Jahnae, face ashen, hung up the phone. Trudy asked, What?
Jahnae exhaled. When the maintenance staff broke up the last of the manure piles, Mariahs remains were at the bottom. Fuji said her jewelry had not been stolen and she was fairly well preserved.
Oh, my God! But I thought she recently sent you a message! Trudy felt queasy. Did Fuji say how she was killed?
No.
Jahnae quickly pulled on her boots and a heavy coat. She blasted out of the building. She drove her car to the stables, cleverly blocking the stable road with it. That would keep the TV stations minivans back a bit. The reporters would walk around the car, but as far as she was concerned, every minute counted. She hoped the ambulance could remove the body, but she knew the sheriff wouldnt allow that until he felt his men had thoroughly investigated the site.
A bad wreck just west of Fulton on I-70 involving a pinned-down tractor trailer had occupied the only mobile news unit. This worked in Jahnaes favor. As the local TV station was small, they could afford only one unit. It would be some time before the reporters descended upon her. Even if the station pulled them off I-70, it would take a half hour to reach Fulton.
By the time the TV van did reach the stables, Mariah had been zipped up in a body bag and taken to the morgue.
Jahnae was pretty tough, but she didnt like seeing a corpse. She made a brief statement to a TV reporter, then walked back to her car.
Once back in the office, the first call she made was to Inez.
Inez, calm, collected, said, Do you want me to call the alumnae board? You have a great deal to do.
Inez, yes. Thank you. A pause followed. Although campuses are safer than most environments, they still reflect our society, and we are a violent society. I never thought Mariah would turn up here.
You can take comfort in the fact that this involves no students and that perhaps, in some way, Mariah brought it on herself.
Oh, Inez. Selling bogus watches isnt worth murder. Surely not.
Youre right. Inez sighed deeply. Im so very sorry for what you are about to endure. Ill help in any way I can.
I know you will, and I thank you in advance.
Inez first called Aunt Tally, who was stunned, then she informed Harry and Fair.
What can we do for you? Fairs deep voice and his tone brought the animals into the kitchen, where Inez had been using her computer on the kitchen table.
Bring me hot tea. Ive got to call the board members, and some of those calls will go on. She rubbed her temples. I dont understand any of this.
I told you!
Tucker sat right up.
Tucker, you said you smelled blood in the manure pile, but how could it have been Mariahs? Shes been emailing people. Dont jump to conclusions.
Mrs. Murphy, rational as always, rubbed her head on the dogs chest.
Missouri is a long way away. This has nothing to do with our people or Inez.
Pewter, on her haunches, wrapped her tail around her body.
Better stay a long way away,
Erno growled.
Anyone tries to hurt Mommy, and Ill rip their throat out.
Inez now had Liz on the phone, who was gasping in shock. Liz, Liz, are you there?
Sorry, Im just I dont know. Its unbelievable. She swallowed audibly, then spoke. Im both horrified and relieved.
I can well understand, Inez sympathized.
What next?
Tuckers pink tongue hung out.
I dont know. Im a cat, not a clairvoyant,
Mrs. Murphy replied crossly, for she hated not knowing things.
The humans were upset. The animals, whose senses were much sharper, their minds not cluttered with ideologies that screened or blunted reality, often knew things before the humans did. But they knew nothing, except for Tucker, who did truly smell blood in the manure pile. Whose blood was it?
A
velvet black sky, clear; the moon, close to total fullness, cast its silver spell at three in the morning on April 11. Mrs. Murphy paid careful attention to the moon phases. Full moons brought out many night animals. There was more activity than usual. This was true for humans, toohence the word lunacy, since luna meant moon in Latin. For thousands of years, sentient creatures understood that the full moon, the pull of the tides, affected minds.
Passover was this week. Mrs. Murphy knew about human benchmarks, mostly because she heard about them from her humans, but she thought cat holidays or major events should be on the calendar, as well. What about the cats that guarded grain supplies throughout history? Surely cats assisted in feeding the allied armies huddled before Waterloo, just to name one cataclysmic event. And what about the cats that kept Mark Twain, along with so many other great writers, thinkers, artists, and statesmen, company when they wrote? Then she considered the feline solace and advice given to kings and queens throughout history. It was true: Cats moved history.
She was having this discussion tonight with Simon the possum, up in the hayloft. A frost was already on the ground when Harry had put out molasses icicles before retiring at 10:00 P.M. Harry was usually in bed by then, but the terrible news about the discovery of Mariah had kept her restless.
Simon lived for sweetsmolasses icicles in winter and fat white marshmallows in summer. Harry also put out Jolly Ranchers for him. He had to peel off the cellophane. Harry would watch him and giggle. Sometimes the possum would look up at her as if to say,
Why dont you take the cellophane off?
Harry inspired confidence in animals; she had the gift. That wasnt to say that wild ones would come up to her, but they didnt usually run right away. Foxes would stop to stare, perhaps exchange a few words, which Harry couldnt understand. Birds, especially hawks, shadowed her, and Flatface, the owl, would often call out a friendly hoo hoo on sight.
At this moment, Mrs. Murphy was telling Simon about the blood of the lamb and the Angel of Death and how the firstborn in the house without the mark died. She was trying to explain Passover.
Oh, the poor lamb,
Simon commented.
Doesnt get much credit.
Mrs. Murphy snuggled in the hay.
On a night like tonight, when the thermometer read twenty-nine degrees, it was cold, but with a little hay around her, Mrs. Murphys thick fur and undercoat kept her warm enough.
Pewter, on the other hand, hated being cold. Currently the gray cat was sprawled full length on the sofa, the huge heavy logs Fair had put in the fireplace before going upstairs burning slowly. The fireplaces and the wood-burning stove in the basement went a long way toward reducing heating bills. They tried to keep the electric bills down by turning the lights on in only the room they were occupying. Harrys mother had drummed that into her head, and during her first year of marriage to Fair, Harry trailed behind him, switching off lights. When he saw the difference in the bill those eighteen years ago, he got the message. Today, the savings were much greater.
Mrs. Murphy, not born when Harry and Fair were first married, had heard about it nonetheless. Given the excellent state of her eyes, she didnt need much electric light, but that was when she realized that, while humans enjoyed good vision, their night vision was dreadful. No wonder they got scared, and no wonder their conception of evil
always involved darkness. Didnt they call the devil the Prince of Darkness?
Then what happened?