Dermot says Elijah Landry—one of the deceased kidnappers—worked there, along with his dead buddy named Bud. Landry just showed up in town a few months ago. We haven’t been out there yet. We’re still collectin’ more information, but we’re runnin’ out of time, Jed.”

“Don’t go out there, Rose. I don’t know much about who took over, and the timing seems too coincidental.”

“There’smore.”

“Okay . . .”

“We’ve figured out there are at least four guys involved in this. Two are dead. The other two are Paul Beagle, Elijah Landry’s cousin, and his brother Merlin. Ever heard ofthem?”

“Paul Beagle? Doesn’t ring a bell. Don’t know any Beagles.”

“Are yousure?”

“Positive.”

“What if he just got out of prison?”

“Unless he was in lockup for a couple of decades, I’m sure I would have heard ofhim.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. Jeanne identified him out of a fifteen-year-old picture we found online. He was living here in Henryetta, but his brother Merlin was in jail. We’re pretty sure he’s the fourthguy.”

“What was the brother in jailfor?”

“Don’t know. That’s all it said in the article with the picture. We haven’t had time to investigate that either. Right now, we’re interviewing a parrot.”

Neely Kate was singing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat,” and the bird had started singing with her. Miss Mildred had attempted to join in with what I could only guess was supposed to be the harmony . . . or maybe she was singing it in a round, just really offkey.

“What?”Jed asked.

I sure hoped he hadn’t heard the commotion. “Long story, but bottom line, we think he saw something happen to Scooter.”

“Good luck with that. I’m gonna do some digging into the junkyard. Let me know if you find out anything more significant.”

“Youtoo.”

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