Catch As Cat Can

                "We'd better get that lock back on soon. All this talk of money takes me right back to Don Clatterbuck," Harry said, then told Miranda what they'd be doing that Friday night."Oh, hell, I'm supposed to go to the movies with Fair. Coop, may I ask him to help us? He's stronger than the two of us put together and he'll never tell."

                "Okay." Coop jiggled the handcuffs hanging from her belt.

                "When do they dig up Roger?"

                "Monday."

                "Wish I could be there." Tucker wagged her nonexistent tail.

                "Tucker, that is so disgusting." Pewter wrinkled her nose, gray like the rest of her.

                39

                Slowly the earth drank the rainwater. The ground remained muddy, the creeks little by little subsided. The scent of new blossoms began to overpower the odor of creek water.

                Mrs. Murphy hastened to the barn at dawn as the owl returned from hunting.

                "Did you get a chance to fly over O'Bannon's?"

                "Yes. There are lights on in the garage but the curtains are drawn."

                "Any cars or trucks parked outside?"

                "No, which I thought was curious."

                "I do, too."

                "Of course, it could be someone left the light on during the day or it's been on throughout the storms," the owl thought out loud."Still, you'd think someone would go in there."

                "What about the caboose?"

                "Your rat friend, an industrious sort, scurried from the garage to the caboose frequently. He had a bag of potato chips. When he heard me-I swooped low for effect- he didn't drop the chips and run. A rough sort."

                "If I could pour water in his hole, I bet I could get him to talk. I'd stop up the exits, of course." Mrs. Murphy envisioned this to her enjoyment. She heard Simon snoring in his nest. He looked ratlike yet was so different from Pope Rat; two creatures could hardly be more different in temperament.

                "That rat has places and loot all over the salvage yard." "No sounds from the garage?" Murphy hoped for more clues."Yes. I sat by the window and I heard human feet. I know someone was in there." Later as Murphy walked back to the house she wondered if someone was working late because of the Wrecker's Ball. Then again, why not park out front? And why not work in the new building where the dance would be held? If it was on the up-and-up why hide your car? Maybe Sean was in the garage. Maybe he felt closer to Roger in the garage. So many thoughts jammed into her head she had difficulty sorting them out. One thing did help her focus. She certainly didn't want Harry snooping around the salvage yard.

                40

                Sean's assistant, Isabella Rojas, disdained Lottie but had to be nice to her. The customer is always right even though in this case Lottie wasn't a customer. Sean would fire her if she behaved rudely toward anyone. The truth was that Isabella, like many a woman before her, had fallen in love with her boss.

                "He's out back, Miss Pearson." Isabella forced a smile."Statuary."

                "Thank you." Lottie, with a supercilious air, swished back outside and found Sean carefully positioning chains around a massive recumbent griffin."Sean." She waved.

                "Hi." He held up his hand to the operator in the small crane ready to pick up the heavy object to place it on a flatbed.

                "Who has bought this beautiful piece?"

                "H. Vane Tempest." He named a wealthy Englishman who owned a large estate west of town and whose symbol was a griffin.

                "But of course." Her eyes swept from the griffin to the crane to the flatbed and the large diesel semi that pulled it."You must have a small fortune tied up in equipment. I never really appreciated how much. I guess you get quite good at leveraging your debt."

                "Hey, I'm a junkyard dealer. I have a nose for finding equipment at good prices. Take that crane there. New it would cost one hundred and thirty-nine thousand dollars. I picked it up for nineteen."

                "Fabulous," she purred."But how do you do it?"

                "Contacts and"-he stared off into the distance for a moment-

                "Roger. He'd give the equipment the once-over, tell me how much it would cost to bring a piece up to speed, and then I could make an informed decision. And we always looked for reliable brands like Caterpillar. You pay more but you get more. You know, Roger really was a genius with anything that had a motor in it. He even kept that old wrecker's ball in perfect working order."

                "I'm so sorry about Roger. I know I've said that before, but I don't know what else to say." She played with the ring on her pinkie finger, right hand."When you worked as closely as you did with Roger it must be doubly disastrous."

                "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away," Sean replied."At first, I was so shocked I wanted to sell the business and walk away. Mom talked sense into me. Running away doesn't solve anything. Three generations of O'Bannons sweated into this ground. With any luck there will be a fourth and a fifth."

                "I certainly hope so." She smiled."You can imagine yourself an old man watching your grandson move statuary."

                "By that time they'll beam it up. You know, rearrange the molecules and send it without a crane and a flatbed."