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The other two were talking with Atkinson, so I told the truth quietly. ‘Come and see this bird.’ Keeping my voice low, I walked him to my car. ‘It’s from the Other realm and it can talk. Any ideas?’
He studied the bird before shaking his head. ‘Not anything I’ve seen before. It’s not the phoenix or a roc.’
‘I know that,’ I said impatiently. ‘Any idea what it actually is?’
From inside the car the bird said loudly, ‘Inspector Dumb.’
Ed cracked a smile. ‘It’s a clever bird.’
‘Fuck you,’ I sighed.
‘Was that all you wanted?’ He raised an eyebrow.
‘Yeah. Go and examine the crime scene. It looks like a murderous ogre got over-zealous, but the BB wasn’t wholly innocent. There’s a gun in a drawer and dryad blood on some trousers in the washing basket.’
‘Not ogre!’ the bird squawked, affronted.
‘The bird doesn’t think the vic was killed by an ogre?’ Ed asked.
I shrugged. ‘For all we know, the bird doesn’t think. Period.’
He grinned. ‘I don’t know about that. He certainly seems to have some opinions about you.’
‘Doesn’t he just?’ I muttered. ‘Little pipsqueak.’
‘Pigdog,’ the bird mumbled back. It was better than ‘bitch’, so I let it slide.
‘What sport did we discuss?’ Ed threw back over his shoulder as he walked away.
I blinked. ‘Ostrich racing. It originated in Africa but is now done all over the world, including America. They can run up to forty-five miles an hour.’
‘Now that I’d pay to see.’
‘Ed?’
‘Yeah?’
‘We need an ID. The bird says the body is Jude Jingo.’
Ed stumbled a little. ‘What?’ He pivoted on his heel to face me.
‘You heard me. When you get a chance, take prints and run them through the Connection’s database.’
‘Jesus. So basically we have Al Capone in there?’
‘According to the bird. Don’t fixate on it. The bird could be lying.’
Ed grinned. ‘This is one of the more fun conversations we’ve had.’
I sighed again. He wasn’t wrong. ‘Text me when you know more.’
‘You got it.’
He entered the building, leaving me alone with a bird that may or may not have been a total dingbat. Hard to believe I was considering building a case around its squawk…
Some days it was better to stay in bed.
Chapter Four
