Frenzy

More accurately, he would be on her arm. Alexis was what the current flock of society journalists called a cougar. Qui

—Cat, Pearl thought. The woman looked and moved more like a cat than any human she’d ever seen. She gave Pearl the creeps.

“Please do sit down,” Alexis said, gracefully gliding to the side. She motioned toward a sitting area defined by a large Persian rug, matching cream-colored sofas, and easy chairs. One wall of the vast penthouse was glass, affording a stu

Looking as if any second she might pause and arch her back, Alexis moved to a small mirrored table. She opened the drawer and drew out a handful of glitter.

Pearl and Qui

Alexis glided over and showed them the two bracelets.

“They’re beautiful,” Pearl said, staring at the glinting clear diamonds and gleaming rubies.

“But they’re imitations.” Alexis pointedly turned her attention to Qui

“Tell me how it was stolen,” Qui

Alexis recounted how some blond woman had piled into her parked limo, yammering and pretending she’d made a mistake and entered the wrong vehicle. Black limos looked so much alike. Oh, she was always screwing up. “Bad girl! Bad girl!” she had actually said.

During all the apologies and confusion, she’d switched purses.

“She apologized a dozen more times as she clambered out of the car, and left me with an imitation Gucci purse containing an imitation Cardell bracelet,” Alexis said. “Later, my actual purse was returned to me by the postal authorities. Someone had dumped it in a mailbox. Either the person who stole it, or someone who found it after the thief had disposed of it. Miraculously, it still contained all its contents, and something else—what appeared to be the Cardell bracelet. Closer inspection revealed it to be almost worthless paste, yet another imitation.”

“Somebody went to a lot of trouble,” Qui

Alexis Hoffermuth nodded sagely. “People will do that,” she said, “for a lot of money.”

“But it’s an odd way of stealing,” Pearl said.

Alexis stared at her as if offended. “Why? It caused confusion and misdirection, bought time, and by now the crooks might be in some other country, toasting their success and each other.”

“Or that might be what they want us to think,” Qui

Alexis looked at him not at all the way she’d looked at Pearl. The handsome-homely Qui

Alexis smiled dazzlingly at him. Cougarishly, Pearl thought. “Do you really think, Detective Qui

“It’s enough of a chance that it’s worth taking, dear,” Qui

Bastard! Pearl thought. Dear! Why did women fall for his bullshit?

Why did I?

“Commissioner Renz spoke very highly of you and your agency,” Alexis said. “Of course, he’s as much a politician as he is a policeman. I would go so far as to say he can’t be completely trusted.”

“I would go so far as to say you might be right.”

Alexis favored him with another predatory smile. “I appreciate the restraint of your reply.” She repositioned herself about five feet to her left, slim hips moving like silk, so she was facing Qui

“I appreciate your directness,” Qui

And fee they talked, as if Pearl didn’t exist.

But Pearl listened, and was astounded by how much Alexis Hoffermuth would pay for the return of the genuine Cardell bracelet.

Pearl didn’t look at Qui

When they’d left the elevator and exited the lobby, both of them did smile.

“I can still smell the money,” Pearl said, as they walked away from the stone and glass tower where Alexis Hoffermuth lived like Rapunzel with a short and stylish do. She glanced over at Qui

“Alexis is the type who isn’t shy about giving.”

“I sensed that about her, too.”

“I was thinking about her charity events.”

“Me, too.”

There was a break in traffic, so they jaywalked.

“You’ve got Jody pissed off now,” Pearl said, as they gained the curb on the other side of the street. “First you put her on the cat case because it wasn’t important, and now you’ve got her back at the office doing paperwork and missing cat research while we go talk with Alexis Hoffermuth.”

“The case got more important,” Qui

They came to where Qui

“Back in the real world,” Pearl said, when they were in the old car’s quiet interior and buckled up.

“You sure?” Qui

“Never.”

She smiled. She liked it when Qui

“Seldom,” she amended, hoping to draw him into a complex, philosophical discussion. That was always good for some smiles.

But he drove in near silence, his usual taciturn self. Complicated yet simple in way and deed. Smart enough to be direct and unerring in his aim.

She wouldn’t love him nearly so much if she could figure him out.

Part Two

May 7, 5:12 p.m.

But what was time to a cat?

It took so little of it to extend a paw and lift the latch on the metal cage wherein Boomerang had been tossed after the ride in the dark car trunk.

Then, of course, a cat could find a window open a crack, or a door slightly ajar. Easy egress for the sleek and the furred.

And underlying it all, the mission.

Boomerang pla

He peered around a corner with cat elasticity, then detoured into a narrow passageway that was one of his favorite haunts. The dim brick and concrete corridor ran between two apartment and commercial buildings, where trash bags were piled like lumpy pillows.

This looked interesting.

Boomerang paused and struck a pose, alert to traffic and voices and the stirring of garbage-sweetened air in the fetid alley. Nothing unusual. Nothing dangerous.

Temporarily losing interest, he dropped his future offering alongside a dented metal trash can and moved smoothly as a miniature panther to the nearest black plastic bag.

With the delicacy of a surgeon, he extended a claw and made an incision in the bag. Ah! He withdrew a foam take-out container with leftovers that contained some sort of sea food. A real find!