The Litter Of The Law

“Four people taken away to the hospital,” said Harry. “What a Halloween.” She, Fair, and Cooper were sitting at the kitchen table.

“Buddy, Taz, Barry, and Neil—and Neil under guard,” growled Tucker, sitting on the floor nearby. “If I could have had just a little more time, I could have killed him,” bragged the corgi. Perhaps it was true.

Mrs. Murphy sat on Harry’s lap. “He’s blind in one eye.”

“If I’d been with you, I’d have gotten the other one,” said Pewter, in Fair’s lap.

Tucker laughed at her. “Chicken, you stayed in the truck.”

“I jumped in the bed because Miss Mona had a spell while tending to Barry,” Pewter explained, or tried to. “She used to be a nurse, you know, back in the 1950s, but it was too much for her.” The gray paused. “I had to help.”

While this was wishful thinking, neither Mrs. Murphy nor Tucker teased her, because Cooper was now telling the assembled humans just what had happened after the ambulances left.

“We walked into Mount Carmel, told everyone gathered there in the church to stay still, and we counted heads. Wesley Speer was missing. So we drove to the schoolhouse. No Wesley. Put out an alert and picked him up the next morning, boarding a 6:10 A.M. flight to Phoenix out of Dulles. Wesley admits to being an accessory for the first two killings. Said he opposed killing Tazio and Harry. When he heard the shots, he knew Neil was out there. He got scared and ran. He swears he tried to talk Neil out of it on their cellphones. Swears Neil threatened him. Said he turned into a maniac after killing Josh and Hester. Mind you, I take this with a grain of salt. He wants to save his own skin.” Cooper paused. “I told Rick we should give Dinny, Mrs. Murphy, and Tucker an award for service to the public.”

“Hey, hey, I helped Miss Mona.” Pewter put her paws on the table, which Fair removed, settling her back in his lap. “I did my part,” she insisted, vainly and in vain.

It was Monday morning, and Cooper had stopped by the farm before going to work.

“How’s Buddy?” asked Harry. “I don’t want to call Georgia. She’s got to be on overload.” Georgia was Buddy’s wife.

“He’ll be okay. Neil stabbed him in the back and must’ve thought he’d killed him, but Buddy is big, has a lot of muscle as well as fat, and the knife didn’t puncture anything vital. That deep wound will take time to heal, but he’ll be fine. He goes home today. He had no idea what any of this was about.”

“Did Neil confess?” Fair asked.

“Not so far, but his jaw is wired shut. He’s blind in one eye. One lung has collapsed. He’ll live. Can’t talk. We’ll get him to write answers to our questions once he’s not so drugged up. If he cooperates, that is. I expect he’ll lie like a rug.” Cooper smiled. “Mrs. Murphy and Tucker did as much damage as you did, Harry. I have never seen anyone run as fast as you once I caught sight of you in the hayfield. Go, girl!”

“Luckily I had my .38. It’s amazing what you can do when you have to.”

“Brave. And foolish. He had a gun, too.” Cooper admired Harry, even though her neighbor had once again taken a wild risk.

Harry shrugged. “So did Wesley say anything else?”

“He did,” said Cooper. “Wesley said they stood to realize between twenty to twenty-four million dollars if they could have developed that property behind Random Row. They thought they could get the schoolhouses and develop them, too.”

“But Buddy hadn’t agreed to sell,” Fair said. “Or had he?”

“He was weighing the options,” Cooper said. “They kept throwing money at Buddy and figured he’d cave at two and a half million. They’d pay the taxes. That’s a big chunk of change.”

“Sure is.” Harry’s eyes widened. “But why kill Hester and Josh? They hadn’t yet raised money or gathered people who might raise opposition.” Harry knew she would always miss Hester.

“One, they certainly would have done so. With Tazio on board, they would have been a formidable team. Hard to deny the worth of their cause. Each could make a strong argument for return of the schoolhouses and a portion of the lands. There goes the profit from a potential development. That didn’t sit well with Wesley and Neil, who were figuring they could snap those schoolhouses up, especially as the county tax base continues to shrink. Wesley said when we’ve reached the point where some factions start talking about selling off Yellowstone Park, anything is up for grabs. Neil and Wesley thought they could get the whole package by June of next year. They already had the money, and they removed their two greatest obstacles.”

“What matters to humans? Is it always money?” Mrs. Murphy wondered.

“Money certainly drove Wesley and Neil,” Tucker answered.

Cooper continued, “Wesley is already turning against Neil, obviously. He says Buddy was out there in the field because he was going to walk to Mount Carmel in costume to scare more people after the last wagon took off. I don’t believe it for a minute. Buddy says Wesley offered him another big sum for his land, Buddy refused, and Wesley threatened him. Wesley pulled a gun, Buddy deflected it, then ran out of the schoolhouse. Wesley, shrewdly, called Neil to intercept Buddy. At least that’s what I believe. If they killed him, the men figured they could break down Buddy’s wife by throwing money at her. After all, being a widow would probably have reduced her income. Wesley swears that when he heard the shots, he fled. He knew Neil had lost it. Once Neil can talk, we’ll have his side of the story.”

“Idolatrous capital,” Harry said, then noticed their blank stares. “Mother used to say that. People worship capital, money. Things are more important than people.”

“That’s nothing new,” Fair quietly said.

“Tazio and Harry really were the last impediments. Tazio might not have been, except they killed Hester. Tazio picked up the torch,” Cooper said. “As for Harry, Wesley knew she was on the trail and getting way too close.”

Harry said, “Taz’s okay, by the way. A knot on the head and the doctors think she might have had a slight concussion, so she has to be a little careful.”

“Barry will be fine, too,” Coop reported. “He said he heard the dirt bike, heard it stop somewhere behind him, but not close to him. He didn’t hear the footsteps, no surprise given all the screams. You know what I think about? They might have gotten away with it. They killed and dressed both Josh and Hester. Wesley says they did it to create confusion, make us think the killer was mad, nuts. But you know, I think they both got caught up in it, the theater of it. It became a high for them. Neil, getting arrogant, figured he could pull this off without too much trouble. Wesley says he tried to talk him out of it, but I doubt he tried too hard.”

Cooper exhaled. “Anyway, I expect they’ve brought about what they most feared. Once all this is out in the open, the public will clamor for Random Row to become a museum. The lynchpin will be Buddy. Will he give up the forty acres that used to belong to the Monacans?”

“Buddy usually does the right thing.” Harry stroked Mrs. Murphy’s soft fur. “I do think the animals should get something.”

“I’ll work on it.” Cooper smiled.

“You know what surprised me the most?” Harry suddenly said. “Neil and Wesley are Lutherans. Really.”

Fair burst out laughing. “Honey, I’m certain Lutherans have committed heinous crimes in the past.”

The humans laughed, then Pewter piped up, “Murphy, see if you can get them to understand you don’t want a medal. Tuna! We want tuna and catnip.”

“Or bones,” Tucker remarked.

“Tuna is better. You can eat tuna. Bones you just chew.”

“Pewter, who says I’m going to share?” Mrs. Murphy replied.

“Of course you will, because I am your very best friend.” Pewter purred this with uncommon sweetness.

The tiger cat and corgi just looked at each other.

Finally, Mrs. Murphy said, “If you promise to help Mom and Tazio fulfill Hester’s dream, save the schoolhouses and the land, I will share lots.”

Without hesitation, Pewter passionately agreed. “Of course I will. You know very well Mom can’t do anything without me.”