Do Not Exceed the Stated Dose by Peter Lovesey

Author:Peter Lovesey [Lovesey, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General, Fiction, Crime, Mystery & Detective
ISBN: 9781885941213
Publisher: Crippen & Landru, Publishing
Published: 2017-03-28T07:00:00+00:00

“One two five.”

I continued speaking sets of numbers, trying to think how this would end.

I said, “Roger is nervous. You’ve made him nervous. They don’t speak when they’re nervous.”

This seemed to make some impression. Roger played his part by drawing his wings tight to his body and making a groaning sound deep in his chest. The man produced a flick-knife and cut whatever it was that pinioned my wrists. I sat on the edge of the bed and wiped some blood away from my face. I needed to think. He was far too big to take on.

He said, “Now you try again.”

I said, “I’d like to be clear what this is all about. You want a safe deposit number, and you think the parrot will speak it, right?”

He pondered how much to tell me. Then he said, “George, he had diamonds. Isabella, his woman, she search the villa. No diamonds.”

“You were sent by Isabella?”

“Si. She think maybe there is one deposit box in his bank in Màlaga. No name. Only number, comprende?”

“Yes.”

“Isabella say George he was crafty old gringo. He teach the parrot this number and send it to you.”

“I don’t think so,” I said. “I hardly knew him at all.”

This didn’t impress my captor. “Stupid old man, he do this to cheat Isabella.”

“You’re Isabella’s friend?”

“Brother.”

I doubted if that was true. I said, “I’ve had Roger for almost a year now. He’s never spoken numbers to me. Basically, all he can say is ‘Hello’.”

Isabella’s “brother” struck me across the face a second time.

Roger screamed and spread his wings. He took a swipe at Roger and just avoided being pecked.

In extreme situations, the brain works faster. I said, “If you’ll listen, I have a suggestion. You see the little silver ring attached to his leg? There’s something written on it. Very small. I don’t know if it’s a number. We can look if you like.”

“The ring! Si!” His face lit up. He reached towards Roger, who dipped forward and tried to peck his hand. There was no chance of Roger letting him examine that ring.

He said, “You hold him.”

I said, “He’s nervous.”

He said, “You want me to kill you and the parrot?”

I spoke some encouraging words to Roger and held my wrist close to him. If ever I needed my parrot’s co-operation it was now. After some understandable hesitation, he put out a claw and transferred to my wrist. Continuing to speak to Roger as calmly as I was able, I fingered the ring with my free hand.

I told the man, “I need more light. I can’t read this.”

He said, “You come to the window.”

I stroked Roger’s back and stood up. The man led me towards the light. He said, “No tricks. You show this number to me. You hold the parrot and show me.”

Roger was amazingly compliant. He let me finger the ring again. In the better light, I gazed earnestly at the completely blank ring and started inventing numbers. “It looks to me like a three, a five, a nine.

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