The Big Cat Nap

one one-thousandth of an inch. As for interiors, easier, but it’s all hideously expensive.”
    “So if someone like Walt were involved in this, profits could be made?”
    “Oh, sure. He’d be moonlighting, but, Coop, it’s a big jump fromnaked women to a side business restoring old engines. Then again, if you throw in the naked women, big profits.” Harry laughed.
    “I can’t imagine making love to anyone wearing a tool belt.” Cooper laughed loudly.
    “People have their ways. As long as they don’t hurt anyone.”
    “I knew you’d see things I didn’t. Could be the guy was just turned on by the, uh, mechanics. We’re hitting a wall in this investigation. I’m trying to think of all kinds of things. Like I told Rick, I have yet to question anyone who mourns him. Walt was a loner. Not that that’s a bad thing, but clearly he wasn’t a person with highly developed social skills. Everyone says he was a crack mechanic, and Victor Gatzembizi swore he was incredible.”
    “Victor’s a drag-racing nut. That can be as expensive as restoration. A top fuel dragster can cost about two hundred thousand dollars. Has to do the quarter mile in 4.9 seconds. Close to two hundred miles per hour.”
    “What do you think of Victor?”
    Harry shrugged. “I don’t know. Another rich guy with the trophy wife, big cars, big ego. He’s very generous to charities. Gave thirty thousand dollars for our five-K run to raise money for breast-cancer research. He’s always been nice to me, probably because I love cars.”
    Cooper turned off her computer. “My job is to not jump to conclusions. To keep an open mind and maybe, just maybe, to always remain a little suspicious.”
    “And?”
    “My instincts tell me Walt threatened somebody. Yes, the crime was especially violent, so a degree of passion may have been involved, but this guy set off a trip wire.”

T he odor of soil reached Harry as she walked down the alleyway behind Fresh! Fresh! Fresh! Ahead of her, three trucks unloaded produce. Vegetables were carefully arranged in sturdy wooden boxes covered by thin balsam tops with air slats—the source of the dirt smell.
    Box after box of unshelled peas, early kale, and lettuce that had survived the hard rains was placed on a conveyor belt taking the food straight into the back of the food market.
    One backed-up truck carried oranges, their startling color leaping out from the boxes’ slats. Harry couldn’t believe that was the natural color. The distinctive aroma of oranges reached her—not as strong as orange blossoms in the grove, but there was still a hint of that delightful citrus odor.
    No way were oranges ready to be plucked from the trees at this time of the year. Watching the boxes roll down the conveyor belt made Harry wonder where Yancy Hampton procured fresh oranges in May. She admitted to herself that just because they were out of season in the United States didn’t mean they weren’t organically grown in South America or wherever they might have been harvested.
    Still …
    She watched Evan Gruber, a distant acquaintance, back a new refrigerated truck to the second large open door.
    Evan waved as he caught sight of her. She waved back, then turned, retracing her steps down the alleyway. Everything she saw pointed to clean produce carefully handled. As to exactly the source of Yancy’s purchases, she had no idea, but watching his operation gave her a sense of how her own sunflower seeds and ginseng might be treated. Of course, she’d be the one unloading her produce. Why waste money having a middleman deliver it when she could do it herself? Now that she no longer ran the post office, Harry had the time.
    She missed that regular paycheck. As to the benefits of being a federal employee, she doubted she’d ever see them. Harry believed there was no money in the till. Her generation would be the one to truly find out that sorry fact. Anyway, once upon a time she had known just about everything going on in Crozet.
    On the bright side, now she could farm full time, her true love. And there were no bosses or rules or regulations to tell her and her animals how to get their work done.
    What troubled Harry now was that she received countless mailings from the Department of Agriculture, all with long forms to fill out. The State of Virginia also sent their share of paperwork. Her attitude was, she could either spend her time filling out forms or farming, and she’d rather farm.
    Watching the food being