“The police report estimated 130, 140 mph. Why?”
Michael shook his head. “That’s not fast enough,” he said. “Those things top out at nearly 180. See these tracks here?” He pointed to the ones that ran parallel to the Jaguar long enough to make it hit the cliff face.
“Those are big,” Chuck said. “Those are a truck or an SUV, something American made and clunky.”
“How can you tell?” Lucius asked, skeptical.
“Lucius, what kind of suit was Felix wearing when he walked in the door the other night?”
“Desmond Merrion Supreme Bespoke,” Lucius said immediately. “I’ve wanted one for years, but you have to make an appointment months in advance, and I keep forgetting.”
“I have no idea how you knew that,” Chuck said. “But I trust that you do. Trust Car—er, Michael and me on this, right, Michael?”
“Yessir,” Michael said, nodding vigorously. “This car coming in from behind had big wheels and Positraction, which is great for a big muscle car. And it can go fast, but it shouldn’t have been able to go Jaguar F-Pace fast. Something was slowing the F-Pace down.”
“That thing plugged into the back, you think?” Felix asked, moving from his place near the side of the screen to the middle. “What is it?”
Carl frowned. “Bird eggs,” he said.
“Birds again?” Grace asked. “What in the hell?”
“Felix mentioned them,” Carl said. “And that thing had to be running off the car’s electricity. See the wires Michael pointed out?”
“Yes,” Danny muttered. “So you’re saying it was a special compartment designed for eggs. That’s sort of a stretch, isn’t it?”
“What kind of eggs?” Carl asked.
Felix looked behind him and gave a helpless shrug. “I… some bird I’ve never heard of, to be honest. An African bustard?”
“Wait,” Carl said. “An African houbara bustard?”
Felix sounded lost for the first time in their acquaintance. “Danny, could you check the notes?”
“Yes,” Danny said, obviously scanning their notes quickly. “Carl had it right. Sometimes called the African houbara, and sometimes called the houbara bustard, this is a bird that is native to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and is listed as vulnerable on the endangered species list. Why is this important, Carl?”
“The birds were hunted almost to extinction,” Carl said in wonder. “But not how you think. The houbara bustard is a delicacy. It’s considered an aphrodisiac.”
A picture appeared in the corner of the screen of something that looked like a turkey but with a downy fuzz on its much smaller head. “That bird?” Danny asked. “That’s… uhm… are you sure?”
Carl stood and joined Felix and Michael, moving to the side so everybody could see the bird itself. “Yes. I know it’s not that imposing,” Carl said. “But it’s not that it’s been traditionally hunted, or even that it’s prized as a horny-bird on the wing. It’s that it was hunted to the edge of extinction by falcons. For sport. If there’s ever peace in the Middle East, it’s going to be because this bird got a bunch of rich landowners together during a bustard migration, and they set their big predatory jungle-cat birds on his weird scrawny tail. So yes—if Matteo was found with however many bustard eggs destroyed by the car crash, I’d say that had something to do with his death.”
Silence took over the room, and Carl turned and squinted against the projector to see what everybody was doing. “What?” he asked. “Why isn’t anybody talking?”
“We’re impressed, that’s all,” Danny said. “Felix and I had this entire presentation laid out to ask you to help us figure out who killed Josh’s father. It was the only thing Leon di Rossi wanted in the world, and Julia….” He looked over to where Julia stood by the wet bar, one hand on Josh’s shoulder as he sprawled in the overstuffed chair.
“I said I’d ask you all if you would want to look into it,” Julia said clearly. “But I’ll be honest, everyone.” She let out a sigh. “I don’t know what Leon will do with the information. He loved Matteo very much, and Matteo—well, the year after his father died, he divorced his arranged-marriage wife and got to live for himself. But it was only a year.” Her voice grew a little wobbly. “He deserved more.”
Felix picked up the thread. “And you two, Carl and Michael, just laid two very big pieces of the puzzle at our feet without prompting. I… like Danny said, we’re impressed.”
“We are,” Grace said, sounding completely insincere. “But that doesn’t change the fact that this guy was hauling these bird eggs through a completely different continent and we don’t know why. And were they trying to kill him or just trying to kill those weird bald turkey birds? It had to be someone who’d followed him and someone who came to intercept. So experienced drivers? And we don’t even know where he was coming from or where he was going to. Yes, I’m terribly impressed that we know about the weird turkey birds and the super fast car, but we’re going to have to figure out who to con and what to steal or we’re completely useless.”
“Wow, Grace,” Molly muttered in disgust. “Do you have any other buzzes you can kill? Is there a buzz bird you can take out with a cannon or something? We were very excited here!”
“Fine,” Grace said. “You be excited. I’m itchy. There is something”—his voice dropped—“very dangerous….” He took a breath and finished after a moment. “There is something very dangerous here. And I don’t mind dangerous, and I definitely want to do this, but you idiots might have to pull this job without me, and I don’t like that.”
“Let’s wait and see what the job entails,” Josh cautioned. “I’m stuck here, but you might get to travel.” A sad smile flickered at the corners of his mouth. “You can’t be my emotional support animal without any fun, Grace. What kind of shitty friend would that make me? Besides… it’s like you said. We’ve got some questions to answer.”
“I’ve got one,” Chuck said. “I’d stand up, but the stage is full now.” He glared, and Michael and Carl moved out of his way.
Carl glanced at Michael as they sank back into the corner of the couch. “Good job.” He really was impressed.
“Thanks,” Michael whispered back. “You too.”
Chuck took center stage, where he was apparently comfortable. “Danny, pull up a world map—maybe one that tells us where the weird turkey-bird lives.”
“Houbara bustard,” Danny corrected dryly. “Not saying it won’t make his name any less awkward.”
“Sure. Oh, see!” Chuck pointed to the area indicated by the map Danny had just put up on the screen. “Look. The bird populates northern Africa and the Middle East. Now think about it. Matteo was driving like a bat out of hell from someplace in California? Is that right?”
“Napa,” Felix said. “Famous for its wines and crafts, at least until half the state burned down in recent years. But it’s trying to rebuild.”