Catch As Cat Can

                "He said he was taking his leather-design business on the Internet. He'd been working on a website where he would display techniques. I don't know anything about leather design and repair but I remember he said something about showing the different quality of skins. He thought if he did that he'd get orders for special items like sofas, couch slipcovers, even boots."

                "He was good." Cooper sighed.

                "He also wanted to go on the Internet for his taxidermy business. He said he ought to preserve rich people and call the business Stuffed Shirts. He had a good sense of humor."

                "So he seemed positive?"

                "Yes. He mentioned saving to buy his grandfather's farm. Said it had been a good year so he was going to make Mr. Mawyer an offer. He mentioned that no one else in the family was interested. He's lucky there."

                "No clouds on the horizon?"

                "No. If there were he didn't mention it. You mean was he afraid of something or someone?"

                "Considering he was shot, yes, I'd-"

                Lottie interrupted."What if the murder was a mistake? What if whoever killed him saw the truck and thought he was someone else?"

                "Anything is possible." Coop drained her cup.

                "Would you care for some more?"

                "Thank you, no. I'm finally warming up. If I hadn't had a change of uniform in my locker I'd be sitting here dripping on your floor. It's not that cold but I took a chill."

                "Don't you just hate that?" Lottie asked sympathetically.

                "Did you think Don wanted to go out with you again?"

                "We just didn't click on that level. What can I say? No chemistry." She dabbed her lips with the small napkin Franny had brought with the coffees."Speaking of chemistry, Harry and Diego!"

                Coop smiled."Who knows?"

                "Do you think she's done with Fair forever? I mean I thought that's why BoomBoom set her up. Boom wanted Fair away from Harry. She's like that."

                "I don't know. That was a long time ago, BoomBoom and Fair. Five years ... or close to it. I don't think she wants him back."

                "She wants them all. She's not happy unless every man is circling around her like a honey pot."

                "Then you would have thought she'd have kept Diego for herself." Coop shrewdly observed Lottie's reaction.

                "Steinmetz is a bigger fish and probably a richer one, too. She doesn't miss a trick. I hate the way men fawn over her."

                "She's beautiful."

                "Artifice." Lottie sniffed.

                "Don evidenced little interest."

                "They grew up together. He saw right through her."

                "But, Lottie, Fair grew up with her, too."

                Not one to appreciate an errant detail in her argument being pointed out to her, Lottie's shoulders froze a bit, then relaxed."Donald had more sense." She glanced out at the gloomy day, returning to meet Cooper's eyes."I'm sorry he's dead. He was a nice person. I can't imagine why anyone would want to kill him."

                29

                Would you look at this!" Harry followed her observation with a string of curses. One of the joints on the old disc used to break up earth had cracked, small ball bearings scattered underneath. The rain pelted the tin roof of the equipment shed. She'd just gotten home after work and decided since she couldn't work outside, she'd grease the manure spreader, the disc, check the tines on the drag, the fluid levels in the 1958 John Deere tractor.

                Mostly she couldn't bear the thought of being inside for one more minute. By the end of the day at the post office she wanted to be outside as long as possible.

                The cats, less enthusiastic about her work ethic in the rain, repaired to the house. Only Tucker accompanied her. The shed, tidy and tight, kept the rain out, but the wind added to the gloom.

                "Boiling black out there." Tucker felt the electricity of the storm building.

                Harry reached down, rubbing one of Tucker's ears between her thumb and forefinger."I can't complain, really. This disc is almost as old as the tractor. You know on the new ones the joints are sealed after being packed in grease. I guess that works, I don't know. Wonder how much it will cost to fix it? Oh, well." She leaned against the tractor."What we need is a drill seeder. Fat chance." She laughed | because the type she needed retailed for $22,000. That was practically a year's salary for Harry.

                She lifted up the hood of the dually, checked the oil, the windshield fluids, and the pressure in the tires. She repeated the process on the 1978 Ford F150 which she'd pulled into the shed. Finally satisfying herself that everything was fine she sprinted to the barn. She'd left the back stall doors open and the three horses had wisely chosen to come in from the storm.

                "Phones been ringing off the hook," Poptart told Tucker.

                The corgi hopped up on the tack trunk to speak to the youngest horse eye to eye. She stood on her hind legs, sticking her head through the square opening with the big feed bucket underneath."Ever wish you could answer it?"

                "No." Poptart laughed."Makes more work. Every time one human calls another there's usually a chore attached or something that sends Harry flying out of here. Can't see why any reasonable human would wish to be interrupted like that."