Cat on the Scent Read Free Page B

far.
    â€œGood one, Harry.” Susan smiled. “Oh, that reminds me, the battle reenactment at Oak Ridge—you have to be there.”
    â€œNo I don't.”
    â€œYes you do, because Ned needs camp followers.”
    Ned was Susan's husband, a lawyer by trade and a reenactor in Civil War battles on weekends. The latter was becoming a passion.
    â€œSusan, I hate that war stuff.”
    â€œLiving history.”
    â€œI'll think about it.”
    â€œHarry . . .” Susan lowered her voice.
    â€œSusan . . .”
    â€œYou do it.”
    â€œTakes two women to keep your husband happy these days.”
    â€œThat's right, girlfriend. And I even have your costume.”
    â€œSusan, you're both nuts.”
    â€œYou'll look fetching in a bonnet.”
    â€œI'm not wearing period clothes—period!”
    Harry heard the distant, distinctive sound of the Porsche. “Push on, because Rick will be embarrassed if he gets back and finds you here. We don't want Blair to get a ticket.”
    â€œTell Blair that Ned expects him in the First Virginia.” That was the name of Ned's unit. The reenactors were fanatical about detail, down to the last button.
    â€œI will.” Harry kissed her on the cheek. Susan kissed air in return, then drove away.
    By the time the Porsche drove into view, Harry was back leaning against the squad car. A beaming Rick Shaw stayed behind the wheel.
    â€œYou deserve a car like that, Sheriff.”
    â€œI never drove anything like that in my life,” Rick said, his voice full of wonder. He wouldn't get out of the car. He was like a child at Christmas, sitting under the tree, fondling his favorite present.
    â€œI just had to have it.” Blair smiled. “Boys with toys, as Harry would say.”
    â€œHate to leave this baby.” Rick finally slid out from under the wheel. He walked alongside the front of the car, running his top finger over the curving, graceful lines. “Kind of like an egg on its side.”
    â€œYes.”
    Rick opened the creaking door of the squad car. “Blair, stay inside the speed limit.”
    â€œYes, sir.”
    â€œHarry, mum's the word.”
    â€œOkay.” She smiled at Rick, whom she liked even though he chided her about being an amateur detective. His word was
busybody
.
    He flicked on the radio.
    â€œCar 1. Car 1.”
    â€œCar 1,” Rick answered.
    â€œWhere you been, boss?” Deputy Cynthia Cooper's voice crackled.
    â€œSir H. Vane-Tempest's. His wife says Archie Ingram threatened her husband with bodily harm. H. pooh-poohs it. Said they simply had a disagreement over sensitive environmental issues.”
    â€œOh la!” Coop sang out.
    â€œSee you in ten. Over and out.” Rick started the motor and Harry backed away from his window. Rick winked at her, then pulled out, made a U-turn, and cruised back to 250.
    Blair folded his arms across his muscled chest. “Man fell in love before my very eyes.”
    â€œDoesn't everyone?” Harry enjoyed her double entendre, for Blair was stunning to the point of leaving women breathless—and a few men, too, for that matter.
    â€œHow about you, then?” He held open the driver's-side door, ushering her into the cockpit.
    Harry sat still, inhaling the rich leather smell as she reached for the key on her left. Blair closed the passenger door behind him.
    â€œReady, Eddy?” She turned over the key.
    â€œShoot the goose, Bruce.”
    â€œI never heard that.”
    â€œMaybe it's shoot the juice.” Blair laughed.
    She did and they roared into Greenwood, around the little town, and back to Crozet by every back mountain road she could remember.
    When they finally pulled into her driveway, Tee Tucker burst through the animal door of the house, then pushed open the screen door, happy to see her mother.
    Mrs. Murphy turned to Pewter, both of them reposing on the kitchen table, forbidden to them and therefore more