AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Did you try calling them?”
“I would have if I had their cell phone numbers.”
“Maybe you should have asked for their contact information.”
“Hindsight is twenty-twenty,” Carlita said. “Yes, we should have exchanged information. However, I had no idea they weren’t going to show. To be honest, if not for the fact someone died and I’m clearly a suspect, I would have been happy to never see their faces again.”
“We appreciate your thoughtful suggestions,” Mercedes said. “What we need now is information. Did you notice anyone lurking around either sometime yesterday or early this morning?”
“Maybe,” Elvira said. “The cameras caught something very interesting.”
Chapter 17
“You need to come to my office and check it out for yourself.” Circling around to the front of the building, Carlita and her family followed Elvira into the EC Investigative Services office via the front door.
“Intruder alert! Intruder alert!” A blue and yellow macaw started squawking. “Take ‘em down. I repeat, take ‘em down.”
Carlita approached the bird’s cage, which was sitting on top of a file cabinet next to the window. “Who is this?”
“Snitch, the bird I adopted,” Elvira said.
“I didn’t know you were an animal lover.”
“As a general rule, I’m not. They’re messy and a lot of work, but I got to thinking about Pete’s bird and how he keeps a close eye on what’s happening.”
Carlita grinned. “So you thought you would adopt a talking bird?”
Elvira tapped the side of her forehead. “Snitch. Get it?”
“You bought a parrot to spy on your staff.” Mercedes rolled her eyes.
“Snitch doesn’t miss a thing,” Elvira boasted.
“Gotta keep an eye out. What’s going down?” Snitch let loose an entire monologue, most of it involving food.
Elvira snapped her fingers. “Time for a rest.”
“Time for a rest.” Snitch tucked her head down and closed her eyes.
“And very well trained, I might add,” Pete said. “Gunner hardly ever listens to me.”
“Snitch is smart as a whip. However, she does like to talk a lot. I have to admit, I’m a little concerned. She seems a little off today.”
“What do you mean?” Carlita asked.
“She’s barely touching her food.”
Pete walked over to the cage, studying the parrot. “She could still be adjusting to her new environment. Or she may be lonely and in need of a friend.”
Elvira brightened. “Maybe I could bring her over to meet Gunner.”
“It might help.”
“Thanks for the offer. I’ll continue monitoring the situation.” Elvira eased into her office chair and lifted the screen on her laptop. “Back to the matter at hand. For the most part, things were quiet up until around midnight when something odd happened.”
The group gathered behind Elvira’s computer screen, studying the alley between the buildings. Appearing from the right, coming from the vicinity of the parking lot, a man clad in dark clothing moved at a brisk clip past Ravello’s rear employee entrance. He walked all the way past Carlita’s apartment building until reaching the pawn shop at the opposite end.
Elvira switched cameras. The man reappeared. Although the image was grainy, Carlita was almost positive it was Costanza. “This is the other guy, Costanza.”
