Parrots Prove Deadly Read Online Free Page B

you should give much credence to what you hear from a parrot,” Creighton said, echoing Wallis so closely that the tabby and I both paused and turned toward him. “I mean, they make noises, right? They repeat what they hear.”
    “That’s the thing.” I started picking pepperoni rounds off the last slice. Wallis isn’t as young as she thinks she is. “Usually, parrots learn by repetition. They mimic what they hear often, which is useful in training.” Every now and then, I throw that in, just to remind Jim that I have a rational reason for my “hunches.” “But I’ve been doing some reading. There are some new studies that suggest they may also pick up sounds that make an impression—sounds that are loud, scary, or stressful, for example. That they’re not just mimics.”
    I’d already told him about Alex, the famous parrot who seemed to be able to form simple sentences. “There’s evidence they understand what they’re saying.”
    “You’re seriously saying that this parrot witnessed a murder?” Creighton reached for his beer, but he kept his eyes on mine.
    “I’m saying there’s something off. That someone broke in—or the old lady thought someone was there—and that’s why she fell.” I didn’t say what I really felt, that she was pushed. The basic principle of any training regimen is to go one step at a time.
    “And you think this because the parrot told you so.” Creighton was fully dressed again, but he wasn’t drinking. He was watching me.
    “The parrot would have no reason to link those particular sounds without reason.”
    “Pru, this is a bird we’re talking about.” He took a drink finally. A long one. “A bird. ”
    “Told you so. ”Next to me on the sofa, Wallis began to purr.
    A tactical retreat was in order. “How do you explain what it did keep repeating, then?” I’d stopped stacking the pepperoni, and Wallis leaned forward to sniff at it, and I put my hand on her back to restrain her. The purring stopped. “I mean, ‘stop,’ ‘what are you doing?,’ ‘that’s mine’? That all sounds pretty suspicious to me. Besides,” I reached for my knife—my dinner knife—as I made my point. “The son said they’d had some problems with theft.”
    “Maybe they did. Maybe they didn’t.” Creighton had collapsed back into the sofa, beer in hand. “For all we know, the old lady was dotty. Maybe she misplaced things—and then assumed they’d been stolen. You know what old people can be like.”
    I nodded. “But it was the son who told me.”
    “Sounds like the daughter was the one who was around more.” He had a point, and he knew it. That was probably why he offered me a bone. “But look, why don’t you speak to the aide? Maybe she, ah, knew something.”
    Like that the old lady was paranoid. Or that her job was time-limited, and she had to feather her own nest. “She might be able to help me with the retraining.” I gave him that. “She was there long enough, she could probably tell me about the bird’s routine.” I began scraping the cheese off the slice.
    “And the daughter’s. ”Wallis looked up, eyes glinting. I nodded back. Exactly.
    “You’re trying to make more work for me, aren’t you?” Creighton was joking, but I could hear the edge in his voice. He knew there was something going on that he wasn’t party to. He’s a smart guy. “You want it to be a murder.”
    “That’s pushing it, Jim.” I scooped the cheese onto my plate, and pushed the plate toward Wallis. “I didn’t know the lady. I have no reason for wanting her death to be anything, natural or otherwise.”
    “I didn’t mean it like that, Pru. I’m just wondering if, well, if you’ve gotten caught up in the idea of solving crime. If, maybe, what you’re doing—you know, the animal training and, well the rest of it—” He was too polite to say dog walking—“isn’t enough to occupy your mind these days.”
    I didn’t respond, and he stumbled to fill the silence.