Braun, Lilian Jackson - The Cat... Who 04 - The Cat Who Saw Red by Braun Lilian Jackson

Author:Braun, Lilian Jackson [Braun, Lilian Jackson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Action Adventure Mystery & Detective
ISBN: 9780745108988
Google: a8SBS5RJhJYC
Amazon: 0788754882
Barnesnoble: 0788754882
Goodreads: 4212129
Publisher: Jove
Published: 1986-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

NINE

Before going to bed Thursday night Qwilleran telephoned the Fluxion’s night man at police headquarters and asked him to check for unidentified bodies dragged from the river in the last forty-eight hours.

Kendall called back with the information. “There was one,” he said. “Male. Caucasian. About sixty years old. Is that your boy?”

Qwilleran slept fitfully that night, and between his restless moments he dreamed about seaweed—great curtains of seaweed undulating with the motion of the waves. Then it became a head of green hair swirling in dirty brown water.

When he awoke in the morning he had a feeling that his bones had turned to jelly. He dressed wearily, ignoring the cats, and they seemed to sense that he was preoccupied; they kept out of his way. It was when he started downstairs for a steadying cup of coffee that he walked into the situation that stiffened his spirit. He met Robert Maus on the stairs.

The attorney stopped and faced him squarely, and the newsman saw that the black eye had faded to a banana-peel yellow. Maus gave the impression that he was about to say something momentous, and after a few long seconds it came out: “Mr. Qwilleran, do you, by any chance, have a moment of your valuable time to spare?”

“I guess so.”

They went to Maus’s apartment, a comfortable place done in English antiques and broccoli-green leather, with much polished brass and steel.

The attorney bowed and motioned Qwilleran to a Bank of England chair. “The matter I have to discuss,” he said, “concerns Mrs. Graham. I find it somewhat, shall I say, painful to approach you in this manner, and you must not, under any circumstance, consider this an accusation or even a reproach. However . . . a matter has been brought to my attention, signifying that a word with you at this time would not be amiss—in consideration of the apprehensions I entertain concerning what I humbly describe as . . . the respectability of this establishment.”

“What the devil is the problem?” Qwilleran demanded.

The attorney raised a protesting hand. “Nothing that could be termed—in any real and active sense—a problem, I assure you, but rather a situation that has been brought to my cognizance . . . and in apprising you of the fact I am seeking neither confirmation nor denial . . . my only interest being to maintain good relationships . . .”

“Okay, what’s this all about?” Qwilleran snapped. “Let’s have it!”

Maus paused as if counting to ten and then stated slowly and carefully, “Mr. Graham, whom you have met . . . is under the impression . . . that his wife received considerable financial aid from you . . . to make her departure possible. I am not, I repeat—”

Qwilleran jumped to his feet and walked impatiently across the Oriental rug. “How did I know she was going to run off? She was going to get a divorce. You know that as well as I do. And one of your legal buddies had his hand out for more than she could afford.

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