Gaits of Heaven

It’s just that when I told Steve that there weren’t any squirrels there, he said it was impossible. And then he said something about... he said that it was impossible unless someone had killed them. But I’m not sure he was serious.”
    “Steve,” said Rita, “isn’t given to jokes about cruelty to animals.”
    “Of course not,” I said. “He just meant that it was impossible. But it isn’t. There are no squirrels there. No gray squirrels, no black squirrels, no squirrel damage. Period. No squirrels at all.”
    “Got it.” said Kevin.
    “Got what?” Rita demanded.
    “The point Holly’s making is that the place is some kind of Love Canal. It’s polluted with shrinks and drugs and dog urine. You gotta wonder why anyone’s left alive.”
     

CHAPTER 16
     
    When Steve got home that night, he was unhappy to find that I’d thrown out all the ice cream, and the next morning, he was even more unhappy to discover that I’d also tossed out all the bread and English muffins.
    “Why stop there?” he asked. “Why didn’t you get rid of all the butter? The jam?”
    “Because there’s nothing to put them on,” I said.
    “All of sudden we’re becoming vegans?”
    “We are not becoming vegans. It isn’t what we are becoming. It’s what we’re not becoming. And that’s enablers. If we have fattening food in the house, that’s enabling Caprice to eat food she shouldn’t eat.”
    “What about the rest of us? Are we supposed to starve?“
    “Fasting is au courant these days,” I said. “You subsist for days at a time on water, lemon juice, maple syrup, and hot peppers. Or maybe it’s chili powder. It’s supposed to cleanse your system.”
    “Are the dogs being subjected to this regimen, too? They—”
    “Of course not. All I did was remove temptation, and dog food isn’t exactly tempting. Except to dogs, of course. Look, Steve, it’s temporary. And it won’t hurt us. If we took in a stray dog, we’d do everything possible to meet the dog’s needs. This is exactly the same principle.”
    Leah’s response was identical to Steve’s. They made do with scrambled eggs and fruit. When they’d left for work, I reluctantly awakened Caprice. As I’d told her the night before, Kevin was going to arrive at nine o’clock to talk with her. That’s how I’d phrased it. The whole idea was that she wouldn’t be interrogated. When I’d broken the news that her mother’s death was being treated as a homicide, she hadn’t quite come out and said, “I told you so.” But she’d come close.
    Today, instead of staggering into the kitchen in her nightclothes, she first took a shower and got dressed, and when she came downstairs, her eyes were clear and focused. Without asking, I served her the same breakfast that Leah and Steve had had. As usual, she drank her coffee black. When Kevin rapped at the back door, she was still at the kitchen table.
    “Hi, Lieutenant Dennehy,” she said. “I’m glad it’s you.”
    “You make it sound like I’m gonna take out your appendix,” Kevin said.
    Caprice looked astonished. After a second, she laughed.
    Kevin informs me that modern guidelines for interrogation emphasize the importance of making the witness comfortable. In Kevin’s view, the authorities in the field have now acknowledged what he knew all along, namely, as he phrases it, that nervous people clam up. So, confident that I was contributing to the relaxed atmosphere advocated by law enforcement experts, I dug out the Dunkin’ Donuts coffee that Kevin likes, made him a cup, and served it with milk and sugar. The cream and the half-and-half had gone down the drain. As I was fixing coffee, Caprice asked Kevin whether he wanted to tape the interview.
    “I got a whatchamacallit, audiographic memory.” The smile on his big freckled face made it hard to tell whether he was or wasn’t lying. “But thanks for asking. Holly, you out of cream?”
    “Yes,” I said flatly. Then, having refilled my own cup, I took a seat at the table.
    “You out of dogs, too?”
    “Me? Never.”
    “Where are they? Or maybe Caprice is kind of fed up with them.”
    Caprice protested. “No! I like them.”
    “Leah and Steve took India and Sammy with them,” I said. “Rowdy and Kimi are in the yard. Lady is around somewhere.”
    “On my bed, I think,” Caprice reported. “She was the last time I saw her."
    Our dogs are not allowed on beds unless they are explicitly invited. Unfortunately, they are astute