The following is a transcript of an interview conducted on a rooftop at dusk. The informant is a pigeon, known to the agency only as Source Grey. Chief Inspector Noir presided. The interview was brief.
The meeting
It was a cold evening. The city lay below like a sleeping animal. I climbed the drainpipe, pushed through a gap in the fence and reached the roof. Source Grey was waiting by the chimney, looking neither pleased nor surprised.
“You are late,” he said.
“I was held up,” I replied. “There was a bin.”
The questions
I asked him what he knew about the disappearance of the Henderson’s salmon. He said he knew nothing. I asked again. He said it again, more slowly. I asked a third time, and he coughed.
“It was the seagull,” he said. “It is always the seagull.”
What he told me
Source Grey provided the following information.
- The seagull had been seen near the bin at 4:00 AM
- The seagull was carrying a bag
- The seagull was wearing nothing, which was unusual
- The seagull had boasted about the fish at a bar
I wrote this all down in my head, which is where I keep my notes.
The price
Source Grey asked for payment. I offered him a crumb. He asked for two. I offered him a half. He accepted it with dignity, and then ate it.
A moment of tension
As I turned to leave, he spoke again. “Inspector. Be careful. The seagull has friends.”
I paused. The wind rose. A distant siren wailed. I did not look back.
Afterword
The seagull was later identified, questioned and released, since gulls cannot be held for more than eleven minutes. The salmon was never recovered. The Hendersons accepted a different salmon and a letter.
Source Grey remains at large and was last seen near a chip shop.
This interview is fictional. The pigeon has not been paid, and has not been real. Any resemblance to a pigeon, living or otherwise, is accidental.