Page 51 of So Twisted

“She wanted to turn them into pets?” Michael asked.

"No! Darla was a special case. She wanted to teach endangered birds of prey how to adapt to life in population centers so they could survive and not go extinct. You know that pigeons and crows are actually more successful in urban environments than they are in rural environments? They've adapted perfectly to the presence of humans, and their populations are stable. But most birds of prey don't do so well. Some do okay in less densely populated places, but a lot of eagles need space to thrive. Golden eagles need dozens of square miles of territory, and they won't establish themselves in places where large human populations get in the way.

“Dr. Clement wanted to teach the raptors that have large home ranges how to adapt to crowded places. She was going to teach them not to attack dogs or cats or children so that peopledidn’t try to drive them away. She was going to teach them to recognize buildings and cars and to nest in skyscrapers and office buildings. They could fly to the wilderness for food, or maybe one day cities would build feeders for them where people could put meat they didn’t want.” She sniffled. “She just wanted to help, but everyone acted like she was evil.”

“Was there anyone in particular who seemed like they wanted to hurt her?”

Grace shook her head. “Dr. Clement didn’t talk to me much about that. She always said that we had to focus on the positive and not worry about the negative.” Her eyes widened. “The birds! Oh my God! What’s animal control going to do with the birds?”

“I don’t know,” Faith said. “But… Grace!”

The assistant had sprinted out the front door and was now shouting at one of the animal control officers. She jumped in front of him and his vehicle, arms spread to block him. Faith and Michael jogged closer to hear her demanding to know what they planned to do with the animals.

“Most of them are going to be put back in the wild,” the officer was saying, trying to remain patient.

“They can’tgoback to the wild! They’re not ready yet!”

“They’re birds, kid,” the officer replied. “They don’t need training.”

Grace turned beet red. “No! It’s not that simple!”

The officer sighed, now out of patience. “Look, kid, I have a job to do.”

“I’m not a kid! I’m twenty-nine years old, and I have a doctorate, asshole!”

To the officer’s credit, he seemed appropriately chagrined. “Okay. I’m sorry. You’re right, Miss—Doctor. I’ll tell you what. If you give me your contact information, I’ll promise that we won’t do anything with these birds until we talk to you. I can’tguarantee that you’ll get to decide what happens, but we’ll get your input, and I’ll pass your information to my superiors. Will that work for now?”

Grace lowered her arms. “You’d better keep that promise.”

“I will. We just can’t have them attacking the police officers while they’re investigating the crime scene.”

Grace nodded. “Okay.”

Once Grace was finished with the officer, Faith asked, “Did Dr. Clement work closely with any other researchers?”

Grace shook her head. “Not anymore. She used to work with a lot of people, but when she was kicked out of the Ecological Society, no one wanted to talk to her. She lost all of her friends. I’m the only person she talked to. I don’t even think her family talked to her.”

“Damn,” Michael said. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Me too. She was a good person.” Grace’s mouth trembled. “I just hate that people won’t remember her like that.”

"Guys?" Detective Cuthbert called from the door. "The crime scene's open if you want to go see the body…" He glanced at Grace. "See Dr. Clement."

“We’ll be right there,” Faith called. To Grace, she said, “Can you think of anything else that might help us determine who murdered Dr. Clement?”

Grace shook her head. “No. I knew people hated her, but I never thought anyone would do anything like this. It’s just sovicious.” She looked up at Faith, her eyes swimming with tears and narrowed in anger. “You know, people are just as vicious as animals are, but they have an excuse. They’re just following nature. We’re the ones who are supposed to be better than that.” She shook her head again. “But we aren’t. We’re just like chimpanzees biting each other’s throats out and tearing each other’s faces off.”

The unintentional parallel to Reeves’ murder caused Faith to shiver. She squeezed Grace’s shoulder and handed her a card. “If you think of anything, call me. I promise you”—she met Michael’s eyes—“I’m not going anywhere until I bring this killer to justice.”

Michael looked away and frowned. Faith looked away too, because staring at him right now would make her angry, and she needed to deal with that anger later.

The two human agents returned to the house. “Turk’s already looking around the body,” Cuthbert told them. “Hey, it’s none of my business, but he kinda seems confused. I’ve never worked with a K9 before, so I could be wrong, but he seems a little out of his depth with this one. You think maybe all of the animals could be throwing him off?”

Faith glanced at Michael. He had his lips pressed together and refused to look at her. She took a breath and said, “I’m quite confident that Turk can do his job, Detective.”

“Right. Of course. I didn’t mean to offend.”

When Faith walked into the aviary and saw Turk staring intently at a light fixture on the floor, though, her heart dropped.

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