Chapter 13 #2
He pushed the cage to the spot he’d indicated. “Let’s go get you a key card that will get you up here and in the condo, then we will get the rest of your stuff from the apartment. Once we have Trixie situated, I’ll give you a tour of the rest of the condo.”
“The rest? You mean there’s more?”
“Yes, there are two spare bedrooms, a study, and of course, my favorite, the owner’s suite. If you like this, wait until you see my bathroom.”
“Well, I can’t wait.”
We took the elevator down to the eighth floor and walked over to Kat’s desk. I realized that a lot of the people who worked here lived in the building, but I swear she lived at her desk. I’d never been down here when she wasn’t sitting there.
“Hey, Kat,” Gator said, sitting down in the chair next to her and motioning for me to sit in the one opposite her desk. “Anything to report?”
“Nothing so far. Chance wants to do this all by the book, so they’re waiting on a warrant to search Wade Roarke’s place.”
“But isn’t there some rule that if someone is in danger or being held there that they can go in?” I asked.
“Sure, if they have evidence someone’s being held on the property, but they don’t have that. The odds of them keeping anyone captive in a place we can trace back to them that easily is highly unlikely.”
“I’m sure Chance is doing everything he can,” Gator said to me before turning to Kat. “Can you reprogram Julius’s card so he has access to the tenth floor, my condo specifically?”
“Sure, do you have it with you?”
“I do.” I pulled my card out and handed it to her. She popped it in a slot and then went to work on her keyboard. It didn’t take her but a second before she handed me back the card.
“And, Kat, can you get me some trackers for Julius?” I looked at him. “Just until this is over. It would make me feel better if I knew I could find you if something happened.”
“Tracker?” he asked.
“Yes, it would be something no one would suspect was a tracker.”
“Maybe a diamond stud,” Kat suggested. “That seems to fit your vibe. And a bracelet of some kind. You seem to always have on plenty of jewelry, so it wouldn’t draw attention.”
He looked at me, concern in his eyes. “You really think it’s necessary?”
“I don’t know, but it wouldn’t hurt.”
“Okay, but just until this is all over.”
“I can have that all ready for you by the end of the day.” Kat gave Julius a reassuring smile. “You’re in good hands.”
“Thanks, Kat. I’m not sure how Gator and the guys would run this place without you.”
“We don’t either,” I agreed. “And we don’t want to find out.” Kat just rolled her eyes at the praise. “You’re all set. And, Julius?”
“Yeah?”
“Gator’s right. We’re all doing everything we can to find Noah.”
“I know. I just keep thinking how scared he must be.”
Gator stood and held out his hand. “Come on, let’s go get your bird.”
Trixie started up the second we walked in the door. “Ju Ju is home. Trixie is a good bird. Stachios?” And I wondered if Gator understood what he was letting himself in for. It was one thing to visit a place with an African Grey, but something else entirely to have one in your space all the time.
“Yes, Trixie, I’m home, but I need to grab something real quick, okay?”
“Ju Ju be right back?”
“Yeah, Trix, I’ll be right back.”
Gator followed me into the bedroom, and I grabbed my duffel bag and put some of my clothes and things in it.
He looked around to see the things I had strewn about the room. “We can come down and get the rest later.”
“Sounds good.” I still didn’t know how long I would be staying here at the Three Bears Headquarters, but I was glad that what time I had here would be spent in Gator’s condo instead of this little apartment. It was nice enough, but I much preferred being in his space.
“You carry those, and I’ll grab Trixie for you.”
I wasn’t sure how she would take that, but I figured we could give it a try. Hopefully, she wouldn’t freak out and start screaming inside her cage.
He squatted down so he was on her level. She puffed up her feathers before saying, “Hello, Daddy.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “Hello, pretty girl. Do you want to take an elevator ride?”
“Elevator go up, Elevator go down,” she said.
“That’s correct.” He picked up her cage, and while she kept repeating elevator go up over and over, she seemed calm enough.
When the doors closed behind us, he smiled at me. “Normally, I would’ve taken the stairs, but I figured this would be smoother for her in her cage.”
“It will be, thank you.” Again with the whole caring about my bird thing. I swear the man was going to be the death of me.
I used my key to open the condo door and held it open while he walked in. I could tell the second Trixie saw her cage because she totally lost her shit.
She started pacing back and forth on the perch in the small cage. “Home. Trixie’s home. Home. Going up. Going up.”
“She actually recognized her cage?”
“She does. It’s her home, and it’s where all her things are.”
I opened the door and let her come out on my arm. Then I lifted her up on top of her cage and opened the front door so she could go in when she was ready.
She hurried over to her perch and moved down it to the bell that hung next to it.
She pecked it with her beak and said, “Bell.” Then repeated that a few times.
She moved to the edge of the cage and used her beak and her claws to slide down the front of the door.
She went inside and took a minute to check every item in the cage to make sure it was still there.
“Ring, plastic. Bell, metal. Water. Food.” She crawled into a tunnel she had that was one of her favorites.
“Tunnel. Straw.” Then she started to climb up her net. “Net.”
We’d worked long and hard to get her to identify each of her toys. But I’d never heard her do them one after the other like that. It was like she was making sure everything was right where it belonged.
“Okay, now I feel horrible for keeping her in that little cage away from her things for so long,” Gator said.
“She was fine. She’s just a little spoiled. But that’s okay. I like spoiling her.”
“I understand that. I like spoiling the people I care about, too.”
“Some people would say I’m already spoiled.”
“Yeah, but you did that for yourself. I think it’s time you let someone else do it for you.”
I barely kept from reacting because come on, seriously… swoon. But I didn’t want him to think that was the only reason I was here, so instead, I just smiled at him. “So, what’s for dinner?”