“And now, Ms. Lamore,” said Edgar, turning his piercing eyes on the client. “If I may hear your story.”
“My problem is that my cockatoo is missing.”
“Mmmm?”
“Yes. You see, I recently had to go to Denmark for an operation. I had my cockatoo when I left the United States, but when I returned, I discovered it was gone.”
“And that surprised you?” asked Edgar with an arch smile.
“Of course. I had grown very attached to it. I would give anything to have it back.”
“I can understand that,” said Edgar sympathetically.
“A cockatoo is a parrotlike bird from Australia,” offered Thaddeus. “They make very good pets, and...”
“I know what a cockatoo is,” said Edgar. “Please continue, Ms. Lamore.”
“I lent Foo-Foo — that’s my cockatoo — and her stand to my next door neighbor, Igor Cranston. Foo-Foo never needed a cage. She would fly around my living room when she wanted to, but she always returned to her bird stand. I was never afraid she would fly away. Igor said he would take care of her while I was away. He seemed like such a nice man. Now they are both gone.” She took a tiny handkerchief from her handbag and dabbed it under her eye.
Edgar applied his most comforting smile, but his sharp eyes never lost their inquisitive glint. “I’m sure we can help you, Ms. Lamore. There is a fee, of course...”
“It is Miss Lamore now. My husband passed away two years ago and left me with quite a bit of money. I have been well taken care of...” Edwina cast a sideways glance at Thaddeus. “At least monetarily. Money will be no problem.”
Edgar stood up and reloaded his meerschaum from a tobacco can in the desk drawer. “It would help if you could describe your cockatoo and your neighbor in as much detail as you can. Thaddeus, take notes.”
Edwina put her handkerchief in her handbag. “Foo-Foo is all white with a beautiful white crest. She can count to ten. Igor is bald, five foot eight or nine, and can probably count much higher. I made the mistake of telling Igor how valuable Foo-Foo is, but I never expected him to move away while I was gone and take Foo-Foo with him. He knows how much I loved my cockatoo.” Edwina leaned closer to the notetaking Thaddeus so he might more accurately record her words. “I have a lot of love to give, you see, so I lavished all my affections on Foo-Foo. She was all I had at the time.”
She looked sadly at Thaddeus. Thaddeus scribbled faster.
“I had circulars printed and passed around the neighborhood asking for the return of my bird,” continued Edwina, “but so far I have had no response. Now I feel I must have professional help to find Igor and Foo-Foo.”
“Did this Igor Cranston ever tell you what his occupation was?” asked Edgar.
“All Igor ever said about his work was that it had to do with money.”
“Mmmm...” offered Edgar. He blew a heavily aromatic cloud to the ceiling. “That’s not much to go on, but we will do our best. Now if you will return home, Miss Lamore, you can leave your problem in our hands. We will contact you as soon as we have any information.”
As soon as the door closed behind Edwina, Edgar turned to Thaddeus, “There is more to this game than meets the eye, Thaddeus. Tell me what you observed about our client.”
“Well, she seems to miss her cockatoo...”
“Just as I thought. You insist on seeing only the obvious. What about the disguise?”
“The disguise?”
“Of course. It was just about perfect. To anyone but a trained observer, it would appear that an attractive, probably sexually hungry woman was interested in finding a missing cockatoo.”
“That’s what she said...”
“But Edwina — perhaps I should call him Edwin — made one glaring mistake. Did you notice how she appeared particularly interested in you?”
“Well, I... I,” Thaddeus reddened down to his fingernails.
“I don’t want to disparage you, Thaddeus, but let’s face it. Why would a woman’s amorous intentions be directed to a pimply-faced youth when there was a mature man of obviously superior attributes in the same room? The answer is evident: a younger, inexperienced person can be more easily manipulated.
“Thaddeus, our client does not want us to find a missing cockatoo at all. He probably already has one. Our client wants us to locate Igor Cranston.”
“Wow!” said the awestruck Thaddeus. “I would have never figured...”
“Don’t be disheartened, Thaddeus. It takes years of training to be able to think as I do. Now we must work fast. Follow Edwin, or Edwina if you prefer it that way. Don’t let him out of your sight. I don’t know what this transvestite’s game is, but we will find out. Stay with him until you see the lights in his apartment go out, then report to me. I am going to see my old friend and brother-in-law Captain LeStreet at the police department. He may be able to give us some information on this Igor Cranston.”
Ocean Beach is a small, incorporated town on the Florida coast. Normally the Ocean Beach Police Department is a quiet place. The usual police activity is dispensing speeding tickets to tourists and occasionally stopping two eighty-year-old retired accountants from fighting over a parking space. On this day, however, the place was buzzing. There had been an attempted robbery at the Bloomingsax department store, and a guard had been wounded.
Captain James LeStreet was a small man with a roly-poly body and a matching round, florid face. His white hair, which usually stood up like two pointed horns on either side of his balding head, was flattened with perspiration. He was trying to simultaneously answer a phone call from the city council president, interrogate a witness, and get a report from a patrolman. The second phone on his desk started ringing just as Edgar walked in.
“Oh no. Not you, Edgar. Not today!” Captain LeStreet wiped his head with a crumpled, damp handkerchief.
Edgar was used to his brother-in-law’s gruff ways. Since LeStreet had married Edgar’s sister Dottie, Edgar had been involved in many of his cases. Edgar’s help might not have been outwardly appreciated, but he knew that underneath Captain LeStreet’s irascible exterior was a confused little man crying for help. Edgar was always there to help. Dottie made sure of that. Dottie loved her little brother and insisted, under threat of connubial disharmony, that her husband use Edgar’s talents.
It was a two-way street. Edgar knew that he could always expect any help he needed from the Ocean City Police captain. On this day, he had come to get information about Igor Cranston, but one glance at the excited confusion of the police captain’s office indicated to Edgar that this was one of those times when LeStreet needed the calm, incisive mind of detective Edgar Snavely more than Edgar needed him.
“I was going to ask you for some information on a certain character that I am investigating, James, but I see that you are quite busy at the moment. Perhaps if you could tell me a little about the problem you are working on, I might be of some assistance.”
Captain LeStreet opened his mouth to express in no uncertain terms the manner in which Edgar might best be of assistance to his police department, but then he had the quick picture of his returning home that evening to a less than happy Dottie. He took a deep breath, dismissed the others from his office, and dutifully started his explanation to the attentive Edgar.
“There has been an attempted robbery of a bank truck that was picking up the day’s receipts at the delivery dock of Bloomingsax department store. Several employees had noticed a suspicious looking man casing the delivery dock for the past couple of days and had reported it to management. The manager of Bloomingsax is a friend of mine, and he asked me to look into it. I had some shopping to do for Dottie anyway, so I personally went to Bloomingsax yesterday to investigate the problem. At the loading dock, I observed a ‘John Doe’ across the street, acting suspiciously, but he didn’t break any laws so I just made a note of it and continued my shopping. This afternoon an attempt was made to rob the bank truck at the Bloomingsax loading dock by an armed man. The bank truck guard pulled his gun, but not fast enough. The perpetrator fired, and fled without getting any money. The guard was badly wounded, however.”