Never Steal a Cockatiel (Leigh Koslow Mystery Series Book 9) (17 page)

“The amounts vary a lot, don’t they?” Leigh noted. “They asked $300 for Lucky, but Skippy told me she’d heard rumors of thousands, too.”

“Rumors are likely to be exaggerated,” Maura commented. “However, the differences are interesting.” She thought a moment. “I wonder what the perp is basing his demands on.” She opened up the third envelope. This one was handwritten in flowing cursive on flowered stationery.

I am sorry that I am not brave enough to go to the police. But I almost lost my mind when my precious baby was in the hands of that maniac. I had to take out a second mortgage to get her back — but it was worth it! Please, please, stop him soon!

Leigh sighed. She could only assume that the author was so upset she didn’t realize she had offered no helpful information whatsoever. Letter number four was no better. In fact, it was a whole lot worse.

I heard the clinic was asking for tips. Which is pretty ironic, since you’re obviously the ones doing it! I doubt you’ll let the police see this, so I’m going to write them too. I mean, who else knows all this stuff? You have all the information on everybody and you know who has money. Shame on you all!

The three exchanged worried glances. “I have to admit, there’s some sense to that,” Leigh said miserably. “If my dad wanted to make out a hit list, based on who had money and who was most likely to pay up, he would certainly know.”

“Sure he would, but people
trust
Grandpa,” Allison said loyally.

Little Eddie made a grab at the letter, but Maura pulled it away and dropped it into the sack. “One more.”

They haven’t hit us yet, but we’re keeping ours locked up. Heard about a dog and a cat stolen but both came back okay. The cat cost $500 but they wanted $1500 for the dog! I heard somebody saw a guy with a ponytail running away from their house. That’s all I know. Don’t know who got taken exactly, sorry. Nobody wants to say because I guess the ransom notes say that if you tell anybody they’ll come back and kill them! I probably wouldn’t say anything either if it was me.

A guy with a ponytail.
Leigh cast a questioning glance at Maura.

The detective sighed. “A lot of men wear their hair in a ponytail, you know. As well as a lot of women who could be mistaken for men in the dark. Never mind how vague the reference is in the first place.”

“I recognized his cough,” Leigh said heavily. “I wasn’t even thinking about it at the time, but the similarity was so striking it hit me out of the blue.”

Maura studied her friend’s face. Then she held up her hands. “Fine,” she conceded with a sigh. “Let’s go pay the professor a friendly little visit. At home.”

After a complicated interval of fetching and installing Eddie’s car seat in the van and laboriously securing him into it, the foursome took a relatively short ride before beginning the reverse process of getting Eddie back out and into his front pack again. “Are you sure Allison should be here?” Leigh fretted when they at last stepped out onto the sidewalk.

Maura frowned at her. “Koslow, I’ve known Lenny since we were six years old. If I thought he was in the slightest bit dangerous, do you think I’d be bringing Eddie? I’m only doing this to humor you.” She led the way up the front steps of the modest brick row house, which was just over the borough line from Avalon into Bellevue. Even from the street, they could hear birds squawking.

“Has he always been into birds?” Leigh asked.

Maura shrugged. “I didn’t know he was into them at all. I usually just run into him at the store or something — I’ve never been to his house. At least not this one. His folks used to live over on Orchard.”

She rang the bell. There was no porch beyond the steps, so Leigh and Allison stood behind her.

Leigh breathed a sigh of relief when the door started to open. Leonard had left the clinic right before they did, and they were hoping he had taken the bird straight home. She wanted to get this over with.

Leonard opened the door just wide enough to peer through the crack. His eyes widened with panic. “Maura?” he said with a gulp.

“Hey again,” the policewoman said cheerfully, ignoring his odd behavior. “Listen, can we come in a minute?”

Leonard’s frightened gaze darted from Maura to Leigh and Allison. Then he stuck his head out a little further and looked up and down the block. “Get in quick, then!” he ordered, flinging the door open and practically pulling Maura in by the arm. “Quick! Quick!”

“Okay, okay,” Maura said easily. “Chillax, dude! What’s the hurry?”

Leigh and Allison filed in quickly also, and after another furtive glance up and down the street, Leonard shut the door behind them. They were standing in a bizarre sort of foyer, the walls of which were entirely formed by beaded curtains.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized meekly, pulling aside the colorful beads and gesturing them into the main part of the living room. “Come in, please.”

Leigh half expected to see hookah pipes and silk cushions on the floor. Instead she walked into an indoor aviary. Finches and budgies were everywhere, flying from perch to perch, alighting on the sparse furniture, picking through the food that was laid out at several stations around the room, and making a cacophony of clucking, cheeping, and whistling noises.

“Geez, Len,” Maura exclaimed, her hands carefully poised to protect little Eddie’s exposed head. “I’m guessing you’re not into Hitchcock films, are you?”

Leonard was not amused. “Why did you have to come to the house?” he demanded, his hands wringing nervously. “What if somebody saw you?”

Maura’s smile faded as she studied him. A green budgie landed on his shoulder.

“Um,” Leigh said uncertainly. “We’re sorry to intrude, but I found this after you left.” She extended the leather glass case that had been in Randall’s junk drawer at the clinic since the nineties. A gift from a previous client, it had the image of a macaw burned into it along with the word
Mexico.
Randall had always found it cheesy. “Any chance it might be yours?” she asked innocently.

Leonard stared at the case a moment, his eyes wide. Then he shook his head vigorously. “No, it’s not mine.” He threw another glance at Maura, then practically crumpled onto the back of his couch, displacing two zebra finches and a pied cockatiel. The man’s relief at learning the presumed point of their visit was obvious. Also obvious was the fact that he was scared to death.

Maura stepped over and leaned against the couch back next to him. Baby Eddie was fascinated by the fluttering, colorful animals, and he cooed joyfully while reaching out for any bird he perceived to be within reach. Maura made certain, however, that none were.

“Len,” she said warmly. “I didn’t mean to scare you. But now that we’re here… is there anything you’d like to tell me?”

Leonard shook his head. His weathered face was lined with misery. “No,” he said softly. “No, I don’t think… that’s best.”

Then man looked so truly wretched that Leigh began to feel sorry for him. But then he coughed again.

Hack, wheeze, hack. Hack hack hack!

Leigh sucked in a sharp breath and looked meaningfully at Maura.
I’m telling you,
she telepathed.
It was him!

Slowly and surreptitiously, Allison was moving around to peer into the kitchen and dining room areas that connected with the living room. Leigh figured her daughter must also have seen the pied cockatiel. And wondered…

“Well, you see,” Maura said conversationally, scooting over to pull Eddie out of range of a spotted finch. “You’re making a problem for me, here. Because we both know that I’m a better detective than you are an actor. Remember that Valley Forge play in the third grade? You totally sucked, man. So I know you’re afraid of something. And you should probably just go ahead and spill it.”

A hint of a smile played at the corners of Leonard’s mouth, but only for a second. Then he looked miserable again.

“How did you know?” he whispered hoarsely, ignoring the two budgies currently scuffling over the space on top of his head. “How did you know to ask me? I didn’t say anything!”

Leigh opened her mouth, but Maura threw her a quick warning look.

“Say anything about what, Len? Just tell me. If anybody saw me outside, they’ve already seen me. You know what I’m saying?”

The professor dropped his face into his hands. “But I can’t risk it! I can’t lose him again. I raised him from an egg!”

Leigh blinked in confusion. She cast a glance at Allison, who had finished her sweep of the room and returned with a blue budgie on her finger. She gave a slight shake of her head.
Our cockatiel’s not here, Mom.

“Tell me what you mean, Len,” Maura repeated patiently.

Leonard was silent for a long moment, evidently contemplating his options. Then, stiffly, he rose. “Come on upstairs,” he said with defeat. “I’ll show you.”

He headed toward another curtain of beads, then pulled them aside to reveal a narrow staircase. He headed up with Maura following, but Leigh hung back a few paces. At the top of the staircase he opened another door, only to have an Amazon alight immediately on his shoulder. “Welcome to South America,” he announced. “The cockatoos are in the smaller room that way. I call it ‘upper Australia.’”

Leigh’s curiosity got the better of her. She climbed the remaining stairs and slipped through the door also, followed closely by Allison. A large, open area that was supposed to be a bedroom contained two free-flying Amazons and a blue and gold macaw, plus a second macaw in a huge cage that took up one corner of the room and a dormer window. “Casper and Goldie don’t get along,” Leonard explained sadly. “They have to alternate.”

“Geez, Len,” Maura exclaimed, looking through the myriad bird perches and toys to the sparse human furniture, which consisted of a leather couch and chair. “Where do you sleep?”

He pointed to a short, closed door along the far wall. “In the closet,” he admitted sheepishly. It’s the only way I ever get any peace. But what I want to show you is in the bathroom.”

Leigh looked over her shoulder to note the quickest exit.

“The bathroom’s kind of like an isolation unit,” Leonard explained. “Right now the bird in it is… recovering.”

“Which bird is that?” Allison piped up.

Leonard opened the bathroom door and gestured them inside.

Leigh looked around. It was an unexpectedly large bathroom, completely covered with white tiles, which weren’t nearly as dirty as she might have expected. In fact, considering the number of birds in the house, she had to admit that Leonard did a reasonable job of keeping the place clean. At least he had the sense not to have carpet.

“Opie, boy!” Leonard called. “Come on out! Everybody’s a friend, here.” He turned to whisper to Maura. “He’s still pretty traumatized, I’m afraid.”

Leigh watched, breath held, as a white and yellow lutino cockatiel strutted out from behind the toilet and fluttered up to perch on Leonard’s hand. “That’s my boy,” the man cooed affectionately.

The bird cooed back.

Leigh heard Allison’s sharp intake of breath beside her. The bird had a dime-sized patch of bare skin in the center of its chest.

Tears formed in Leonard’s eyes. “It was so nice outside last weekend. He always enjoys a little time out back. I swear I checked on him every couple of minutes. But one time I looked out, and he was just—” he choked on the words. “
Gone.
Cage and all!”

Maura looked sideways at Leigh, then Allison. Both nodded silently.

“Are you saying this bird was petnapped, Leonard?” Maura asked.

He sniffed and nodded.

Leigh’s anxiety grew. It was a nice story, and he was very convincing. But it made no sense. If the bird was his, why was he stealing it from her parents’ house? How he could even know it was there? He
had
to be lying!

Leigh stared hard at Maura. They needed to get out of here, before the man started flipping out at a whole new level. However Maura wanted to handle the police part was her problem. But they could all worry about that later. Much later.

She turned to open the bathroom door, but a sound from the hallway outside stopped her.

Hack, wheeze, hack. Hack hack hack!

Her blood ran cold. She whipped around to see Leonard standing quietly in the same place he was before, with the cockatiel still perched on his hand.

He laughed out loud.

Chapter 16

Leigh stared at him, wide-eyed.

“What’s so funny, Leonard?” Maura asked calmly.

“The expression on her face!” he chuckled, gesturing toward Leigh. “They do a pretty good job, don’t they? That was Ricky you heard, although he’s not the only one that does it. It’s kind of embarrassing, actually. But they do hear it a lot.”

Leigh and Allison exchanged a glance.
The birds?

As if on cue, Opie sat up straight, puffed up his partially plucked chest, and let loose.
Hack, wheeze, hack. Hack hack hack!

Leonard exploded into laughter. “He does it better than any of them! Don’t you, precious?”

Leigh felt the need to sit down. But the only available surface was the closed toilet lid, and it was speckled with bird poop.

“It was the bird!” Allison breathed, stating a larger truth than was obvious to Leonard.

“Oh, yes,” he said proudly. “They’re wonderful mimics. Everyone knows that parrots can do it. But cockatiels can do a good job with sounds, too, even if they aren’t as skilled at talking.”

“But they only do it when they’re feeling good,” Allison suggested tentatively. “When they’re comfortable. Right?”

“That’s right,” Leonard confirmed.

Maura’s sharp eyes connected with Allison’s.
Don’t say anything else,
the policewoman transmitted.

Allison’s return nod was barely perceptible.

“When exactly did the bird disappear, Len?” Maura asked.

His face paled again. “Friday night. There was a note left where the cage had been. It said if I told anybody, they’d kill him!” He gulped. “They wanted three thousand dollars, set out Saturday night at midnight in the park. I got it, and I left it. I expected Opie back the next day, but nothing happened. I hoped maybe that it was just hard to get him back without being seen. You know, with people out in the neighborhood over the weekend. I hoped I would get him Monday. But there was nothing!”