12:01am – June 19th 1942

It’s lonely in the city. It’s quiet, possibly too quiet. I pour myself another drink and put my feet up on the desk. The ceiling fan was wobbling, I really need to get that fixed…  it had been a long day and I had a feeling it was going to be an even longer night. Suddenly there was a knock at the door…  

I slowly got up and put a hand on my holster. You never know what to expect. 

“Detective Hawk! Detective Hawk!” a young woman’s voice was pleading me to open the door. Through the frosted glass door, I saw a silhouette of a tall statuesque bird, well she was… It was Ms. Flamingo, probably here about her no-good husband again. Third time this month…

“Come on in”, I said leaning against the front of my desk. She opened the door… Ms Flamingo was tall and wearing that hat again, why women wear hats like that I will never know. She raced into my office, slamming the door shut behind her.

“What’s the matter?”, I said trying to sound unimpressed

“I think I’m being followed”, Ms Flamingo replied shakily. 

“By who?”

“Mr. Bigglesworth and his gang. And they aren’t chasing me for my husband’s gambling debts!” 

“Hmmm… isn’t that a little far fetched?”, I said.

“They are planning something!  It is going to be bad and it’s got to do with board games!”  Ms Flamingo sniffed and dabbed a dainty lace handkerchief at the tears that welled up in her eyes and threatened to spill on to her lovely, soft pink feathers…  I shook my head – focus Hawk, she really seems to believe this is a big deal.  

I cocked my head to the side, thinking.  “What?” I replied, trying to piece all of this together, the Bigglesworth gang don’t spend their time fooling around with games and following dames around, they always have bigger, more valuable fish to fry, unless…

“Board games? Like Checkers?” I asked incredulously.

“Not just checkers, but lots of others.  All the others!”

That actually kinda made some sense. I had seen more than a usual number of out of stock signs up around Bird City, and come to think were a lot of them board game related?  Most of the birds in our city like a good game, it makes it a generally happy place.  Mostly I figured that’s why there wasn’t so much crime and I got to spend my days looking into gambling husbands.  Probably also explained why the  Bigglesworth gang couldn’t ever cause that much havoc, despite their plans.  If he could manage to remove people’s games perhaps things wouldn’t be the same in Bird City.

While I was wandering down this trail of thought Ms Flamingo snapped her feathers in my face “Detective Hawk! Are you there?” 

“Yeah. Yeah, right.  So what did you come to me for?” 

“You need to find Bigglesworth and stop this!” she squawked.  She was really worked up over all this.  Never seen her this upset even those times I dragged her no good husband home from a bender.  

I picked up my drink and sat back behind my desk.  “You need the cops, lady.  Saving Bird City ain’t my area of expertise.” 

She crumbled before my eyes, the tears began to fall in earnest as she flopped into the chair by the desk.  “They…  They… Oh!”  Nice going Hawk… I scolded myself.

I watched as she took a moment to compose herself.  She straightened her spine and dabbed at her damp feathers with that useless lace handkerchief.  I handed her my handkerchief over the desk.  

“Guess you better tell me more”, I said as carefully as I could. Years of practice with crazy dames had taught me two things about women. Always have a clean handkerchief ready and to tread carefully here, that wall of composure is a fragile one.

“The police will not listen.”  She was firm and formal.  This was now a bird on a mission.  “Detective Hawk, I am not a fool, despite what you may think.  Although, I am sure all that drama with my foolish bird of a husband has led you to think otherwise.”  

Yowzers! this was not the bird I had been dealing with for years!

“I am sure you know the money is on my family’s side of the tree.  When I was very young, foolish and thought love was all I would ever need in life, my husband managed to manipulate me into an ironclad prenuptial agreement.  I cannot leave him, but through you, I can stop him from gambling everything away.”  I stared at her, blinking slowly as it all sunk in.  Some detective I am – never figured that out!  But I have always been blindsided by a beautiful bird. 

“This past few months, my husband’s gambling seems to have got him entangled in something with the Bigglesworth gang.  I have had you drag him home several times but whatever is going on is bigger than the gambling.”  I was really starting to see her in a new light.  “I did some digging into the places my husband was throwing away my money and into the people he had been flocking with.  They are ALL connected to Bigglesworth!  Every place, every person.”  

“Tonight I followed him to the Aviary Club. You know, the one owned by Bigglesworth. He didn’t go gambling like usual.”  She sounded confused.  “Instead he went to a back room and met with a number of unsavory types. I peered in the window from the alley outside. The room was crammed full of boxes of boardgames.  They were using them as chairs, as fire wood!  They were also planning something.  I’m not sure what, there were maps and papers all over the table and they had birdseed everywhere.  I don’t know, but they were planning something…”

“Detective Hawk, I kind of lost my head a bit…  I confronted him when he walked out of the place… right there on the street… I don’t know what I was thinking…”  her composure wavered.  I sipped my drink and waited for her to continue.

“It was an unpleasant altercation.  Partway thorough I remembered to play the distressed gamblers wife but I think it was too late”, she shook her head.  “His “friends” were watching the whole thing.  I saw them all talking together as I left.”  

“Then I got in a taxi and went straight to the Police station.  I was there for less than half an hour.  They didn’t want to listen to what I had to say.  Or maybe they were listening too closely and reporting back to Bigglesworth.  All I know is that the called me a “distraught wife” and put me in a taxi home.”

“That’s when it happened, you know like one of those bad detective movies?  The headlights of the car following you are always the exact same distance behind, no matter how fast or how slow we were going.  They were following me!”

“I had the driver make a couple of last minute changes of direction and came here.  I couldn’t think where else to go.”  She sagged slightly as she got to the end of her story.   

“You should have come clean with me sooner”, I said a little gruffly.  I’d be out of business if all my clients start detecting on their own.

“I am here now, and I need you help.  All of Bird City needs your help, Detective Hawk.”  

Of all the manipulative hen tricks to pull! I am a sucker for the protective Hawk gig and I think she knew it.

“What else do you know, Ms Flamingo?  My gut tells me that you are better informed and connected than you have allowed me to believe so far.”  Harsh, but I don’t like being manipulated.

She squared her wings and looked me directly in the eye, “Jimmy the Jay… he’s been on the out with the Bigglesworth gang for a while now.  He will help us.”

I stared at her and sipped my drink – damn empty.  I slowly put the glass down on the desk, “If it’s “us” Ms Flamingo, you had better start being straight with me.  How do you know all of this?”  

She sighed softly, looking away, “Daddy might not be the upstanding business man that everybody in Bird City thinks…”  she trailed off, then looked me dead in the eye “This is an area that I know more about than most.  It is also an area of the family business in which I do not participate. But my connection and knowledge are good.”

Thank goodness you always brought her husband home when she asked Hawk…  You could have been in way over your head with this flock.  

“Get me a meeting with the Jay.  I’m on the case.”

To Be Continued…

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