Tall Tail

Saturday, July 30, 2016

Although the mercury climbed up to ninety degrees by one in the afternoon, the humidity hung at thirty-seven percent, quite unusual for Virginia in the summer.

On scaffolding, Harry and Fair started painting the outside of the equipment shed at seven A.M. Using rollers on long poles, they made quick work of it, each painting on a different side, then both painting across the broad back of the shed. The low humidity helped considerably.

Back on the ground, they stepped away to study their handiwork.

“Looks brand-new,” Fair bragged.

“I wouldn’t go that far, but it does look good. We’ve still got to trim, remember, bright white.”

“Well, that can wait until tomorrow. I need to shovel an avalanche of paperwork.” He draped his arm around her shoulder. “Tell you what. If you put the paint away, clean the rollers, I’ll make lunch. I might surprise you.”

“You just did.” She smiled. “I’m assuming you want to leave the scaffolding stand?”

“Yeah, we can knock out the trim tomorrow. I don’t see the point of painting the interior support beams, do you?”

“No, the barn swallows will just poop all over them. I don’t think there’s a building on this farm except for the house that doesn’t have barn swallows. I love to watch them dart about.”

Sitting nearby in their nests for an afternoon, two couples heard Harry.

The oldest male, Luciano, puffed out his chest. “But of course.”

The younger male, shoulder to shoulder with his mate, remained silent. No point in adding to Luciano’s statement. That the bird’s name was Luciano already broadcast how he felt about his singing abilities.

Closing the five-gallon paint cans, Harry carefully tapped all the way around them with a light hammer. She’d paid good money for this exterior paint and she wasn’t going to waste any of it. That task gave way to setting the rollers in sharp-smelling cleaning fluid. Harry used only oil-based paint for exteriors. Cleaning rollers and brushes was indeed a time-consuming chore, but she never repented of her commitment to oil-based paint. She didn’t care what the paint companies said about latex, she thought oil-based better, especially for exteriors.

Swishing around the rollers, she then lifted them out, swished some more, then dried them, hanging them upside down in the shed. Harry poured the fluid into a can used for that purpose and closed that lid. Vigilant about anything she thought could damage soil, creatures, or plants, she never tossed out oil, diesel fuel, gasoline, paint thinner. She found uses for them or let them dry up in their containers.

Every outbuilding had a frost-free pump, either inside the wall or outside. At the equipment shed she stood outside and washed her hands, the flow of water gushingly strong.

A female barn swallow swept past Harry, climbed high, then dived straight at her, turning at a right angle at the last minute.

“Whee!”

Harry ducked her head back which encouraged the beautiful bird to show off even more. By now the female barn swallow was joined by Luciano. The two of them put on quite a show, adding a bright chirp now and then. Harry laughed. She loved all the creatures on her land. Well, maybe not chiggers and ticks, but she even liked the snakes. She learned from other animals.

Finished cleaning up, she entered the kitchen.

“You did make lunch.” She sat down. Before her was a huge Cobb salad, as well as a large glass of untea, unsweetened iced tea.

Proud of himself, Fair sat opposite her.

Before they got the forks to their mouths, Tucker rushed to the door, signaling a visitor. She didn’t bother to bark, which meant a friend was here.

Harry half stood up. “Coop. If there’s not enough, I can split my salad. It’s so large.”

He rose. “Sit. I’ve got enough.”

“She’ll say she’s not hungry.”

Fair laughed. “We’ve heard that before. You can wear her down.”

“I could use some of that bacon.” Pewter lifted her nose.

“Me, too,” Mrs. Murphy and Tucker agreed.

Coop knocked on the screen door, opened it, then walked through the kitchen door. “Sorry to barge in.”

“You’re not barging in. Sit down. There’s enough for all.”

“No, no, I couldn’t do that,” Cooper demurred.

Fair placed a large bowl on the table, towered over her and she was relatively tall. “Sit down.”

He then brought over a napkin and utensils. “Sweet or unsweet?”

“Uh, sweet.”

She speared an egg slice in the salad, each person enjoying the cold food. Tucker sat by Fair, Mrs. Murphy took Harry, and Pewter felt she could work over Cooper.

“The shed looks great,” Cooper remarked. “One of these days I’ll paint mine.”

“We’ll do the trim tomorrow,” Harry informed her. “The best part is the day was bearable. If you stand out in the sun it will get you, but we painted the unshaded side first, early. Wasn’t bad.”

“It’s a good day.”

“And this is a good salad by my talented husband.” Harry smiled.

Cooper stared at Fair. “You know, you make me believe having a husband is a step forward.”

“Depends on the husband.” He laughed. “And I can still pluck her last nerve.”

Pewter reached up to pat Cooper’s leg. “What about my nerves? Smelling that delicious ham, bacon, and even the cheese rattles me. I need some food, your food.”

Of course, Cooper dropped a thick piece of cubed ham.

“Don’t spoil her,” Harry admonished her neighbor.

“And you don’t?”

“Well, she can be a pest,” Harry rejoined.

“Here, Tucker, you’re behaving like a good dog.” Fair dropped an egg slice.

“I am a good dog.”

Harry gave Mrs. Murphy a ham cube, which Pewter eyed, deciding not to start a fight.

“Are you wondering why I’m here?” Cooper asked.

“No,” Harry replied.

Cooper sipped the delicious tea. “Not even a little bit?”

“You’re our neighbor,” Harry said. “What’s to wonder?”

“Can you tell me if you noticed anything odd while working with Rae and her crew? An offhand remark, perhaps she mentioned that things have gone missing before. You notice things, undercurrents.”

“They were all very professional. What I did notice when I first went to the office to discuss what I needed were the posters on the wall and small framed photos of some of the work. I assume it was some of their work. Rae also showed me other websites, mostly farms, business ones, and some campaign websites from last year.”

“Did you notice equipment on a table or shelf?” Cooper asked.

“I did. All the sound equipment was stacked on a table and the big keyboard was on the desk in the middle of the room. Why?”

“None of the expensive equipment was touched. The robber or robbers were interrupted by Deon returning. He came in the front door and whoever went out the back.”

Harry whistled. “There’s a fortune in equipment there.”

“Which is why I doubt the motive was robbery.”

“Had to be something recorded by Rae’s crew,” Harry mused. “I have a suggestion. I’ll be willing to help, let’s sit down with Rae, Deon, and Bethel and review footage.”

“Why can’t we just look at it on our computers?” Cooper wondered.

“We can, but that’s the final edited website version. Perhaps there’s something compromising, something not on a final version.”

“Well—” Cooper was thinking.

“It could be something tiny, maybe a line of cocaine on a far table, the outline of a still in the distance near water, a poached deer, you know, out of season. It could be anything, but whatever it is, if there is something, it might offer a clue.”

“Normally, I’d say that’s far-fetched. This is an attempted theft.” Cooper inhaled deeply again. “Rae’s company specializes in websites for farm products, Thoroughbreds, local and state political campaigns. I suppose it can’t hurt to take the time.”

“Maybe whatever it is could cost someone a job, money, maybe an election,” Harry wondered, as did Fair, leaning forward in his chair.

“Rae is a Democrat, not wildly liberal, but more liberal than her customers,” said Coop. “And I didn’t know this, but these Web people as well as advertising agencies are divided up by party. Charlottesville is a liberal Democratic town; all those videographers were already on the party payroll. Well, not the party, but anyone running for office from the area used certain people. Being a fairly new business, Rae took what she could get. She was so good she wound up shooting websites for those nonliberal candidates.”

“Did Ned tell you that?” Harry inquired about Susan’s husband, Albemarle County’s representative to the state legislature.

“No. Rae did. But talking to Ned is a good idea.” Maybe he’d have an idea of what might be hidden on the missing tapes.