Рита Браун - Pay Dirt

She found "threadbare," which was first used in writing in 1362. The gap between when a word is used and when it is written down can be decades, not that it mattered in this case.

Her eyes swept down die thin, fine grade of paper. "Ah-ha."

"Ah-ha what?"

"Listen! 'Threadneedle' first appeared in writing in 1751. It's a children's game where all join hands. The players at one end of this human string pass between the last two at the other end and then all pass through."

"I can't see that that has anything to do with the problem."

"Me neither."

"Are there other meanings?"

"Yeah. As a verb phrase, 'thread the needle.' It was written in 1844. It refers to a dancing movement when a lady passes under her partner's arm, their hands being joined." Harry glanced up from the dictionary. "I never knew that."

"Me neither. Anything else?"

"It can also mean to fire a rifle ball through an augur hole barely large enough to allow the ball to pass without enlarging the hole." Harry closed the big volume, making a thick, slapping sound. "What have you found?"

"On August 1, 1137, King Louis VI of France died. So did Queen Anne of Britain in 1714." She read some more. "And Germany declared war on Russia in 1914. Well, that certainly changed the world."

"Let's try another book. There has to be something we're missing."

"It could be a red herring, you know."

"Yeah, I do know, but there's something about this that smells of superiority. Whoever is fooling around—"

"Stealing."

"Right, whoever is stealing money is going to rub our noses in how dumb we are."

" Here ." Mrs. Murphy, with her paw, pulled out another book listing events in history. The book fell to the floor.

"Murphy." Harry shook her finger at the cat. "You can break a book's spine doing that."

"Don't be such a pill."

"Back talk." Susan laughed. "It sounds exactly the same whether it's your animals or your children."

" I never talk back , "Tucker stated.

" Liar ," came the cat's swift reply. She jumped down from the bookshelf to sit next to Harry. Susan left her chair and sat on the floor on the other side of Harry.

"Okay. August first. Slavery was abolished in the British Empire in 1834."

"That reminds me, Mim was talking to Kate Bittner about the Civil War series on PBS. Mim said, 'If I'd known it was going to cause this much fuss, I would have picked the cotton myself.'"

Harry leaned back, hands on knees. "Jeez, what did Kate do?" As Kate was of African descent, this was not an idle question.

"Roared. Just roared."

"Good for her. Think she'll be voted president of the Democratic Party in the county?"

"Yes, although Ottoline Gill and—"

"Ottoline's a Republican."

"Not anymore. She had a fight with Jake Berryhill. Bolted from the party."

"What a tempest in a teapot. Let's see what else. In the Middle Ages, August first was considered an Egyptian Day which was supposed to be unlucky."

"Give me that." Susan took the book from Harry. "You're too slow." Her eyes scanned the dense print. "Harry, here's something." She pointed to the item halfway down the page.

They read aloud, "In 1732, the foundation stone was laid for the Bank of England's building on Threadneedle Street in the City ofLondon."

Harry leapt up and grabbed the phone in the kitchen. "Hey, Coop. Listen to this."

Susan, on her feet now, held the book for Harry to read.

When she finished reading, Harry said, "Susan and I—huh?"

Coop interrupted her, "Keep it right there. Between you and Susan."

Offended, Harry replied, "We aren't going to take out an ad in the paper with this."

"I know, but in your enthusiasm you might spill the beans." Coop apologized. "I'm sorry if I snapped at you. We're understaffed. People rotating off for summer vacation. I'm stressed out and I'm taking it out on you."

"I understand."

"You've done good work. Threadneedle means something… I

guess. It's about banks. You know, this whole thing is screwy. The Threadneedle virus seemed to be a prank. Then two million dollars cannot be accounted for at Crozet National. There's a rash of car wrecks on 29 and a very dead Mike Huckstep, about whom we know little, is on a slab in the morgue. Everything happens at once."

"Sure seems to." Harry had held the earpiece for Susan, who heard everything.

"Hang in there, Coop," Susan encouraged.

"I will. I'm just blowing ofFsteam," she said. "Listen, thanks for your help. I'll see you soon."

"Sure. Bye."

"Bye."

Harry hung up the phone. "Poor Coop."

"This too shall pass."

"I know that. She knows that, but I don't want my money to pass with it. My money is in Crozet National. It may not be so much, but it's all I have."

"Me too." Susan cupped her hand under her chin, deep in thought. In a moment she asked, "You're getting pretty good on the computer, aren't you?"

Harry nodded.

Susan continued. "I'm not so bad myself. I had to learn in self-defense because Danny and Brookie use the thing constantly. At first I didn't know what they were talking about. It really is great that they learn this stuff at school. To them it's just business as usual."

"Want to raid Crozet National's computer?"

"You read my mind," Susan said, grinning. "We could never get in there though. Hogan might be willing, but Norman Cramer would die if anyone touched his babies. I guess his staff wouldn't be too thrilled about it either. What if we screwed it up?"

"Somebody's done that for us," Harry said. " 'Course, we could sneak in."

"Harry, you're nuts. The building has an alarm system."

"/ could sneak in ," Mrs. Murphy bragged, her cars pricked forward, her eyes flashing.

" She could. Let her do it , "Tucker agreed.

"You guys must be hungry again." Harry patted Tuckers head and rubbed her long ears.

" Every time we say anything, she thinks we want to go out or we want to eat . "Mrs. Murphy sighed. " Tucker, we can go into the bank ourselves ."

"When do you want to do it?"

"Tomorrow night."

21

A heavy mist enshrouded the buildings. Downtown Crozet seemed magical in the dim, soft night. Mrs. Murphy and Tucker left the house at one-thirty A.M. with Harry sound asleep. Moving at a steady trot, they arrived at the bank by two.

"You stay outside and bark if you need me."

" What if you need me?"Tuds.ci sensibly asked.

"I'll be all right. I wonder if Pewter is awake? She could help."

" If she's asleep, it will take too long to get her up and going ." Tucker knew the gray cat only too well.

" You're right . "The tiger sniffed the heavy air. A perfumed scent lingered. " Smell that ?"

"Yeah."

"Why here?"

"I don't know."

" Hmm, well, I'm going inside ." Her tail straight up, the cat moved to the back door with its old wooden steps. Bricks in the foundation had loosened over the years, and a hole big enough for a cat, a possum, or a bold raccoon, accommodated Mrs. Murphy. She swept her whiskers forward, listened intently, then dropped down into the basement. She quickly ran up the stairs to the first floor. She smelled that perfume again. Much stronger now. She jumped on the cool marble counter in front of the teller windows. She trotted down the counter to the end. The carpeted stairway leading to the second floor was nearby. She followed her nose to the stairs, silently leaping two at a time. The only noise was that of her claws in the carpet as she grabbed for a foothold.

As she neared the top of die stairs, she heard human voices, low, urgent. She flattened herself and slunk along the hallway. She arrived at Hogan's office, where sitting on die floor in the dark were Norman Cramer and Kerry McCray. She froze.