Catch As Cat Can

                "Come on. Where do you live? You're clean. You're wearing a white shirt and black pants," Big Mim said.

                "They gave me the shirt." He nodded to the head attendant, company policy. All valet attendants wear a white shirt and black pants. The logo is over the pocket."

                "So it is." Mim crossed her arms over her chest.

                "Let's try this again. Where do you live?" Cooper patiently related her question knowing she'd hear more lies. She'd seen this person many times before: young, sullen, rebellious.

                "Noplace."

                "You're homeless?"

                "Yeah," he smirked.

                "Where's the 1987 CMC truck you drove to O'Bannon's Salvage yard? The one with the Dallas Cowboys jacket in it."

                His eyes opened wider.

                "Where is it?" Cooper wished she could slap the smirk right off s white face.

                His eyes dropped to the ground.

                "Are you hungry?" Miranda, kind even under these circumstances, thought food might help him.

                "No, ma'am."

                "I know you didn't mean to upset me but my Falcon means the arid to me. If you'd cooperate with us we can settle this . . ." Miranda's voice trailed off.

                Tracy put his arm around Miranda's waist."Honey, don't fret over it."

                "There's a quick way to settle this before I take Mr. Pardow into custody. I'll run him over to Sean O'Bannon's."

                Wesley's eyes darkened, his jaw clamped shut.

                Big Mim, not realizing that Cooper was laying a trap, said,

                "Cynthia, you can't do that. Not tonight. Not now. After all, Roger's not even cold yet. I don't think Sean is in any condition to identify a thief."

                Wesley's head jerked up, senses alert, a flicker of fear in his eyes now."Who's dead?"

                "Roger O'Bannon. Did you know him?" Cooper inquired.

                "No," he unconvincingly answered. He became even more wary.

                Cooper sighed. No more dancing for her."I have the strangest feeling, Mr. Pardow, that you and trouble are well acquainted. Tracy, will you stay with him while I call in for a squad car? I can't trust him to stay in the Jeep. He'd be out at the first stoplight."

                14

                The Dogwood Festival, celebrating the state tree and springtime, provided ample opportunity for revelers to overindulge each mid-April. Automobile accidents, property destruction, and fights kept the sheriff's department busy.

                Sheriff Rick Shaw had the whole force out working tonight. When Cooper called him concerning Partlow he drove out in a squad car himself. It would never do for Big Mim to be unhappy. His presence as the highest elected law-

enforcement official in the county usually mollified the grand lady. He'd also learned when he'd been elected twenty years ago to call Mim first when something broke. It made his life easier but also with her wide net she often could help him.

                As a man ages his judgment usually improves. If it doesn't he's either dead or a drunk. Rick Shaw had learned to trust his judgment. He followed procedure to the letter of the law but he also trusted his instinct. In the past, when Mary Minor Haristeen would blunder onto a crime scene accompanied by her animals, he used to fume. Over time he had learned that help comes from unusual quarters. Once the corgi found a human hand, which eventually led him to a murderer. Harry and her furry cohorts had a funny way of blundering onto things.

                So he wasn't surprised when he drove up to Mini's front door to find Big Mim, Miranda, Tracy Raz, Harry, and Diego, to whom he was introduced.

                Harry couldn't resist an event. When she saw Mim head for Coop she knew something was up so she followed the deputy. Diego found her curiosity amusing.

                Rick smiled at his favorite deputy."Coop, enjoy yourself. This is the only night off you've had in two months. I'll take the perp back."

                "You can't lock me up for stealing hubcaps-which I didn't do." He snarled as he put the Mercedes star, which had slipped out again, back under his shirt.

                "Boy, I can lock you up for just about anything." Rick genially pulled Wesley's arms behind his back, cuffing his hands together.

                BoomBoom and Thomas happened to walk out front.

                "Mim, there you are. We had a wonderful time." BoomBoom noticed Rick pushing Wesley into the back of the squad car as she finished her sentence."What's happening?"

                "Miranda thinks he stole the hubcaps off her Falcon earlier," Harry said.

                "We're lucky he didn't steal our jewels." BoomBoom's hand protectively covered the priceless sapphire and diamond necklace at her throat.

                "The jewels are nothing. The woman is everything. I'd be afraid that he'd steal you." Thomas kissed her on the cheek after casting a jaundiced eye at Wesley, who cast it right back.

                "That would be a first," Mim wryly responded, as Thomas gave the head attendant his parking ticket.

                Diego whispered to Harry, Silver tongue."

                "How long have you known Thomas?"

                Diego shrugged."Our families know one another. He's a bit older so we didn't go to school together. Since working at the embassy I've gotten to know him. Before that," he shrugged again, "social. Like tonight."

                "A lady-killer," she whispered, eyebrows lifting upward.