Polly Wants A Murder (bad title I know)

Here's a story I am writing in response to this prompt from Writer's Digest.

A man buys a parrot, and is horrified when he discovers the only thing it can say is, “If you ever tell anyone what you saw, I’ll kill you.”
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Howard walked into the pet store. His twelve year old son, Jack, was adamant about getting a parrot. Howard was not so thrilled with the idea, he didn't like birds very much, but Jack wanted it so Jack would get it. He headed over to the parrot section and saw the store had only one parrot left. The parrot was primarily green with a bit of blue by it's eyes. It was a pretty bird, as good as any. Howard bought the bird, a cage, and some bird food. He set the bird cage with the parrot inside on the passenger seat beside him in his silver corolla. As he drove home he tried talking to the bird.
"Polly want a cracker?" he said chuckling.
"If you ever tell anyone what you saw, I'll kill you," the parrot replied. Howard was shocked and a bit disturbed. Why would a parrot say such a thing? Birds only repeated what they heard, so where could he have heard such a thing? The tv was the logical choice, and the one that was the reason.
"Is that all you say fella?"
"If you ever tell anyone what you saw, I'll kill you," the bird repeated. Howard, who had a very active imagination, started to imagine all types of scenarios that would cause the bird to say that one phrase. He could have been the pet of a mobster, a hit man, or-less exciting- an actor rehearsing his lines. Then once Howard had the image of an evil man threatening an innocent person, he wondered if he should go to the police. He quickly rejected that, what could he tell them? Maybe he could do some sleuthing, so he did a quick u-turn and headed back to the pet shop.
"Excuse me," he said to the cashier, a teenage boy with a spiky purple Mohawk and several piercings, "was this parrot owned before?"
"Yeah," the boy replied, briefly looking up before going back to looking at a magazine.
"By who?" The boy sighed.
"Why?"
"I just want to know," the boy sighed again and turned to a filing cabinet, opened it and started to look through the files. He pulled one out.
"Mr. and Mrs. Keith Langston."
"Thank you," Howard left the store and drove to a pay phone where there was a phone book. He looked up Keith Langston. Keith lived at 34 Acorn Street, a couple blocks away. Howard got back in his car and drove to Acorn Street. He was excited to be acting like a detective. Just like Hercule Poirot, the detective in the books by Agatha Christie he read, or like Sam Spade in his favorite movie The Maltese Falcon. By this time he had reached the house. It was a a small, white house, with a white picket fence and green shutters. Howard got out of the car and walked up the pathway to the door. He rang the doorbell and waited for an answer. Soon the door was opened by a woman. She had wispy brown hair pulled into a bun, and was wearing jeans, a tee, and an apron.
"Yes?" She said regarding Howard curiously.
"Are you Mrs. Langston?"
"Yes."
"My name is Howard Timothy, I just bought a parrot at the pet store down the street, that I believe you owned previously."
"What if I did?"
"The parrot only says one thing, 'If you tell anyone what you saw, I'll kill you', I was wondering if you have any idea why."
"Oh, my husband loves those mystery movies where that seems to be their favorite line," Howard felt like a fool.
"I'm sorry to bother you, it's just that my imagination got the best of me."
"No problem, if you repeat a phrase to the bird a couple dozen times it'll say that instead of that old line."
"Ok thank you," Howard said feeling like a complete imbecile. He got back in his car and drove home. Jack loved his parrot that he named Polly, and soon taught it to say "Hello Jack" the other phrase was soon forgotten.
"Who was that dear?" Mr. Langston said to his wife after she closed the door after Howard's departure. Keith Langston was a wimpy man with balding hair and coke-rimmed glasses.
"A man asking about our old parrot. Apparently that parrot kept repeating 'If you tell anyone what you saw, I'll kill you.'" She regarded her husband, hands on hips.
"I didn't tell anyone I swear!" He stammered.
"Keep it that way, because if you tell anyone what happened to your precious Miss Rose I will kill you."

The End.

Well that turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself, for no prior planning.