"If Cooper thought you were in danger, she'd tell you," Susan sensibly reassured the architect.
"I'll cut to the chase." Harry opened the door, got out so she could stand face-to-face with Tazio.
This irritated Susan who now had to twist her neck and lean over even farther.
"What chase?"
"Did you sleep with H.H.?"
"Harry, I can't believe you asked me that!" The pretty woman's voice rose.
"No time to pussyfoot." Harry lamely defended herself.
"I can't believe it, either." Susan agreed with the disgruntled Tazio. "On second thought, I can. She's capable of anything including bad manners-rarely happens but she is capable."
"Come on, you all. Two people are dead. You're fretting over manners?" Harry crossed her arms over her chest.
"No." Tazio folded her arms over her chest, too.
"Then it was Mychelle." Harry leaned back against the station wagon.
"You don't know that." Tazio was again surprised.
"No, but that's my guess. A crime of passion."
"Anne Donaldson might have wanted to kill him but she's not the type." Susan gave up and got out of her car. "I don't believe it."
"Susan, why would anyone else want to kill H.H. and then Mychelle? There is no other motive. They weren't stealing money. We'd have seen it. People can't have money without spending it. Actually, this is America. We don't even need to have money and we spend it. So I can't think that's behind it. Drugs?" She threw up her hands. "What's left? Sexual revenge?"
"You can't jump to conclusions like that and really, Harry, you're usually more thoughtful," Susan chided her. "There could be other reasons. As I've said before, the murders may not even be related."
"What other reasons?" A frosty breath spiraled upward when Tazio spoke.
"I don't know. Someone could have made a bad business deal with H.H. Something we know nothing about, something even his wife knows nothing about. Maybe Mychelle had a boyfriend she crossed. The murders don't have to be related. There really are coincidences in this world." Susan put her hands in her pockets. "What if one of H.H.'s ex-girlfriends flew into a rage when he left Anne for Mychelle? Well, we think it was Mychelle. Why didn't he dump his wife for her, the ex, I mean? People do crazy things."
Harry stubbornly stuck to her guns. "If that's the case, then I am right. The murders are related."
As the humans argued, Brinkley proudly told the little pack in the station wagon, "I carry Tazio's plans. She doesn't have to get up from her chair. I can carry blueprints without making a tooth mark."
"What about slobber?" an unimpressed Pewter said.
"I don't slobber," Brinkley replied.
"Tucker does." Pewter felt like being a pill.
"I do not."
"She does not," Owen grumbled. "Corgis don't slobber."
"He's right. They nip your heels. Very big on herding." Mrs. Murphy wrapped her tail around her. It was growing colder in the vehicle. "Death from the ankles down."
Finally, Harry and Susan climbed back in the car.
"I'll see you at the board meeting. And Harry, how could you even think I would sleep with H.H.? I still can't believe you asked me that."
"He wasn't that bad looking."
"Not my type."
"Okay, I'm sorry. I was kind of rude."
"Kind of!" Susan exclaimed.
"Like you haven't done worse." Harry flopped back against the seat. "See you." She waved to Tazio who put Brinkley in the cab of the truck. Then Harry rolled up the window.
"I may have done worse to you but not to an acquaintance."
"I apologized."
"With no enthusiasm. I am taking you back to your truck. I am not driving you anywhere else. I will not risk more social embarrassment."
"Sure. Get your doughnuts and forget your best friend. I know how you are."
The animals snuggled up to one another, although Mrs. Murphy kept her ears cocked in case the humans said anything of importance.
"My advice to you is to concentrate on other things."
"I told you this was about sexual revenge. I'm going to tell Cooper, too."
"She'll be thrilled."
"You can be so sarcastic."
"Oh, and you are beauty, truth, and light. You're bored, Harry. When you get bored you get into trouble. I have half a mind to call your ex-husband and tell him just what I think."
"Of what?"
"Of you."
"You think I'm terrific." A raffish grin appeared on Harry's lips, glossy with lip protector.
"So modest."
"Don't call Fair."
"Make up your mind."
This was a subject of fruitful contention. Fair wanted his ex-wife back. She had forgiven him at last. They'd been divorced four years. She loved him but she didn't think she was in love with him one day and then the next day she thought she was.
Harry scrunched down in the seat. "Oh Susan, why is life so damned complicated?"
"It just is. Even here in Crozet. But you have to be fair, forgive the pun. If there's someone out there for you, go look. If you want Fair, then just do it. Get it over with. Take him back and make a life again."
"That's what everyone wants me to do."
"I never said I did."
"Actually, you haven't, for which I am grateful."
"Are you confused?"
"No."
"Then let him go if you don't want him. It will be easier than watching him fall in love without you letting him go."
Harry sat upright, her head sharply turning in Susan's direction. "What do you know that I don't?"
"Nothing. I really don't. But people can only wait so long. He's repented. He's been respectful. I don't think he will have another episode like the one that, well, you know. He got it out of his system." Susan held up her right hand for Harry to shut up since her mouth had opened wide. "Listen. I'm telling you what I observe and what I think. I'm not telling you to take him back. But make up your mind. Just damn well do it. Fish or cut bait."
Harry exhaled, blowing the hair on her forehead up. "I hate this."
"Oh, come on, it's not as bad as when your marriage broke up."
"That's true."
"We aren't getting any younger, you know. Forty sure draws closer."
"So what?" Harry replied.
"You're a pretty girl. You need a partner. Life is just better with the right person. I ought to know. I married Ned when I was nineteen, nineteen years ago, and it was one of the smartest things I ever did."
"Ned is pretty wonderful, although he may not be so wonderful once the campaign starts. Maybe you can paint on a smile."
"I'll manage."
"Guess you will. You usually do. But here's the thing, Susan. I can respond to other men. Remember when Diego from Uruguay visited here? He started my motor. If I can feel that way about another man I don't know if I'm doing the right thing getting tied down again. Maybe this time I'll be the unfaithful one . . ."
"Revenge?"
"I've been through the revenge fantasies. I'm over it. I'm even over not trusting him. I'm just"-she shrugged-"stuck."
"Love changes over time. It can't be like when you were first together. The fire burns more steadily. It's better, I think. If you're looking for that falling-in-love high, no, you won't find that with Fair. But what you have is genuine."
"There are advantages to getting back together permanently with Fair. He knows me and I know him. He has his work here and I have mine. I'm not leaving Crozet. I don't care how alluring another man is. I can't imagine not living here."
"Maybe you should take a year off? Rent the farm and live somewhere else. Just to experience it."
"I lived in Northampton, Massachusetts. College was great but I belong here, right here in dowdy Crozet."
"The town's not much," Susan agreed. "Of course, central Virginia is one of the most beautiful places on earth."
"Right, and think about this. Suppose I rented a place in-in-I got one, Montana? I haul my horses out there. I'm not living without my horses. I take the kitties and Tucker. To do what? Think great thoughts? I have no great thoughts. I don't even have medium-sized thoughts."