“Yes, I will.”
Mrs. Blankenbauer was waiting for us at the front door when we walked onto her porch. She swung the screen door open wide to let us in. “It’s about time you got here. I called twenty minutes ago.”
“I’m sorry, Mrs. B,” Adrian said quietly. “I had to wait for my partner to conclude his meeting before I brought him up to speed.”
“Your name is Ethan, isn’t it?” she asked me.
“Elijah Markham, ma’am. I’m sorry I caused us to be late. Do you mind if we take a look at your coop?” I didn’t tell her I was looking for signs an animal had tunneled under the fence to snatch her chickens.
“You get right to it. I like that in a man. Are you married, Elijah?”
“Um…”
“I’m not asking for me,” she said, waving her hand in front of her blushing face. “I have a beautiful granddaughter who’s single.”
“That’s so thoughtful of you, Mrs. Blankenbauer. I’m not married, but I’m in a relationship.”
“Is it serious?” she asked.
“Very.”
“Mrs. B, Maegan Miracle is Elijah’s girlfriend.”
“Ahh, Little Maegan Miracle,” she said with a smile. “It’s about time she found herself a nice man. You better treat her good.”
“I promise I will.”
Mrs. B led us through the house to the back door in her utility room. “I didn’t even hear a peep out of Jezebel, Betty, and Gloria last night or this morning. I think they must’ve muzzled the girls when they nabbed them.”
“We’ll check out the coop for any clues, Mrs. B.”
“My daughter thinks I’ve lost my mind. I joke one time about trading my chickens for Fifi’s vet bill, and she thinks I actually gave my babies away and forgot about it. I’m not as sharp as I used to be, but I know damn well I didn’t give my girls away.”
“I believe you, Mrs. B,” Adrian said. “You stay inside where it’s nice and cool while Elijah and I take a look around. We’ll be back in after we finish taking pictures and looking for evidence.”
“Okay. I’ll see you boys in a bit. Don’t worry about knocking when you’re done. Just come on inside.”
There were no signs the chickens had been in distress. I looked around the back yard and realized how secluded Mrs. B’s lot was. It was the last one on a dead-end street. Her chicken coop was surrounded by a fence and had a locking gate. Well, at least it did lock before someone cut through the padlock with a pair of bolt cutters. Her entire property was surrounded by a chain-link fence and backed up to a wooded area.
We took pictures of the empty coop, the cut lock, and the surrounding area. We also looked through the yard for any evidence our perp would’ve left behind. We didn’t find so much as a discarded cigarette butt. When we returned to the house, Mrs. B was sitting at her kitchen table making a sign on a poster board with a black Sharpie. It said: GUARD YOUR CHICKENS!!!
We promised to keep her updated then knocked on her neighbors’ doors. Not too many people were home, but those who were hadn’t heard or seen anything out of the ordinary. If we were going to catch our perp, he or she needed to fuck up and leave behind some evidence.
“Okay, spill the details about the conversation with Gabe,” Adrian said once we were back inside his car.
“There’s not much to tell, partner.”
Adrian listened without interrupting on our way back to the station. “This kind of bullshit happens all the time. The likelihood of Axel Washington finding you is small, but in the event he does, we’ll have your back.”
“Thanks, Adrian. I’ll head on inside the station while you call Sally Ann and let her know she needs to guard the chickens.”
“Quit busting my balls over my chickens.”
“I thought they were Sally Ann’s chickens.”
“They are. I just slipped up.”
I felt so much better after talking to Gabe and Adrian about Axel Washington, and I realized it was foolish to keep quiet about the situation. It didn’t mean I was ready to tell Maegan she was living with a marked man. The time would come, but it didn’t need to be the week the paranormal investigation started at our house.
