Nine Lives To Die

“I thought we’d never get out of there.” Harry stretched her legs as far as she could in the Volvo station wagon.

With the windshield wipers on high speed, Fair drove at thirty-five miles an hour. “If we’d stayed until midnight and rung in the New Year, we’d have been there until three in the morning. For one thing, people trying to get out of the parking lot, loaded as they would be, we’d never make it. We’d be stuck.” He half laughed. “There were some happy people.”

“I swear, some of it is the relief that the holidays are over.” She peered into the darkness, snow falling harder. “We’ll be home right about midnight. No way you can drive fast in this stuff, and no way the road plows can keep up with it.”

“I just want to get home before someone else knocks over a telephone pole.” He checked the gas gauge. “We’re half full. Hours sitting at idle will wipe that out.”

“True.” She smiled. “What do you think of Father O’Connor?”

“I like him.”

“If he or Father O’Brien heard a confession from a killer or the killer, would he keep it to himself?”

“Yes. They have to, honey.” He squinted into the darkness ahead. “Do you think he knows more than he indicated to you?”

“I hope not, but I believe the root problem is at St. Cyril’s.”

“That’s a depressing thought.” He slowed for a curve. “Rats.”

Harry leaned forward as she saw the flashing lights. “Looks like we can eventually get by.”

That eventuality took a half hour. A car had slid off the road. Half was in one lane, and while there wasn’t much traffic, cars began to form a longer line waiting for the police cars to get out of the way. By the time the Haristeens chugged down their driveway, it was 12:30. They’d heard the bells, whistles, and firecrackers earlier while waiting in the car.

“It’s going to be a good year,” Fair wished.

“Don’t we hope that every year?” Harry smiled as they approached the barn, and the headlights flashed on a gruesome sight. “Fair, what’s that?”

Harry jumped out of the car as soon as Fair came to a stop. As she wore her cowboy boots, she slid in the snow, her feet moving in opposite directions. Down she went.

Fair reached her as she managed to get on all fours. Putting his hand under her armpit, he hauled her up.

The two of them approached the barn doors.

Margaret’s eye sockets, filled with snow, stared back at husband and wife.

“It’s the skeleton from the tree!” Harry felt the cold enveloping her feet.

“Missing part of an arm.” Fair brushed snow from his eyelids. “I never thought we’d see this again. I never wanted to.”

Tucker charged out of the house. “Flo and Cletus. Old truck. We came out. I barked.”

Surfing through the ever-deepening snow, Mrs. Murphy joined her corgi friend. “They didn’t touch anything, go anywhere. Just leaned these bones against the door.”

“Let’s go inside, honey.” Fair, hand still under Harry’s arm, walked his wife to the porch, animals stepping in their prints.

“Fair, shouldn’t we move that person inside?” Harry fretted.

“No. Whoever that is can’t feel a thing. Let Cooper handle this. We can enter the barn through the back doors if she can’t get here until later tomorrow.”

Inside, good coats off, Harry sat down to remove her cowboy boots. Her throbbing feet were cold and wet from the snow. The boots weren’t made for this weather.

One eye open, Pewter called from her bed, “It’s almost one o’clock in the morning. Whatever and whoever is out there, nothing you can do about it now.”

“Fair, I should call Cooper despite the late hour. We don’t want a repeat of last time, when someone took the skeleton.”

He dropped in a chair. “All right.”

Harry called Cooper, who had just crawled into bed after a long day and night. “Harry, are you all right?”

“I am. Cooper, I’m so sorry to call you, but the skeleton is back, leaning against my barn door.”

“I’ll be right over.”

Fifteen minutes later, the animals rose from their beds as they heard the tires of Cooper’s Highlander crunching on the snow. Harry and Fair, knowing the keen senses of their friends, pulled on snow boots, heavier coats, hurried out to greet the weary deputy.

Tucker accompanied Harry and Fair. Mrs. Murphy walked to the back of the barn, lifting her paws high after each step.

The glow of the Chinaman’s light and the falling snow created a surreal scene.

“This is no way to start the New Year,” the tall officer said and sighed.

As Cooper investigated the bones without disturbing them, Mrs. Murphy checked to see if Odin had eaten the latest leftovers. He had. Trotting back to the front of the barn, she sat under the eave, a bit out of the falling snow, watching.

“Let’s go inside,” Cooper suggested.

Once there, she called in to the dispatcher, herself half asleep. “I know no one can get out here now, but put it on record that I called you at quarter to two, January first. Have someone call me on my cell when a team can get out here. We don’t want to lose this evidence one more time.” She ended the call, looked at her friends. “In my head, I keep hearing that song, ‘How Bizarre.’ Great song.” She rubbed her eyes.

“What can we do to help you?” Fair asked.

“Let me sleep on your couch. If anyone comes down your drive, Tucker will tell me.”

“I will. I will,” the dog promised.

Pewter turned up her nose. “Tucker, you’re so obsequious.”

“You think I don’t know what that means?” Tucker cocked her head.

Noticing the glares and raised hackles, Harry stepped in. “Don’t you dare. Both of you.”

Fair, sheets and blanket in his arms, walked into the living room.

“I’ll do that,” said Harry. “You stir up the fire.” She smiled at her thoughtful spouse, then focused on Cooper. “I’ll bring you a robe. I really hope whoever did this doesn’t come back.”

As Harry finished up making a bed on the sofa, she reminded Cooper she could stay in the guest room.

“I know, but it’s at the back of the house. Short of sleeping in the barn, I want to be as close as I can. Just in case.”

Tucker settled down near the fire, Mrs. Murphy curled up next to her. Pewter remained in her cushy bed in the kitchen. Why go too far from her crunchies?

“Good night, Cooper.” Fair headed down the hall.

“Night and thank you,” she replied.

“See you in the morning.” Harry paused for a moment. “No matter what, Happy New Year.”

“Happy New Year to you, too. All signs point to an exciting one!”