The Dysfunctional Expansion: the Dysfunctional Chronicles, #7 by Hadena James

Author:Hadena James
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nadine Daniels, Comedy, crime comedy, ufos, men in black, conspiracy theories
Publisher: Hadena James
Published: 2020-04-30T00:00:00+00:00

Dead Birds & Other Nasty Things

I had expected to see raw chicken and turkey in the back yard of Mrs. Calderone’s house. No one had specified it was wild birds, and the guard telling me an electrified bird house had been taken down made it seem even more likely it would be cut up supermarket fowl and not wild birds. It just seemed more convenient to poison dogs with chicken breast from Hy-Vee. But no, roughly a dozen dead songbirds littered the ground. A few of them had a funky smell, but not one of decay. I bagged those and handed them to Alex.

“Uh, why?” she asked, ignoring the outstretched bag.

“For testing,” I said. She frowned and started pushing buttons on her phone.

“Hey, you still owe me a favor, right?” she said into the phone. She was silent for some time. “Good, I’m going to give you an address. We need help identifying a smell on a dead bird, and it’s not decomposition. It’s kind of fruity.” She rattled off the address. After she hung up, she looked at me. “Call the guards and let them know Aislinn Cain is coming here.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because she can probably identify the smell faster than you can get a lab test done and we might be able to save the dog that was taken to the vet.”

“Do I want to know why she owes you a favor?” I asked, suspiciously.

“Nah,” Alex replied, still refusing to take the bag. I set it down on the ground. “Still think the two cases are related?”

“It seems impossible,” I admitted.

“What two cases?” the trainer asked us.

“Can’t say,” I told him.

“Well, I might be able to help. I live here with Mrs. Calderone; I know everything that goes on.”

“Does Mr. Pipkin get along with Professor Matthews?” Alex asked.

“As well as they can. Mr. Pipkin occasionally complains that all children should have to go to boarding school, but I haven’t seen them outside shouting at each other, like I have some of the residents and Mr. Pipkin. He’s tried to get children, dogs, and cats banned from the neighborhood on different occasions. He isn’t making lots of friends.”

“Is he new to the community?” I asked.

“Not really. He moved in about seven years ago, but he’s a different class of person. Most of the people here come from old money. Like, Mr. and Mrs. Simons across the road and Mrs. Calderone and Professor Matthews. They all inherited their money. This doesn’t mean they don’t work or anything, it just means they’re used to being wealthy and know how to stay that way. Mr. Pipkin is new money and doesn’t understand how it works. He thinks because he owns two houses here, he should be allowed to do anything he wants.”

“Why does he own two houses?” Alex asked.

“Because he thought it would make him more important. It has not gone well. His wife passed away two years ago from cancer. While she was alive, Mr. Pipkin was a pain, but he wasn’t a tyrant.

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