“I’ll take a Milk-Bone. Cold makes me hungry,” Tucker chimed in.
Cooper smacked the casserole onto a burner after spooning a lot out into a large frying pan. Frying anything pasta that had been cooked, to her, was better than eating a dish fresh.
“I feel faint.” Pewter flopped on her side, eyes imploring pity.
“Harry, you know where the treats are. I’d hate for your animals to perish in my house.” The tall woman laughed.
Harry opened the cabinet door, handed out enough to shut everyone up.
“Your husband is the best. I did manage to crawl down the drive last night, snow halfway up the wheels.”
“Lots of wrecks?”
“No. Surprisingly most people had the sense to stay in. I would have called you but no power, no phones, and my cell’s not working, either.”
“Neither is mine. Sometimes the weather is bad and the cells work. Other times not. I have no idea why.” Harry handed out a second set of treats then sat at the tiny kitchen table.
“First question. Do you remember how many of those file books, the big ones with the marbled exteriors, Gary had? The ones on the lower shelf.”
“A lot. Other than that, I don’t know.”
“Found the file books.”
“Where?” Harry sat upright.
“In a car, looked as though it had slid to the side of the road. With all the snow I wouldn’t swear to that. No driver. No personal items. It was a Yaris, a rent-a-car from Enterprise. The stuff was in the trunk.”
“Any name?”
“Yeah, the paperwork was in the glove compartment. Henrietta Bolander from Richmond had rented the car. Well, I hopped on that, holiday or not.” Cooper paused. “Her license was a fake and a damned good one.”
“Weird.” Harry pursed her lips. “You looked in the files?”
“Gloves on, I opened a box. Building codes. Like you said. We’ll need to go through all of the boxes just to be sure. A lot of building codes, I can tell you that. For just about any county in central Virginia and the counties around Richmond. Year after year. Dabney will go through it along with me once we can get to work. But I am not sure of the number of file boxes or books. Sure look like big books.”
“Easy. Once you’ve gone through everything, bring it all back to Gary’s office. We’ll put them on the shelf. If one is missing we’ll know.”
Cooper smiled. “You are so smart.”
“No she’s not. Neither are you. Humans just think they’re smart.” Pewter, full, jumped on a kitchen chair.
“I wouldn’t insult someone who just gave me a treat,” Mrs. Murphy corrected Pewter.
“O la.” The gray cat preened. “They don’t know what we’re saying. You can call a human a fat, disgusting pig. All they hear is a meow.”
It was on the tip of Tucker’s tongue to ask who was calling who fat. She thought better of it.
Harry asked, “Did someone have a key to Gary’s office or break in? That can’t be classified information.”
“No key. Whoever got in there had locksmith skills. Some marks marred the outside door, the metal surround also, but not much. They knew how to push back the tongue. Whoever this is knows things, practical things, and is bold.”
Fair knocked, opened the door. They’d heard him cut off the tractor a few moments before.
“Happy New Year.”
Cooper, dishing out casserole, said, “Happy New Year back. I’m feeding you your wife’s cooking. Bet you two are hungry now.”
“Cold makes you hungry.” Fair unwound his scarf, pulled off the heavy lined gloves, unzipped his Filson winter jacket, unzipped another layer under that. “The thing that gets me about winter is how long it takes to dress and undress.”
“We move like snails.” Harry smiled. “Coop, want help with that?”
“No, I’ve got plates. You can pour the coffee. Shenandoah Joe.”
“Sure smells good.” Harry rose, lifted the coffee pot off the burner, pulled down heavy mugs. “We’ve got some good roasting places now. Even Lovingston has one.” She named the county seat of Nelson County, southwest of Crozet.
Nelson, not a popular county, was growing like every other place in the area. The views of the Blue Ridge thrilled people. The counties north of Albemarle and east were growing faster than those south or west on the other side of the mountains. East lay Richmond. North lay Washington. People commuted. A few owned small planes, which certainly made for an easier commute if you could afford it.
Fair sat down, a plate put in front of him of hot casserole: fresh tiny potatoes, chicken, parsley, carrots, peas, tiny bacon pieces. Harry loaded the casserole up.
Pewter, chin on the table, worked her adoring but hungry look. Her long dark gray whiskers twitched forward.
Tucker, by Harry’s chair leg, whispered to Mrs. Murphy, “God, what a ham.”
“I heard that,” Pewter snapped.
“Pewter, be quiet or I’ll make you get off that chair.” Harry glared at her.
Pewter glared back but she did shut up.
Cooper told Fair about the file boxes.
“I vaguely remember those boxes in his drafting room. Beautiful, those old things, aren’t they? Now people stuff files in plastic boxes. They can’t have been too valuable, they were left in the car. Some people don’t even keep paper anymore. Everything is on the computer. ’ Course, they don’t think of days like today. No electricity. No satellite signal.”
“Fair, we don’t know if they were all in the car. I expect we’ll know this week as your wife has made the sensible suggestion that we take them back to his office, put them on the shelf, and see if any are missing.”
“Were they missing when you were there to see his plans?” Fair asked his wife.
“No, everything looked like always.”
He paused. “Someone came back. After Gary was shot. There must be something in them more valuable or dangerous than building codes.”
“That thought had occurred to me.” Cooper remembered she hadn’t put out napkins. “But we will search the office more thoroughly now.” She pushed back her chair, opened a drawer, pulling out nice paper napkins.