“Well Ted, what are we dealing with, you think?” The two police detectives stood in the center of a living room. All around where the signs of a struggle: an end table turned over, the lamp on it smashed, books and knickknacks knocked off shelves and scattered across the floor.
“Well, the woman who lives here is a Miss Dorothy Darling, age 28, works in insurance. Last night, neighbors reported hearing a commotion from next door, noticed the front door left open this morning.” The second detective said, glancing at his notebook.
“Any speculation on motive?”
Ted shrugged. “Hard to say, Phil? Doesn’t look to have been a burglary, nothing here seems worth the trouble. Course, can’t say for certain, since we wouldn’t know if anything was missing. Nothing on record as far as the homeowner. She had no known enemies, no reports within the last couple years that would explain why someone would want to harm her.”
Phil scratched his head. “So, I guess we’re stuck waiting for the CSI boys to do their work, hope we get a break through.”
“Looks that way…”
Ted was about to continue, when a noise came from the other room. “Mmmppphhh!!!”
“What was that?” The two detectives spun around, as they heard a muffled groan, coming from the other room. A second later, they heard the sound again: the sound of a woman in some distress. “Mmmppphhh!!!” They hurried forward, rushing towards the door into the other room…
On the other side, the found the bedroom empty of damsels, distressed or not. The room was, like the living room, turned over by the intruders: sheets pulled off the bed, pillows knocked to and fro, the dresser drawers and closet thrown open and clothes tossed all about.
“I don’t think-” Phil started, when they heard the noise again. “Mmmpphhh!!!” They turned. The noise was undoubtedly coming from the far corner. Something stood on a narrow end table, covered by a cloth. The police men walked over and pulled it away…
“Awwk!!! Please He-Mmmppphhh!!!” Under the cloth, the brightly colored parrot flapped its wings and squawked, mimicking with startling clarity the sounds it had heard the night before. “Mmmppphhh! Awwk!”
“Are you hearing this?” Phil said, gesturing.
Ted nodded. “Let’s see if it says anything else.”
Bouncing around the cage, the parrot soon happily obliged. This time, the voice it was mimicking was a deeper, more masculine tone. “Rrrr-ight Charlie...let’s get her to the vaa-awk!” The bird cheerfully chirped. “Aawk! She gotta boat to catch! Awk! Gonna get loads for her! Rawwk!”
“Well then, I’d say that gives us a motive...and a name to go one.” Phil said, cheerfully. “I’ll go through the books, see if we’ve got anyone named Charlie with priors for kidnapping and white slavery. You…” he chucked. “You collect out ‘witness.’”
Ted sighed, picking up the cage from its stand. Inside, the bird continued to cheerfully mimic the frightened, muffled cries of its owner as she was abducted. “Geez… a bird as our prime witness. Chief’s gonna just love this…”