Without thinking it through, Addie answered, "About two thousand. He'd have made good on it, you see, because he took a kilo from Linda and Will—"
"A kilo!" Harry exclaimed.
"Yes, he thought he could sell it off after cutting it and make a lot of money." Addie realized she'd let the cat out of the bag. "Don't tell Rick Shaw or Deputy Cooper!"
"This could have some bearing on the case," Mrs. Hogendobber replied sensibly.
"Then why hasn't anyone mentioned the kilo? Where the hell is it? Whoever killed him probably carted it away and is further enriching himself." Harry threw her hands in the air, disgusted that Addie would hold back something so vital.
"I have it." Her voice was small.
"You what?" The humans and animals said in unison.
"My God, Adelia, you're crazy. People have killed for less than a kilo of cocaine, and you know that Linda and Will will be on your tail soon." Harry was emphatic.
"They already are." She put her head in her hands. "I put it in my big safe deposit box at Crozet National Bank when Nigel asked me to help him out. No one else knows. The sheriff from Orange County and Rick combed through his truck and his quarters. Nothing. Clean. Linda knows the cops haven't found the coke. She wants it back."
"I'll bet she does!" Harry exploded.
"She says she'll blackmail me if I don't return it. She says nobody will believe that I'm not in on the drug sale, and if I accuse her, it's her word against mine. She says that if I give her back the coke, that will be the end of it."
"So why do you need the hundred dollars?" Miranda picked up the refrain.
"For gas for the dually and for pocket change. I'll drive the coke up tonight. I haven't any spare money because I've been paying off money I owe Linda"— she paused, thinking—"over a horse deal."
"How much? Really, how much?" Tucker and Harry both asked.
"Uh . . ."A long pause followed. "As of today, one thousand and fifteen dollars."
"Good God, Addie." Harry sank into the chair that Pewter had vacated when she was offered the Haute Feline. She knew instinctively that Addie owed Linda Forloines on her own drug tab. Addie was lying to her.
"Pretty stupid, huh?" She hung her auburn head.
"Box of rocks." Harry made a fist and tapped her skull.
Miranda's imposing figure overshadowed the two seated young women. "This is foolishness and will lead to more pain. 'As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly,' Proverbs twenty-six eleven."
"I resent that," Tucker barked.
"Gross," Addie said.
"I am not giving you one hundred dollars. And we're calling Rick Shaw right this minute."
"No! He'll tell Arthur, and Arthur'll tell Chark. They'll get the damn trusteeship extended. I'll never get my money!"
"Your mother's will is your mother's will. It can't be broken," Miranda told her.
"Maybe not, but they sure can drag it out. It's my money."
"But you've got to give the sheriff this information. You've got to get out before you get in too deep—you've already aided and abetted a felon."
"Coty Lamont was on cocaine too, wasn't he?" Mrs. Hogendobber inquired.
Addie nodded.
"For all we know, Addie, you deliver that kilo and you'll wind up with a knife through your heart." Harry sighed.
"I can't tell Rick," Addie wailed.
Miranda lifted the receiver from the phone as Addie bolted for the door. Tucker tripped her and Harry pounced on her.
"Let me go."
"Dammit, Addie, you're gonna get killed. You give Linda and Will that kilo and you'll be in business with Linda for the rest of your life. She'll bring you horses. She'll want special favors. If you're lucky, she'll take the kilo and blow town. If she stays ..."
"If you're not lucky, cement shoes," Pewter matter-of-factly stated.
Rick Shaw, being an officer of the law for all his adult life, never expected people to tell him the truth right off the bat. The truth, like diamonds, had to be won by hand, by pick, by dynamite.
His anger when he heard the dismal story at the post office was not so much provoked by Addie's withholding information, although he wasn't happy about that, as by the way she had foolishly placed herself in jeopardy. He also made a mental note that Mickey Townsend had drastically downplayed the amounts of money Nigel and Coty owed him. He had never mentioned Addie's debt at all.
As soon as he dismissed Addie, after taking her back to his office for a full disclosure, he and Cynthia Cooper hopped into the squad car. He'd taken the precaution of calling the president of the bank, advising him not to let Addie into her safe deposit box. It could be opened only in Rick's presence.
"Did you call Culpeper?" Cynthia asked in shorthand, meaning the sheriff of Culpeper County.
"Uh-huh."
They drove in silence. When they reached Dr. D'Angelo's place, Romulus Farms, Sheriff Totie Biswanger was waiting for them.
"Gone," was all he said.
"Both of them?" Cynthia asked.
"Ey-ah," came the affirmative. He pointed to their cottage on Dr. D'Angelo's farm.
"Neat as a hairpin. Nothing moved. Clothes in the closet. Food in the refrigerator."
"Kind of funny, ain't it?" Totie folded his arms over his barrel chest and stared at his shoes.
"They dropped the whole damn thing!" Fair's radiant face underscored the happy news.
Harry had encountered him at Mim's, where she'd gone to deliver an express package. Mim and Chark Valiant, also on hand, were nearly as excited as Harry was at Fair's news.
They were all gathered at the barn, where Mrs. Murphy and Tucker nosed around. Rodger Dodger and Pusskin were nowhere to be found.
"Well, let me have a look at Royal Danzig," Fair said. "Didn't mean to talk so much."
"Oh, he can wait another minute. Once we get down to business, we'll forget to ask the details." Mim invited them into the tack room.
"Where's Addie?" Fair asked.
Mim, who knew, said nothing for Chark was in the dark about his sister's unholy mess. Another request of Rick Shaw's.
"She called from Charlottesville," Chark answered. "Said she was tied up and didn't know when she'd be back."
"Oh, okay." Fair grabbed a cup of coffee. He'd been up since four o'clock that morning because of an emergency at a hunter barn. "As near as I can make out, or as much as Colbert Mason wants to tell me, he contacted my accuser, Linda Forloines. She claimed he entirely misunderstood what she had said. She was furious he'd even think that and she had no intention of bringing charges against me. So that's that." He sat in the comfy old leather chair and immediately regretted it because he knew he wouldn't want to get up.
"Typical," was Mim's reply.
"She's not worth talking about," Chark added.
They all knew Linda's modus operandi. She'd act as though she had inside information, she'd hint, intimate, change the inflection of her voice to convey the full weight of her words. This way she could say that people misunderstood her, implying there must be a problem with you if you could even think such a thing.
"Well, let me take a look at Royal Danzig." Fair forced himself out of the chair.
They walked down the beautiful center aisle and Chark pulled the flashy guy out of his stall. As Fair ran his hands over the horse's legs, Rodger Dodger, fresh from patrolling the paddocks, sauntered into the barn, his beloved Pusskin by his side.
"Royal, what's the buzz?" the old ginger cat asked.
"Kinda tender on my left leg. I think I put a foot wrong when I was turned out in the paddock."
"Hope it's nothing serious," Rodger politely replied.
"Me, too, I want to go to Camden."
"Rodger, how you been?" Mrs. Murphy called out when she heard Rodger's voice. She and Tucker had been in the tack room. It smelled so good and was toasty warm.
"Murphy. Hi, Tucker," Rodger said as Pusskin murmured her greetings.