Рита Браун - The Big Cat Nap

She identified herself and gave the location of the accident, asking if anyone was there. If so, were the drivers safe? Could they give her a positive ID?

She clicked off the phone. “Victor Gatzembizi and Latigo Bly.”

“I was so stupid. So incredibly stupid!” Harry leaned against the car, put her head in her hands. “How could I not have known?”

“Hindsight is always clear.” Coop put her arm around her friend. “The good news is you’re alive. Mrs. Murphy, Pewter, and Tucker are alive.” She looked over the car. “I think you can drive this thing home.”

“This car saved my life.”

“That and the fact that you can drive.” Cooper hugged her with the arm draped over her shoulder. “Wish I’d seen it. We’ll get this figured out. Those two will have their asses in the slammer. Rick and I will pay them a visit later. Come on, girl; I’ll follow you home.”

“Can I ride with you?” Pewter meowed loudly.

“Pewts, Mom needs you. The worst is over,” Tucker counseled.

“Why does everything happen to me?” the gray cat wailed.

R ays slanting through mountainsides and steep ravines, the golden late sun pierced the eastern meadows and pastures along the Blue Ridge.

“Why is it that the light before the sun sets is so much richer than at any other time of the day?” Harry wondered aloud to herself.

Her friends had gathered at the farm this Saturday before the Fourth of July to rejoice in her escape, talk about the capture of the two culprits, and, of course, talk about one another.

Fair, like 90 percent of American men, showed off his considerable grilling skills, ably assisted by Reverend Jones. Since the reverend loved to eat, you wanted him helping you. Anyone who likes to eat is usually a good cook.

Cooper brought fresh greens to make a salad. Alicia and BoomBoom brought all the biscuits and also a big cake. Other friends dropped by, had a drink, and left. The place had buzzed, but now it was those closest and dearest, eating, drinking, laughing, and perhaps enjoying the recent scandal of Yancy Hampton being caught falsifying his organic foods.

“It isn’t all that terrible,” Alicia defended him. “So he sells some genetically modified foods. Big deal.”

Franny Howard jumped into the conversation. “False advertising. String him up by his shoelaces.” Franny plopped down with a thud.

“He wears sandals,” BoomBoom quietly replied.

“Jesus boots,” Franny giggled.

“Franny, you’re in a mood.” Cooper pointed to the huge salad bowl.

Franny did get up to investigate.

Trolling along the two picnic tables placed together, she filled her plate and a salad bowl. “I’m happy Harry has solved the crimes and I’m happy my tires are home.”

“Laying rubber, are you?” Fair pointed a long grilling fork at her.

Franny shook her finger. “Don’t go there.”

Reverend Jones, happiest when among his friends, sat down with a long, cool summer drink, into which he had added two raspberries and fresh mint. “Coop, when are you and Rick going to reward our girl here? She apprehended two dangerous men.”

“I’m not sure I’d use the word ‘apprehend,’ but she did bring them to justice, so to speak.”

Harry pointed to the WRX STI. “That car did the trick.”

They knew the details, but all asked to hear it again, so Harry, who couldn’t help herself, spilled all the details once more.

“Nothing about us,” Pewter lazily said, having eaten offerings from the people plus what she could steal.

“Wasn’t much we could do in the car except hang on,” Mrs. Murphy added. “This was one time we couldn’t help her.”

“Wild ride.” Tucker grinned.

On a different branch than Matilda, who reposed higher up now, perched the blue jay, Pewter’s nemesis. Brazenly, the bird swooped down, flew over the table, stopped for a split second, then flew back up into the tree with a morsel of fresh-baked bread.

“Blue jays don’t like bread. They like seeds,” Susan, a birder, said.

Fair laughed. “He hasn’t read Audubon.”

The blue jay then opened his beak, letting the bread drop. “I can do anything. You can’t catch me.”

“Did you see that?” Harry’s mouth fell open.

“Cheeky fellow,” Reverend Jones roared, then held up his hands. “Lord, is this your way of telling us we aren’t the crown of creation?”

“Listen to him.” Pewter sat upright. “He gets it.”

The blue jay jumped off and flew sideways, one wing toward the ground, right in front of the gray cat. Pewter’s whiskers moved with the air current. Then he returned to the table, this time plucking a seed off one of the special biscuits.

Harry, hands on hips, stood up. “What good are you cats? This is your job.”

“You get upset if we kill birds,” Mrs. Murphy fired right back.

The blue jay, sitting a bit too near Matilda, swallowed the seed. Matilda opened her jaws and flicked out her tongue. The saucy bird dropped a few branches below. He wasn’t done yet, but he wanted that juicy seed to settle for a moment.

“You two look lame,” Tucker ever so helpfully said.

“Well, you try to get him.” Pewter was incensed.

“I’m not a cat. Not my job.” The corgi dropped under Fair’s chair.

“We wouldn’t have you,” the gray cat snidely spoke.

As the three animals complained to one another and about one another, the blue jay began to imitate other birds for the joy of irritating everyone.

He was successful.

Ignoring the racket, Reverend Jones asked, “Coop, what have they confessed to?”

“That’s why I drove out here, to find out,” said Franny. “Did Victor and Latigo steal my tires along with their other crimes?” She gleefully shoved divine barbecue into her mouth.

“No,” Cooper replied. “It’s going to take time to crack your case. Is it a large interstate ring or is it local? We’ll get it, Franny, just give us time.”

“Bet you will.” Alicia licked her fingers, while BoomBoom rose to get her a small little wet towel at the end of the table.

“The three remaining mechanics, Jason Brundige, Sammy Collona, and Lodi Pingrey, want to save themselves, and they want to prove they didn’t kill anyone, so they’ve been singing like canaries.”

“Do you think they did kill their co-workers?” Reverend Jones asked the tall deputy.

“No. I’m pretty certain Victor and Latigo did the killing. And that’s what Jason Brundige is saying. The murders weren’t professional grade, if you will, but they were clever, bold, and left no fingerprints. These two thought they were clever by using a different M.O. for each murder. Jason said they killed Bobby together, just like they tried to kill Harry together.”

“The killings were messages to the others,” Harry simply said.

“Yes,” Coop replied.

“Messages about what?” BoomBoom had returned to her place at the table.

“ ‘Shut your mouth. Don’t get greedy.’ The mechanics knew what Victor and Latigo were doing. And they were well paid to shut up.” Cooper swung one leg over the long wooden seat so she now sat at the end of the table facing all of them. “The mechanics received big payoffs to keep quiet about the substandard parts. In return, they received a cut of the action. Now that we have forensics accountants in law enforcement, we can find the holes in anyone’s books eventually. Walt started the ball rolling. He wanted more money to keep silent. Not only did he try to shake down Victor and Latigo, he tried to shake down his co-workers. No love lost there.”