THE CAT WHO SAW STARS_

“Sure, I know the Zanders. When I worked for the sheriff, this was my beat. Your guy must be Mike Junior. Whenever I see Mike Senior, we laugh about something that happened a few years back. It was Saturday, and the boats had just come in. Summer people were buying fish on the pier. One stuffy old biddy from Down Below looked at the fish - some of ‘em still flopping around - and said in an uppity voice, ‘Are you sure they’re quite fresh?’ The crew laughed so hard, she left in a huff.”

“Those guys like a laugh,” Qwilleran said. “Their chicken-feeding float had everybody running for cover!”

“We had a good day for the parade, but what we need now is some rain.”

“You have to admit, though, that the dry spell has helped the mosquito situation.”

“I remember one year, the town council brought in colonies of bats to get rid of mosquitoes. They scared off the tourists as well.”

Qwilleran said, “Let me refresh your drink, Andy.”

“I think I could stand another.”

Yum Yum followed Qwilleran indoors to get a drink of water, and she looked at him so imploringly, he gave her a crumb of Gorgonzola. When he returned to the porch, Brodie was standing at the top of the sandladder.

“Your beach is a lot different this year,” he said. “What’s that burnt circle?”

“Some trespassers apparently had a bonfire before I got here,” Qwilleran said. “At least they didn’t leave any beer cans; that’s to their credit.”

Brodie gave Qwilleran a sharp look. “I hear you’re the one that found the body on the beach.”

“Well, if you must know… yes.” He refrained from mentioning Koko’s involvement. Brodie had heard about “that smart cat” from a detective Down Below but believed only fifty percent of it - and , that reluctantly. Yet both he and the prosecutor valued Qwilleran’s interest in certain cases and appreciated his tips. They also respected his insistence on anonymity. Brodie, for his part, was not above leaking police information if it would aid Qwilleran’s unofficial investigations. Little by little, a mutual trust had developed between the two men.

They sat in silence for a while, no doubt thinking of the same thing, until Qwilleran asked, “Were they able to identify the backpacker?”

“Oh, sure. He had an ID on his person - Philadelphia address - age twenty-five- no next of kin, but the name and phone number of a woman.”

“Homicide or natural causes?”

“Homicide hasn’t been ruled out… the coroner can’t determine the cause of death. They’ve flown the body to the state forensic lab.”

“That’s strange.”

“Stranger than you think. Everything points to the time of death as midnight last Friday, a few hours after he called at the Hawley house, but…” Brodie paused uncertainly. “There was no decomposition. Almost like he was embalmed. He’d been dead four days.”

“I should cut off your drinks, Andy.”

“It’s the God’s truth!”

“Does anyone have a theory?”

“If they do, they’re not talking. The State Bureau has clamped down… This is all between you and me, of course.”

“Of course.”

“And now I’ve gotta take off. Thanks for the refreshments.”

They walked through the cabin, Brodie looking for his Glengarry. “I thought I left it on the back of the sofa.”

They looked behind the sofa cushions and in other places where he may have dropped the cap without thinking. Then Qwilleran saw Yum Yum sitting on the dining table, looking guilty. “She’s attracted to small shiny objects, Andy. She pinched your clan badge! Let me look under the sofa.” A few swipes with a fireplace poker produced a brown sock, a yellow pencil, and the missing cap. Qwilleran offered to brush it.

“Don’t bother. I’ll just give it a couple of whacks.”

Qwilleran walked with him to his car, saying, “Remember the two gunshots just before the parade started? Did they ever find out who fired them?”

“Nope.”

“Did they ever try?”

“Nope. It worked, didn’t it? … How long do you plan to stay here?”

“About a month.”

“We’ll keep an eye on your barn.”

After Brodie had driven away, Qwilleran came to a decision: Koko would never give up the railroad tie as his pedestal, his perch, his rightful eminence. The sailboat sculpture would have to go on the fireplace mantel.

Late that night the three of them sat on the porch in the dark: Koko gazing at the constellations from his private planetarium, Yum Yum fascinated by the fireflies, Qwilleran thinking his thoughts. Brodie’s remark about the condition of the backpacker’s body piqued his curiosity. Tomorrow he would drive to Fishport to buy some of Mrs. Hawley’s home-bakes, express his relief that the fate of the young man was known, and find out how she and Magnus felt identifying the body.

-5-

Friday was a gala day in Mooseville, as vacationers and locals looked forward to opening night of the barn theater. Qwilleran had promised to review the play and would first have dinner at Owen’s Place; he wished Polly could be with him.