Whodunit?



  WHODUNIT?

  By Joy Bassetti Kruger

  Amusing detective story about how a parrot helped to solve a crime.

  Whodunit?

  By Joy Bassetti Kruger.

  Copyright © Joy Bassetti Kruger 2014

  Cover downloaded with thanks to: www.parrots.com

  All characters in this story are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons

  living or dead is coincidental.

  Only Cookie, the parrot,

  is based on a real bird of the author’s acquaintance.

  Author's email: [email protected]

  W H O D U N I T?

  By Joy Bassetti Kruger.

  Alison arrived at the office feeling despondent. The case she was trying to solve wasn’t going well and she suspected that several key witnesses had lied to her. But then the moment she put her key in the lock her mood immediately brightened, as she was greeted by the cheerful whistling of her African Grey parrot, called Cookie.

  Smiling to herself, she walked over to the cage to play peek-a-boo with Cookie before removing the night cover. Then whipping the cover off, she said, “Good morning girl. You’re very cheerful today.”

  Cookie waddled over to the side of the cage to have her head scratched and Allison stuck a piece of apple through the bars for her to munch on.

  Then wanting to make an early start on the ‘stolen diamond necklace case,’ Alison walked over to her desk and switched on the computer. While she was waiting for it to boot up she cleared a space on her desk by dumping a pile of legal books onto a nearby chair. After this, she became absorbed in reading a detailed note from her boss and soon realized from the tone that he was subtly saying she needed to move forward and spend a lot more time on the case. He also asked her to read through his extensive, scribbled notes again, as he thought they might have missed a clue. –Crumbs, does he think I’m psychic or something? His writing’s all over the place and it’s barely readable, she thought disgruntledly.

  Breaking into her troubled thoughts the parrot suddenly called out, “Whodunit, whodunit, whodunit? Cookie wants a biscuit.”

  “Yes indeed girl, I really wish I knew the answer to that one. We need more evidence though, so perhaps I should interrogate Barlow’s alibi again, -as he seemed very dodgy to me,” she told Cookie, as she reached over to answer the telephone and said, “Hello, D and A Associates, Alison speaking.”

  “Hello, madam my name is Ruth and I’m phoning about the advert that you put up on the noticeboard in Pick & Pay in Randburg, last week.”

  “Oh, -hello Ruth. Thank you for calling. Look, I need someone that can start work immediately, who can clean the offices as well as sometimes answer the phone and take messages. So do you think you’ll be able to manage all that?”

  “Yes madam I can do that type of work and I can start work tomorrow, if you like. I can also do the filing and I make a very nice cup of tea,” Ruth assured Alison.

  “That sounds great. Okay then Ruth, if you’re agreeable; let’s have a trial period of say around two months before we make the position permanent. Okay?”

  “Thank you madam, I promise that I’ll work hard,” Ruth said.

  “Right then Ruth, I look forward to seeing you tomorrow. And Ruth, it’ll be fine if you just call me Alison from now on,” she said as she put the phone down. Then turning to Cookie, she said, “Great, it sounds as if we’re going to get this place in ship shape order again, Cookie.”

  Picking up on the ‘sh’ sound, Cookie bounced up and down in a pumping motion and said, “Shhhh, shhhh, shhhhh, pump the tyre, pump the tyre.”

  With the cleaning problems now taken care of, Alison hoped she’d be able to spend far more time on the first high-profile case of her career. So beginning with the case files, that were standing in an untidy, lopsided pile on her desk, she began to page through the documents. But disappointingly she soon discovered that all the evidence they had on the case was circumstantial. There was absolutely nothing there that would hold up in court, or get her boss the conviction that he so desperately needed. –Oh-my-gosh, this case is becoming so tedious and everyone I’ve questioned so far has been uncooperative. Mmm, I wonder if they’re all covering something up. Or maybe it’s even a collaborative case of insurance fraud, Alison thought as she dumped the files onto a nearby chair.

  “Whodunit, whodunit, Cookie wants a biscuit,” the parrot chanted happily as she talked to the reflection in the mirror, that hung inside her cage.

  “Oh, do shut up, Cookie. It’s not a good time for all that silly chatter of yours. Sorry girl, but I’m feeling cranky today and even Dick’s becoming decidedly twitchy about this case.”

  “Dick. Dick. Where’s Dick? Hello Cookie. Dick, Dick,” the parrot said, much to Alison’s annoyance.

  When Ruth arrived the following morning Alison decided that she seemed quite bright. She also felt pleased with how cheerfully she went about clearing up the clutter, which had accumulated in the office over the past few weeks, while she’d been too busy to do anything about it. She also appreciated the cups of tea that Ruth brewed for her.

  Later that morning when Alison announced that she was going out briefly, Ruth took the opportunity to go through to Alison’s office to talk to Cookie, who intrigued her.

  She immediately noticed all the files and books that were piled up on every available chair and as she put her finger through the bars to obligingly scratch the parrot’s head, she said, “Your mama’s not too tidy, hey Cookie. We’ll have to get things sorted out around here, won’t we baby.”

  “Whodunit, whodunit, whodunit? Polly wants a biscuit. Hello, hello,” Cookie said.

  “Yes Cookie, I bet your mama would love to know whodunit,” she said as she glanced at a couple of the files on Alison’s desk and immediately spotted the one with Barlow’s name written on it in bold letters. “Mmmm, so I was right my darling. There’s already a file here on Barlow, so what if I told you that it was Barlow whodunit. Yes, baby, he stole that necklace. On that Friday night I actually saw him holding it up to the light and admiring it and showing it off to his girlfriend,” Ruth whispered confidentially to the parrot.

  Cookie, who’d sidled up close to her appeared to take this all in. So feeling she had a receptive audience, Ruth elaborated on the details and told Cookie all about what she’d seen and heard that night.

  For a couple of weeks after this initial revelation, Ruth felt she could tell the parrot almost anything and during these whispered conversations she regularly mentioned how she’d seen Barlow with the necklace. She also mentioned a couple of other details to Cookie, which both Dick and Alison would have found very informative. So if only they’d paid attention and not mentally blocked out both Ruth and Cookie’s constant, distracting chatter, they might have discovered the truth instead of becoming more irritable. Especially once they realized that the witnesses had been leading them around and around in circles and that they were getting absolutely nowhere.

  After a time, the lack of any new evidence began to frustrate even Dick, who was usually unflappable. He, therefore, soon began to make a couple of thinly veiled threats about perhaps replacing Alison with someone better qualified.

  Alison, of course, didn’t take his threats seriously, because the two of them regularly good-naturedly argued and also goaded each other, especially when they were pressed for time.

  But not understanding the nature of their relationship, Ruth became upset. Their bickering worried her and she began to feel threatened. She decided that she liked Alison as well as Dick and absolutely adored Cookie and that she also wanted to hang on to her job. This was why when Alison and Dick both went out for a while one morning; Ruth decided to discuss the matter with Cookie
.

  Firstly, she scratched the parrot’s head to put her in a good mood. Then she said, “I think your mama needs our help, Cookie. So please you must learn these words as quickly as you can. Okay baby, here we go then; –Barlow did it, Barlow did it, Barlow did it,” she repeated over and over again.

  The bird looked at her with interest, but then it came right up to her and said, “Polly wants a biscuit. Hello, hello. Hello sweetie.”

  “No, no Cookie, please don’t say all that other stuff. You must listen to me and only say, -Barlow did it. Okay! Oh dear, why’s it taking you so long to learn to say, -Barlow did it?” Ruth asked as she glared at the parrot.

  After this whenever Alison and Dick went out, Ruth continued to try and program the words; -Barlow did it, into the parrot’s brain. Then when Cookie still did not respond she pleaded with her by saying, “Come on baby. Please just say it for me.”

  Then one morning towards the end of Ruth’s second month there, Alison called her into the office.

  So fearing the worst, Ruth walked in cautiously and said, “Sorry Alison, have I forgotten to do something or misfiled something?”

  Sensing her nervousness, Alison said, “Please don’t look so worried Ruth. You haven’t done anything wrong. It’s just that Dick and I both want to know why you’ve taught Cookie to say the words,