Maltese Vulture Murder

by Leslie Langtry

  Somehow I found my words. "Thank you, Claire. Did Kelly tell you I needed this?"

  Claire looked up at me and deadpanned, "I've never talked to her about anything other than office business. I just knew that you needed them."

  It felt like I'd been told off, so I took my rolls and went over to Riley's desk, plunking myself down in the chair opposite him.

  "You stole my vulture," I accused, taking a roll out and biting into it. It was still warm! How did she do it? More importantly, how could I get her to do it more often? She had to be psychic. I sent a mental thank-you to her, just in case. She didn't reply.

  Riley grimaced at the sugary goodness. I don't think sugar or carbs had passed his lips since he was ten years old. I still needed to know about his trunkful of junk. But right now, he owed me a huge apology for taking Nellie Lou. That, and my mouth was full.

  "Sorry about that. Someone called me for the drop, but when I got there, the place was empty."

  "Noogmorfgooschase," I said with a mouthful of goodness.

  "Yeah." He ran his hands through his impossibly glossy, wavy blond hair. "I figured that out too late."

  I swallowed hard. "You had no right to take her. She's mine!"

  He nodded. "You're right, I know. I'm sorry."

  "Not good enough, Andrews."

  "What do you want me to do? I thought I was saving the life of a little girl!"

  My eyes narrowed. "You thought you were setting yourself up to be the hero and build your reputation."

  Riley sighed. "You don't really think that of me. Not after all these years."

  "Especially after all these years," I pointed out.

  Claire appeared out of thin air. She had an uncanny way of just materializing. I wondered if she was a witch. Which would be awesome. I would have to keep her away from my troop though. I did not need a bunch of girls teleporting and reading my mind. You have to draw the line somewhere.

  "I've got your intel," she said to me.

  Riley looked confused.

  Without looking at him, I gave the witch my full attention. "Great work! What did you find out?"

  My former handler stared at his receptionist. "You don't work for her." He pointed at me. "And she doesn't work here."

  Claire gave him a withering look that shrank pretty much every atom of his being before turning to me.

  "Officer Norbert Bingley was being investigated by a secret blue ribbon panel, assigned by the mayor. He'd been collecting intelligence and using it to blackmail town aldermen, city planners, the police chief, anyone who could pay up. The word on the streets was that he found out they were closing in. They'd suspected he'd faked his death but had no proof until he turned up here, dead, in your garage."

  "On Rex's side of the garage," I corrected.

  Claire acted as if I hadn't spoken. "Once it was thought he had died, the mayor disbanded the investigation and hushed it all up, much to the relief of pretty much everyone in that town."

  As she finished, she spun on her heel, went back to her desk, and started typing.

  "What's going on?" Riley asked.

  I got up and tore the last cinnamon roll in half, handing part of it to him. "You're gonna need this." And then, I walked out the door.

  * * *

  On my way down the street, while I chewed on the other half of the cinnamon roll, I texted Rex, asking him to meet me at the sheriff's department. I was licking frosting off my fingers by the time I got there. Witch or not, Claire had known exactly what I'd needed.

  "Ronni admitted that she drugged you?" Rex stared at me in disbelief. "And she said she wants to be a better sister to you?" He plunked down in a chair under the weight of that information.

  "It's a shock, I know," I said. "But she's home now, and that ties up the mystery of the drugged Girl Scout leader. And I can't believe I'm saying this, but please don't arrest her."

  Sheriff Carnack pretended to be busy reading a piece of paper.

  "I should," Rex said. "What she did was a misdemeanor, but if you don't want to press charges, I won't follow through."

  "Good. Now, I've got some information on Norbert Bingley."

  The two men listened as I told them what I'd learned. If they were surprised, they didn't show it.

  "Your theory on the mayor being behind this," Ed Carnack said, "sounds good, but we don't have any evidence."

  Rex agreed. "It'll be difficult to arrest and prosecute him when all you've got is a possible connection between the two men back in Texas and the fact that you were taken to his cabin by two men we don't have available to question."

  They had a point. Which meant I had a problem. The mayor wasn't just going to confess if we confronted him with what we thought. He'd deny it. "Unless…" I mused out loud. "If I could prove that Delaney is safe at home, and if the girl admitted that her father was behind her 'kidnapping,' we'd have something."

  "Theoretically, sure," Carnack said. "But she's a minor. She probably wouldn't testify against her father. And faking a kidnapping doesn't quite carry the same penalty as killing a man."

  "If we had whatever blackmail Bingley had," Rex said, "we could prosecute that. But the case for murder is thin."

  "You're saying I have to find a way to get the players to slip up…"

  Rex shook his head. "I'm not saying anything like that. Please don't get involved. You've done some good work, but this is our job."

  His voice was gentle so that he wouldn't embarrass me in front of the sheriff. Which was nice. But I wasn't giving up this easily. An idea popped into my head.

  I knew what I could do to get at least some of what I wanted.

  "Merry," Rex warned, "I know that look…"

  "Sorry," I lied. "I forgot I'm supposed to be somewhere! Bye!" I ran out the door before he could stop me.

  As I drove away, ignoring multiple warning texts from my husband, I called Kelly.

  She answered on the first ring. "What is it?"

  "I totally forgot! We have a Girl Scout meeting today!"

  Kelly choked on whatever she was drinking. "We do? I don't have that on the schedule!"

  I nodded, even though she couldn't see it. "We do. Can you call everyone and have them meet at my house? Make it noon. I'll order pizza."

  She agreed to call the girls. It wouldn't be hard, since it was summer. The parents would be thrilled to have us take their kids off their hands for the day.

  "Oh, and invite the other troop, will you?" I asked. I hung up before she could ask why.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  After ordering several cheese pizzas (my troop was decidedly unoriginal when it came to pizza), I arrived home and set up a long table in the living room. I called Dr. Wulf and invited her to come over, after explaining the girls' interest in Mr. Fancy Pants. When I mentioned free pizza, she agreed.

  The living room looked so empty without furniture. Kelly still had my credit card. Had she done any shopping yet? It didn't matter. I shoved those thoughts from my mind and set about getting ready for the meeting.

  This was a way of combining the project the girls wanted to do, making up for missing Mr. Fancy Pants, and digging a little deeper with Tammi. If I was lucky, she'd bring Delaney. There was no guarantee that the mayor's wife and daughter would betray him, but why not give it a shot anyway?

  I toyed with bringing Philby over but remembered Pam's horror of animals. Other than that, Pam really seemed to have it pulled together. She'd make a good leader, and hopefully once the mayor was in jail, Kelly and I could work with her and her girls. If Tammi wasn't involved in the murder, she was welcome too.

  I thought about the nervous, birdlike woman. Maybe the mayor's arrest would be good for her? He was probably the one making her a nervous wreck. It seemed to be an odd thing to think, but I'd seen stranger things happen.

  Dr. Wulf pulled into the drive, and I invited her in, explaining what we were planning to do.

  "What a wonderful idea!" The woman beamed. "I mean, there's a lot more to it th
an a simple petition, but for the girls to come up with something like this—it'll be a great learning experience for them!"

  "It's more complicated than that?" I asked.

  "Your king vulture is on loan from the Smithsonian's National Zoo," the director said. "Which is a government entity. I'd have to look into the procedures for that. But I'd be willing to bet it'll be difficult to get them to let us keep him."

  "Is it worth trying?" I asked.

  "Oh sure! In fact, you mentioned that the girls want to campaign to bring Mr. Fancy Pants a girlfriend, right?"

  "That's right." I set up the folding table I kept here for meetings and added chairs.

  "Then we might have a loophole," the woman explained. "You see, one of the greatest functions of any zoo is conservation of the species. And that means breeding. We might be able to extend Mr. Fancy Pants's stay if we try to breed him with a female."

  This stopped me in my tracks. "Extend his stay? Is his time nearly up?"

  "Well"—Dr. Wulf looked contrite—"the 'lease' if you will, runs out next year. But, if we bring in a female and attempt to get them to breed, there's a good chance the Smithsonian will let him stay."

  "I think the girls will get on board with that," I said as I put out paper and pens.

  "He really misses you, you know," Dr. Wulf said.

  "I miss him too," I said sadly. "I promise to visit next week."

  The doorbell rang, and before I could get the door, a swarm of girls opened it and poured in around us, chattering eagerly.

  "I'm so sorry," Tammi said as she and Pam walked in. "I didn't realize we'd set up another meeting!"

  Pam smiled. "I'm glad you did. Sophie set fire to a gravel road today. We need the distraction."

  Dr. Wulf looked at me, startled.

  "We're mentoring a troop of younger girls. Let me introduce you."

  Introductions were made, and the new leaders seemed impressed that I had the director of Obladi Zoo sitting in my living room. Pam introduced Dr. Wulf to the five girls in their troop. That's when I realized Delaney was here.

  I pulled Tammi aside. "Your daughter's back! That's great!"

  The woman's eyes widened, as if she realized she'd done something unusual. "Oh, right. I called the sheriff to let him know she was back. She just, um, walked through the front door last night."

  Delaney looked like she wanted to say something but didn't.

  Tammi brushed me off. "I'll explain later."

  Right. This morning, Sheriff Carnack had had no knowledge of Delaney's return. Her mother was obviously in on it. Why else would she delay contacting law enforcement? Under the pretense of getting the pizza ready, I slipped into the kitchen and texted this development to Rex.

  "Pizza!" I said as I walked back into the room with the boxes. I set them on the table and barely had them open when the girls swarmed like locusts, taking every piece.

  "There's a pizza for the adults still in the kitchen." I winked at Dr. Wulf and the new leaders. They got up and left the room just as Kelly arrived.

  "Sorry I'm late," my co-leader said. "Finn was fussy and…" Her eyes alighted on Delaney. "She's back? She's okay? What happened?"

  "Tammi said she just came home last night. But let me fill you in on what we're doing," I managed.

  "So I don't look like a complete idiot," Kelly said with a grin.

  "Of course!" I said. Then I launched into my discussion with Dr. Wulf.

  "How's that going to help you solve the case?" Kelly murmured.

  I shrugged. "No idea, but you know me. I'll wing it."

  "You're using a troop meeting to corner a killer," my best friend said. "Got it."

  She didn't yell at me as she walked into the kitchen to get some pizza. First Ronni changed her tune, now Kelly. Nah. There was no time to think about that. We had a killer to catch.

  Once everyone was settled, I formally introduced Dr. Wulf.

  "And she's going to answer your questions," I said, "so we can work on our project."

  "To steal a vulture!' Ava shouted with glee.

  "No, to borrow one," I corrected.

  My girls looked at each other, and I was starting to think I'd been left out on some important decision.

  "We changed the plan, Mrs. Wrath," one of the Kaitlyns said at last.

  "Changed the plan?" Kelly asked.

  Lauren stood up, and the others nodded at her. They really had changed the plan.

  "We don't want to borrow any animals," the girl explained. "We want them both here permanently."

  She sat down, and Betty stood up with a large piece of paper. She produced an easel I knew I didn't have and put the poster on it. There was an elaborate flow chart with labels like, Extortion, Blackmail, and Unleash Hell. At the bottom of the page was a drawing of two king vultures kissing. Someone had written Ewwww beneath them.

  "I forgot," Dr. Wulf said, eyes wide, "how intense your troop is."

  Betty produced a pointer stick that looked suspiciously like one of my curtain rods and began pacing.

  "We will not settle for fake promises and false plate etudes!"

  "Platitudes," Pam corrected.

  "Right! That!" Betty smacked the poster with the curtain rod pointer. "We're here for one thing!"

  "Total global domination!" Inez shouted.

  "No!" Betty said. "But that's a good idea. Write that down for later."

  Caterina produced a sparkly unicorn notebook and pen and began to write that down.

  "What's happening?" Tammi tittered.

  Betty continued, marching back and forth with the curtain rod, her voice getting louder, "We will fight until we get what we want! This is a war, and we'll see it through!"

  "Did she just declare war on Obladi Zoo?" Pam asked.

  "Nah, she's been watching Patton again," I assured her. "It's best to let her finish her speech, or we won't get anything done."

  "We demand that Mr. Fancy Pants stays here permanently!" The child brought the curtain rod down hard on the table, causing it to snap in two. It didn't faze her at all, as she reached behind her back and brought out a riding crop. Where had she been hiding that?

  "Is she wearing jodhpurs?" Dr. Wulf whispered.

  "And riding boots," I added. "Definitely Patton."

  Betty was in full fury now. "No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country!"

  At that moment, a huge flame flared up from Sophie's crayon.

  "Okay!" I jumped to my feet and waved for her to sit down. A good old-fashioned war speech was one thing, but swearing and burning art supplies was right out.

  "Let's table this plan"—I took the paper from the easel after snuffing out Sophie's crayon—"and start working on something legit."

  The girls sighed the sighs of a thousand martyrs in unison but didn't protest. I asked Hannah to stand up and ask the questions we'd discussed at the earlier meeting. And being that she was my sweet kid, she did exactly that, asking Dr. Wulf about funding, the likelihood of getting another vulture, and so on.

  Kelly, Tammi, and Pam followed me into the kitchen.

  "Oh my God!" Tammi wailed. "That was terrifying!" Her hands were trembling as she fingered a large set of pearls. She was worse than normal.

  I peeked around the corner and noticed that Delaney was sitting there calmly, listening to Caterina. She was definitely in on the kidnapping plan. Had to be.

  "Wow," Pam said in awe. "And I thought we had problems in our troop."

  "Hey," I protested. "They're just very"—my mind scrambled to find the right word, ruling out psychotic, dangerous, and violent—"enthusiastic."

  Kelly spoke up. "The girls are very competitive when they want something. But they aren't really advocating war or anything."

  "Sorry," Pam said. "I do admire Betty's spunk."

  "I admire Sophie's fire-making skills. She turned that crayon into a candle without any matches." I smiled at the frazzled leader. Was Tammi's obvio
us anxiety getting to her? The woman was making me jumpy.

  In the other room, we could hear Dr. Wulf telling the girls what she'd told me earlier.

  "What exactly made your girls come up with a plan to save"—Pam thought about what little she'd heard—"or keep a vulture at the zoo?"

  Kelly explained our long relationship with Mr. Fancy Pants, leaving out some stories where the bird had saved my life from things like Yakuza and panthers. My mind wandered as I watched Pam and Tammi.

  Tammi sure was acting guilty. And what was that lie about Delaney just walking in the door, or that she'd called the sheriff and told him the girl was back and everything was fine? If the mayor was pulling off murders and kidnapping his own kid, I doubted he'd be able to do it without his wife knowing. Or even without her assistance.

  And why was Delaney so quiet? That kid loved to talk.

  My cell buzzed with a text. It was Rex responding to my message that Delaney was here.

  Find a way to bring Tammi to the police station. Now, preferably.

  "Kelly," I said slowly. "Can you and Pam handle things? Tammi and I need to run to the station."

  Tammi's eyes bulged. "Why? Why do I need to go there?"

  Thinking quickly, I smiled. "It's nothing. You called the sheriff to tell him Delaney was home, but you didn't mention it to the local police department."

  "But…but…the kidnapping was outside of town! Isn't that the sheriff's jurisdiction?" Her hands were still shaking, and she'd gone pale.

  "Oh, sure it is!" I said soothingly. "It's just a formality. You need to give a quick statement so Detective Ferguson can close out the case. It's nothing, really."

  "Oh." Tammi was flustered. If I pressed too much, she might lose it and go all marsupial on us.

  Pam patted her co-leader's arm reassuringly. "I'll go with you."

  That was a great idea. She definitely had a calming effect on her friend.