She said: "I have a lot more to tell you, but I don't want to talk here." When they resumed their drive north he said: "Okay, let's have it. You and Fanny seemed to hit it off pretty well." "She thinks you and I are engaged, and I didn't dispute it because I wanted her to talk. It was really flattering, the way she took me into her confidence." "Good girl! What did she confide?" "Her method of getting what she wants. She manipulates people with big promises and little threats. She says everybody wants something or is hiding something. The trick is to find their weakness. I think she makes it a kind of hobby." "The little old rascal! That's the carrot-and-stick technique." "Of course, it works better if you have a lot of money." "Of course. What doesn't?" "She showed me a little gold pistol that she carries. That's to intimidate people. It's just a joke." "She has a quaint sense of humor. What did she say about Dunfield's murder?" "Oh my! She really hated that man. She got so mad I thought she was going to have a stroke." "Buck was the only one she couldn't manipulate." Rosemary giggled. "He accused her of growing marijuana In her backyard. Can you imagine that?" "Yes, I can."."About his murder, she said that people who play with fire can expect to get burned, and then she used some very bad language. I was shocked." Qwilleran smiled into his moustache. He reminded himself that Rosemary shocked easily.
"Such a nice little old lady," Rosemary went on. "Where did she pick up such a vocabulary?" "In New Jersey, probably." There was more to relate: about the library with four thousand leather-bound books, unread; the four closets filled with Aunt Fanny's spectacular wardrobe; the Staffordshire collection in the breakfast room, the envy of three major museums; the Georgian silver in the dining room…
"Stop!" Rosemary cried as they approached the turkey farm. "I'll run in and see if they have a dressed turkey. Then I can cook it for you before I leave." Qwilleran pulled into the farmyard alongside the inevitable blue pickup. "Make it snappy. It's getting close to seven o'clock." Alongside the row of poultry coops there was a metal shed with a sign on the door: Retail and Wholesale. Someone was moving about inside.
Rosemary ran into the building and in two minutes flat she was out again, carrying a bulbous object in a plastic sack. She looked green. She tossed the bundle into the back seat. "Get me out of here before I throw up! The odor was incredible!" "No one said a turkey farm is supposed to smell like a rose garden," Qwilleran said.
"You don't need to tell me about barnyards," she said indignantly. "I grew up on a farm. This was something different." She was unusually quiet until they reached the parking lot of the cabin. "I want to change clothes before they come," she said. "I feel like wearing something red." Qwilleran handed her the key. "You go in and start changing. I'll bring the bird. I hope it'll fit in the refrigerator." She hurried toward the cabin and stepped onto the porch. A moment later she screamed. "Rosemary! What is it?" Qwilleran shouted, running after her.
"Look!" she cried, staring toward the locked door. Dangling there was a small animal, hanging by the neck, the rope looped over one of the porch beams.
"Oh my God!" Qwilleran groaned. He felt sick. Then he said in astonishment: "It's a wild rabbit!" "At first I thought it was Yum Yum." "So did I." It was one of the little brown rabbits that gnawed pine cones near the toolshed. It had been shot and then trussed up in a hangman's noose.
Qwilleran said: "You go down to the beach and calm down, Rosemary. I'll take care of this." He wondered: Is this a threat? Or a warning? Or just a prank? Someone had come out of the woods on the crest of the dune — the thicket that the cats were always watching. Anyone approaching the cabin by stealth would come from that direction.
He left the sad bit of fur hanging there and went to the other side of the cabin to let himself in. Koko and Yum Yum came running in a high state of nervous excitement, dashing about without direction or purpose, Koko growling and Yum Yum shrieking. They had seen the prowler from their favorite window. They had heard the shot. They had smelled the presence of the dead animal.
"If only you could talk," Qwilleran said to Koko. A vehicle was chugging over the roller-coaster terrain of the driveway, and he went out to meet the visitors. His face was so solemn that Nick's happy smile faded instantly.
"Is anything wrong, Mr. Qwilleran?" "Let me show you something unpleasant." "Oh, no! That's a dirty trick!" Nick exclaimed. "Lori, come and look at this!" She gasped. "A poor little cottontail! For a moment I thought it was one of your cats, Mr. Qwilleran." Nick advised calling the sheriff. "Where's your phone? I'll call him myself. Don't touch the evidence." While Nick was phoning, Lori was on her hands and knees, crooning to the disturbed Siamese. Gradually they responded to her soothing voice and even played games with her golden hair, which she was wearing in two long braids tied with blue ribbons. Rosemary served raw vegetables and a yogurt dip, and Qwilleran took orders for drinks. Lori thought she would like a Scotch. "Watch it, kid," her husband warned her, with one hand covering the mouthpiece of the phone. "You know what the doctor told you." "I'm trying to get pregnant," she explained to Rosemary, "but so far we haven't had anything but kittens." Nick replaced the phone in the kitchen cupboard.
"Okay. The sheriff's coming. And I'll have a bourbon, Mr. Qwilleran." "Call me Qwill." They sat on the porch and enjoyed the tranquilizing effect of the placid blue lake. Koko, who was not inclined to be a lap cat, jumped onto Lori's lap and went to sleep.
"I'm not sure I want to stay around Mooseville," Qwilleran suddenly announced. "If I leave the cabin, and the cats are sitting on the windowsill, what's to prevent that maniac from taking a shot through the glass? This incident might be a warning. He might come again." "Or she," said Lori quietly.
Three questioning faces were turned in her direction, and Qwilleran asked: "Do you have a reason for switching genders?" "I'm only trying to be broadminded." "I suppose you know everyone at the Top o' the Dunes Club," he said to her.
"My wife knows everyone in the whole postal district," Nick said proudly, "including how many stamps they buy and who gets stuff in plain brown wrappers." Qwilleran said: "I know the Hanstables and the Dunfields. Who are the others?" Lori counted on her fingers. "There are three retired couples. And an attorney from Down Below. And a dentist from Pickax. Don't go to him; he's a butcher. Then there are two cottages for sale; they're empty. Another is in probate, and it's being rented to two very good-looking men." She threw a sly glance at her husband. "I think they're professors from somewhere, doing research on shipwrecks. The school superintendent from Pickax lives in the shingled house, and an antiques dealer lives in the one that looks like a boat." "That fraud!" Nick interjected. "And how about the people who own the FOO?" "Their place is up for sale. They lost it. The bank owns it now… By the way," she said to Qwilleran, "the homeowners on the dune are worried about the future of this property. Miss Klingenschoen said she might leave it to the county for a park. That would be good for business in Mooseville, but it would hurt property values on the dune. Do you know what your aunt intends to do?" "She's not my aunt," Qwilleran said, "and I don't know anything about her will, but if the subject ever comes up, I'll know what the local sentiments are." He was pouring the third round of drinks. "It doesn't look as if the sheriff's coming. He probably thinks I'm a nut. I called him about an owl the other night, and last week I reported a dead body in the lake, which everybody seemed to think was a rubber tire." Nick turned to him abruptly. "Where did you see this body?" "I was trolling and brought it up on my fishhook." Qwilleran related the story of the Minnie K with relish, appreciating the rapt attention of his listeners.