I opened my eyes and stared at her in amazement.

"That's perfect," I said. "I mean, in a couple of months, it will be true. In fact, we've already started putting all the breakables up high so the boys can crawl here."

"And you may as well start childproofing now," she said. "Put a few more breakable things aside to make it look plausible. They'll be crawling any day now. You'd be amazed how it creeps up on you."

I could tell from the faint wistfulness in her tone that she was still remembering the memorable day that Rob took his first tottering steps and made a beeline for a wobbly table holding a rare piece of Art Nouveau glass.

"Yes," she said. "We'll start childproofing this room tomorrow. Or perhaps later today. I must run. A lot more plants to rescue! By the way, there are a few plants down at the town hall that are too much for the ladies to manage. Could you possibly drop by and help us with them?"

"Glad to," I said. It would make a break from packing books.

"Thank you, dear." She waved cheerfully and sailed away.

After waving back, I returned to pondering the mystery of the missing macaw. Much more interesting than the missing vase, not to mention potentially more important. Maybe Grandfather hadn't been the intruder's target after all. Maybe he'd only been collateral damage in the intruder's quest to steal Parker's macaw.

Which didn't make the intruder any less dangerous.

I followed Mother out to the foyer.

"Don't tell anyone about the macaw swapping," I said. "It could help us catch whoever did it if they don't know we know."

"Of course not, dear." She was arranging her lavender garden club hat at just the right angle in the mirror on our hall coat stand, completely ignoring two kittens who were playing tag on the stand, knocking things off its shelves and doing who knows how much damage to the coats with their tiny little razor claws.

I fetched a box and retrieved the kittens from their playground. Out to the barn with them. As it happened, I was going that way anyway. I needed information about the macaw. And with any luck, there should be at least one animal expert still hanging around the barn.

Chapter 19.

I found Clarence out tending the animals. He seemed to have relocated his veterinary practice to our barn. A card table with a clean sheet over it stood ready for any patients who needed examining, and just inside the door, he'd set up half a dozen of the wooden folding chairs we used for parties. No one was waiting on them, fortunately. Clarence was just saying good-bye to an elderly man with a rather stout bulldog in tow. I waited until the two had waddled out the door before interrupting.

I put the kittens back in what was normally Spike's pen and now appeared to be serving as a cattery.

"Clarence, could you come to the house and look at the macaw?" I asked.

"Why?" He looked anxious. "What's wrong with him?"

"Long story," I said. "And I'd rather you just look at him first."

Clarence bustled toward the house so fast I could barely keep up with him. When he reached our living room, he examined the macaw with infinite care. The claws. The beak. The eyes. The inside of the mouth. Under the tail. The macaw bore it all stoically, without saying anything.

"Seems healthy enough," Clarence said. "Not much of a talker, though, is she? Where did you get her?"

"She came with the rest of the animals from the shelter, remember?"

"Impossible," he said. "The macaw from the shelter was a male blue hyacinth macaw. This is a female blue-and-yellow. Completely different species, not to mention the wrong sex. Although I suppose a layperson can't easily discern the gender."

"Not without getting a lot more familiar with the macaw than I ever want to be," I said.

"Hyacinths are endangered in the wild and very expensive as pets," Clarence went on. "Blue-and-yellows are common both in the wild and in captivity."

"You're positive it was a hyacinth macaw you got from the shelter?" I asked. "Is there any possibility that you could have been mistaken-given the bad light and all the commotion?"

"I'm positive," Clarence said. "Because it wasn't just any hyacinth macaw. It was Parker's. He loved that bird."

I pondered this for a few moments.

"Okay," I said finally. "I give up. Why did Parker dump his beloved, expensive hyacinth macaw in an animal shelter that had just changed its no-kill policy?"

"He didn't. We had one of the Corsicans take the macaw to the shelter, claiming she'd found it in her backyard. The shelter would have had to keep it for a reasonable period to see if the owner claimed it, so the hyacinth was in no danger."

"And just what was the point of this whole maneuver?"

"To reconnoiter," he said. "Get the lay of the land, and so forth."

"But you're the shelter's vet," I said. "You must have been there a hundred times."

Clarence's face fell.

"Apparently I'm not very good at reconnoitering. When I tried to draw a floor plan of the building, it made no sense at all, and I couldn't remember a thing about the locks and stuff. So we sent in Millie with the macaw. She can walk through someone's house in five minutes and then draw you a floor plan to scale. And as it turns out, we didn't even need her floor plan, because they left her alone in the office long enough for her to borrow a spare key."

"Useful skill," I said. "Just what does Millie do when she's not volunteering for CORSICA? I gather she's not a seasoned burglar, or you would have recruited her for the caper."

"She's a real-estate agent."

Okay, that made sense.

"Getting back to the macaws," I said. "If this isn't Parker's macaw, whose is it?"

Clarence studied the macaw for a few seconds. Then he pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number.

"Hello, Jerry? Clarence Rutledge here. How is Martha Washington doing today? No, but could you check on her now?"

He tapped his fingers on the table as he waited for Jerry to report.

"Martha Washington is a blue-and-yellow macaw?" I asked.

He nodded and held the phone away from his mouth.

"Lives in the breakfast room at the Caerphilly Inn," he said. "They have her trained to say genteel things like 'More tea, madam?' and 'Have a lovely day, ducks.' He used his falsetto and a plummy English accent as he imitated the macaw. "Only blue-and-yellow in my practice," he went on in his normal voice, "and I haven't heard of any others in the county, either. What's that Jerry? That's great. Give her a grape for me."

"Ask him if they could use another one," I said, low enough so Jerry shouldn't be able to hear me.

Clarence frowned in puzzlement.

"We've got to get rid of her-er, find a home for her sooner or later," I said.

He nodded.

"By the way, Jer, remember that conversation we had about Martha's feather plucking? Loneliness, yes. They're accustomed to living in flocks, you know. Well, I may have found a companion for her. Yes, another blue-and-yellow who is probably going to be available for adoption. I'm looking for a good home, and I thought of the inn, and poor lonely Martha. No, a first-quality specimen, quite healthy, but the owner ... left her behind. That's right. If you're interested, I'll put you first on the waiting list."

He and Jerry exchanged a few more pleasantries and hung up.

"One more animal that's going to be safe," he said.

"And one more unsolved mystery," I said. "Can you keep your ears open for any rumors of lost or stolen macaws?"

He nodded.

"But you realize," he said, "that whoever did this macaw swapping probably bought this macaw somewhere for that purpose."

"Yes," I said. "I also realize that whoever bought that macaw viciously attacked my grandfather. So much as I'm sure we're both tempted to start calling pet stores and tropical bird breeders-"

"Understood," he said. "I'm here if the chief needs me, but I'm not going to get in his way. Incidentally, I'm planning to do most of my clinic hours in your barn this week. Lets me keep a closer eye on the animals, and while I'm at it, I can make sure a whole lot of devoted animal lovers get a chance to fall in love with the refugee animals."

"Good thinking," I said. "By the way, don't tell anyone else about the macaw swapping. No use letting the thief know we're onto him." Clarence nodded. "Well, I'm off to help with the evacuation."

"I'm probably going to close down in a few minutes and go to town to help out," he said. "I didn't want to cut my Sunday clinic hours out entirely, but it's been slow as molasses."

"Everyone's in town packing," I said. "See you there."

Though I decided that before I returned to the library, I should drop by and tell the chief what I'd learned about the macaws. I thought dropping by would be better than calling because the macaw swapping would take a lot of explaining, and it's harder to usher a visitor out the door than hang up on an annoying caller.

The roads into town were better than they had been in the morning. Apparently everyone had arrived, and the steady line of trucks heading out of town showed that they were making progress.

Traffic wasn't as bad downtown, either. As I passed the college athletic stadium, I realized why-the parking lot was filled, and a motley fleet of church buses, city buses, and private vans shuttled people to and from their cars. As long as you detoured around the town square, you could travel normally.

Fortunately, the police station was on a side street. Its parking lot was almost filled, but I found a space at the far end. As I trudged toward the station, I saw Sammy Wendell bouncing a hand truck loaded with three cardboard boxes down the side steps.

"Hey, Meg," he said. "If you're coming to see the chief, I should warn you-now's not a great time."

"I gather you're clearing out the police station?"

He nodded.

"Some of the other deputies are relocating our prisoners," he said. "The Clay County sheriff has agreed to take them for the short term. Horace is helping me move the stuff from the chief's office over to your parents' barn. The chief's pretty cranky about the whole thing."

"I don't blame him," I said. "Instead of being out solving Parker Blair's murder, his officers are having to pretend they're movers. If it helps, I have some possibly useful information. Maybe that would cheer him up a little."

"I sure hope so." Sammy continued bumping his hand truck down the steps.

Inside, two other deputies and the chief's wife, Minerva, were packing stuff into boxes. The chief stood with arms folded, glowering. He looked up, and seeing me didn't improve his mood.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

He didn't look as if he wanted to help me. He looked as if he wanted to chew someone out. But Minerva and the deputies were working as hard as they could on something that clearly wasn't their fault, and the only other candidate hadn't done anything to deserve it either. Yet.

"I have some information," I said. "I don't know if it's related to the assault on my grandfather or the murder or both-"

"Been out snooping, have you?" he snapped. "Blast it all-"

"Henry!" his wife snapped.

I almost turned and left. Not that I was afraid of him-I can hold my own in a verbal brawl. But I could see he was in a foul humor, and his snapping at me made me realize that my own temper was rather frayed. Getting into an argument with him wouldn't do anyone any good. I took a deep breath and reminded myself to count to ten before replying.

And then a vision of the chief with the kittens crawling up his trousers sprang into my mind. At any other time I'd probably have burst into laughter, which would really have set him off. It didn't quite have that effect now, but it did take the edge off my anger.

"No." I had no trouble keeping my voice calm. "I was just having a conversation with Mother, and she said something that seemed significant. I thought I'd come and report it instead of using it to go out snooping. If you want to hear it. Clearly you're busy and-"

"Come into my office." He turned on his heel and began stomping down the box-lined hallway. "What's left of my office," he said over his shoulder. "While I still have an office at all."

"Henry," Minerva called after him, in a warning tone. "Be gracious. She's trying to help."

The chief's desk was still there, but most of the contents of his shelves were gone. As were his chair and the two worn but comfortable chairs in which he normally seated his visitors.

"The book boxes aren't too uncomfortable." Under the circumstances, his tone almost counted as gracious. I sat down on a book box. He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms, visibly schooling himself to be patient.

"I think I may know why someone broke into our house and attacked Grandfather. They were trying to steal the macaw."

"And he prevented them?" the chief said. "At too high a cost, if you ask me."

"No, he failed to prevent the theft," I said. "The thief took the macaw that came from the shelter, and left behind a substitute macaw."

"Now that is-" He broke off, closed his mouth and frowned at me. I wondered if, like me, he counted to ten to avoid saying something he'd regret. It felt more like twenty by the time he finished, unless he'd trained himself to count very slowly. Then he started again.

"And you know this because...?"

"Mother noticed they were slightly different colors." I repeated much of our conversation about the Prussian blue and turquoise macaws.

He pondered for a minute or so. The fact that he hadn't chewed me out was encouraging.

"No offense," he said finally. "But is there any chance your mother could be mistaken?"

"About as much chance as you being mistaken about a question of Baltimore geography." The chief, who had grown up in Baltimore and spent several decades on its police force, nodded in acknowledgment.

"But apart from knowing that Mother's absolutely reliable on color, I asked Clarence," I said. "He'd been so busy with the other animals that he hadn't noticed, but he confirmed that the macaw now in our living room is a common blue-and-yellow macaw. The one they took from the animal shelter was a rare, expensive, hyacinth macaw-"

"Are you trying to tell me that someone broke into your house and swapped macaws because the bird from a shelter was some kind of priceless rare parrot?"

"No-" I began.

"Because that makes even less sense than most of what's been going on around here the last few days. They could simply show up and volunteer to adopt the bird for free."