The Real Macaw: A Meg Langslow Mystery

renewed vigor.
    “So you’re the one who gave him this?” I said.
    “No! I never would!” She whirled and glowered at me as if I’d accused her of animal abuse.
    “Sorry, I must have misunderstood you. So how did he get it? And if you didn’t give it to him, why would it have anything to do with you?”
    “Because I work in the mayor’s office,” she said, in a tone of utter exasperation at having to explain the obvious. “If Parker was looking for stuff like that—government secrets—then he would know I knew where to find them. And that means he never really loved me—he was just using me.”
    “Maybe it’s just a coincidence,” Rose Noire said.
    “Yes,” I said. “After all, you didn’t give him this, right?”
    She shook her head.
    “And I assume you never gave him anything else confidential?”
    Another head shake.
    “Then why would anyone assume this has something to do with his relationship with you?”
    “The mayor will,” she said. “He’ll assume I gave it to Parker and he’ll probably fire me. And I really need the job—do you think I’d be working for Mayor Pruitt if I could get any other job?”
    She collapsed in sobs.
    So were these paroxysms of tears for Parker, or for the impending loss of her job? Maybe both.
    “But you didn’t give him this or anything else confidential,” I went on.
    “No,” she said. “And he never asked me to. Even if he had, I wouldn’t have given it to him. I may not like working for the mayor, but that doesn’t mean I’d stab him in the back.”
    “Did Parker ever even ask you to help him get confidential information?” I asked.
    She shook her head.
    “Then your conscience is clear, right?”
    “Yes,” she said, sniffling. “But a clear conscience isn’t going to do me much good if I’m fired.”
    “Then again, is it really that bad being fired by the most hated man in the county?” I asked. “And not all that popular in town, either. If they get that recall campaign going, being fired by him could be a badge of honor. And they’ll need honest people who know how the office works.”
    “Really?”
    Clearly she wasn’t very politically savvy if that angle hadn’t occurred to her.
    “Louise, even though you didn’t give him the contract, is there any chance he could have used you to get it?” I asked. “Did he ask a lot of questions about your work?”
    “Oh, yes,” she said, sniffling slightly. “He always seemed interested in what I was doing. I thought it was because I was doing it, not that he wanted inside information. But I didn’t know that contract existed, so even if I were in the habit of blabbing, I couldn’t have told him about it.”
    “Did he ever come to your office?”
    “Yes, he must have been there a dozen or more times. But I don’t see how that would help him get the contract. I never saw it before, so it’s not as if he could have found it by searching my desk. And all of the staff are always careful not to leave the mayor’s door unlocked when he’s not there.”
    “Still—he was there, frequently,” I said. “Who knows what happened? Maybe the other staff members aren’t all as careful as you are.”
    “Yes,” she said. “It makes you think, doesn’t it?”
    And she did appear to be thinking intensely. To my relief—and even more to Caroline’s and Rose Noire’s—she had stopped crying. She still sniffed occasionally, but she was staring at her hands, lost in thought. Trying to figure out if Parker had taken advantage of his access to her office? Considering whether one or more of her coworkers might be rivals for his affection? Or maybe just contemplating how satisfying it would be to throttle him. I wondered if someone should warn Maudie that some of the mourners at the funeral might still have a posthumous bone to pick with the deceased. Maudie probably knew how to deal with that far better than I did, as long as she was forewarned.
    “Thank you,” Louise said. She smiled briefly at me—not much of a smile, and it didn’t reach her eyes, but it showed she was trying. She glanced briefly at Caroline and Rose Noire to include them in it. And then she got up and walked toward the door.
    “Louise,” I called after her. “Do yourself a favor: talk to the chief. Tell him what you told us. If this contract is connected with the murder, the more he knows how Parker got it, the better. It always goes over better with him if you volunteer information instead of waiting for