Catch As Cat Can

                "He goes in the ground after that autopsy." Rick squinted, the rain had let up a little."How's your appetite?"

                "Why?"

                "Haven't lost it after this morning?"

                "No. Have you lost yours?"

                "Takes more than a hanged man to do that. Let's go to the Riverside Cafe."

                "I'll call Big Mim on the way. The news will be spreading all over Crozet. You know those two kids will tell. They'll have nightmares for months."

                "Yep." He turned right out of the parking lot, heading for the intersection of High Street and Free Bridge."Wait a second before calling the Queen of Crozet. Did you check out the number of 1987 GMC half-ton trucks in Virginia?"

                "Over twenty thousand, four-wheel drive and two-wheel, still on the road."

                "How about in Albemarle County?"

                "Yancy's on that since he has to sit around. Guess he'll be sitting around for a while."

                "Okay."

                "We don't know if the truck is registered here. Could be out of state."

                "I know."

                "Like a jigsaw puzzle," she said, "all the pieces have been dumped on the table in a heap."

                He turned toward her."Maybe all the pieces aren't on the table."

                20

                The word of the grisly find reached the post office by one-thirty. Mim stopped by after her errands.

                "I feel terrible." Miranda meant it, too.

                "You didn't know him," Harry hastened to comfort her. She knew how guilty Miranda could get.

                "She's right, Miranda. You simply reported that your hubcaps were stolen and by chance or whatever he was parking cars at my party. And you can believe I have chastised that company. I'll never use their valet service again. Not that he did any harm but still, they ought to scrutinize their help more closely. Their excuse was he had a valid driver's license and they needed all the help they could get due to the dogwood parties." Big Mim shook out her umbrella."I've made a mess. Sorry. I didn't think it would be so wet."

                "Don't worry about it. I'll mop up the floor before I leave tonight. It's that kind of day." Harry scratched Pewter at the base of her tail.

                "Do they know how long he was there?" Miranda asked.

                "No. The coroner will figure it out," Big Mim replied."Did you know our county is getting so populous we have two coroners now, full time?"

                "I didn't know that," Miranda replied.

                "I guess I'd better call Cynthia and tell her I found the Mercedes car and gave it back to Marilyn." Harry headed for the phone while Miranda filled in Big Mim. Big Mim hadn't seen Little Mim since breakfast so she knew nothing of the returned star.

                "I wish Mother hadn't found that star." Mrs. Murphy sighed. The low pressure was getting to her.

                "Who cares?" Pewter purred."Wesley Partlows nothing to her."

                "She's curious. She'll be especially curious now. You know how she gets," Tucker greed with Mrs. Murphy.

                "If the kid killed himself, that's that," Pewter, the hard-boiled, replied. He didn't have much of a life to look forward to, did he?"

                "I can't imagine a dog killing herself," Tucker mused."I think it's a peculiar ling to humans. Suicide."

                "If it's suicide we have nothing to worry about." Mrs. Murphy joined Pewter on the counter."But if it's not suicide then this will be a stormy spring."

                "Oh, come on," Pewter said, a touch sarcastically."Who would risk their own freedom to kill a loser like Wesley?"

                21

                The sodden ground could suck the shoes right off a horse. It

                Held onto human shoes, too, as Harry and Cynthia Cooper trudged

                along the deer path not far from Durant Creek. Tucker, up to her

                knees in the mud, accompanied them. Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, left

                back at the farm, planned even more retaliatory destruction.

                Harry pointed."Here we connect up to the old farm road. Jeez, it's loud."

                Coop stopped at the crossroads of deer path and farm road."The ground's soaked. If we get any more rain, the creeks and rivers will jump their banks."

                "Spring."

                "Yep."

                "We were running back. I noticed a gleam. And that's about the size of it. We walked over, I discovered it was the hood ornament. I didn't notice footprints or tire tracks. It started to pour but it had been raining before, as you know. If a car or truck had come back here there would have been deep ruts. There weren't." She moved over."About here."

                Tucker, senses much keener, sniffed around. No trace of human scent remained, although a hint of coyote lingered. She was glad her mother couldn't smell it because coyote spelled a great deal of trouble for everyone. The force of the storms beat down small branches, brush, stripped some buds off trees. She couldn't gather my more evidence than the humans.

                "Where does the farm road lead?"

                "To the creek."

                "Any structures, sheds, anything like that along the way?"

                "No. Marcus Durant's shack is the only building and that's back where we parked."

                "Well, let's head back." Coop stuck her thumbs in her belt."Whatever might have been on the ground is washed away by now, but"-she looked around again-"I've got to run down every lead I an. I just wonder what the hell he was doing out here, if he was here."

                "Come on, Tucker."

                "I'm coming," the dog replied, irritated that she couldn't locate more scent.