The Big Cat Nap

money.” Cooper then pointed to Harry. “What really tipped you off? You were ahead of us.”
    “When Herb’s truck was declared a total wreck, I knew it had many years left. That’s why I went to the lot and pulled out the radiator.I knew it wasn’t right, because the drill holes to fit it had been altered. They were elliptical, and for that I thank Dabney Farnese. When he came to repair the John Deere, he told me about substandard parts for tractors, especially the holes. He said they were dead giveaway signs, because a substandard replacement part never fit exactly right. The holes had to be altered, and he said those alterations tend to be elliptical instead of perfectly round.
    “So that was it? My radiator.” Reverend Jones reached for a cupcake with thick vanilla icing.
    “But I became surer about my theory when I drove over to Haldane’s Salvage and Millie Haldane showed me cracked wheels, two of which were on Tara Meola’s Explorer on the lot for scrap. Safe and Sound uses Millie’s salvage yard. That lady knows a whole lot. By the time I left there, I knew, I just knew, but I couldn’t prove that Safe and Sound was behind it. If Tara’s Explorer had had true Ford wheels, there was a chance she might have lived when she veered off the road. The copycat wheels cracked.
    “And when Miranda went off the road, it was a wheel problem. She’d had that wheel replaced the year before.”
    “Where is Miranda?” Franny loved the older lady.
    “Choir practice. Her choir has been asked to sing at the swearing-in ceremony on the Fourth of July at Monticello.” Harry mentioned a moving event at Mr. Jefferson’s home, where people became American citizens.
    “What an honor.” Alicia smiled.
    “She has a solo, too. That beautiful, beautiful voice,” Reverend Jones added.
    “Why did declaring Herb’s truck a total loss alert you?” Franny was curious.
    “No investigation when a vehicle is declared totaled. My curiosity must have set off those two. They didn’t want me to go over the truck. I mean, Victor towed the Chevy out of St. Luke’s right away. I should have smelled a rat when he dropped off the WRX STI. He had a tracking device in the car. He knew my every move in that Subaru. I never imagined that. I was really dumb.”
    “Well, stubborn is closer to the mark,” BoomBoom said.
    “I was too dazzled by the WRX STI. It was easy to track me—you can watch a person’s movements on your phone GPS; hunting guys even get map printouts with their dogs’ trails overlaid on them. That’s what they did to me. When they knew I was in an isolated place where they could get me, they did. They’d obviously shadowed me to Millie’s and knew I was getting close to the truth.”
    Reverend Jones thought out loud. “Greed, one of the seven deadly sins. You might have been the fourth victim.”
    “Thank God my baby can drive,” Fair said. “She’s the NASCAR type.” He wiped his hand on the wet towel. “They never imagined she could control a car as well as they could.”
    “I could have told them that.” BoomBoom smiled. “Reflexes like a cat.”
    “Not even close,”
Pewter responded.
    The blue jay swept down on all those people at the table, making off with more delicious seeds from the tops of some muffins.
    “That damned bird!” Franny allowed herself a curse.
    Franny, who knew Millie Haldane, asked Harry, “What’d you think of Millie?”
    “She’s lonely, you know. She knows a lot. Cooper, I’d pay a call on her or use her for an expert witness once you have a talk with the prosecutor. Actually, I want to see her again, too.”
    “A real character.” Franny nodded.
    “Look who’s talking.” Susan giggled, then became serious. “Harry, I think our phone call to Vivien Bly tipped them off, too. I mean, tipped them off that you were getting closer. I bet she ran straight to Latigo and told him everything. We should have thought of that. Just because we know he’s a two-timing you-know-what doesn’t mean she doesn’t love him. Maybe she doesn’t know.”
    “She does,” Alicia said with conviction. “She’s going to stick by him; she’ll try to come up with alibis. Just wait until this goes to court.”
    “How can she do that?” Harry threw up her hands.
    Quietly, Reverend Jones replied, “How can she not? We havethousands of years of written history extolling women who put their love for a man before the common welfare. She was being a ‘good wife.’ ” He