Lilian Jackson Braun - Cat 14 Who Wasn't There

"Exactly! To be fair, though, I should say that not all the landlords were villains; some of the old families tried their best to help their people, but overpopulation and old-fashioned farming methods combined to keep the crofters in a state of near-starvation." "What happened to them when the sheep took over?" "They were driven off the land and forbidden to hunt, fish, or graze livestock. Their pitiful crofts were burned before their eyes." "Where did they go?" "They were sent to live in destitution in big-city slums or in poor coastal villages. Many were transported to North America, and that's another story! They were exploited by ship owners and sent to sea in leaky tubs overcrowded and without sufficient food and water... I shouldn't be telling you this; it shoots up my blood pressure." The two men wandered around the waterfront and watched the fishing boats coming in, surrounded by screaming seagulls. Crewmen in yellow slickers were slinging prawn traps onto the wharf, laughing and joking.

Facing the docks were freshly painted, steep-roofed cottages huddled in a row, with flowers around the doorsteps and seagulls on the chimney pots. Some of the cottage windows had cut-off curtains that allowed cats to sit on the window-sills. Lyle said, "The Scots today are nice people--sociable, hospitable, and slyly witty--but they have a bloody history of cutting throats and pouring molten lead on their enemies.

" They lunched at a pub before returning to the inn. There they learned that Melinda had checked out and was on her way to Glasgow in a hired car, leaving a message: "Don't feel bad about my giving up the rest of the tour. This is my responsibility as Irma's friend and physician." Lisa reported to Qwilleran, "Polly and I packed Irma's belongings to ship home. Polly's all broken up. She's in her room, saying she doesn't want to be disturbed by anyone." "I guess that means me," he said. For him the death of their leader was an excuse to phone Mildred Hanstable and inquire about the Siamese.

They were often on his mind, although he refrained from talking about them to anyone except Polly. Grace Utley showed pictures of her teddy bears to anyone who sat next to her on the bus.

Nevertheless, Qwilleran often looked at his watch, deducted five hours, and visualized the cats having their breakfast or taking an afternoon nap in a certain patch of sun on the rug. He wondered how they were hitting it off with Mildred. He wondered if they were getting fat on her cooking. He wondered if they missed him. When he telephoned Pickax, it was eight o'clock in the morning, their time, and Mildred had heard the news of Irma's death on the radio.

"They didn't give any details on the air," she said.

"There'll be more in the paper when it comes out, I hope." "It was a heart attack. She'd been under a lot of stress. Conducting a tour is a big job for an amateur guide--with a bunch of Moose County individualists in tow.

The obituary will probably be in today's paper. Please save it for me... How are the cats behaving?" "We get along just fine! Yum Yum is adorable. When I'm quilting she sits on the frame and watches the needle go in and out. Koko helps me read the tarot cards." "If the Siamese were humans," Qwilleran explained, "Yum Yum would win prizes at the county fair, and Koko would discover a cure for the common cold... Is he there? Put him on." Mildred could be heard talking to the cats. There was a faint yowl, then some coaxing, and then a louder response.

"Hello, Koko!" Qwilleran shouted.

"How's everything? Are you taking care of Yum Yum?" It took the cat a while to understand that the voice he knew so well was coming out of the instrument held to his ear, but then he wanted to do all the talking, delivering a series of ear-splitting yowls and even biting the receiver. Wincing, Qwilleran shouted, "That's enough! Take him away!" There were sounds of scuffling and arguing, and then Mildred returned to the line.

"There's one unusual thing I'd like to report, " she said.

"Last night while I was quilting, I heard an unearthly howl coming from one of the balconies. Koko was in my bathroom, howling in the shower.

It made my blood run cold. I went up and talked to him, and finally he stopped, but it really gave me a scare.

" "What time did it happen?" "Between nine-thirty and ten, when that crazy DJ was on WPKX. I turned off the radio, thinking Koko objected to the program." "I don't blame him," Qwilleran said.