Рита Браун - Pay Dirt

"Do you want to come home with me tonight?"

" Harry, I would love to come home with you ." Pewter hopped out and vigorously rubbed Harry's legs.

"Lavish with her affections," Mrs. Hogendobber observed. The older woman sat down. "I feel so tired. I shouldn't be. I got enough sleep, but I can't keep my head up."

"Emotions. They're exhausting. We're all ragged out. I know am.

Before Harry could sit down with Miranda, Susan opened the back door and stuck in her head. "Me."

"Come in," Mrs. Hogendobber invited her. "You usually do."

Susan dropped into the seat opposite Miranda. "Poor Ned. People are calling up, outraged that he's defending Kerry McCray. The fact that every citizen has the right to a trial before their peers escapes them."

"Trial by gossip." Mrs. Hogendobber shook her head.

"If people want to be ugly, there's not a lot you or Ned can do about it. If I were in trouble, I'd sure want Ned as my attorney."

Susan smiled. "I should count my blessings. After all, my husband wasn't killed, and what are a few hate calls?"

"I bet Kerry doesn't even have a toothbrush," Miranda thought out loud. "Girls, we should go over to her house and pack some clothes for her. This is the United States of America. Innocent until proven guilty. Makes no matter what public opinion is, she's innocent under the law until proven guilty. So we shouldn't shun her."

The other two sat quietly.

Finally, Susan replied, "Miranda, you always bring us back to the moral issue. Of course we'll go over there after work."

40

"This place is pin tidy." Mrs. Hogendobber put her hands on her hips. "I had no idea Kerry was such a good housekeeper."

"Remind me never to invite you to my place." Cynthia Cooper carefully packed some toiletries.

Harry, Mrs. Hogendobber, and Susan called Cynthia before going over to Kerry's. The Sheriff's Department scoured the place, so Rick Shaw said okay to the ladies' visit as long as Cynthia accompanied them.

He didn't know that Mrs. Murphy, Pewter, and Tee Tucker accompanied them also.

While Susan and Harry threw underclothes, T-shirts, and jeans as well as a good dress into a carryall bag, the animals went prowling.

" There've been so many people in here, so many scents ." Tucker shook her head.

Mrs. Murphy spied the trapdoor to the attic. Pewter craned her neck at the door.

" Think we could get up there ? "Pewter asked.

" I'll yodel. Mom hates that worst of all . "Tucker laughed, threw her head back, and produced her canine yodel which could awaken the dead.

"My God, Harry, what's wrong with your dog?" Cynthia called from the bathroom.

Harry walked into the hallway to the bedrooms and beheld Tucker yowling in the key of awful. Mrs. Murphy circled around her legs. Pewter was frozen under the attic trapdoor.

" IfI go any faster, I'll make myself dizzy "The cat slowed down.

"You three are pests. I should have left you home."

" Oh, yeah ?" Murphy reached up with her claws on Harry's jeans, wiggled her rear end, and climbed up Harry so quickly that the young woman barely had time to complain about the claws.

"Ouch" was all she could say as Mrs. Murphy reached her shoulders, then stood on her hind legs and batted at the attic door.

" Ifshe doesn't get it, she's comatose , "Pewter wryly noted.

Susan stuck her head out in the hallway. "A human scratching post. What a good idea. What does she see up there?" Susan noticed Murphy's antics.

" A trapdoor, stupid , "Tucker yapped.

" Hey. Hey, Cynthia ,"Pewter called, as did Susan.

Cynthia and Mrs. H. walked out as Susan called. Susan pointed to the trapdoor. Harry cocked her head to one side to see it and then Mrs. Murphy jumped off.

"Did I tell you that your animals were here when we arrested Kerry? Tucker ran off with the plastic bag in which we had the cord, the suspected murder weapon, all sealed up. She dropped it in the field. Mrs. Murphy used her claws like a chainsaw. What a mess. Fortunately, I retrieved it before she damaged the evidence. This place has to be five miles from your house."

"I'm going to start locking you two up. You hear?"

" We hear but we aren't listening , "Murphy sassed.

Pewter was impressed. " Didyou really do that ?"

" Piece of cake , "Mrs. Murphy bragged.

" You couldn't have done it without me . "Tucker was jealous.

Susan brought a chair in from the kitchen, stood on it, and opened the trapdoor. A little whiff of scorching-hot air blasted her in the face.

After searching around, they found a ladder in the basement. Cynthia went up first, with a flashlight from her squad car. "Good. There's a switch here."

Mrs. Murphy, who loved climbing ladders, hurried up as soon as Cynthia crawled into the attic. Tucker, irritably, waited down below. Harry climbed up. Pewter followed.

"Even the attic is neat," Cynthia noted. "You know, I don't think our boys were up here. Don't repeat that. It makes the department look sloppy, and guess what, they were sloppy."

"It's easy to miss what's over your head."

"Harry, we're paid not to miss evidence," Cynthia firmly told her.

"I'm coming up too," Susan called up.

"Well, don't knock down the ladder when you get up here, Susan, or we'll be swinging from the trapdoor."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Susan appeared in the attic. "How can you breathe?"

"With difficulty." Harry grimaced.

"What's up there?" Miranda called from below.

"Not much. Two big trunks. An old pair of skis," Harry informed her.

" A large wasps'nest in the eave . "Mrs. Murphy fought the urge to chase wasps. The buzz so attracted her. The consequences did not. " Let's open the trunk ."

Cynthia pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket and gingerly opened the old steamer trunk. "A wedding dress. Old."

Harry and Susan, on their knees, looked in as Mrs. Murphy gracefully put a paw onto the satin. Cynthia smacked her paw. "Don't even think about it."

" Lift up the dress . "The cat held her temper.

"Bet this was Kerry's grandmother's. It's about that vintage." Susan admired the lace.

"Harry, take that end and I'll lift this one," Cynthia directed.

They lifted up the beautiful old dress. Underneath were old family photo albums and some letters from overseas.

Harry picked up a pile neatly tied in a ribbon. The postmark of the top letter was Roanoke, Virginia, 1952. The pile under that was from overseas from the mid-1980s. They were addressed to Kerry's mother. "I think this is her mother's stuff. She probably brought the trunk over here after Barbara McCray died. Do you need to go through it, you know, read the letters and stuff?"

Cynthia rooted through the rest of the trunk, then carefully replaced everything. "I don't know. If Rick wants me to do it, I can, but I'll ask first. Right now we've got a lot on her."

"It's circumstantial," Susan quietly reminded her.

"That $250,000 is a lot of circumstance." Cynthia sighed and closed the lid of the trunk.

Pewter, squatting on the second trunk, directed them. " Hurry up and open this one. It's hot up here ."

" Go downstairs, then,"Mis . Murphy told her.

"No, I might miss something."

Cynthia gently lifted Pewter off the trunk. "Heavy little bugger."

Mrs. Murphy laughed while Pewter fumed.

Cynthia lifted the lid. "Oh, boy."

Harry and Susan looked into the trunk. Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, on their hind legs, front paws resting on the trunk, saw it too.

" Her goose is cooked!" Mis . Murphy exclaimed.

A black motorcycle jacket, black leather pants, and a black helmet were neatly placed in the trunk.