The Purrfect Murder

wanly. “One way or the other. And she might be on to something about payoffs to our beloved building inspector.”
    “Ah, yes, Mike McElvoy. Actually, I look forward to poking around in his business.”
    “I do, too. Something’s rotten in Denmark.”
    “The king dies, the queen dies, Ham dies, they all die.” Cooper smiled, remembering the old joke about
Hamlet,
a play she didn’t like.
    She didn’t like Shakespeare, but if she breathed a word of it, Harry, Susan, Alicia, BoomBoom, Big Mim, even Fair, would be scandalized.
    “Come on outside with me for a minute. I need a nicotine hit before they get here. I have no idea why I am being treated to Big Mim twice in one day. More curious, she’s coming to me.”
    The two rose, walked down the narrow hall and out the back door. Rick reached into his shirt pocket, fetching a pack of Camels.
    “A black pack?”
    “Little different coffin nail, so the package is black. Actually, they’re pretty good. Want one?”
    Coop looked around like a criminal might before breaking and entering. “Yeah. Did I ever tell you about the time I gave Harry a cigarette and she smoked it? Funniest thing I ever saw.”
    “That was during the monastery case.”
    “Good memory.”
    “Susan’s great-uncle.” He thought a moment. “A good fellow. Shame about how he died. People.” He shook his head. “But then, if this were a crime-free world, you and I wouldn’t have a job.”
    “Not one so exciting.”
    “Except for the paperwork.” He winked at her.
    “Got that right.” She used the old expression with the correct intonation, a Tidewater lyricism.
    “This is a good cigarette. Burns too fast, though.”
    He replied, “Does. If I were a rich man I’d smoke Dunhills and Shepherd’s Hotel, but this is a good compromise. Some of the cheap stuff that’s out there.” He inhaled gratefully. “Don’t know how the French can smoke what they do.”
    “Or eat snails.”
    “I like snails.”
    Cooper made a face. “You would. Well, boss, if we start rooting around Mike McElvoy, we’d better do the same with Tony Long. Otherwise, we’ll frighten Mike more than we need to, and this way we can make it look like a department check.”
    “Authorized by whom?” Rick had to face the county commissioners.
    “By Carla Paulson’s murder. We can say we are working with the Bedford County Sheriff’s Department—no lie—and we need to check everything and everybody involved with her.”
    “Tony Long and Mike take different construction jobs.”
    “True, but that doesn’t mean if Mike were indisposed that Tony wouldn’t go out to the site to inspect. So we have to be fair-handed and check both.”
    “Sounds like a plan.” He looked up at the bright September sky. “Isn’t it something how the haze disappears come fall?”
    “Love that sky blue, that deep sky blue.”
    “Looks good on you.”
    “When did you see me in sky blue?” She was surprised.
    “July. You wore a T-shirt that color. I stopped by the farm.”
    She tried to remember and finally did. “Oh, yeah. The women’s magazines say men don’t remember clothes, details.”
    “Wrong. Men remember a lot. All that stuff is bunk. Anyway, I’m a cop. It’s my job to remember, and you look good in sky blue.” He stubbed out his cigarette. “Which women’s magazines?”
    Blushing slightly, she answered, “
Cosmopolitan
and
O.
”
    He grunted. “Helen reads them all. House is littered with them. I’ll give her credit, she reads my
Men’s Health
from cover to cover, too.” He crunched the cigarette butt again, for he spied a dim glow. “I think I have to accept that I am not going to stop smoking.”
    “Oh, you might.” Cooper put out her Camel. “I stick to one a day.”
    “From me.”
    “All right. All right. I’ll buy a pack just for you. After all, I have that five dollars I won from you. Want the black kind?”
    “No, I want Dunhills.” He grinned.
    Cooper’s eyebrows lifted. “Well, I do owe you.”
    A rap came on the door, then the front desk officer stuck his head out and said, “Herself is here, along with Junior.”
    The two friends and partners looked at each other. Then Rick held out his hand and Cooper swept through the door, as the young officer smiled devilishly.
    “Lucky man, boss. Twice in a day.”
    “Shut up, Dooley.” He smacked the young man in the stomach, hard and flat. “Working out.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “Well, try working the brain, too,” Rick kidded