The Purrfect Murder

see anyone?”
Mrs. Murphy felt desperate, wanting to help Tazio because she liked the architect but mostly doing this for Brinkley.
    “Only other thing we found was the cigarette. We knew someone was in the house besides Melvin. But it’s nothing to us. And we have to be careful.”
    “Yes, you do.”
Pewter finally opened her mouth.
    “Why didn’t you tell us about the towel in the first place?”
    “I don’t put all my cards on the table first time I talk to someone,”
Randolph sensibly replied.
    “Thank you. You’ve been a big help.”
Mrs. Murphy meant that, but if Tucker could have carried the towel back to the truck, what a victory that would have been.
    It wouldn’t have proven Tazio’s innocence, but it would have been one more piece to fit into the puzzle.
    Once all were back in the truck, Harry closed the windows, turned on the ancient AC since the day had begun to warm, and drove away.
    “You know, buddies, Carla and Penny must have had some secrets worth killing for, but I can’t think of any beyond paying off Mike. And we don’t know that. Think. If he did take money, he wouldn’t have put it in the bank. Too obvious. If it was a sex thing, his word against theirs. He knows construction. I wonder if he’s hidden things, like the rat stuff Robert Taney showed us when we walked through.” She turned on the radio, low. “Maybe I’d better go over Tazio’s blueprints. And then, if there’s something in the blueprints that looks promising, maybe I’d better see if I can get into the houses. Course, if you know what you’re doing, you can create all kinds of hiding places.”
    “Why would he hide something at one of their houses?”
Pewter, like the others, felt disappointment over the towel.
    As if understanding the gray cat, Harry said, “He’d hide it in his truck or, more likely, his home.”
    Seeing Tazio’s state had spurred Harry onward.
    “I hope she doesn’t break into his house.”
Tucker’s brown eyes showed deep worry.
    “For once, I agree with her.”
Mrs. Murphy watched the road, looking for cats walking about houses or sleeping in windows.
“The stakes are high and Tazio is a friend. Whatever Mom does, I’m doing it with her.”
    Harry reached to the center of the bench seat. “Hey, where’s my Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup?”
    No one uttered a peep.
    At a stoplight Harry looked on the floor. If the animals had eaten her candy, the wrapper would be shredded. Not a trace. “I can’t believe that. Someone reached into my truck and stole my Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup!”

29
    S aturday, October 4, was glorious with sunshine and radiated with the first flush of color, which would peak in about a week. Oaks blushed orange, yellow, russet; maples screamed scarlet. Zinnias stood huge and colorful. Willows bent over in yellow.
    Herb called an emergency vestry-board meeting. The spectacular weather provoked him to keep a tight rein on it, because he wanted to be outside himself.
    At eight in the morning, Harry, Susan, Folly, BoomBoom, and Nolan Carter showed up, so Herb had his quorum. Mrs. Murphy, Pewter, and Tucker also attended, but the exhaustive discussion of the furnace choices drove the animals down the hall, the thick carpet pleasing underfoot.
    Elocution demonstrated how to hit the wall with four feet and do a flip. Cazenovia and Lucy Fur also performed this acrobatic feat, and Mrs. Murphy got the hang of it. Pewter observed but declined the opportunity.
    “Come on, Pewts, it’s fun.”
Mrs. Murphy hit the wall again, four clear pawprints on the light-beige paint.
    Pawprints covered both sides of the hallway wall, because the three Lutheran cats practiced their skills daily. Herb pretended not to see all the marks, because then he’d have to kneel down to clean them. He could bend down just fine. It was the getting up that ached.
    “Nolan, oil’s your business. I would expect you to vote for the oil furnace as opposed to a heat pump,” Herb genially teased him, although all were preoccupied with recent events.
    Nolan, whose waist was expanding but not yet fat, stroked a neat Vandyke, which looked good on him. “Tell you what, there are two sides to this issue. The first is always what is cost-effective over the long run. The second is what provides the most efficient heat.” He laid his palm flat on the big report that Tazio had prepared before the Poplar Forest fund-raiser horror. “A heat pump works great until it becomes bitter cold, down in the