Probable Claws

14

January 10, 2017

Tuesday

Crouching down at the chink in the back door of Gary’s office, Pewter whispered, “I know you’re in there.”

“That spider isn’t coming out,” Tucker advised.

“Why would you want her to? She’s big. Let her be.” Mrs. Murphy’s whiskers swept forward.

“So I can chase her.”

“Ugh,” the tiger replied.

“Look, we chase mice and they’re bigger than this spider.” Pewter felt bold because, of course, the spider wasn’t coming out.

“Mice have four legs. Spiders have eight. Gross.”

Tucker, agreeing with Mrs. Murphy, said, “She does have a point, Pewter. Eight legs. Too many legs.”

Pewter edged just a little closer to the chink, squinted. She could see the spider in there. Seeing the cat so close, the spider lifted her two front legs, the long ones. Pewter backed up.

As the animals discussed the merits of chasing mammals versus insects versus spiders, the three people in Gary’s workroom hovered at the drafting table.

Tazio pointed to the corner fireplace in the drawings. “The big wood-burning fireplace has the far outside corner, the small propane fireplace sits in the corner near the bathroom, smart. You need the steady heat by your pipes. He thought of everything.”

“Propane isn’t cheap. Prices go up and down. I can cut my firewood. Storms bring down branches,” Harry stated.

Tazio came back. “The cost of filling the propane tank will vary. Let’s say, since you have a big tank, fewer trips out for Tiger Fuel.” She named a local company. “Eight hundred dollars. Will that last the entire winter? Who knows? We’ve had bitter long winters and surprisingly short ones, but for the sake of argument, let’s say your winter propane bill totals sixteen hundred dollars. That’s a small price for unfrozen pipes, a small price for you to walk into the work space, which will be reasonably warm. You build a fire in the traditional fireplace and soon enough you can remove your sweater, inhale the wonderful aroma of a wood fire. You’re being perverse. You have a propane stove in the tack room and you told me you have one in the bedroom. Just do it.”

“She’s right.” Cooper nodded.

“Well, okay.” Harry knew perfectly well Tazio was right, just as she had known Gary was right. “So will you take the drawings, turn them into blueprints? And I am happy to listen to ideas you might have in addition to Gary’s.”

Tazio smiled sadly. “He was a mentor to me. Whatever I might suggest would be or will be something small, perhaps something decorative. How he wanted to build you La Petite Trianon.”

The three, silent for a moment, heard the animals at the back entrance. Brinkley, quietly attending to Tazio, rose to investigate.

“What’s going on?”

“Brinkley.” Pewter’s voice carried excitement. “I have trapped in the chink the world’s biggest ground spider. We need to get National Geographic here.”

The yellow Lab laid flat down, nose to the floor. “I can kinda see her.”

That fast the spider popped out, waved her forelegs at the big dog, scooted back in. The dog wiggled backward, scared.

“She’s dangerous,” Pewter warned. “I’ve been keeping her at bay.”

Mrs. Murphy and Tucker looked at each other. Best to keep quiet.

“Pewter, that spider’s almost as big as you are.” The kindly Lab complimented her.

“She doesn’t scare me.”

Tucker dropped her eyes. If she looked at the fat gray cat, she would burst out laughing, and then the fur would fly, literally.

Tazio, noting that her dog remained in the back room, craned her neck. “Something’s going on.”

“Well, three of those freeloaders are mine. I’ll check.” Harry walked to the back room, door half open.

“I have a monster trapped. The world’s biggest spider. And she has multiple eyes, too!”

Looking down at the gray cat, Harry remarked, “Your tail is puffed up.”

“Make her think I’m big, too.”

“You are,” Tucker slyly commented.

“Careful,” Mrs. Murphy said quietly.

Brinkley, innocent and sweet, asked the puffed-up cat, “How do you know the spider has multiple eyes?”

“When she gets close to the opening, the light shines on her eye. Little red dots. Oh, it’s creepy.” Pewter pronounced judgment.

“I don’t know what you all are doing back here, but if there’s pawprints on the walls or worse, big trouble. Big trouble.” With that, Harry turned on her heel to join her friends. “They’re fussing about something. I can’t see a thing.”

“Political argument, I’m sure.” Tazio laughed. “Everybody else is having them.”

“Taz, the animals are too smart for that.”

“You’ve got me there,” Tazio replied as she searched for a big round tube in which to place the large drawings. “For now should I leave the work he’s done for Galbraith and Ix? The notes of Nature First’s offices? The original drawings Lisa’s coming for?”

“Yes.”

They heard a knock on the back door, then it opened. Lisa Roudabush called, “Cooper, I’m here.”

“Don’t take another step. You will be attacked by a rabid spider!” Pewter warned.

“Harry.” Lisa spoke loudly. “Your gray cat is having a fit.”

Harry walked into the back entrance. “Pewter, you’re big as a horse. What’s the matter with you?”

“You’re lucky I’m here. I have the killer spider at bay.”

“Spiders don’t get rabies,” Mrs. Murphy coolly corrected a large Pewter.

“This one does! That’s why her eyes are red. Her eyes should be black.” Pewter made it up as she went along, growing ever more emotional.

“Come on, Lisa. Walk past her.”

“Well…all right. I’ll be glad when Pirate is full grown. He can go first.”

“Ha. Even when Pirate is full grown I will terrorize him. Death to spiders! Death to dogs!”

As the two women walked into the large room, Mrs. Murphy advised, “There are two dogs here, Pewter. You’ve insulted them.”

“Tucker and Brinkley are the exception that proves the rule,” Pewter proclaimed.

Tucker turned, walked into the big room followed by Brinkley. “Sorry, Brinkley, she’s so rude.”

The yellow Lab smiled. “I pay her no mind. She’s mental.”

Mrs. Murphy tagged after the dogs.

Lisa asked Cooper, “You said I could take our drawings, right?”

“You can. We have what we need.”

“I’ll grab another tube. Lisa, your drawings are already rolled up on the bookshelf.” Tazio pointed to the middle shelf.

Lisa picked up the Nature First designs, pausing to look at the snow globes, rubber dinosaurs, trinkets. Her eyes scanned the large squared spaces.

“A file box is missing,” Lisa noticed.

“Did you ever read his files?” Cooper asked.

“No, but I wondered about them,” Lisa replied. “Big and heavy.”

“One is missing,” Cooper admitted. “We have no idea where it is or why it’s gone.”

“Odd.” Lisa took the proffered tube, placing her rolled-up designs in it.

“You never looked?” Cooper pressed.

“No. He said they contained building codes, year by year. As long as he knew what was in them, that’s what matters.”

A howl from the back entrance sent them to the room.

“She attacked me! Jumped right in my face. I’m lucky to be alive!”

“Where is she now?” Mrs. Murphy sensibly asked.

“The bathroom. She’s holding the door shut, I know it!”

Harry, beholding a dramatic Pewter, suggested, “I don’t know what’s going on back here but let’s go into the big room. Come on, Pewter!”

Tucker slyly whispered, “I bet the spider has the missing file.”

Cooper wanted a better look at the weather so she peered out the window in the back door. “Slush. And it’s going to freeze.”

“We’re better off with snow.” Harry half believed that, then quizzed Cooper, “You never said if you found anything interesting in his desk.”

“Why would I? Nothing but bills, inquiries. One letter from his old employer informing him about the hearings in Richmond over the Kushner Building. He was part of the project. Nothing electrifying.”

She continued. “All right, ladies. Let’s pick it up and let me lock up. We’ve got about an hour before the sun sets and everything will freeze in a heartbeat. You all go home.”

“What’s your shift?” Harry usually knew but, thanks to the weather, county employees were all on different shifts now, the sheriff’s department doing extra duty.

“Off at seven.”

They each got into their cars. Before Cooper could pull away, Harry got out of her Volvo station wagon, tapped on Cooper’s window.

“Left my reading glasses on the drafting table.”

“Yeah. Yeah.” Cooper got out, unlocked the office door, walked in with Harry as Mrs. Murphy, Pewter, and Tucker, noses to the car window, observed with displeasure. Why were they left in the car?

Harry snatched up her reading glasses, put them on, walked over to the shelves.

“You rarely put on your reading glasses in public,” Cooper tormented her.

“You, Taz, and Lisa are not public. And guess what, Smarty, it will happen to you.”

“Come on, I need to get back to HQ.”

“One little minute.” Harry read the bio of Gary’s great-great-grandfather under the sword on the wall. It was a small square under the impressive man’s photo. “I never took the time to read this. You don’t think this could be related to the fact that his great-great-grandfather was a Confederate soldier?”

“No. He’d need to be sitting on a statue for that.”

“Very funny.” Harry took a moment to look down at the returned files then up to the small trove of treasures, the large tooth, the heavy globes, a few old antique hand tools, the rubber dinosaurs.

“Harry!”

“All right.”

The answer to Gary’s death was staring them right in the face. There was no way they could have known.