The Cat Who Dropped a Bombshell by Lilian Jackson Braun

Author:Lilian Jackson Braun
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Mystery, Adult, Humour
ISBN: 9780786273805
Publisher: Jove
Published: 2005-12-26T05:00:00+00:00

TEN

The newspaper published no edition over the weekend, but a deskman was always on duty in the city room, answering the phone and listening to the squawking of the police-band radio.

Qwilleran recognized the voice that came on the wire. “Is this Barry? Qwill here. Any trouble reported in the North Middle Hummocks? I just received a queer tip.”

“Yeah, the sheriff and his dog are searching for a missing person. Rabbit hunter. Probably some guy at a family reunion got lost in the woods.”

“Or got shot by another rabbit hunter,” Qwilleran said, thinking of Koko’s anguished howl.

“Ain’t it the truth, Qwill! Out where we live, there are so many rifle shots in the woods, come weekend, that it sounds like the Fourth of July. How they can avoid shooting each other is a mystery. . . . Hold it! . . .”

Qwilleran waited. But both he and Koko had the answers.

The cynical deskman came back on the line.

“What’d I tell ya? Another rabbit hunter bit the dust. Only ten thousand left. Gotta hang up.”

Qwilleran preferred not to picture the scene at the goat farm, and he regretted that his friends would be deprived of good news coverage. As for himself, his time and recording tape would not be wasted. He could write an anonymous description of an ideal family reunion, where all the adults are happy and all the children are well behaved and all the conversation is upbeat and all the food is delicious.

On the other hand, he could cut his losses and scrap his notes. He and Polly discussed it on the phone that night. She had worked at the bookstore so that her assistant could entertain visiting relatives. She needed to rest up before a busy Sunday: church, then lunch with the Rikers, after which they would go to the Big Burning show downtown, and then there would be Wetherby’s supper party.

Clarissa had dropped into the bookstore and was thrilled with her new job and looking forward to the pizza party but was worried about the health of Aunt Doris and Uncle Nathan. Clarissa wanted to return the valuable ring and explain the breakup with Harvey, but she could talk only with a housekeeper.

Qwilleran listened to it all with appropriate reactions but contributed no newsbites of his own. He merely said he would like to go into a trance on Sunday before switching identities with an imaginary nineteenth-century newscaster. He said he would see Polly at Joe’s party.

“À bientôt,” she said.

“À bientôt.”

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