Probable Claws

46

February 24, 2017

Friday

Branches scraped against the handblown panes of the windows in Harry’s old farmhouse. Cooper, Tazio, Brinkley, Pirate, Tucker, Mrs. Murphy, and Pewter reposed in the living room. Well, the animals reposed, the humans sat in chairs with Tazio on the sofa, Brinkley glued to her.

“Just never ends, does it?” Harry glanced out into the early darkness as a branch’s high-pitched noise captured attention.

“A fire makes everything pleasant no matter what happens outside.” Tazio looked into the gathering night.

Cooper, hand on Pirate’s head as he sat by her chair, sighed. “You two nearly got killed. I’ve cussed you before and I’ll cuss you now.”

Harry defended both of them. “We had no idea. Admit it, neither did you.”

“We were closer than you think. The killer of both Gary and Lisa had to know their habits, which meant a close friend or a close coworker. We even hired a handwriting analyst to study people’s handwriting, including yours, and that opened the door a wedge.”

“How so?” Harry asked.

“The rental car papers for Enterprise. Remember the car left across from Legacy Market in the snowstorm? The papers were under a false name, false but with a really good counterfeit driver’s license. Raynell had incredibly well-made false papers for whatever she needed.

“We began to focus on her, Felipe, and the head of Nature First down in Richmond. Each of them had a work record that could be traced. Darla, Raynell’s real name, had a great cover. She really did work for other nonprofits.”

“So she’s a professional killer?” Tazio wondered.

“If she has to kill, she will. But she can root out whatever the company that hires her needs. She can also set up stings.”

“Like what?” Harry watched the flames edged in blue.

“Trap a rival executive or politician either with a drug setup or a gorgeous call girl. Obviously, she’s good at what she does. Born and raised in Des Moines, Iowa. How she got into this business…well, she won’t admit she’s in it.” Cooper shrugged. “They never do and their bills are paid by some of their former customers. If she takes the rap she will come out of jail even richer. Some system, right?” Cooper sighed.

“You have the 1984 files?” Harry wanted to know about the files, since she’d spent so much time going through the other years.

“Yes. September 19, 1984, by the Kushner project was a note, ‘E. E. missing for three days. Dinosaur bones found in his trunk. Disregarded as they were not human. Thrown away.’ ”

“Longer than his other notes.” Harry leaned forward. “Wonder why?”

“With Edward Elkins’s disappearance, I expect Gary realized Elkins’s gossip about Ali being killed may not have been gossip. Remember, Gary was fascinated by dinosaurs. Also he somewhat knew Ali, who died in 1983. An apparent heart attack, but so close to Elkins’s. He knew what those bones could mean for research and what it would mean to Rankin Construction or anyone hoping to build in Richmond. He got out while the getting was good. He didn’t tip his hand, but he must have gotten sloppy with Lisa. We’re hoping we can worm it out of Darla but she’s a tough nut.”

“The book?” Harry questioned.

“Brilliant. She brushed nicotine on the corners of the pages wearing rubber gloves before taking the book to Lisa’s office. In all my years of law enforcement this is the cleverest way I have ever seen to kill someone.”

“Bunch of bones. People are crazy.” Pewter expressed her opinion.

“People want to know about the past,” Tucker replied.

“Who cares? Doesn’t change anything,” the cat rightfully surmised.

“If humans understand something they feel better. Maybe they feel safer, even if they can’t control anything. They believe it helps them look into the future.”

“I’ve got news for them.” Pewter lifted her chin. “They’ll muck up the future no matter what they’ve learned about the past. They have no common sense.”

None of the other animals challenged this view, as there was some truth to it, but why let Pewter jump on her soapbox?

“Did you ever find the Ducati?” Harry would have loved to have that bike.

“No. What Rick and I think, especially after talking to the people who study organized crime, is this some form of highly organized crime? No, but Darla is part of a company, for lack of a better word, that destroys reputations and sometimes destroys people. We hope this may lead us to who those people are. We know they are enormously rich and they may be international. We strongly believe they also operate politically, ruining elected officials who might reduce the profits of their clients.” Cooper rested her hands on her knees. “The crime that gets reported in the papers is usually impulse crimes or crimes driven by drugs, lack of money, personal revenge, but drugs usually fuel most of what we see, that or alcohol. The truth is that crimes like this are thought out and carried out by highly intelligent people. It’s doubtful that Darla, smart as she is, came up with all of the plan. People higher up created it and, remember, this had to cover up the scientific treasure underground.”

“How can people stop building? Really?” Tazio questioned. “Ok, the area is incredibly important, not just for a short time, but as we’ve been reading at least two hundred and fifteen million years. There’s no easy answer.”

“No,” Cooper agreed.

“So millions really are at stake and not just this project but future projects. Have you thought that Rankin Construction did not act alone?” Harry was trying to put it together.

“It has occurred to us. State agencies will push into our research and future research, and so will the federal government. Our little county sheriff’s department is about to be overwhelmed by people who think they’re smarter than we are, but we cracked the case. Sean denies everything.”

“I did!” Pewter shouted. “I saved everyone!”

“So back to the Ducati.” Harry pressured.

“We think the bike was either bought or rented by the parent company, again for lack of a better word, and trailered here. Once Gary was killed, Darla drove it back to a rendezvous place or a garage used by the company, where it would be picked up. Again, clever. Almost impossible to trace especially if a dealership is owned by this company. They have fingers in many pies to cover their tracks. Certainly they have a ready supply of unregistered guns. A great deal of crime money is hidden in purchasing small or midsize companies. Sometimes they are silent partners. Sometimes they take the profits and run. The once-legitimate partner can’t report them.”

“We’re naive, aren’t we?” Tazio suggested.

“People have no idea of the extent of organized crime. One of the reasons they have so much money is they don’t pay taxes on the big money makers, like this type of operation or drugs, especially drugs. Not a penny goes back to the public, but if drugs, like alcohol, were legal, monies would be available for rehab. And people might be more willing to come forward for help. If they do so now, they’re a criminal.”

“That will be a hard sell.” Harry had mixed emotions about this.

“You’d think Prohibition would have taught us something.” Cooper sighed. “But Darla is a rich woman. She liked her work. She was good at it. Only a phobia saved you all.”

“God bless that spider,” Tazio murmured.

“The spider really was after me. Darla got in the way. A killer spider. You all are here because of me!” Pewter announced.

Pirate opened his mouth but Mrs. Murphy rubbed against the puppy’s chest to distract him.

“You’re right, Pewter,” Tucker lied.

“I solved the murder. Will I get any credit? Of course not.” Her whiskers twitched.

“Well, you solved who killed Gary and Lisa.” Harry half smiled at Cooper. “I can’t say that I feel good about this but I’m glad I know. Two wonderful, involved people wiped out because of money.”

“Money, power, sex, revenge, reputation.” Cooper sighed. “The usual. It’s almost always one of those.”

“What becomes of the scientific treasure under Richmond?” Harry wondered.

“We’ll never know.” Cooper shrugged. “That primordial swamp also runs under Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia, part of North Carolina.”

“Wouldn’t it be funny if a brontosaurus is under the White House?” Harry grinned.

“That would get everyone’s knickers in a knot.” Cooper used the old expression.

“Getting back to spiders, I read somewhere that spiders are one of nature’s most successful species. You are never more than three feet away from a spider unless you’re in the Arctic or Antarctica,” Tazio ruminated.

“Never fear,” Pewter boasted. “I fought a dinosaur spider, a giant spider with eight big legs and lots of nasty red eyes. I saved everyone. Me!”

Noticing the fire needed more logs, Harry rose, walked over to the special large brass kettle, picked out a log, and didn’t a spider, not huge but noticeable, jump off the log.

Harry, startled, recovered, tossing the log on the fire.

“A killer. Rabies. Save yourself.” Pewter shot out of that room at top speed.

The other animals laughed at the frightened cat.

The humans beholding the speedy exit, complete with sound effects, just watched.

“What gets into her?” Harry mused.

“You don’t want to know,” Mrs. Murphy and Tucker replied in unison, as the spider ducked into the bookcase.