Breathing a sigh of relief, she moved swiftly to the aviary and entered through the small side door by the elevator—the only part of Kiki’s home that wasn’t glass.

Although she was an animal lover, she’d never even seen a live parrot, not up close. Being responsible for such a large and expensive bird made her a little nervous. She’d read on the internet that parrots had a strong bite, especially this breed, but Maxi had assured her that his macaw was tame. He’d insisted that as long as Kiki received the care she needed, she wouldn’t get aggressive.

Tia could only trust that was true. It would be just her luck to be attacked by the darn thing.

She searched the trees. When she didn’t spot Kiki right away, she nearly panicked, thinking the man who was staying here had accidentally—or on purpose—let the bird out. But then she spotted the bright red plumage and the yellow and blue feathers of Kiki’s lower wings. The parrot was perched on one of the highest branches of the center and largest tree, which was surrounded by thick bamboo shoots, vines and ferns. Along the ground, there were boulders and even a small pond. Maxi had spared no expense.

“Uh-oh, here she comes,” the bird said, startling Tia. It was almost as if Kiki was outing her for being in the house.

“Shh.” She put a finger to her lips.

“Shh,” the bird mimicked. “Be quiet.”

Apparently, this wasn’t the first time she’d ever been shushed. Maxi had probably told her to be quiet a thousand times when she was barking like a dog.

Tia glanced around to make sure no one had heard the noise. Kiki sounded loud inside the atrium, but Tia knew the sounds were somewhat muted beyond the glass. Maxi had seen to that when he planned the enclosure.

Seeing nothing alarming, she crouched behind the foliage and filled Kiki’s bowl. “Here you go. It’s time to eat.”

“Time to eat,” the parrot responded, punctuating those words with a squawk before repeating them a second and a third time.

When Tia stepped away from the feeding dish, Kiki flew down to enjoy the fruit, nuts and seeds that were her dinner. Maxi had said she ate ten to fifteen percent of her body weight each day and, for the most part, could have anything healthy that humans could eat, but Tia wasn’t going to take any chances. She planned to stick strictly to what Maxi had provided.

As Kiki pecked at her food, she watched Tia out of the penetrating small eye on the left side of her head. Kiki knew Tia was a stranger, so Tia wasn’t planning to get too close. Not yet, anyway.