“Cooked the ham yesterday.” Harry settled in next to Cooper. “And I took off the bracelet you found in my tack room. Sets Flo off. If we find her, that’s the last thing we need.”
The animals stayed in back with Fair.
Cooper had called in to headquarters to inform the dispatcher that her neighbors were helping her search for Flo Rice. As it was a holiday, and the department was on skeleton crew, the dispatcher offered no resistance. That was Rick’s territory anyway. Why disturb him at home on the holiday?
“What did Esther say about Flo?” asked Harry. “I assume she’s who declared her missing.”
“Not much,” Cooper replied, pushing out from the driveway. “She’d spoken to her sister last night, and apart from being surly, Flo didn’t seem any worse than usual,” Cooper replied.
“Think it’s senile dementia?” Fair wondered.
“Who knows? They can be hard to handle,” Cooper said. “Sometimes Alzheimer’s patients can be difficult, too. They’re confused, more are frightened, others become angry. Many of them resist, and the last thing you want to do is jack up some old person against the car. I’ve had them take a swing at me. Fortunately, their reflexes aren’t that good. It’s fairly easy to get out of the way.”
At Flo’s house, they found the door unlocked and her car gone. Her dog wasn’t there either, and the fire in her fireplace had gone out. The place was cold.
“Let’s restart a fire real quick,” Fair said, on his knees by the fireplace. “Her pipes will freeze.”
“Fair, she might not be coming home.” Harry expressed a dark thought.
“Maybe so, but if she does, she ought to at least walk into a bit of warmth on Christmas.”
Cooper looked through the rooms. “No tree. No cards. How sad.”
Harry sighed. “That it is.”
Fair quickly got the fire going, replaced the fire screen, and they left.
“Has anyone seen her car?” Harry asked.
“We put a call out, license plate number, but so few of us are on duty. Esther did mention that she told her sister to visit Cletus. She should say ‘Merry Christmas’ to someone. It may be that Esther hoped someone else would deal with Flo for a little bit.”
“I know just where Cletus lives.” Harry gave directions to Cooper, who didn’t mind. “Fair and I were students of his in high school.”
Fair rummaged through his pockets. “If we call on Mr. Thompson, shouldn’t we give him something for the holiday?”
“Susan and I dropped by goods from the church. That will have to do.” Harry turned to look at Fair sitting in the back.
“He’ll see us. That’s a treat,” Pewter smugly answered.
When they reached Cletus Thompson’s house, Harry noticed the drive had been shoveled out.
The three humans walked to the front door, cats and dog behind them. Fair knocked.
In a few moments, Cletus opened the door and smiled. “Harry, Fair, come on in.”
Harry, ever mindful of her manners, introduced Cooper. “This is Mr. Thompson, Deputy Cooper. Mr. Thompson, she’s our friend and neighbor.”
“Come on, come on in.” He motioned for them to step inside. “Dog and cats, too. My old dog, The Terminator, is asleep in the kitchen. They can go visit.”
While the aroma of whiskey clung to Cletus’s clothing, he seemed sober enough.
“Mr. Thompson—” Cooper began.
“Deputy, call me Cletus, and please sit down. Makes me nervous to see you all standing. Sit.”
Tucker, on her way to the kitchen, sat, then realized the order was not for her. She rose and padded into the kitchen, warmer than the spare front room.
Cooper took a seat and started anew as the old wing chair wobbled a little. “We were wondering if you’ve seen Flo Rice.”
“No. I hope she’s all right.”
“We do, too,” Cooper continued. “She’s just taken off. Her sister said they spoke last night. They haven’t been getting along, and now she can’t find Flo. She mentioned that you all were friends.”
“I don’t get to see enough of Flo, but she’s a good girl. She and Esther haven’t gotten on for years now. They used to be close, but”—he shrugged—“don’t really know what happened. Once Esther got married, they drifted apart.”
In the kitchen, the three animals spoke to the old dog. Half blind, mostly deaf, he lifted his age-spotted nose to sniff. Fortunately, he had a thick curly brown coat, which helped him stay warm.
“Who’s there?”
“I’m Tucker,” the corgi shouted. “And I brought two cats with me, Mrs. Murphy and Pewter.”
“If you crawl on these old towels with me you can wiggle in and it’s warmer,” The Terminator offered.
“Thank you,” Mrs. Murphy replied. “We’re only here for a short visit. Our humans are visiting yours.”
“That’s good. Cletus is alone too much and I’m slowing down,” the little dog forthrightly said. “I’m not long for this world. I don’t want him alone.”
“We hope you’re wrong,” Tucker shouted.
“Thank you, but I might as well accept it.” His milky eyes looked out from under shaggy brows. “See if you can’t get your people to pay visits to him.”
“We will try,” Mrs. Murphy replied. “Was anyone here in the last day or so? Flo Rice?”
“Not a soul.”
“People think Flo is difficult, crazy,” said Tucker. “What do you think?”
“Angry maybe, but I don’t think she’s crazy. At least when she comes here, she and Cletus talk about old times and current stuff.”
“We hope we see you again.” Mrs. Murphy listened as the adults stood up in the next room.
“My pleasure. It’s nice to talk to someone who knows what you’re saying.” He chuckled.
Once back in the Highlander, Cooper called in to see if anyone had found Flo’s car. No one had.
“Did anyone check the morgue?” Harry asked.
“I called them before I called Esther Toth. Let’s pray she’s still among the living.”
Fair, Pewter on his lap, put his hand on the back of Harry’s seat. “Have an idea. Go to the old Valencia farm.”
“Where’s that?”
“In Free Union. I’d tell you to go the back way, but I don’t know about the roads being plowed out. Plus, there’s that bridge construction.”
They drove all the way round to Hunt Country Store, hung a left, and drove through rolling white acres, many fences wrapped with garlands, and almost every gate bore a boxwood wreath or evergreen with roses of red berries.
“Used to be hunt country. That’s why the store is called Hunt Country Store,” Harry mused.
“Now it’s Dollar Country.” Fair laughed. “Give them credit, most of them buy a horse or two, but the land’s all chopped up. Happening everywhere, really.”
“Bet you can still find acreage at a bargain in Tornado Alley.” Cooper was referring to that part of the Southwest and Midwest frequently slammed by the killer storms.
“Yeah.” Fair leaned back in his seat, much to the comfort of Pewter. “Some wonderful country out there, good hay country, cattle, and good people, too.”
“Never met anyone from those parts who’s a lazy slug,” Harry chimed in.
Cooper thought for a moment, then said, “You know, when people first move here they think southerners are lazy.”
Harry and Fair laughed, then Harry said, “Well, so they do, until the first sticky, hot day they try to work the way they can, at their speed, up north. They drop like flies! No one can beat southern heat. You have to pace yourself and work with it.”