The Purrfect Murder

Mayor.”
    “Well, you don’t envy my job.” Jim laughed and slapped Fair on the back.
    It had taken years for Big Mim to realize that the exceedingly masculine Jim would remain, fundamentally, a working-class man. She finally reached the point where she rather liked that. She kidded him that they were beauty and the beast. Jim, being Jim, asked who was whom?
    Aunt Tally, silver-hound-handled cane in hand, had a date with a much younger man. Adolfo di Maso degli Albizzi was a count, although Italy no longer considered such titles. At eighty he looked dapper, and everyone called him Dolf.
    “Children.” Aunt Tally waved her cane.
    “My esteemed aunt wants your attention.” Big Mim smiled tightly as she nodded to Aunt Tally. “She’s on her second martini.”
    “We’re safe until the third.” Harry kissed Big Mim, then Jim, on the cheek.
    The two pushed through the resplendent crowd to the oldest couple there.
    “Signóra.”
Dolf bowed low, then kissed Harry’s hand as Fair kissed Aunt Tally’s.
    For good measure, Fair also kissed Aunt Tally on the cheek.
    “A triumph.” Aunt Tally beamed.
    “You, my sweet, are the triumph.” Dolf oozed Continental charm.
    “Go on.” Tally lifted her cane ever so slightly. “Isn’t this extraordinary? I tell you…well, I’ll tell you two things. One, that Tazio Chappars has a gift, a true gift. It’s all there—structure, proportion, color, and texture. As for Folly,” she glanced around, eyes glittering, “it would appear her organizing ability is as formidable as that of my beloved niece.”
    “That’s why Big Mim selected her for the job.” Harry wondered how often this would come up tonight.
    “I suspect she didn’t know quite how formidable Folly’s talents are.” She knocked back the remains of her martini, eyed the glass, then smiled broadly at Dolf.
    “Honey, what would you like?” Fair chose to accompany Dolf to the bar under the portico.
    This location proved to be the only flaw in the plans, because people could slip into the house. The bartenders had to keep calling them back. The one person whose task was to keep people out of the house was on overload. He couldn’t wait for the supper to begin and the bar to close.
    Being as tall and powerful as he was, Fair could run interference for the older, frailer gentleman.
    “Tonic water with a twist of lime.”
    “Champagne! Bring your bride champagne,” Aunt Tally commanded.
    Strolling flute, violin, and lute players walked among the crowd, as did serving girls bearing trays of delicious tidbits.
    Aunt Tally reached over as a college student, dressed in period, offered a tray. “Thank you, dear.”
    Harry shook her head no. She confined herself to regular meals and tried not to snack.
    “Are you going to dance the night away?” Harry smiled.
    “I was hoping for more, but Dolf would probably have to lash his member to a pencil.” The nonagenarian, almost one-hundred, popped the hors d’oeuvre into her lipsticked mouth.
    “Aunt Tally, you shock me.”
    “No, I don’t. I was doing it before you were born. Before Mim was born. By now I should be an expert, don’t you agree?”
    “Well…yes.” Harry burst out laughing.
    “Where is that man with my martini?”
    “Fighting the crows. Hold on.”
    Carla Paulson stopped by for a moment. “Aunt Tally, you remember my husband, Jurgen?”
    “So nice to see you, sir.” Aunt Tally extended her hand.
    He shook it, then repeated the process with Harry.
    Carla, with bracelets obscuring her arms, a huge necklace, and enormous earrings of white and black pearls with sprays of diamonds arching over them, presented a contrast to Harry, who appeared restrained. She was wearing her mother’s five-carat emerald-cut diamond ring, along with emerald-cut earrings at three carats each and a matching bracelet.
    The diamonds were perfect. Harry knew exactly how to wear jewelry even though she wasn’t much interested in it. She could never have afforded her mother’s diamonds, but once upon a time, before the Great Depression, the Hepworths, Harry’s maternal family, had money.
    Aunt Tally wore a diamond choker and two-carat drop diamond earrings, quite subtle but the diamonds were perfect.
    In Virginia, less is more.
    “Darling, you must get a safety-deposit box.” Aunt Tally smiled at Carla, who missed the point.
    Fortunately, before the old girl could further sharpen her tongue, Dolf and Fair appeared.
    Dolf performed the obligatory hand