Рита Браун - A Hiss Before Dying

“Looks better on me than that old bat,” she murmured.

She couldn’t help it. She wanted to walk outside in the cooling air. To glide, feeling herself a grand lady wearing a fortune in pearls.

As she swirled around, a figure approached her.

“DoRe,” she acknowledged him. “Don’t tell.”

“Never.” He came up behind her, put his hands on each cheek and twisted her neck so powerfully and quickly that he snapped it. She went down into the folds of the gorgeous voluminous skirt.

He walked slowly down to the barn, hitched up a simple hay wagon. He came back, picked her up like a rag doll, tossed her in the back, and threw hay over her.

As he drove out, Henry met him by the front of the house.

“Henry.”

“DoRe.”

“I trust you will say nothing.”

“I will not. You’ve done us all a great favor.”

“This is for my boy and for Ailee.” He drove off.

—

Within forty-five minutes he was at St. Luke’s graveyard. The earth was soft and easy to dig up on the Taylors’ grave. Once he hit the casket, he quickly cleaned it off, placed Sheba on it, covered all with dirt, then tamped it down.

Driving back to Big Rawly, he realized the pearl necklace, the earrings would buy freedom. Then again, it could buy death.

Venus, the evening star, shone with brilliant light. He and his late wife would tell Moses stories about the stars when the boy was small. As Moses grew, father and son would identify stars, the Milky Way in the night sky. When his wife died, he told Moses, then a late teenager, that she was now a star. All would be well even though they missed her.

Looking up at the glittering planet, DoRe asked it, “Venus, shine your love-light on me.”

Afterword

Once back at Big Rawly, Maureen did not mourn Sheba. No one seemed to mind that the lady’s maid vanished.

Over at Cloverfields, the news of yet another missing slave from Big Rawly was met with resignation. Big Rawly leaked people like an old bucket.

The missing jewelry, though, caused talk. Did Mignon really take them or did Sheba? Did Sheba buy her way to freedom? Did she bury the treasure? Would she return for it?

As time went by, many folks believed Sheba was dead.

As for DoRe, neither he nor Henry ever spoke of things. DoRe had avenged a wicked abuser of a beautiful girl and his son ran for his life as she lied about Moses killing Francisco Selisse. Moses was making a good life in York, Pennsylvania, but his father missed him.

Bettina’s response to all this was, “I didn’t wish her dead, but I rejoice that she’s gone.”

About ninety miles east in Richmond, Binky, throat slit, was found propped up against a tobacco warehouse door. As no one claimed to know him, he was thrown in a pauper’s grave.

Catherine, Rachel, John, Charles, and Ewing paid some attention to all this but fell into the routine of hard work.

The big news was that France was having difficulty paying its bills. That and the wonderful news that Catherine would have another child, due in June.

In the twenty-first century, things also died down. Harry felt sure that whoever had been troubling the Taylors’ grave would eventually be found. She was right, but it would take time and cleverness. That would come next spring. The chits, too, would be found in good time.

Mrs. Murphy, Pewter, and Tucker lived in harmony with nature, although not always with one another. They evidenced no interest in divining the future. The day they were in proved sufficient for happiness. They had long ago given up teaching their humans this lesson.

Dear Reader,

You can see from reading this book that I am the one with the insights.

Also, I am not fat. My fur is dense.

Yours,

Dear Reader,

Pewter is mental.

Dear Reader,

As a corgi, I am calm, cool, and collected. Cats are irrational and emotional. Mrs. Murphy is somewhat doglike. Pewter is impossible.

I hope you have a dog in your life to guide you.

Dear Reader,

I am a saint.

Dedicated to Major Sara Bateman, U.S. Army Ret., ex-MFH.

We’ve been through a lot together and most of it was your fault.

Books by Rita Mae Brown & Sneaky Pie Brown

WISH YOU WERE HERE • REST IN PIECES • MURDER AT MONTICELLO • PAY DIRT • MURDER, SHE MEOWED • MURDER ON THE PROWL • CAT ON THE SCENT • SNEAKY PIE’S COOKBOOK FOR MYSTERY LOVERS • PAWING THROUGH THE PAST • CLAWS AND EFFECT • CATCH AS CAT CAN • THE TAIL OF THE TIP-OFF • WHISKER OF EVIL • CAT’S EYEWITNESS • SOUR PUSS • PUSS ’N CAHOOTS • THE PURRFECT MURDER • SANTA CLAWED • CAT OF THE CENTURY • HISS OF DEATH • THE BIG CAT NAP • SNEAKY PIE FOR PRESIDENT • THE LITTER OF THE LAW • NINE LIVES TO DIE • TAIL GAIT • TALL TAIL • A HISS BEFORE DYING

Books by Rita Mae Brown featuring “Sister” Jane Arnold

OUTFOXED • HOTSPUR • FULL CRY • THE HUNT BALL • THE HOUNDS AND THE FURY • THE TELL-TALE HORSE • HOUNDED TO DEATH • FOX TRACKS • LET SLEEPING DOGS LIE

The Mags Rogers Books

MURDER UNLEASHED • A NOSE FOR JUSTICE

Books by Rita Mae Brown

ANIMAL MAGNETISM: MY LIFE WITH CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL • THE HAND THAT CRADLES THE ROCK • SONGS TO A HANDSOME WOMAN • THE PLAIN BROWN RAPPER • RUBYFRUIT JUNGLE • IN HER DAY • SIX OF ONE • SOUTHERN DISCOMFORT • SUDDEN DEATH • HIGH HEARTS • STARTED FROM SCRATCH: A DIFFERENT KIND OF WRITER’S MANUAL • BINGO • VENUS ENVY • DOLLEY: A NOVEL OF DOLLEY MADISON IN LOVE AND WAR • RIDING SHOTGUN • RITA WILL: MEMOIR OF A LITERARY RABBLE-ROUSER • LOOSE LIPS • ALMA MATER • SAND CASTLE • CAKEWALK

About the Authors

RITA MAE BROWN has written many bestsellers and received two Emmy nominations. In addition to the Mrs. Murphy series, she has authored a dog series comprised of A Nose for Justice and Murder Unleashed, and the Sister Jane foxhunting series, among many other acclaimed books. She and Sneaky Pie live with several other rescued animals.

ritamaebrownbooks.com

SNEAKY PIE BROWN, a tiger cat rescue, has written many mysteries—witness the list at the front of this novel. Having to share credit with the above-named human is a small irritant, but she manages it. Anything is better than typing, which is what “Big Brown” does for the series. Sneaky calls her human that name behind her back after the wonderful Thoroughbred racehorse. As her human is rather small, it brings giggles among the other animals. Sneaky’s main character—Mrs. Murphy, a tiger cat—is a bit sweeter than Miss Pie, who can be caustic.