Cat on the Scent

            “Yes. I know I could get elected to the state House of Representatives, for starters. One step at a time. But I blew it.” He wiped his brow.

            “Maybe you can buy your way in.”

            “Doesn’t work quite that way. Money helps, but—” He smiled sadly. “You haven’t lived here long enough, Sarah. Disgrace stains through generations. The reverse of that is all those silly, empty snobs living off the grand deeds of their ancestors. No one forgets anything here.”

            “That’s absurd.” She didn’t believe it.

            “Sarah, you’re married to a powerful man. People would like you even if you weren’t, but don’t let surface acceptance fool you.”

            “I can ride, garden, and shoot with the best of Virginia’s country squires,” she boasted.

            “So you can.” He gave up trying to teach her the real rules of the road. Archie was on the verge of giving up everything, he felt so profoundly miserable.

            “Sure you didn’t try to kill him? It was a brilliant plan.” She changed the subject, a jocular tone to her voice.

            “No. I didn’t.” He pulled himself together, retied his silk rep tie, brushed off his pants. “Sarah, you could have any man you want to play with. Why me?”

            “You have imagination. Most men don’t.”

            He nuzzled her neck. “What kind of imagination? Did Tommy Van Allen have imagination?”

            She drew back. “About what?”

            “About you.”

            “Arch, don’t be absurd.”

            “I know you had an affair with him.”

            She waited, sighed, lowered her eyes, then raised them. “I haven’t always used the best judgment. He made me—reckless. Of course, I had no idea he was snorting coke. I was as shocked as the next person when the Daily Progress reprinted the autopsy results. I never saw any sign of it, but then I’m not sure I know the signs.” She sounded convincing.

            “Is that why you went up in the airplane with him late at night with a storm coming? To be reckless?” Archie played his wild card, for he didn’t really know if she’d been with Tommy or not. He thought maybe he could trip her up.

            “No.”

            “What’d you do, give H. sleeping pills?”

            “I never flew with Tommy. Are you suggesting I killed him?”

            “Maybe he got in the way.”

            “Of what?” She pulled back, viewing him with dispassion.

            “Your well-ordered life. Maybe he threatened to tell your husband. He might have thought H. would throw you out. He’d have you all to himself.”

            “Tommy was reckless but he wasn’t in love with me. We occupied each other’s thoughts for a while—that’s all.”

            “You occupied more than thoughts. Tell me, were you sleeping with him when you were sleeping with me?”

            “No,” she lied.

            “Well—that’s something, at least.”

            “Arch, sometimes if you let things alone they work out better. My husband is an old man.”

            “And strong as an ox. He’ll live to be as old as Tally Urquhart. I wish I did have the guts to kill him, but I need him.”

            “For what?”

            “Teotan. In for a penny, in for a pound. I can’t back out now no matter what I’m sacrificing.”

            “Blair’s smart enough to run the corporation. Don’t under-estimate him. And thank you for speaking up for me at the meeting.” She kissed him on each cheek and then the mouth. “I was only kidding about killing H. I could understand if you had shot him. But I’m glad you didn’t.”

            “You certainly ran your mouth about it all over town.”

            “Arch, what better way to cover our tracks?”

            “Your tracks.” He coolly appraised her but couldn’t protect himself from her beauty.

            “My tracks?”

            “Sarah, you could have shot H. You weren’t at the reenactment.”

            “I ran back for H.”s canteen.“

            “Prove it.” He smiled softly.

            “You’re as bad as Rick Shaw.” She laughed it off. “I found witnesses who saw me running back to the tent.”

            “You could easily have ducked behind the hunter barn or into the woods or even into your Range Rover if you ran fast enough and managed to creep out of the woods. You could have fallen in at the back of the marching line.”

            “In that gown and hoop? Are you insane?”

            “No. You’d change, of course.”

            He breathed in sharply. “I did not shoot H. Vane. Tommy was already dead. If he had a motive it died with him. You are the only other person with a motive.”

            “What about Blair? If H. were out of the way, you and he could run Teotan. Two people would control the new water supply.”

            “It’s an interesting theory. But if Blair and I were in cahoots I’d know about it and—” He held up his hands in question.

            Unperturbed, she said, “You could have killed Tommy. And tried to kill H. And intend to kill Blair. All threads would be in your hands.”

            “Thank you for giving me credit for being that intelligent. But I didn’t do it. I wouldn’t do it and the rock-bottom reality is, I’m not smart enough to pull off a crime like that and not get caught. You, on the other hand, are.”

            “I didn’t kill Tommy Van Allen.”

            “Not even to cover your tracks, as you say?”

            “Well, then you’d be next on my list, wouldn’t you?”

            “I think I would. Am I?”

            “No, darling. I adore you. Can’t you tell? Can’t you tell when you hold me?”

            He sighed. “Sarah, I don’t know what I know anymore.”