The Cat Who Robbed a Bank (35 page)

He was striding for the exit, and Qwilleran was following.

Brodie was saying, "If you ever get married, Qwill, never be late in picking up your wife. We're a one-car family, now that we can't use official vehicles when off-duty."

Qwilleran consulted his watch. "You have two minutes to get to the church. You can make it, if you drive the wrong way around the Park Circle. Too bad you don't have a siren."

Brodie slid behind the wheel and said, just before driving away, "Stick close to your radio, I think there'll be news."

 

Qwilleran stirred the fire and added another log, which the Siamese appreciated. In removing the refreshment tray he noted that his guest had not touched the Brazil nuts—and neither had Koko. That meant that the case was closed, as far as the cat was concerned. He had lost interest in the yellow pencils,
Oedipus Rex
, and snapshots of the Highland Games. To Qwilleran that was proof that these were messages and not mere cat-play.

Sprawling in front of the fire he thought about other things and dozed lightly until a dull ache in the center of his forehead roused him. Koko was sitting on the arm of the chair, staring at him. He sat up, and Koko scampered to the feeding station in the kitchen. It was almost eleven o'clock: time for the news, time for the bedtime snack. While the cats bent over their crunchy treat, Qwilleran heard the WPKX announcer say:

"A woman alleged to have planned the robbery and murder of a Chicago jeweler in Pickax has been arrested as she boarded a plane for Rio de Janeiro, carrying large quantities of jewelry and cash. She had registered at the Mackintosh Inn as Pamela North and was posing as the victim's niece and assistant. Investigators say she tricked a local man, John (Boze) Campbell, into committing the crime. Using a number of other aliases, she has perpetrated similar schemes elsewhere. Her legal name is now known to be Harriet
Marie Penney. Campbell fell to his death early this morning in the shafthouse of the Big B mine, where he was in hiding."

"Penney? . . .
Penney
?" Qwilleran exclaimed. "Koko, did you hear that?"

"Yargle," Koko said between a yowl and a swallow.