Catch As Cat Can

                The others crowded round as the fumes dissipated.

                "Let me clean up the floor." Harry had brought a dustpan and hand mop with her, anticipating this."It wouldn't do for someone to open the safe only to hear tiny metal bits crunch underfoot."

                Once the floor was cleaned Coop stacked the fake money in the safe."Okay, let's shut it, lock it, and then unlock it to make sure his combination works."

                "No." Boom put her hand on the door to keep it open."Test the combination before you shut the door."

                "Right." Coop let BoomBoom twirl the handles, then stop them. Then she carefully rotated the center dial according to the directions found in Don's safety-deposit box at the bank.

                The clicking of the tumblers filled the room as everyone remained quiet.

                "Works." Boom smiled."Want me to shut the door now?"

                "Sure." Coop nodded.

                The door shut with a satisfying, heavy sound.

                "What do you think about my idea of Don hiding drugs in deer heads?" Susan reminded them of her idea.

                "God, I hope there's nothing in my woodpecker." Harry wanted to get that woodpecker back from the Culpeper sheriff's department.

                "My woodpecker," Pewter corrected her.

                "Nothing has turned up in your woodpecker." Coop allayed her fears."But hiding drugs in stuffed animals would be a good way to transport them. Maybe you're on to something, Susan."

                "Wonder how Don got into it?" Harry asked.

                "Greed. That's how everyone gets into it," Fair said.

                "Where would they get that quantity of illegal substances to begin with?" BoomBoom checked her tools.

                "If they were selling marijuana that's not hard. It's grown here in the state and no amount of surveillance by helicopters at harvest time locates all of it. And people can grow it in greenhouses, too. If they sold cocaine, heroin, those drugs, they'd need a source in a big city. If that's what they were doing." Coop picked up the empty carton.

                "What about legal drugs? Why couldn't they sell Darvon and Valium and Quaaludes?" Harry thought they were as bad as the illegal drugs.

                "Sure, but they'd have to have a contact. Either a corrupt physician or a company salesman. You can't just go out and get your hands on a jar of muscle relaxers." Fair, being a vet, had a keen appreciation of legal drugs, since he was pestered by salespeople at regular intervals.

                "What about steroids?" Susan wondered.

                "Same difference." Fair picked up the heavy oxygen tank."Even someone good at chemistry can't cook that up in the kitchen. Like I said, you'd have to have a corrupt source or steal them from a patient."

                "Are there drugs you can make at home?" Harry innocently asked.

                "Amyl nitrite," Coop answered."But it's a liquid, wouldn't be that easy to transport. It's the kind of drug that someone with skill could cook up in the kitchen but your customer would come to the kitchen to buy. Liquids are too much of a pain to transport great distances and the profit isn't that huge. The profit margin on illegal drugs or designer drugs from the big drug companies is huge. Don isn't going to have five hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars in his safe from amyl nitrite."

                "What if they stole frozen semen from high-priced stallions in Kentucky? What if the business was that? Some of those stallions stand for over a hundred thousand dollars. I know how the semen is cooled and shipped. If Roger kept going to Lexington he could be bringing back stolen semen. With DNA testing he'd have to have the real stuff. But he could do it. Maybe the car racing was a cover."

                "He could. I never thought of that but I don't associate Roger with horses." Fair put the oxygen tank down."I guess he could have done it. Are we ready?"

                The others nodded; they checked and rechecked the place, then turned out the light and left. Fair gallantly carried the oxygen tank up to the truck just as he had carried it down.

                "Strong bugger," Pewter said admiringly.

                "You didn't live with us when Mom was married to him. He really was worth his weight." Mrs. Murphy remained neutral about whether or not Harry should get back together with Fair but she certainly appreciated his hard work on the farm.

                Fair pulled Harry aside after he loaded the tank on BoomBoom's fancy truck."Have you heard from Diego?"

                "He called late this afternoon from Montevideo. He'll be in town next weekend. He's escorting Lottie to an alumni fund-raiser."

                "Oh." Fair smiled.

                "She asked him."

                "Oh." His face fell.

                "And?"

                "She's making it hard for him." Tucker loved Fair.

                "He's gotten better at expressing himself." Mrs. Murphy was proud of

                Fair's progress and although she wasn't a big believer in therapy she thought it had helped him. He liked structure even for his emotions, and therapy gave him the illusion of that. She knew one could never structure one's emotions but Fair's sessions helped him gain insight into himself.

                "I thought we were going to the Wrecker's Ball."

                "We are. I haven't changed my mind. You asked me at New Year's. As I recall you said, 'Plan ahead.' "