Рита Браун - Sour Puss

"What?"

"He's in your barn; the stall door is open. We closed it."

"I bet he's in Hokie's stall. I turned him out early." Christy thought for a second. "Is he all right?"

"Fit as a fiddle." Harry smiled.

"Come on, girls, step inside. It's raw out today." Christy tugged them inside.

The three animals, muddy paws and all, walked inside, too. They had to stay in the mudroom.

The kitchen, completely remodeled by a New York interior-design firm, dazzled Harry and Fair.

"This is beautiful. The cabinetwork looks original." BoomBoom noted the white-oak cabinetry.

"It is. Came from England." Christy was pleased by the compliments.

Harry had other things on her mind. "Excuse me while I call the sheriff, then Fair, will you?"

As Harry gave Rick the particulars, then called Fair, Christy showed BoomBoom the downstairs of the house. The whole interior was English country. The floors had been sanded, stained again. The walls glowed with subtle colors. The patina on the furniture whispered "money."

BoomBoom couldn't wait to tell Alicia.

The two women reentered the kitchen.

"Perfect timing." Harry smiled. "The sheriff told me to take Jed. I'll go back home and bring the rig over."

"Harry, why don't you let me take Jed? Your horses aren't accustomed to looking at or smelling a donkey. Mine have at least gotten used to Burly."

"What's going to happen to Jed?" Christy folded her hands together.

"I don't know. Toby has a sister in Charlottesville, but they didn't get on. I doubt she'll want Jed. We'll work something out. He'll be safe and sound."

"It's upsetting." Christy shivered involuntarily. "This dreadful murder next door."

"They hated each other. It's a sad end."

"Scares all of us," BoomBoom replied.

"It will take me about an hour and a half. Will you still be here?" Harry inquired.

"I'll be here."

Harry and BoomBoom opened the back door to the mudroom.

Christy offered, "Let me drive you back to Pittman's."

"We'd better walk, because we have the cats and the dog. Muddy paws," Harry said.

"That's what station wagons are for."

She smiled, grabbed a Buffalo plaid jacket off the hook by the back door, and walked out to lift the hatch on her red Volvo XC70.

Within minutes they were back at Pittman's farm.

"Thanks, Christy," Harry said.

"I'll look for you all later."

As she drove off, BoomBoom turned to Harry. "Why would Toby lie about Jed?"

Why, indeed?

22

Fair had left the house at four in the morning without a cup of coffee. He delivered a healthy filly out on Route 810 and was now glad to be pulling into the coffee-shop parking lot.

The three men emerged from their vehicles simultaneously. Bo took one look at Arch, then at Fair.

"You sorry son of a bitch!" Bo growled.

"What the hell did I do?" Fair kept levelheaded.

"Not you. Arch." Bo stepped in front of Fair toward Arch, who wisely came up next to Fair.

"Bo, it wasn't my idea."

"Bullshit!"

"It wasn't my idea."

"Arch, you are the most competitive piece of shit I know. You cover it up. You're worse than your goddamned arrogant, idiot boss!"

"Bo, tell us how you really feel." Fair tried to lighten the moment.

Bo's sense of humor rarely failed him, even when angry. He stopped. "You're right. You're right." He took a deep breath. "Why'd you do it?"

"I told you, Bo, Rollie sent me downtown to Toby's sister yesterday. And she's a damned mess."

"Over Toby?" Fair's curiosity grew with each exchange.

"Hell, no. She hated his guts. He was the one who told her she was manic-depressive and needed heavy-duty tranqs."

"She is. All the Pittmans are crazy," Fair agreed.

"True, the whole goddamned family is nuts. They've been nuts since before the Revolutionary War. If any family ever made a case for free abortion on demand, it's the Pittmans." Bo added his two cents.

"I don't suppose either of you would like to tell me why you're cussing?"

"He's cussing. I'm not," Arch answered Fair.

Of course, he'd used the word "damned," but that must have slipped his mind.

"Arch went down to Tabitha—what's her married name now? She's married to some crackhead."

"Martin. Don't know that he's a crack-head, but he's as cracked as she is."

"Maybe they're in treatment together," Fair said, again joking.

"Guess what? It's not working." Arch showed a flash of humor. "All right. Here's what went down. Rollie waited about ten minutes. He said under the circumstances that was all that was necessary. I then offered to buy Toby's farm from Tabitha once the estate was settled."

"And?" Fair raised an eyebrow.

"She said it would take a year to settle it all."

"By which time the grapes will be ruined. Someone has to tend to them and harvest them. All that work." Bo's cheeks flushed.

"That's what I told her. So anyway, after a long, drawn-out process during which I heard everything she loathed about her brother, I offered to rent the farm. When the estate is settled Spring Hill will buy it."

"Did she sign a contract?" Bo, keen to the letter of the law, leaned forward.

"She did. Look, Bo, I know you've got this Belgian couple looking for suitable land for a vineyard, and Toby's place is perfect. The vines are established; the land drains quickly. He's got equipment. It's perfect. Rollie might have been insensitive in timing, but you know if we hadn't grabbed it, you or someone else would have." He stopped a minute. "Truth is, Bo, we beat you to it."

Bo grimaced slightly but didn't reply.

"Competition is the lifeblood of trade." Arch smiled slowly.

Fair agreed, then remarked, "Arch, what do you think about Toby's murder?"

"I'm not surprised." Arch folded his arms across his chest. "Toby pushed Hy and I guess Hy snapped."

"Do you look heavenward and say, Toby's at peace now'?"

"Not me," Arch said.

"Guess you're right," Bo said.

The three went inside and slipped into a booth. Bo had a double order of waffles with local honey poured over them; Arch ate eggs and bacon, as did Fair. A moment of contented silence followed, as it so oftendoes. The world becomes charming on a full stomach.

Finally Bo asked Fair, "Anyone hear anything about Hy?"

"No, and Fiona isn't talking to anyone but her lawyer. She engaged McGuire Woods."

"That was smart." Arch put down his heavy white coffee cup.

McGuire Woods, a large, prestigious firm, had depth in every manner of law in which one could become entangled.

"Smart. See, that's where I keep running into a wall." Bo leaned back. "Hy is damned smart. Why would he be so incredibly stupid?"

"Maybe there was more to it than we know. I mean to Hy and Toby's bad blood," Fair offered.

Bo shook his head. "Still, Hy acted like an idiot. It just doesn't compute."

"Guess we didn't know Hy." Fair lifted his cup for more coffee, which the waitress supplied.

"Does anybody know anybody? Really?" Bo enjoyed philosophical discussions.

"Do you know yourself?" Fair smiled. "My way of looking at the world is: deeds,not words. I watch what people do and I don't listen so much to what they say."

"Good program," Arch agreed.

Bo turned to Fair, and directly asked, "What the hell were you doing at Toby's?"

"He called all upset and told me I had to rush right over because Jed cut his hind leg. When I got there I couldn't find Jed. What I found was Toby."

"Where's Jed? Did they find him?" Arch asked.

"Don't you watch the morning news?" Bo inquired.

"I'm out in the fields by six," Arch replied.

"Seven o'clock news reported Jed was found yesterday at the old Berryhill farm. All's well with Jed, I guess." Bo shrugged.

"What about his leg?" Arch asked Fair.