“Not for a year or more,” he said. “Not since Chief Heedles gave her men orders to shoot the damned things on sight. But if I see any I’ll let you know.”
“Thanks,” I said.
He returned to his weeding—or perhaps returned to contemplating his weeds and keeping an eye on the comings and goings next door. And no doubt gloating at the annoyance our presence was causing to his unloved neighbor.
Or maybe he was just waiting for me to leave.
Chapter 10
Just then my phone rang. I was relieved to find that it was Michael calling.
“Are you coming back soon?” he asked.
“As soon as someone named Evan turns up to guard Miss Annabel’s gate,” I said. “What’s up?”
“He’s on his way,” Michael said. “And should be there soon if he isn’t already. Any chance you can come back to play diplomat? A police car just showed up. They’re searching one of the tents—the one that belongs to the guy who collapsed during the meeting. And the chief of police is supposedly en route. You know how your grandfather is with authority figures.”
“Yes, he likes to be the only one around,” I said. “On my way.”
I hoped no callers arrived before Evan, but greeting the police chief seemed more important than waiting for him. I jogged back through Miss Annabel’s yard and vaulted over the wire back fence, since detouring to the gate would slow me down. Easy enough for me, though I found myself wondering if the sedentary-looking Weaver could ever have managed it. I could see a police car stopped by the side of the road at the edge of camp, so I headed that way.
A woman in a khaki uniform was standing beside it, talking on her cell phone. As I approached her car, she nodded to me, held up a finger as if asking me for a moment.
I stayed far enough away that I could pretend I wasn’t eavesdropping, and her end of the conversation wasn’t very interesting anyway, just “Yes, I see,” and “Right,” and “I agree.”
She was rather nondescript. She was a few inches shorter than me, which made her of average height. I’d have had a hard time guessing her age—she could have been anywhere from midthirties to midfifties. Her uniform was sharply pressed, but it and everything about her seemed beige and faded. She had light brown hair pulled tightly back, pale brown eyes, and features so regular and ordinary that if she showed up out of uniform I’d probably have trouble recognizing her again. She’d have been good at undercover work in a larger town. And either she wore no makeup or she went in for a really subtle natural look.
“Talk to you later, then.” She pressed a button, stuck the phone in her pocket, and turned back to me.
“Can I help you, Ms…?”
“Meg Langslow.” I offered my hand.
“You in charge of this bird rescue thing?” she asked. Her handshake was as brisk and no nonsense as the rest of her.
“My grandfather is,” I said. “I’m mostly in charge of seeing that Grandfather and the rest of the bird nuts don’t wear out our welcome with Miss Annabel, our hostess, or annoy the rest of the town too much.”
“I’m assuming you have permission from Miss Annabel to camp here,” she said.
I held out the letter Miss Annabel had given me earlier. She read it, nodded again, and handed it back.
“Seems in order,” she said. “I understand you’re taking the birds someplace out of town.”
“To a licensed wildlife sanctuary and rehabilitation center,” I said. “Where they’ll be well treated and—”
“Out of my town,” she said. “Frankly, that’s all that matters to me. Those birds have been nothing but trouble to this town. Not just the birds, but all the fighting over the birds. Whole town’s been taking sides. If Dr. Blake’s willing to round them up and haul them off, fine by me, just as long as it doesn’t cost the town anything.”
“It shouldn’t.” I wanted to ask if it was true that she’d given orders to shoot the emus on sight, and decided not to.
“But that’s not why I’m here,” she said. “You know anything about this alleged poisoning?”
I told her what I’d seen, and handed over my collection of paper bags.
“Only two of them are related to the poisoning,” I said. “The coffee-stained blouse and the coffee mug. The other two are a rusted LED headlight I found in the field behind Miss Annabel’s house, and a brand new one from her supply, for comparison. Miss Annabel thinks they could be related to her cousin’s death.”
Chief Heedles looked a lot more thrilled with the Scotch-scented blouse and cup than the headlights, but she stowed all of the bags in her trunk.