Chapter 11
11
“ A ll right, team. Listen up.” Cody stood before the group with his hands behind his back. He eyed each individual, one at a time, making sure he had their full attention. “The mistakes of the past are in the past. Today is a new week. A new day with a clean slate. Everyone understand?”
There was a low hum of chatter.
Cody waited for them to settle before jumping in with his plan for that early Monday morning. He needed everyone on board and paying attention. They were going to get through this and right the ship. Together. As a unit.
Silence stretched out for a few moments. His answer came soon enough.
“Shit stain!”
The sweet voice came from the Amazon parrot, the new apparent ringleader of the aviary. Cody sighed and hung his head while the rest of the parrots cackled, whistled, and laughed in response.
At least now he knew who to separate out next. Hopefully, that would do the trick. Otherwise, they’d have to put them all in separate cages or empty out the whole aviary while they retrained the bunch of them with new vocabulary.
He’d get someone to set up another cage for the Amazon in the meal prep room. The bright green bird looked nothing like Gary, so if the intruder made a reappearance, this parrot should be safe.
Unless he was off base about the reason for the break-in.
Maybe his judgment was being clouded by the fact that Gary’s owner was in jail. The intruder could have been someone completely unrelated to that. Someone just looking to score an expensive bird to resell.
Was there some local black market for exotic animals he didn’t know about? It would have popped up recently if there was. That kind of thing was always on zoo radar, mostly because they ended up with the castoffs after local authorities or animal control confiscated an animal when someone bit off a more exotic pet than they could handle. Legally, at least.
Still, just because he hadn’t heard of anything like that didn’t mean it didn’t exist. Could be a new thing.
He was overthinking this.
Overthinking was not his strong suit.
But he had to carefully consider this particular parrot’s safety. Which meant getting Mitch to put a new lock on that door. Something beefy this time. Something difficult to break into. Just in case.
He sent a quick text to Lauren, who was enjoying the day off with her girlfriend. Cody wouldn’t normally bother her on a day off, but he knew she’d get a kick out of this update.
The chuckle bunch is at it again .
He left the aviary, heading toward the main building near the front of the zoo to find Mitch and change that lock. He’d grab someone to set up a cage later. Mondays were slow, so it shouldn’t be a problem to get the Amazon moved into Gary’s old spot.
His phone buzzed in his pocket, but the text he found wasn’t from Lauren.
I’m ordering food for Monday. Your favorites from Toby’s. Potato salad and rice dressing and ribs.
Those were his favorites. And he had a childhood filled with memories of Toby’s prepared meals for every special occasion, since his mother rarely cooked. Especially not for holidays if she could help it.
What’s next Monday?
There was a long pause, then his phone rang.
“It’s Memorial Day, Cody.” His mother sounded as exasperated as he did talking to that gaggle of pesky parrots. “You are off, aren’t you?”
“Nope. Animals still have to eat,” he said. “But I think the zoo is closed to visitors, so I’ll be out early enough to come over for dinner.”
“Good. Bring someone… maybe not someone from that random date thing, though.”
She meant a dating app. His mom made it no secret that she hated his casual dating. Dropped hints about him getting married and settling down nearby.
Not exactly an enticing conversation to bring a date to.
“Probably just me.” He caught sight of Mitch a few yards away, coming out of the jaguar enclosure. “I gotta go. I’ll call you later.”
“Hey, Mitch,” he called out.
Mitch turned and waited for Cody to catch up. “Whatcha need?”
“Did you replace that lock on the meal prep room yet?”
“I was just heading over there.” Mitch nodded toward the front of the zoo. “You need something else?”
“Nah, that’s it,” Cody said. “Got another bird I need to set up in there, and I want to make sure we can lock it up tonight. You know. Just in case.”
Mitch nodded. “Gotcha. I’ll have it done in a bit.”
“Perfect. Thanks, man.”
Mitch made a weird expression. “It’s been bugging me, though.”
“What?”
“That break-in,” Mitch said. “None of the locks on any of the other buildings were messed with. Just that room.”
Cody’s stomach sank. “I was wondering if y’all found signs anywhere else.”
Mitch shook his head. “Nowhere else. It was like they knew exactly where they were going. How would anyone know there was a bird in there?”
“They wouldn’t,” Cody said. “Unless someone told them exactly where to go to find it.”
And there went his backup theory that maybe someone just stumbled on a parrot to steal. Anyone else would have gone straight to the aviary. Or wandered through random buildings until they stumbled on something valuable.
But no other signs of entry meant that room was the target. And since there was nothing else of value in there, Gary had to have been the target. It also meant someone was tipped off on exactly where to find him.
“Keep an ear out for me, will you?”
“Will do.” Mitch nodded toward the front. “I’ll get that lock changed this afternoon.”
“Thanks.”
Cody stood on the pathway while Mitch headed to the main building. He chewed over the knowledge that someone at the zoo had to have tipped off the birdnapper.
Birdnapper.
He couldn’t believe that was a word in his vocabulary now. But someone had tried to steal Gary.
Specifically Gary.
And the only people who knew where Gary was in the zoo were the people working there.
A shiver trailed its way up his back with the thought that maybe that same person might have overheard something about where Gary was now. Cody had tried to keep Geena’s name out of conversations about the bird, but the thought was nagging him that maybe someone could piece together where he’d stashed Gary.
Which meant maybe Geena and Gary weren’t as safe as he’d believed.
He checked the time on his phone.
Almost lunchtime.
He’d send a text on his break to ask how she was getting along with Gary. He didn’t want to alert her to worry, but he also didn’t want to leave her in the dark.
Maybe he should go over there and tell her his concerns.
It had only been a couple of days since he checked on them, and he’d texted yesterday. But he could swing by again after work.
He definitely wouldn’t mind seeing her again.
There might not be a future for them, but he’d enjoyed her company the other night. A whole lot more than he’d expected.
She took her responsibility of caring for Gary so seriously, and her eyes lit up when she’d seen the pizza he brought over. Kind of made him want to make her light up like that again.
If only she were into something more casual.
He’d love to spend more time with her. To make her smile more. To forget with her, for just a little while, that he would be leaving sooner or later.
Instead, he had to bring her the bad news that she needed to have her guard up, after all.
G eena picked at her rice bowl filled with smoked salmon, avocado, and cucumber while lo-fi tunes played through her earbuds. The break room was blessedly quiet. Exactly what she needed.
It had been a long morning, and her nerves were wound a little tight waiting for a response from her lawyer. She didn’t expect a reply that day, much less that morning, but her brain was going to chew on whether or not her ex’s Anthony might actually be the bird’s previous owner, Anthony Montesano.
“Whoa, what is that face for?”
She looked up to see James waving half a chickpea salad sandwich at her.
“What face?”
“That one. The one that looks like someone died.” He took a bite and chewed while he assessed her. Then, with his bite mostly finished, he said, “Or that someone needs to die.”
“No one is dying,” she said.
“Then you must be thinking about that rat bastard of an ex. Did you ever find any assets he was hiding?”
“No,” she said. “Not exactly.”
“You either found him hiding something or not. Which one do we hate him for?”
“Neither. It’s who he’s been paying that’s got me wondering something. I don’t know. It’s all half-formed ideas at this point. I’m waiting for my attorney to get back to me on it. I’ll have more to tell you then.”
“You’d better tell me everything. I need to add the energy of my loathing that man to the divorce vibes.” James nearly choked on his bread and held a finger in the air. “I almost forgot why I came in here. Chelsea said thank you for offering to do the bridal photos. She’s really excited about it.”
Geena smiled. She was exhausted, but she didn’t have to fake pleasure about this. “I’m so glad y’all are letting me take them. You know I don’t usually do that kind of stuff, but I’ll do some homework and come up with ideas for her. It’ll be fun!”
“Great. I’ll let her know.”
The expression on his face was less than great.
“Hey, you okay?”
He blinked away whatever was weighing him down and cranked his pitch up a notch. “Yeah. No, I’m fine. It’s just all the wedding stuff. Paying for it all, to be precise.”
Geena didn’t want to overstep, but her concern for her friend won out over politeness. “Does Chelsea know how much all of it’s costing? Have you talked about the budget with her? I’m sure she’d understand if y’all needed to pull back on some things.”
She’d only met James’s fiancee a few times, but Chelsea always seemed as smitten with James as he was with her. And she certainly didn’t seem like the type to lose her mind over what was essentially a gigantic party.
James shook his head adamantly. “No, I don’t want her to know how much everything costs. She’s asked here and there, of course, but I’ve assured her it’s fine. I’ll figure out how to pay for it all. It’s just stressful, you know?”
Geena did know. Her wedding to Ricky had been obnoxiously extravagant. Which went to show you couldn’t buy your way into a happy marriage.
“James, I’m sure she’d understand if she got the second-best florist in town instead of the best.”
Again, James shook his head. “No. She’s already out of my league, and I’m lucky she ever went out with me to begin with. I’m giving her anything she wants.”
There was pain and desperation behind his words, and Geena hated seeing her friend so stressed out.
“For the record,” Geena said. “I think you should at least have the conversation. Maybe she doesn’t want as much as you think she does.”
James waved the idea away. “Enough about me. Spill it. What else is bothering you? Because you look like you haven’t slept in a week.”
“Only a couple of days,” Geena said. “I really haven’t slept well since Friday.”
It turned out that Gary hated it when she left the room. He especially hated when she left the room at bedtime. She didn’t want to text Cody in the middle of the night, so she’d done some online research late Saturday when she couldn’t take his chatter any longer. She discovered a tip to cover the cage with a thin blanket. Thankfully, that seemed to soothe him.
But she was still suffering from some massive sleep deprivation that wasn’t entirely the bird’s fault.
The truth was, she couldn’t turn her brain off since Cody’s visit.
And not just because of that near miss of a kiss. The near-miss-kiss she was trying desperately not to think about but couldn’t stop running the scene over and over in her head like a movie clip. A clip that gave her all kinds of feelings she would rather disappear.
“Something other than Ricky’s foolery keeping you awake?”
Geena jerked her brain free of the thoughts she wasn’t ready to admit she was having.
“Question,” she said, deciding to steer both of them away from that dangerous territory. “Was Anthony Montesano a client here? Am I thinking of the right guy?”
James flinched, ever so slightly. He rolled his eyes and brushed the crumbs from his hands as he finished his sandwich. “You’ve probably heard me complaining about him enough. My client from hell.”
She’d been right. That’s why the name had sounded so familiar. Even if she hadn’t been chatty with Ricky at that point and didn’t know his clients, she would have still heard the name from James.
Then again, James complained about most of his clients.
But this one was a big deal. She vaguely remembered the cops having questions for him and a few other people at the firm.
“Right,” she said. “He went to jail?”
James put his hands up in defense. “Not my doing. I had no idea he was hiding money. I’m just glad I didn’t get roped into his trouble with the IRS. But my hands and conscience are clean.”
“So it was tax evasion?”
James nodded. “What’s got you thinking about him? If he should be keeping anyone up at night, it’s me, not you.”
She had a feeling James was already up all night stressing about the wedding. A former criminal client was probably way off his radar at this point.
Geena grimaced. “I kind of have his parrot.”
James’s jaw hung slack. He quickly recovered and said, “How the hell did you end up with that thing?”
“You know about the bird?”
“Yeah. Damn thing would squawk through our entire conversations. I should have billed him for the extra ibuprofen I needed after our calls.”
“Sounds about right,” she said with a smile. “Were you introduced to his, uh… vocabulary?”
“Called me a rat bastard on the regular.”
Geena smiled in spite of herself. As much trouble as he was, she was growing fond of Gary and his swearing.
“Yup, that’s him.”
“Wait a second,” James said, shaking his head. “How did you end up with that feathered beast?”
Her phone dinged on the table beside her. A glance at the text had her smiling once again.
“Ok, that is a very different expression from what I walked in on.” James wagged his brow at her. “And likely a different cause of sleep deprivation.”
“Stop it,” she said. “It’s nothing like that.”
“Then what’s it like? Tell me everything. I’m getting married, remember? I’m going to have to live vicariously through your dating adventures.”
“There are no adventures currently.”
“You have a criminal’s cussing parrot. That is the very definition of adventure.”
He wasn’t wrong.
“It’s the zookeeper who needed help with the bird. Taylor knows him from school. They ambushed me with the thing after someone tried to break in and take it. He’s just checking up on us.”
“I’m sorry.” He shook his head and widened his eyes in horror. “Roll that back and explain to me why you have a bird someone tried to steal .”
She sent a quick reply, letting Cody know that she and Gary were great now that she figured out how to quiet him down at night.
“It’s fine,” she said. “Cody insists there’s no way whoever tried to take him the first time would know he’s with me.”
Except her brain flashed back to that conversation with Ricky when he heard the bird in the background.
But there was no reason Ricky would know she had his client’s bird. And they didn’t even know why someone tried to steal Gary. It was probably just someone grabbing the first animal they found. Nothing to do with Gary himself at all.
“Geena.” His stern voice was loaded with concern. “What are you doing? Is this a good idea?”
“Probably not,” she admitted, knowing darn well she’d bitten off more than she could reasonably chew with this parrot’s care. “But it’s fine. We’re fine.”
“Why would someone want to steal that hell beast?”
“Beats me,” she said. “Cody thought maybe the guy wanted his bird back, but he’s in jail, right?”
“Yeah. But could someone have been trying to get it back for Tony?”
Geena shrugged. She closed her container and put it back in her lunch bag. “It’s not like anyone will know he’s with me, and the guy can’t do anything with the bird while he’s in jail, anyway. Besides, it’s just temporary until Taylor can find someone else to take him. Someone who knows what the heck they’re doing with a parrot. Someone who isn’t me.”
James frowned. “Well, I hope she finds someone for it soon.”
Geena let out a sigh. She might have been doing better with Gary, but this was nowhere near something she could maintain in the long run.
And she wasn’t sure how much longer she could deny how she felt about Cody if he kept coming around to check on Gary.
“You and me both.”