BOOK Review The cat who lived high

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Recorded books presents an unabridged recording of the cat who lived High by Lillian Jackson Brawn narrated by George guell this book is copyrighted 1990 by Lillian Jackson Brawn this recording is copyrighted 2003 by recorded books in order to save the colorful Casablanca apartment building from Demolition George quillin and his two

Cats coko and yum decide to move in determined to restore it to its original Glory but there’s more to the cassablanca than meets the eye not just history but mystery and now the cat who lived High chapter 1 the news that reached pickax City there early on that cold November

Morning sent a deathly chill through the small Northern Community the pickax police chief Andrew Brody was the first to hear about the car crash it had occurred 400 miles to the south in the perilous urban area that locals called down below the Metropolitan Police appealed to Brody for assistance in locating the

Next of kin the victim they said had had been driving through the heart of the city on a four-lane freeway when the occupants of a passing car according to Witnesses fired shots at him causing him to lose control of his vehicle which crashed into a concrete abutment and

Burned the driver’s body was consumed by the Flames but through the license plates the registration had been traced to James Quillan 52 of pickax City Brody smashed his leathery fist down on the desk and his face contorted in grief and anger I warned him I warned him he shouted quillin had no living

Relatives a phone call to his attorney confirmed that fact his family consisted of two Siamese cats but his extended family included the entire population of moose County the genial personality and quirky philosophy of the retired journalist endeared Mr Q to everyone the column he wrote for the

Local newspaper had won him a host of admirers his luxuriant mustache and drooping eyelids and graying temples were considered sexually attractive by women of all ages and the fact that he was the richest bachelor in Three Counties and an unbridled philanthropist made him a Civic treasure Brody immediately called Arch

Rker quillin’s lifelong friend and current publisher of the Moose County newspaper damn it I warned him about that jungle the chief shouted into the phone he’s been living up here for 3 years and he forgot that life down below is like Russian Roulette shocked and searching for something to say rker mumbled soberly

Quill knew all about that before moving up here he lived in cities for 50 years he and I grew up in Chicago things have changed since then Brody snapped God do you know what this means the fact was that quillin had inherited vast wealth from the cling and

Shain estate on one condition he must live in Moose County for 5 years otherwise the cling and chain millions or billions would go to the alternate heirs out of state rer listened glumly to Brody’s tiate and then phoned Polly Duncan the woman in quillin’s life who was prostrated by the

News he himself made immediate plans to fly down to the city by the time the publisher had notified his own news desk and the local radio station the telephone lines were spluttering with the bad Tidings and moose County was caught up in a frenzy of horror and grief thousands would miss quillin’s

Column on page two of the newspaper hundreds would miss the sight of Mr Q riding his bicycle on country roads and walking about downtown pickaxe with a long stride and a sober expression answering their greetings with a courteous salute and everyone realized the community would now lose scholarships grants and interest free

Loans why they asked each other had he been so rash as to ventured down below only one person thought to worry about the Siamese his part-time secretary Lori Bamba cried what will happen to Koko and yum yum they were cats Galore in Moose county barn mousers feral cats and

Pampered pets yet none so pampered as the two thorough breeds who lived with quillin and none quite so remarkable as C Kung whose everyday name was Koko with his Noble whiskers aristocratic ears sensitive nose and inscrutable gaze coko could see the invisible hear the inaudible and sense the

Unknowable His companion yum yum was a charmer who captivated quillin with Shameless WS reaching out her paw to touch his mustache while squeezing her eyes and purring throaty they were a handsome pair Fawn furred with seal Brown extremities and mesmerizing blue eyes what would happen to them now

Where were they would anyone feed them then came the gripping question were they still alive had they been in the car when it burned about two weeks before the metropolitan police called Brody with the Fateful news quillin and his two feline companions were spending a quiet

Evening at home in Moose County the man a husky 6’2 sprawled in the second best easy chair with nothing much on his mind the cats lounging on the best chair as was their due meditating and looking Exquisite when the rockus bell of the telephone Disturbed the domestic piece quillin reluctantly hoisted himself to

His feet and went to the phone in the adjoining room it was a longdistance call from down below he heard an unfamiliar voice say hello Mr quillin you’ll never guess who this is amberina from the three weird sisters in junktown do you remember me of course I remember you he said

Diplomatically at the same time thinking fast the three women had an antique shop but which of the sisters was amberina the giddy young blonde or the man crazy redhead or the unimpressive brunette how’s everything down below he asked I haven’t been there for quite a

While 3 years as a matter of fact you’d never recognize junk town she replied we’re being gentrified like they say people are buying the old tow houses and fixing them up and we’re getting some first class restaurants and antique shops do you still have your shop no we

Gave it up iine finished art school and got a job in Chicago clth married money wouldn’t you know and moved to Texas and I’m working for an auction house from what I hear Mr quillin your life has changed too with the inheritance and everything much to my surprise yes by the way did

You hear about Iris Cobb gosh were we ever shocked when she was in junk toown she was such a live wire does Mary Duckworth still have the blue dragon she sure does it’s the best antique shop on the street the most expensive that is Robert Mouse has opened a classy restaurant and Charlotte

Rup is his manager you know both of them I think why quiller and thought is this woman calling me after 3 years his momentary silence brought her to the point amberina said Mary wanted me to call you because she’s going out of town she has something she’d like to suggest to

You well fire away do you know the big old white apartment building called the Casablanca it’s sort of run down but it’s a landmark I vaguely remember remember it it’s a tall building between junk toown and the reclaimed area where they’re putting up the new office towers and

Condos yes now I know the one you mean he said well to make a long story short some developers want to tear it down which would be a crime that building is really built and it has a lot of history junktown has formed a task force called sock save our Casablanca committee

Spelled with a K you know does sock have any clout quillin quipped not really that’s why we’re calling you what’s the proposition she drew a deep breath the cablanca used to be the best address in town suck wants you to buy it and restore it there I said it it wasn’t

Easy it was quillin’s turn to take a deep breath now wait a minute I’m Arena let me straighten you out I’m no finer and I don’t get involved in business ventures nothing is further from my mind in fact I’ve turned my inheritance over to the cling andur memorial fund I have nothing

To do with it actually he made suggestions to the fund but he saw no need to mention that we all remember what you did for junktown when you wrote for the daily flu Mr quillin your series of articles in the paper really woke us up and started our comeback

He stroked his mustache as he remembered his memorable winter in that slummy part of town I admit my junktown experience wetted my interest in preservation he said and theoretically I endorse your cause although I’m in no position to know whether it’s feasible oh but you should see the casablanka she said with

Enthusiasm the experts tell us it has great possibilities quillin was beginning to remember her now amberina was the least weird of the three weird sisters the building used to be very Grand she was saying some changes have been made but the Architects say they’re reversible it could go back to being a

Fashionable place to live and that would be a real boost for junktown right now the Casablanca is well the tenants are a mixed bag but they’re interesting mostly singles but a few few couples not necessarily married whites blacks Asians Hispanics yuppies artists truck drivers wealthy widows college students a couple

Of stunning call girls and a few bums and crazies but they’re harmless you make it sound irresistible I live at casabanca myself she said with a small hysterical laugh quill now remembered more about hrina she had dark hair very attractive blue eyes probably wore contacts and a

Husband yet she now spoke as if she lived alone I’d like to see the place he said Mary said to tell you the penthouse apartment is available for sublet and it’s very well furnished maybe you like to come down and stay for a while well I don’t know you should

Decide fast Mr quillin because the developers are putting pressure on the owner of the building to sell it to them sock is getting kind of antsy who is the owner we call her the Countess she’s 75 years old she’s lived in the building all her life and still

Has her original apartment I’m sure you could talk her into selling to your memorial fund Mr quillin you’re a very Charming Man not always he protested in mock modesty grooming his mustache he was well aware of his success in winning over women especially older ones if I were to drive down there he

Said slowly and thoughtfully I’d have to take my cats are pets permitted cats are okay but not dogs in fact there are cats all over the place amberina giggled some people call it the Casablanca cat house did you say there’s a penthouse available he asked with increasing

Interest you’d love it it’s really very glamorous there’s a large sunken living room with a skylight and indoor trees and a marvelous View and a Terrace let me call you back tomorrow I’ll have to discuss it with my bosses querin said factiously meaning the Siamese don’t lose any time she warned

If anything happens to the old lady Mary says the building will be sold to the developer so The Heirs can be paid off after hanging up the phone he rationalized fast one he had been confined to Moose County for 3 years except for one flying trip down below to

Have dinner at the Press Club two winter was on its way and Winters in Moose County were not only cruel but interminable three the imperiled Casablanca would be a convenient excuse to escape the glacial Pavements and 10t snow Banks of pickax at least he thought there’s no

Harm in driving down and checking out the building’s potential first he broke the news to the Siamese living alone he made it a practice to converse with his cats often reading aloud to them and always discussing his problems and plans they seemed to enjoy the sound of

His voice whether or not they knew what he was saying more importantly verbalizing his thoughts helped him to make decisions listen you guys he called called out to them how would you like to spend the winter in the crime belt instead of the snow belt where are you his companions had deserted their

Comfortable chair and were nowhere in view where did you brats go he demanded there was not a murmur from either of them although he could feel their presence and he could guess where they were coko had burrowed under the Hearth rug and yum yum was hiding under the rug

In front of the sofa their silent comment was readily interpreted they abhorred a change of address and they sensed what quillin had in mind he paced the floor with growing eagerness despite the reaction of his housemates he relished the idea of a winter in the big city he missed the

Press Club he missed the camaraderie of the staffers at the daily fuction where he had been a popular feature writer he missed the stage shows the hockey and pro basketball and the variety of restaurants there was one drw back he would have to forgo the companionship of Polly

Duncan he had become very fond of pickax City’s head librarian they shared the same interests she was his own age an intelligent and loving woman and since neither had a desire to marry they were a compatible pair Polly was the first one he wanted to consult about his proposed Venture

And he phoned her little house in the country but before he could break the news she qualed his Elation with a cry of dis stress oh quill I was just about to call you I’ve had some Dreadful news I’m being evicted what do you mean for years he

Had been the tenant of a snug Cottage in farming country and he had spent many idyllic weekends surrounded by corn fields and deer habitat and a hemisphere of Blue Sky I told you the farm had been sold she said almost in tears now I learned that the new owner wants my cottage for

His married Sun Winter’s almost here where can I go landlords don’t permit cats and I can’t give up Bootsy what shall I do she wailed here was a woman who could devise a swift solution to the most complex problem arising at the public library her panic over this personal setback was

Disturbing are you there she cried impatiently did you hear me quill I heard you I’m thinking he said it’s so Happ happens that I’m invited to spend the winter months down below in a penthouse apartment that means you could put your furniture in storage and stay

At my place and pickaxe while you Scout for a new house whimsically he added I have no objection to cats there was silence at the other end of the line are you there Polly did you hear me I’m thinking she said it sounds like an ideal solution quill and it’s certainly very generous

Of you and of course it would be handy to the library but but what but I don’t like the idea of your spending all that time down below you went to England for an entire summer he reminded her I didn’t care for that idea either but I survived that’s not what I

Mean cities are so unsafe I don’t want anything to happen to you Bly may I remind you that I lived in large cities all my life before moving up here what is the penthouse you mentioned she asked wearily let’s have dinner tomorrow night and I’ll explain next he phoned his old friend

Arch rker now publisher of the local paper he said I’ve just had an interesting call from down below do you remember the Casablanca apartments on the edge of junk toown sure said rker Rosie and I lived there when we were first married they’d cut up most of the large Apartments into efficiencies and

One bedroom units we had a few good years there then the kids started coming and we moved to the suburbs what about the Casablanca I suppose they tearing it down you guessed right quillin said some developers want to take it over they’ll need a nuclear bomb to demolish that

Hunk of masonry it’s built like the Rock of Gibralter well hold on to your hat Arch I’ve been thinking it might be a good public relations Ploy for the Kling and chain fund to buy it and restore it what you mean restore it all the way that would be a costly operation you’re

Talking about Mega Millions that’s what I mean restore the apartments to their original condition and go condo the fund is making money faster than the board of directors can give it away so what if it’s a financial loss it’ll be a Triumph for the cause of preservation and a

Feather in the cling and chain cap I have to think about that off hand it sounds like a madap gamble have you suggested it to the board of directors I heard the news only half an hour ago Arch I’ll need more particulars but see what you think of this if I spend the

Winter down there investigating the possibilities I can write a weekly column for you on the horrors of City living moose County readers will lap it up are you sure you want to go down there rker asked apprehensively it’s a dangerous place to live what with muggings and break-ins and murders are

You telling me I wrote the book at the height of his career quillin had written a bestseller on Urban Crime you may remember Arch there were muggings and break-ins and murders when you and I worked for the daily fuction and we took them for granted from what I hear and read

Conditions are much worse now there’s no coward so cowardly as a city dweller who has moved to The Boondocks my friend listen to this I can get the penthouse at the Casablanca furn finished sounds good I guess but don’t rush into anything rer advised think

About it for a couple of weeks I can’t wait a couple of weeks the K fund will have to sneak in a bit ahead of the wrecking ball besides we can expect snow any day now and it won’t stop snowing until March I won’t be able to get out

Of here what about the cats I’ll take them with me of course they won’t like living high up we were on the ninth floor and our cats hated to the elevator they’ll adjust there’s a Terrace and where there’s a Terrace there are pigeons coko is a licensed pigeon

Watcher well do it if you want to take the gamble quill but wear a bulletproof vest rer warned and said goodbye quillin found it difficult to settle down he tried reading aloud to the Siamese to calm his excitement but his mind was not on the printed paper AG

He was impatient to learn more about the Casablanca unable to wait until morning he phoned down below I hope I’m not calling too late amberina he said I need more information before I can broach the subject to the board of directors sure she said distractedly as if watching something attention riveting on

Television first do you know anything about the history of the building when was it built in 1901 one the first high-rise apartment building in the city the first to have an elevator how many stories 13 who lived there originally what kind of people well Mary says there were finers government officials railroad

Tycoons judges ayses that kind also they had Suites for visiting royalty opera stars and so forth after the stock market crash in 1929 more millionaires jumped off the roof of the cassablanca than any other building in the county an impressive distinction quillin said Riley when did the place start to go

Downhill in the depression they couldn’t rent the expensive Apartments so they cut them up lowered ceilings anything to cut costs and bring in some rent money what can you tell me about the structure itself let’s see sock put out a brochure that’s around here somewhere if you

Don’t mind waiting I’ll try to find it I’m not a very well organized person take your time he said he’d been making notes and while she searched for the brochure he sketched out his approach to the board of directors scheduled his departure and made a list of people to

Notify okay here I am I found it sorry to keep you waiting amberina said it was with my Christmas cards aren’t you early with Christmas cards I haven’t sent out last year’s cards yet are you ready it says the exterior is faced with white glazed brick the design is modified

Moish marble lobby with Persian rugs elevators panel in Rosewood mosaic tile floors in hallways Apartments soundproof and fireproof with 12T ceilings and black walnut woodwork restaurant with Terrace on the top floor also a swimming pool up there this is the way it was in 1901 you understand how does it sound Mr quillin

Not bad you’d better reserve that penthouse for me Mary told me to say that you’ll be the guest of sock I can afford to pay my own rent but I appreciate the offer how’s the parking there’s a paved lot with reserved spaces for tenants and what’s the crime situation

In junktown well we finally got the flues and wios and pushers off the street how did you do that the city cooperated because the penans were behind it and the city realized a broader tax base quillin guessed something like that we have a citizen’s Patrol at night and of course we don’t

Take any chances after dark how about Security in the building itself pretty good the front door is locked and there’s a buzzer system we had a doorman until a year ago the side door is locked except for emergencies apparently the elderly woman who owns the building feels safe enough

I guess so she has sort of a Livin bodyguard then it’s a deal count on me to arrive next weekend Mary will be be tickled we’ll make all the arrangements for you one question amberina how many persons know that sock is inviting me to go down there well it was Mary’s idea

And she probably discussed it with Robert Mouse but she wouldn’t gab it around she’s not that type all right let’s keep it that way don’t broadcast it the story is that I want to get away from the abominable snow and ice up north and the Casablanca is the only place that allows cats

Okay I’ll tell Mary any instructions for me when I arrive just buzz the manager from the vestibule we don’t have a doorman anymore but the custodian will help you with your luggage it’ll be nice to see you again Mr quillin what happened to the doorman he asked well she said apologetically he was

Shot chapter 2 the senior partner of the pickax firm of Hassel Rich Bennett and barter legal council for the clingin chain memorial fund was an elderly man with stooped shoulders and quivering jows but he had the buoyant optimism and indomitability of a young man it was Hassel whom quillin chose to

Approach regarding the Casablanca proposal before discussing business the attorney insisted on serving coffee pouring it proudly from from his paternal grandmother’s silver teapot into his maternal grandmother’s Wedgewood cups which rattled in the saucers as his shaking hands did the honors it appears quillin began after a respectable interval for pleasantries

That all of the funs Ventures are on the east coast and it might be advisable to make ourselves known in another part of the country what I have to suggest is both an investment and a public beneficence Hassel Rich listened attentively as quillin described the gentrification of junktown the unique architecture of the

Casablanca and the opportunity for the K fund to preserve a fragment of the Region’s Heritage At The Mention Of The Marble Lobby and Rosewood panel elevators the attorney’s jows quivered with approval many a time I have heard my grandfather extoling that magnificent building he knew the man who built it

Said hasser as a young boy I was once treated to lunch in the roof tub restaurant unfortunately I remember nothing but the spinach timbles I had a juvenile aversion to spinach Quin said the rooftop restaurant is now a penthouse apartment and I plan to spend some time there investigating

The possibilities and persuading the owner to sell if it seems wise you know what will happen if developers are allowed to acquire the property the building will be raised deplorable said Hassel we must not let that happen this must be added to the agenda for the director’s meeting next week I plan to

Drive down there in a few days to beat the snow said quillin if you’ll be good enough to make the presentation in my absence I’ll Supply a fact sheet he welcomed any excuse to avoid meetings with the board of directors do you find it quite necessary to attend to This research yourself

Asked the attorney there are agencies we might retain to make a feasibility study I consider it highly advisable the owner is being pressured by the developers and it will require some personal strategy to persuade the lady to sell to us the elderly attorney’s lowered eyes and twitching eyelids were making broad

Inferences she’s 75 quillin added hastily and if she dies before deciding in our favor we’re out of luck and the Casablanca is doomed hich cleared his throat there is one consideration that gives me pause you have indicated a profound interest in the welfare of moose County and that entails a responsibility to

Remain in good health so to speak you understand my meaning do you not moose County’s interest in keeping me alive is no greater than my own desire to live and I might point out another fact querin said firmly when I go down below I am not a naive tourist

From the Outback I’ve been City smart since childhood hich studied his desktop and shook his jows you seem to have made your decision we can only hope for your safe return that same afternoon the Moose County something as the local newspaper was waggishly named carried the regular Tuesday column headed straight from the

Quill pen with an editor’s note stating that Jim quillin would be on a leave of absence for an indefinite period pursuing business down below but he would file an occasional column on City living to appear in his usual space as soon as quillin read this he recognized a conspiracy on the part of

Arch rker the publisher and Junior good winter the managing editor the two who guessed what the result of such an announcement would be and they were right quillin’s telephone started to ring and the citizens of moose County tried to dissuade him from braving the perils down below when told that the

Trip was important and necessary they offered advice wear a money belt don’t take your best watch get a burglar alarm for your car lock yourself in when you drive in the city police chief bro said Ahman you’re a bit duffed I happen to hear a few

Things that don’t get in the pay but if you insist on going stay home after dark and buy one of them gadgets that lock the brake pedal to the steering wheel from Susan xbridge a member of the theater Club there was a melodramatic phone call darling don’t walk anywhere

Take a taxi even if you’re only going a block I have friends down below and they tell me it’s hell Dr good winter warned of respiratory ailments caused by Airborne pollutants and Edington Smith the timid dealer in secondhand books offered to lend his handgun Lori Bamba was concerned chiefly

About the cats if you’re taking Coco and yum yum she said don’t let it be known that you have pedigreed animals kidnapping is Big Business down below also you should Fe them extra B vitamins to combat stress because they’ll sense menacing elements even quillin’s cleaning man was

Worried it’s praying I’ll be said Mr Odell until you be coming safe home Mr Q nevertheless quillin stubbornly shopped for the journey he bought a cage likee cat carrier that was more commodious and better ventilated than the picnic hamper in which the Siamese had formerly traveled for their meals on rout he laid

In a supply of canned crab meat boned chicken and red salmon he also bought two blue leather harnesses one medium and one large with matching leashes for himself he would take whatever he happened to have on on hand there were two suits in his closet a

Gray flannel that he had worn once to a wedding and a dark blue surge that he had worn once as a pole Bearer these with two white shirts a couple of ties and a raincoat were his concessions to City dressing otherwise he would take flannel shirts sweaters and his comfortable Tweed sports coat

With leather patches on the elbows during quillin’s final days in pickaxe farewell scenes with friends and Associates had the solemnity of a deathbed vigil Polly Duncan on their last evening together was lacrose and in no mood to be comforted or to quote Shakespeare although quillin Rose to the

Occasion with parting is such sweet sorrow promise you’ll call me as soon as you arrive were her final words he had hoped for Less wely anxiety and more Amorous sentiments even the Siamese sensed that something dire was a foot and they sulked for 24 hours before their departure when taken for rides in

Their new carrier as rehearsal for the trip they reacted like condemned nobility on the way to the guillotine stoic proud and aloof none of this heightened quillin’s anticipation of the Expedition but he packed the car on Saturday morning with grim determination two suitcases his typewriter the unabridged dictionary and

And his computerized coffee maker went into the trunk on the back seat were two boxes of books the new cat carrier and a blue cushion the cat’s water dish and their commode a turkey roaster with the handles sawed off were on the floor of the back seat the car was a small energy

Efficient pre-owned four-door that quillin had bought in a hurry following his accident on itty bitty wasi Road the paint finish a metallic purplish blue was not to his liking but the used car dealer assured him it was a color ahead of its time called Purple Plum and it would increase in acceptance and

Popularity it looks better on fruit quillin remarked the price was right however and the gas mileage was said to be phenomenal and he had retained Thrifty habits despite his new financial status so he bought it this was the car he packed for the 400m Journey which he

Intended to stretch over two days for the comfort of the Siamese all aboard the purple plum for lockmaster pville and all Point South he announced to his two reluctant passengers grudgingly they allowed themselves to be stuffed into the carrier as the three of them pulled away from their home un parked Circle the

Pair in the back seat maintained their ferial silence leaving quiller in Long quiet hours to reflect on his so in the North Country despite the king-size mosquitoes poison ivy skunks and hazardous deer Crossings moose County afforded a comfortable life among good people most of them were rampant individualists and non-stop gossips but

That merely made them more interesting in the eyes of a journalist how he questioned would he adjust to City Life with its mask of Conformity guarded privacy and self-interest his ruminations were interrupted by a demanding shriek from the back seat so loud and so sudden that he gripped the steering wheel to keep

The car on the road yum yum was merely making a suggestion how a creature of such delicacy and gentleness could produce this vulgar Screech was beyond his comprehension but it was effective at the next Crossroads he stopped for a coffee break and released the Siamese from their Coupe to stretch peer out the

Windows lap a tongue full of of water and examine the gas pedal after 6 hours of driving yum yum objected to speeds in excess of 50 mph quillin could not fault his passengers they were behaving like mature sophisticated Travelers at the motel that night a less than Deluxe establishment that welcomed

Pets the Siamese slept soundly throughout the night although quillin was disturbed by barking dogs slamming doors and and a growling ice machine outside his room this Appliance was located at the foot of wooden steps up and down which the second floor guests thumped frequently shouting to each

Other where’s the Jin in the trunk under the spare tire I can’t find the peanuts it was Saturday night and travelers were partying late they also took an undue number of showers in quillin’s estimation the force of the water hitting the fiberglass tubs in neighboring rooms thundered like Niagara while he lay

Awake waiting for the tumult to end meanwhile the Siamese slept peacefully on top of his feet and when he wriggled to relieve the numbness they moved farther up and draped their soft bodies across his knees then later Rivals slammed their car doors and ran up the wooden steps

Exchanging shouts bring my zipper bag up with you which one the blue one do you have the key yes but I can’t find 203 who’s going to take Pierre for a walk after that they all took showers and the cascading water in the rooms above drowned out the television in the

Rooms on either side kerin heaved the cats off his knees and they crawled farther up without opening their eyes so it continued until 4:00 in the morning at which time he managed an hour’s sleep before the early risers started taking showers slamming car doors and revving Motors he could have been excused for

Greeting the new day with a colossal Grouch but he exhibited a purposeful and admirable calm all of moose County had advised against this trip and he was determined to prove them wrong from start to finish he was he told himself repeatedly having a good time on the second day of driving the

Panorama of woods and Open Fields and farmyards gave way to a scattering of billboards gas stations Auto graveyards and party stores followed by strip malls and housing developments with fine sounding names and finally the freeway heavy traffic and increased speed began to put the backseat passengers on their guard their noses

Lifting to register the density of emissions while yum yum complained bitterly for quillin the sight of sweeping interchanges and incoming Jets and the jagged Skyline produced an urban high that he had relished in the past and had almost forgotten even the purple plum looked less offensive in the smoggy

Atmosphere he left the freeway at the zwinger exit on this late Sunday afternoon downtown was virtually deserted zwinger Street formerly a blighted area was now zwinger Boulevard a continuous landscaped Park dotted with glass Towers parking structures and apartment complexes then the boulevard narrowed into the 19th century neighborhood known

As junk town with the Casablanca standing like a sentinel at the approach oh no quillin said aloud it looks like a refrigerator the Casablanca was indeed white although in need of cleaning and it had the proportions of a refrigerator with a dark line across the facade at

The ninth floor as if delineating the freezer compartment modified Mish the sock brochure had called it true there were some arches and a marquee and two large ornamental lanterns of Spanish persuasion but on the whole it looked like a refrigerator not so in 1901 perhaps when

Ice boxes were made of Golden Oak but now quillin made a u-turn and pulled up to the curb where the city permitted 20-minute parking he unloaded the cat carrier and the turkey roaster and then taking care to lock all four doors approached the shabby entrance broken glass in the two

Lanterns exposed the light bulbs and the glass sidelights of the door were walled up with plywood that no one had bothered to paint carefully he picked his way up the cracked marble steps and set down the carrier opening the heavy black door and holding it with his foot while he

Manu ued into the dark vestibule help you called a voice from the Gloom a jogger was about to leave the building how do I ring the manager quillin inquired right over here a young man with a red dish mustache almost as imposing as quillin pressed a button on

The apartment directory panel you moving in yes where do you jog around here around the vacant Lots behind the building two times around is a mile and not too much carbon monoxide is it safe the man held up a small tube and pointed it at quillin zap he said looking wise

Hey nice cats he added squinting at the carrier when a voice finally squawked on the intercom the obliging jogger yelled new tenant Mrs Tuttle a buzzer released the door and he sprang to open it manager’s desk straight down the hall opposite the second elevator thanks good running querin wished him the inner door

Slammed behind behind him and he found himself in an empty Lobby it was narrower than he had expected a tunnel-like hall with a low ceiling and a lingering odor of disinfectant florescent tubes were spaced too far apart to provide effective light the floor was well-worn vinyl but clean and the walls were

Covered with something that looked like sandpaper when he reached the first first elevator however he stopped and stared the elevator door was burnished bronze sculptured in low relief representing scenes from Don kyote and Carmen as he studied the unexpected Artistry the door slid open and a man in

Black Tie and dinner jacket stepped out saying cooly this is a private elevator at the same time flinging a contemptuous glance at the turkey roaster with the top handle of the carrier in one hand and the Rooster under the other arm quillin walked slowly toward the rear of the building

Observing and sniffing someone on the main floor was cooking and he knew Portuguese garlic soup when he smelled it lined up in the tunnel were a cigarette machine a soft drink dispenser and an old wooden telephone booth some attempt had been made to brighten the hall by painting apartment doors in

Jelly Bean colors but the paint was scratched and dreary with age this ends side one of cassette one cassette 1 side two as he reached the phone booth a body tumbled out onto the floor it was a woman of indefinite age wearing a red cocktail dress and she was clutching a

Pint rum bottle uncapped whoops she said gallantly quillin set down his baggage and went to her assistance hurt yourself she slurred an apology as he helped her up propped her on the seat of the phone booth and closed her safely inside leaving only a puddle on the

Floor he picked up the cat carrier and commode and walked on as he approached the manager’s desk there was sudden activity within the carrier which started jiggling and Swinging the reason being that two felines a Calico and a tiger with a chewed ear had wandered out from nowhere and were eyeing the new

Arrivals although the host cats were not hostile quillin thought it advisable to place the carrier on the scar counter where a homemade sign announced Mrs Tuttle manager ring for service separating the manager’s desk from the tenants counter was a window of thick bulletproof acrylic he rang the bell and a large

Powerful looking woman with a broad smile on her ebony face bounded out from the inner office oh you’ve got two Siamese she exclaimed joyously despite her genial greeting she studied quillin with a Stern and forbidding eye and he imagined that she tolerated No Nonsense from the tenants or the resident

Cats good afternoon he said are you Mrs Tuttle my name is quillin the penthouse apartment has been reserved for me yes sir she said we’re expecting you you glad to have you here did you have a good trip fine thank you do you also have a parking space for me yes sir she

Produced a ledger and flipped the loose leaf pages to Q first we need one month security deposit and one month rent and the parking is payable by the quarter what are they called uh what quillin was concentrating on his checkbook he considered the rent High even though utilities were included

Do your kitties have names uh the larger one is Coco and the uh female is Yum Yum he had put the turkey roaster on the floor and it was being sniffed by the Calico and the tiger I see you have a welcoming committee down on the floor

That’s Napoleon and Kitty baby she said they live on the main floor your kitties will be the only ones on 14 14 I thought the building had 13 stories they skipped 13 bad luck you know on the top floor there are two apartments 14a and 14b yours is the nice

One all furnished you’ll be very comfortable here is your receipt and your key to 14a and here’s your mailbox key the boxes are through the arch mail is delivered around 3 or 4:00 your parking slot is number 28 on the west side of the lot the elevator is right behind you

Ring for the one with the red door old red we call it a nice old old elevator old green is out of order what’s the one with the bronze door near the entrance he asked a private elevator for the owner of the building bye-bye kitties glad to have you here Mr

Quillin the Siamese had not uttered a sound he picked up the rooster and the carrier and moved to the elevator Bank accompanied by Napoleon and kittybaby two doors one painted red and one un painted green were closed displaying an abstract design of scratches and gouges made by impatient tenants carrying

Dys he pressed the button and noises in the shaft indicated that old red was descending slowly very slowly when the car finally arrived it could be heard bouncing and leveling then the door opened with a convulsive jerk and a tiny Asian woman with two small doll-like children stepped out and

Scurried away as if glad to escape safely quillin boarded signaled for the 14th floor and waited for the door to close while Napoleon and Kitty baby stayed in the lobby staring into the car as if they would not be caught dead in old red the Siamese were still ominously

Silent there was a bulletin board on the rear wall of the elevator where manager and tenants had posted notices and quillin amused himself while waiting for the door to close by reading the messages two signs were neatly lettered with a felt marker and signed Mrs T if door is open do not

Jump attention all cats Monday is spray day there was also a handwritten message on a note card with an embossed W offering a baby grand piano for sale in apartment 10f scribbled on a scrap of brown paper was an ad for a tennis racket for $25

Spelled t n i s r a c k t quillin was a born proof reader mystified by the first two notices and questioning the market for baby GRS in such a building he failed to notice that the elevator door was still standing open it was hardly the latest

Model in automatic equipment and he looked for a suitable button to press there was one labeled open and a red button labeled help that was all the red button he observed showed signs of wear out in the lobby all was quiet Mrs Tuttle had left her post behind the

Bulletproof window and the only Signs of Life were Napoleon and kittybaby in quillin’s lean and hungry days when he lived for a brief time at the decrepit Medford and Manor there was a stubborn elevator door that responded to a vigorous kick he tried it but old red only shuddered then he heard running

Footsteps approaching from the front door and a voice calling hold it a short man in a yellow satin jacket with the name Valdez on the back slid into view like a base runner approaching first no hurry querin told him the door won’t close the fellow gave him a scor warful

Glance and jumped up and down on the elevator floor the door immediately closed and the car proceeded slowly upward clanking and shuddering as it passed each floor Valdez got off at 5 and as he left the car he turned and said you jump quillin jumped the door closed and

Old red ascended at the same snail like Pace with groaning and scraping added to the clanking and shuddering the Siamese had been patient but suddenly yum yum emitted her earsplitting Screech and immediately the car stopped dead according to the floor indicator over the door they were not yet at 14

According to the floor indicator they were not anywhere now what have you done quillin scolded he pressed the button for his floor but the car did not budge he jumped Valdez style and nothing happened he pressed the button labeled open and the door slowly obliged revealing the black brick wall of the Elevator

Shaft ye gods quillin shouted we’re trapped between floors chapter 3 the Siamese who had been more or less uncommunicative for 400 miles became vociferous when told they were trapped between floors in the Casablanca Elevator Shaft querin pressed the help button and could hear a bell like a fire

Alarm ringing in some remote Precinct of the old building but the longer he leaned on the red button and the longer the Bell peeled the louder Coco howled and yum yum yodel quiet quillin commanded and gave the Bell another prolonged ring but inames cat language quiet means louder sh he scolded

Somewhere an elevator door was being forced open somewhere a distant voice was shouting quiller and shouted back we’re stuck between floors where you at came the faint query Yow Koko replied quiet you dumbbell I can’t hear what he’s saying we’re stuck between floors what floor the voice sounded

Hollow suggesting that hands were being cued for a megaphone effect yeah I can’t hear you quillin shouted what floor the voice was coming from overhead y shut up what’ you say down there we’re between floors I don’t know where quillin bellowed at his loudest there was the sound of a heavy

Door closing followed by a long period of silence and inactivity you really blow it quillin told Koko they were coming to our rescue and you wouldn’t keep your mouth shut now we may be here all night he looked around the Dismal cell with its soiled walls and torn floor

Tiles one of the fluorescent tubes had burned out leaving half the car in Shadow at least you’ve got your commode he said to his disgruntled companions which is more than I can say he rang the emergency Bell again there was another wrenching sound in the shaft above and a

Voice overhead somewhat closer this time yelled you got to climb out Yow Koko replied how quillin shouted what Yow quillin gave the cat carrier a remonstrative shove with his foot which only accelerated the howls how do I climb out push up the roof in the tan ceiling of the car there

Was a metal plate black with fingerprints push it all the way came the instructions from on high quillin reached up gave the metal plate a forceful push and it flopped open with a clatter through the rectangular opening he could see a bare light bulb dazzlingly bright in the Black Shaft and

A ladder slowly descending he wondered if he could squeeze through the hole in the roof he wondered if the carrier would go through I’ve got luggage down here he yelled there was another long wait and then a rope came dangling through the trapo tie it on the handle called The

Rescuer quiller quickly knotted one end to the top handle of the cat carrier and watched it rise off the floor and Ascend in jerks that annoyed the occupants it disappeared into the hole above anything else quillin looked speculatively at the turkey roaster its handles had long ago

Been sawed off to fit on the floor of the car furthermore it contained slightly used Kitty gravel nothing else he shouted kicking the pen into a dark corner of the elevator then he started up the ladder above him he could see a pale face and a

Red golf hat clapped on a head of Sandy hair the custodian was waiting for him at the top sorry about this on hands and knees quillin crawled out of the black hole onto the mosaic tile floor of a hallway a performance that interested The Waiting cats enormously they were always entranced by

Unusual behavior on his part where are we he asked I’m nine got to walk up we got both cars broke now old red and old green service men don’t come till tomorrow costs double on Sundays The Rescuer was a thin wiry man of middle age all elbows and knees and

Bony shoulders wearing khaki pants and a bush jacket its large Pockets bulging with a flashlight and other tools of his trade judging by his prison palar it was doubt that he had ever bushwhacked beyond the weedy Landscaping of the Casablanca the man picked up the cat carrier and headed for the stairwell

Here let me take that quillin offered is heavy I seen heavier lady on seven she’s got two cats must weigh 20 pound a piece you and 14 a yes my name’s quillin what’s your name rert I appreciate your coming to our rescue after that brief exchange the two

Men plotted silently up the four long flights to the 14th floor which was really the 13th at the top of the stairs they emerged into a small lobby with a marble floor and marble walls a relic of the rooftop restaurant in the Casablanca illustrious past there were two elevator

Doors closed and silent and two apartment doors with painted numbers quillin glanced at his key and opened 14a I guess this is it Yep this is it said rert doorbells broke he touched the Pearl button to prove it all the doorbells are broke they walked into a spacious foyer

Handsomely furnished in the Contemporary Style with doorways and arches leading to other equally lavish areas this was more than quillin had expected it explained why the rent was high a bank of French doors overlooked a large room with a lofty ceiling and a conversation pit 6 feet deep

Is that the sunken living room he asked it looks like a carpeted swimming pool that’s what it was a swimming pool said the custodian not very deep didn’t do much diving in them days I reckon an exceptionally long sofa dog-legged around one end of the depression and around the ceramic tiled

Rim of the former pool there were indoor trees and tubs some reaching almost to the Skylight 20 ft overhead quillin noticed a few plastic palale scattered about the room and there were water stains on the carpet does the Skylight leak he asked when it rains rert said with a worried nod

Where’d you park at the front door in a 20-minute Zone I may have a ticket by now nobody bothers you on Sunday give me your keys and I’ll haul up the rest of your gear I’ll go with you quillin said remembering the advice showered on him

And pickaxe I suppose we have to walk down 13 flights and up again if we can find the freight we’ll ride up then let’s go the custodian looked at the cat carrier standing in the middle of the foyer ain’t you going to let them out they can wait till we get back quillin

Always checked the premises for hazards and hidden exits before releasing the Siamese the two men began the tedious descent to the main floor down marble stairs with Ornamental Iron banisters each flight enclosed in a grim stairwell good-looking staircases quillin commented too bad they’re enclosed fire department made them do it what that

Trapdoor in the wall of each stairwell toward the top of the flight there was a small square door labed danger keep out that’s to the crawl space water pipes heat electric and all stuff like that rert informed him halfway down they met the tiny Asian woman shepherding her two small children

From one floor to another she seemed unaware of their presence are there many children in the building quillin asked mostly kids are the doctors that work at the hospital from all different countries at last they reached the main floor and as they walked past the manager’s desk Mrs Tuttle who was

Knitting something behind the bulletproof window sang out cheerfully why didn’t you two ride the elevator she motioned toward Old Red which was standing there with its door hospitably open quillin squinted into the dim back corner of the car and quickly retrieved the turkey roaster carrying it away triumphantly farther down the hall

Valdez still in his yellow satin jacket was beating his fists against the soft drink dispenser and Napoleon was sniffing a puddle near the phone booth critically there was no activity around the elaborate bronze door of the private elevator quiet on Sundays rert commented in front of the building the

Purple plum was still parked at the curb neither stolen nor ticketed and quillin drove into the parking lot while rert went to the basement for a luggage cart the lot was an obstacle course dotted with potholes and his number 28 parking slot was occupied by a small green Japanese

Car parking number 29 rert told him nobody cares this lot is in terrible condition quillin complained when was it last paved in 1901 no use fixing it they could tear the place down next week rert wheeled the suitcases typewriter dictionary books and coffee maker into the basement quiller and

Following with the turkey roaster and the cat’s water dish they rode up in the freight elevator a rough enclosure of splintery boards but it worked how come this one works quillin asked it’s never broke the custodian said tenants don’t get to use it that’s why they’re the

Ones wreck the elevators wait till you see how they wreck the washers and dryers there’s a coin laundry in the basement what do we do about rubbish put it out in the hall at night boy picks up starting at 6:00 in the morning any problem just ring the desk house phones

On the kitchen wall in 14a quillin tipped him liberally although Frugal by Nature he had developed a generous streak since inheriting money now he bolted the door cat proofed the rooms and released the Siamese we’re here he said they emerged cautiously swiveling their fine brown heads pointing their

Ears curving their whiskers and sensing the long broad foyer Coco wed walked resolutely to the far wall where French doors led to the Terrace he checked for pigeons and seemed disappointed that none appeared meanwhile yum yum was putting forth an experimental paw to touch the art rugs scattered about the paret

Floor art was everywhere paintings on the walls sculpture on pedestals Crystal and ceramic objects in lighted niches the canvases were not to quillan’s liking splotches of color and geometric studies that seemed meaningless to him a still life of an auto mechanic’s workbench a bloody scene depicting a butcher block with work in

Progress a realistic portrayal of people eating spaghetti then he noticed an envelope with his name propped against a bowl of fruit on a console table nestled among the wine sap apples tangerines and Bosque pears like a crackerjack prize was a can of lobster you guys are in luck he said to the

Siamese but after your shenanigans in the elevator I don’t know whether you deserve it the accompanying note was from amberina Welcome to the Casablanca Mary wants me to take you to dinner at Roberto’s tonight call my apartment when you get in suck had your phone connected querin lost no time in phoning

I accept with pleasure I have a lot of questions to ask where’s Roberto’s in junktown a couple of blocks away we can walk is that advisable after dark I never walk alone but sure it’ll be okay could you meet me inside the front door

At 7:00 I won’t ask you to come to my apartment it’s a mess he opened the can of lobster for the Siamese arranging it on a Royal Copenhagen plate all the appointments in the apartment were top-notch Waterford Crystal Swedish Sterling German stainless and so on after unpacking his suitcase PES he

Wandered about the rooms eating an apple and marveling at the expensive art books on the library table the water bed in the master bedroom the gold Faucets in the bathroom he looked as scance at the painting of the bloody butcher block it wasn’t something he would care to see

Early in the morning on an empty stomach yet it occupied a prominent spot on the end wall of the foyer when the siames had finished their meal and groomed their paws whiskers ears and Tails he introduced them to the sunken living room in no time at all they discovered

They could race around the rim of the former pool Chase each other up and down the carpeted stairs leading to the conversation pit climb the trees and Scamper the length of the sofa back for his own satisfaction he paced off the length of the dog leg sofa and found it

To be an incredible 20 ft though few in Number the Furnishings were large scale an enormous unex cocktail table stacked with art magazines an 8-ft bar an impressive stereo system with satellite speakers the size of coffins the most dramatic feature was the gallery of paintings that covered

The upper walls they were large still lifes all studies of mushrooms whole or haved or sliced tumbled about in various poses the jarring effect to quillin’s eye was not the size of the mushrooms some some 2 ft in diameter but the fact that each arrangement was pictured with

A pointed knife that looked murderously sharp he had to admit that the knife lifted the still lifes out of the ordinary somehow it suggested a human presence but he couldn’t imagine why the owner of the apartment had hung so many mushrooms unless he had painted them himself who was this talented tenant the

Signature on the work was a cryptic logo two RS back to back why did he specialize in mushrooms why did he leave where had he gone when would he return and why was he willing to sublet this lavishly furnished apartment to a stranger there were no windows in the

Room only the Skylight and it admitted a sick light on this late afternoon in November apart from the potted trees and the green and yellow plastic pales strategically placed in case of rain the interior was monochromatically neutral walls upholstered sofa and Commercial weave carpet were all in a pale gray beige like the

Mushrooms he checked his watch it was time to dress for dinner at that moment he heard a door slam in the elevator Lobby the occupant of 14b was either coming in or going out he soon discovered which when 14a had been C carved out of the former restaurant space Was No

Object and the master bathroom was large enough to accommodate a whirlpool bath for two a tanning couch and an exercise bike the stall shower was large enough for three at the turn of a knob water pelted quin’s body from three sides gentle as rain or sharp as needles he was luxuriating in this

Experience when the water abruptly turned ice cold he yelped and bounded from the enclosure dripping and cursing and half draped in a towel he found the house telephone in the kitchen Mrs tuttle’s businesslike voice answered this is quillin in 14a he said in a politely shocked tone I was taking a

Shower and the water suddenly ran cold ice cold that happens she said it’s an old building you know evidently your neighbor started to take a shower at the same time you mean I have to coordinate my bathing schedule with 14b I don’t think you need to worry about it too much she said

Soothingly that’s right he thought the building may be torn down next week who is the tenant in 14b Mrs Tuttle said something that sounded like KRA hog and when he asked her to repeat the name it still sounded like KRA hog he huffed into his mustache and hung

Up after toweling and donning his old plaid bathrobe in the Macintosh tarton his mother had been a Macintosh he was in the process of eating another Apple when he heard incredible sounds from the adjoining apartment like a 100 piece Orchestra tuning up discordantly for chaikovsky 1812 Overture the cat’s ears

Swiveled nervously the left and right ears twisting in opposite directions he realized that they were hearing a composition for the synthesizer a kind of music he had not yet learned to appreciate he also realized that the walls between 14a and 14b were regrettably thin one of the Casablanca depression

Economies by the time he had finished dressing however the recording ended a door slammed again and his neighbor apparently went out for the evening he checked out the cats as he always did before leaving and found yum yum in the bedroom sniffing the water bed but Coco was not an Evidence he

Called his name and received no response for one sickening moment he wondered if the cat had discovered a secret exit hurrying from room to room he called and searched and worried it wasn’t until he went down into the conversation pit that he found the missing Coco the 8-ft bar in the pit was

Situated rather conspicuously in the middle of the floor and coko was sniffing this piece of furniture oblivious of everything else quiller and himself hadn’t touched alcohol for several years and when he served spirits to his guests coko showed no interest whatever unless he happened upon a stray anchovy

Olive so why was he so intent upon investigating this leather upholstered teak topped liquor dispensary coko always had a sound reason for his actions although it wasn’t always obvious quillin opened the drawers and cabinets of the bar and found decanters glasswar jiggers cork screws muddlers napkins and so forth that was all

Sorry Coco he said no anchovies no mice no dead bodies the cat ignored him he was sniffing the base of the bar running his twitching nose along the line where the furniture met the carpet as if some small object had found its way underneath quillin touched his mustache questioningly his curiosity aroused it

Was a heavy bar but by putting his shoulder against one end of it he could slide it across the tightly woven carpet as it began to move coko became agitated prancing back and forth in encouragement if this turns out to be an anchovy Stuffed Olive quillin said

You’re going to be in a dog house he shoved again the ponderous bar moved a few inches at a time then coko yowled a thin dark line had appeared on the pale carpet it wiped as quillin lunged with his shoulder wider and wider until a large dark stain was revealed blood querin said

Yow said Koko he arched his back elongated his legs hooked his tail and pranced in a circle quillin had seen the dance before Koko’s death dance then from the cat’s innards came a new sound less than a growl yet deeper than a purr it sounded like chapter 4 before leaving for dinner with

Amberina quillin made a long-distance phone call it was Sunday evening and Polly Duncan would be at home waiting for news he deemed it advis I able to keep the report upbeat yes he had enjoyed the trip yes the cats behaved well the manager and custodian were helpful the apartment was spacious and

Well furnished with a magnificent view of the sunset he mentioned nothing about the malfunctioning elevator nor the leaking Skylight nor the bulletproof window at the manager’s desk nor the blood stain on the carpet and he especially avoided reference to his dinner date with amberina Polly was a wonderful woman but inclined to be

Jealous then he said goodbye to the Siamese having placed their blue cushion on the bed in the small bedroom be good kids he said have a nap and stay out of trouble I’ll be back in a couple of hours perhaps with a doggy bag he turned off all the lights except

The one in the bathroom where they had their commode thinking that the darkness would encourage them to nap and stay out of Mischief leaving 14a he spotted a name card tacked on the door of 14 B and he sauntered close enough to read it his neighbor’s name was indeed KRA hedr as

Mrs Tuttle it said it looked like something spelled backward and he considered tacking a name card to his own door mij Naro what he asked himself had happened to nomenclature in recent years strange new words had entered the language and strange new names were popping up in the telephone

Directory Mary Betty and an had been replaced by fadira and cherine even ordinary names had tricky spellings like Elizabeth and Alice causing inconvenience to all concerned not to mention the time lost in explaining and correcting his own name spelled with the unconventional qw had been the bane of editors typ Setters and

Proof readers for 30 years but that fact as escaped him he signaled for the elevator and heard evidence of mechanical torment in the shaft noises so threatening that he chose to walk downstairs feeling his way through the poorly lighted stairwells he encountered bags of trash unidentified odors and between the seventh and sixth

Floors a shrouded figure standing alone on the stairs and mumbling on the main floor he passed two elderly women in b robes huddled in conference one of them was saying in a croaking voice I’ve been mugged five times how many times have you been mugged only twice said the other shrilly

But the second time they knocked me down both of them squinted suspiciously at querin as he passed he found rert hanging around the manager’s desk still with the red golf hat on the back of his head while three boisterous students practiced karate chops in front of the elevators knock it

Off rert warned them or I’ll tell Mrs T the youths clicked their heels clasped their hands prayerfully and bowed low then made a dash for old red when had arrived crazy college kids rert explained to quillin everything okay I’m 14 so far so good he started for the front door but

Returned there’s something I wanted to ask about rert in my living room there’s a huge piece of furniture a serving bar right right in the middle of the floor do you happen to know why Mrs T said to put it there said the custodian I didn’t

Ask no questions me and the boy had to move the thing it’s mighty heavy how long have you been working here rert 20 years next march good job meet lots of people and I get an apartment in the basement thrown in what will you do if they tear down

The building go on unemployment Go on Welfare I reckon if I can’t find work I’m 50 six quillin had a long wait for amberina but the time wasn’t wasted while standing at the front door he watched a circus parade of tenants and visitors coming in and going

Out he tried not to stare at the outlandish clothing on the young ones or the pathetic condition of some of the old ones or the Exotic Beauty wearing aari or the fellow with a MAA in a cage when two well-dressed young men arrived carrying a small gold tote bag

From the city’s most exclusive chocolate here he watched them go to the burnished bronze door and ring for the private elevator and he began to conjecture about the Countess the mysterious 75-year-old who was visited by men wearing dinner jackets or bearing gifts sounded like lady Hester stanh hope in King Lakes

Ethan a book he had been reading aloud to the Siamese lady Hester lived in a crumbling middle Easter Eastern Convent subsisting on milk and enjoying the agulation of desert tribes was the Countess the lady Hester of the crumbling Casablanca his Flights of Fancy were interrupted when amberina came running

Down the hall sorry I’m late I lost my contact lens and I couldn’t seem to get myself together he said who are the well-dressed men who ride up and down on the countess’s elevator her Bridge Partners she explained she loves to play cards amberina had changed since their

Last meeting 3 years before her strikingly brunette hair was a different color and a different style lighter redder and frizzier she had put on weight and her dimples were less beguiling he was disappointed but he said good to see you again amberina you’re looking great so are you Mr Quin

And you look so countryfied he was wearing his Tweed coat with leather patches and his chucka boots they left the building and zigzagged down the broken marble slabs with care these steps should be repaired before someone trips and sues the Countess he remarked no point in making

Repairs when the whole place may be torn down next week she said with a touch of bitterness we’re all keeping our fingers crossed that nothing terrible will happen Mary says the city would love it if the elevator dropped and killed six tenants or a steam boiler blew up and

Cooked everyone on the main floor then they’d condemn the place and start collecting higher property taxes on a billion dooll hotel or something I do hope your people decide to buy the Casablanca Mr quillin now they were strolling down junk Town’s new brick sidewalks recently planted with small trees and lighted

With old-fashioned gas lamps quillin said this is exactly what cc cob wanted 3 years ago and the city fought him every step of the way the Jerry Built storefronts that previous landlords had tacked on to the front of historic tow houses had been removed one could never guess where the

Old fruit and tobacco stand had been or the wig and fortunetelling Shop new owners had miraculously restored the original Stone steps iron railings and impressive entrance doors a brightly lighted Coffee House occupied the premises of the former furniture refinishing shop sh in an old stable now named The Carriage House

Cafe tell me about this restaurant we’re going to what is Roberto’s quillin asked you know don’t you that Robert Mouse wanted to open a restaurant when he gave up the law business well he went to Italy and worked in a restaurant in Milan for a year when he came home he

Was cooking Italian and had changed his name to Roberto I hope he didn’t change his last name to rolini amberina let out an involuntary shriek wait till Mary hears that she won’t think it’s funny she’s very serious you know I know so is he well anyway he opened this Italian

Restaurant in one of the old tow houses Mary talked him into it I think and he lives upstairs I’ve never eaten there too expensive but Mary says it’s fabulous food everything Robert prepares is fabulous will he be there to tonight you’re supposed to call him Roberto Mr

Quillin no he’s off on Sundays and they’re closed on Mondays but he personally supervises the kitchen five nights a week Imagine a law degree and he’s cooking spaghetti an unobtrusive sign on the iron railing of a townhouse announced Roberto’s North Italian cuisine as they climbed the stone steps

Quillin knew what to expect he had lived in junktown Long enough to be familiar with old tow houses even though they became rooming houses they had high ceilings carved woodwork ornate fireplaces boarded up and Gaslight chandeliers electrified all of these in various degrees of shabbiness with Robert Mouse’s taste for

English baronial he would add red velvet draperies and leather chairs studded with nail heads Echo North Italian quillin was shocked therefore when they entered the restaurant the interior had been gutted walls ceiling and arches were an unbroken sweep of smooth plaster in a custardy shade of

Cream the carpet was eggplant in Hue so as the upholstery of the steel base chairs silk shaded lamps on the tables and silk shaded sconces on the walls threw a Golden Glow over the cream tinted table Linens before he could splutter a comment a white-haired woman armed with

Menus approached in a flurry of excitement Mr quillin do you remember me I’m Charlotte rup she said in a re voice she had been his neighbor three years before on River Road a straight-laced spinster is woman obsessed with Crossroad puzzles but she had changed drastically where was her disapproving scowl her tightly pursed

Lips had she had a face lift could she possibly have found love and happiness with a good man quillin chuckled at the idea instead of her usual nondescript Garb smothered in costume jewelry she was wearing a simple beige dress with a cameo at the throat a

Cameo brought from Italy by her new boss quillin assumed of course I remember you he exclaimed you’re looking you’re looking what’s a six-letter word for beautiful oh Mr quillin you remembered she cried with pleasure adding in a lower voice but I don’t do crossword puzzles anymore I have a gentleman friend she

Flushed good for you he’s a lucky fellow Miss rup touched the Cameo self-consciously I’m the one who’s lucky I have a lovely apartment at the Casablanca and a lovely job with our wonderful Roberto let me show you to our best table this is a handsome Place quillin said very warm very friendly yet

Surprisingly modern Roberto wanted it to be the color of zabon he brought Italian Artisans over to do the plastering she handed them menus and recommended the talat con salmon aato and the Vell alilia her boss always a perfectionist had coached her on the pronunciation she added Roberta wishes you to be our

Guests tonight would you like something from the bar considering Miss R’s former attitude toward anything stronger than weak tea this was a right about face she suggested pinio as an aarati amberina Shrugged and accepted quillin asked for mineral water with lemon meanwhile a waiter displaying professional EA draped napkins across their laps heated

Napkins real flowers amberina whispered as she fingered the rose buds in a Venetian glass vase I wonder how many of these vases they lose there was little general conversation as they adjusted to the Elegance of the room and the awesomeness of the menu finally she said tell me

Honestly Mr quillin what do you think of the Casablanca it’s a dump does anyone really think it’s worth restoring does anyone think it’s even possible possible to restore such a ruin sock is positive she replied earnestly Mary Duckworth and Roberto are officers and you know they don’t waste

Their time on a lot of baloney they’ve had an architect make a study for sock and he knows exactly what has to be done and how to do it and how much it will cost I don’t have the exact facts but Mary can fill you in on that stuff where

Is she right now she’s flying back from Philadelphia there was a big antique show there and she took a double Booth her Porters drove a truck load down and she expected it would return empty Mary has that snooty manner you know and she can sell anything and get a good price

For it people believe her I wish I had her class but that’s the way it goes the rich get richer her family is in banking you know does she still wear kimonos embroidered with Dragons when she waits on customers no she’s gone back to being preppy pearls and everything EK did you

Do you see these prices she squealed when she saw the right hand side of the card I’m glad I’m not paying for this I’m going to order the most expensive thing on the menu the chances are I’ll never come here again this ends side two of cassette one

Of the cat who lived High the cat who lived High cassette 2 they each ordered an anasto soup and a ve dish then quillin said I have a few questions to ask amberina is the elevator surface always as bad as it was today I wish you’d call me Amber she

Said and you seem to have forgotten that you used to call me quill I didn’t forget she said sheepishly but now that you’ve got all that money I thought I should call you Mr what were we talking about the elevators oh yes you you just happen to

Hit a bad weekend usually they break down one at a time and that’s not so bad or if it happens during the week we’re in luck because the servic man comes right away if it’s during the day it’s time and a half after 5:00 you know and the management doesn’t go for

That I should have taken an apartment on a lower floor cin said another question what’s the meaning of the notice in the elevator about cats and spraying it doesn’t sound good oh that Mrs Tuttle posts a notice every time the Exterminator is scheduled he sprays the hallways plus any apartments that

Request it so people keep their cats locked up on spray day my cats never go out under any circumstances that’s a good idea they can get on the elevator and just disappear there a big turnover in cats at the Casablanca do you have one no I have

Fish they’re cheaper and they don’t have to go to the vet they just die frankly I fail to understand the roving cat policy at the Casablanca it’s for rodent control does the building have rats in addition to everything else only around the back street where they keep the

Dumpsters I’ve had mice in my apartment though I don’t know how mice get up to the eighth floor on Old Red kerin suggested the anasty were served breaded baby squid with marinara sauce and roasted red peppers with an and onion I wish my sisters Could See Me Now

Said Amber eating squid at Roberto’s with a millionaire getting back to the notices in the elevator he said is there a large market for Baby Grand pianos at the Casablanca you’d be surprised there’s still some money floating around the building and a few good-sized apartments we have elderly widows who are loaded

They don’t move out because they’ve always lived here who’s selling the piano the sign says apartment 10f that’s Isabelle Will Burton her rooms are crammed with family heirlooms and she sells them off one at a time to buy booze what does she look like I saw a middle-aged woman in a cocktail dress

Tippling in the phone booth when I moved in that’s our Asel her family made a killing in the furniture business and they pay her basic living expenses so long as she stays out of their sight I warn you don’t let Isabelle latch on to you she’ll drive you

Crazy the antipasto plates were whisked away and the proficient waiter who was always there when needed and absent when not served the soup a rich chicken broth threaded with egg and cheese what do they call this Amber asked quillin I wish I had written it down so I can tell my sisters

Strella alar Roman what will happen to tenant like Isabelle if the building is restored to its original Grandeur what will happen to any of us said Amber with a shrug I’ll have to find a rich husband and move to the country maybe he’ll set

Me up in a shop of my own she had a suggestive twinkle in her eyes which he ignored he said you had a husband the last time I saw you she Twisted her lips in an unattractive smirk husbands come and go like the zwinger boulevard bus you’ve changed your hair color too

This is my natural color I dyed it for him because he liked brunettes I suppose you’re having a tough time staying single now that you’ve got all that money so far I’ve been successful without trying very hard he said and then added to keep the record straight

But I have a good friend up north who shares my interests and tastes I hope she’ll come down for a visit while I’m here that must be nice said Amber we weren’t so compatible I don’t know why we ever happened to get married I’m a slob around the house but my ex liked

Everything just so a place for everything and everything in its place you know if he repeated that remark once more I sore I’d shoot him and I didn’t want to go to prison so I filed for divorce I hope he marries a computer Mary tells me you’re

Divorced right he popped a chunk of crusty roll into his mouth to preclude further elaboration Amber was not easily put off however what happened nothing worth mentioning he gobbled another Morel what do you do at the auction house just clerical work it doesn’t pay much but I’m working with

Antiques so I like it you should come to one of our auctions last month of painting went for $2.3 million right in your class quill he huffed into his mustache and ignored the remark here comes the vi she had ordered the top price rib chop with wine and mushroom sauce and

Now she asked for a bottle of Valpolicella explaining what I don’t drink I can take home as quillin knifed his medium priced Vella alap picata sauteed with lemon and capers he inquired about Mrs Tuttle she seems to have a remarkable blend of motherly concern and Military Authority

Oh she’s wonderful can you believe that she was actually born in the Casablanca basement Amber replied her father was the custodian they lived in the basement and she grew up playing in the boiler room and on the stairs by the time she was 12 she knew the building inside out

And it was always her ambition to be manager she’s very obliging as long as you don’t break the rules ask her for anything you need you may not get it but she’ll smile a lot I might need some more pay s the Skylight leaks also the hot water in the

Shower is unpredictable we all have that problem said Amber you get used to it do you know the person in 14b no she’s new but I’ve seen her on the elevator sort of wild looking Amber was gobbling her food hungrily I hope she doesn’t take too many showers querin

Said what can you tell me about the Countess I’ve never met her I’ve never even seen her I’m not in her Club class Mary knows her Mary gets invited to the 12th floor because her father is a banker and she went to one of those Eastern colleges Amber was well into her bottle

Of valella and was losing what little reticence she had when you lived here before quill we all thought you had a thing for Mary and couldn’t get anywhere because you worked for a newspaper and she thought she was too good for you it’s gratifying to know that all the

Gossips aren’t in pickax City he said shall we have dessert I recommend gelato and espresso then he launched the subject that was uppermost in his mind why is the penthouse apartment being sublet with all those valuable Furnishings the former tenant died and the estate is going through the courts

Amber said Mary had to pull strings to get you in there if it wasn’t for all your money who was the tenant an art dealer part owner of a gallery in the financial district Bessinger Todd apparently he was very successful although I don’t concur with his choice of

Art it was a woman Quail Diane Bessinger we called her Lady D why was she living in a broken down place like the Casablanca I guess she thought the penthouse was glamorous she was the one who found it sock did you ever ever see her apartment it’s filled with mushroom

Paintings I know she gave a party for sock volunteers once and I asked her about the mushrooms I don’t pretend to know anything about art she said mushrooms are sexy what happened to her she well she died unexpectedly for the first time that evening Amber was speaking

Guardedly at what age in her 40s 45 I think it said in the paper was it drugs no Amber was fidgeting nervously it’s something we don’t like to talk about ask Mary when you see her ah it was AIDS querin thought but immediately changed his mind that would

Hardly explain the large blood stain on the carpet and people never died unexpect edly of AIDS or did they you say she was the founder of Sak he said yes she felt very strongly about the Casablanca said Amber relieved to Veer away from the unmentionable subject anybody who’s ever lived here

Feels that way kind of emotional about the old building and what happened to your doorman you said he was shot what were the circumstances was he mixed up in something illegal no nothing like that she said relaxing over her cup of espresso doesn’t this have a wonderful

Aroma so what happened to him what’s the story well he was a nice old Joe who had lived in the basement forever then he went on Social Security and we really didn’t need a doorman any longer but he liked to put on his old uniform once in

A while and open car doors and collect a few tips it was a long Coachman coat down to his ankles made him feel important I guess but it had turned green with age and the gold braid was tarnished and some of the buttons were missing also he’d forget to shave we

Called him poor old Gus he was a sad sight but he sort of fitted the cablanca image you know a character people used to drive past and laugh he was written up in the daily fuction once then one night some kids high on something I guess drove by and shot poor old Gus

Dead quillin frowned and shook his head in abhorrence is everything all right asked an anxious voice at his elbow the food and service were Perfection Miss rup he assured her give my compliments to Roberto oh thank you that will make him very happy do you still have your kitties Mr quillin I

Certainly do and I brought brought them to the Casablanca with me would they like a treat from our kitchen I feel safe in saying that they would be overjoyed quillin and Amber walked home under the gaslights she carrying a half empty bottle of wine and he carrying a

Foil package folded decorously into a cream colored napkin they walked along a street almost deserted except for a woman airing a pair of doberman and two men walking together with purposeful stride swinging long- handled flashlights that’s our junk toown Patrol Amber said they’re volunteers you might

Like to take a turn some night just to see what it’s like be glad to said quillin recognizing a subject for his newspaper column are they ever called upon to handle any incidents I don’t think so mostly they discourage crime just by being there they shine their flashlights

You know and blow their whistles and talk on their portable phones when they reached the Casablanca and entered through the heavy black doors querin noticed the black paint covered brass fittings that the management no longer cared to keep polished only the bronze door of the countess’s elevator retained its original burnished Beauty

Amber said I’d invite you in for a night cap at my apartment’s a disaster area I’m ashamed of it thanks anyway he said I’ve had a long hard day on the road and in the Elevator Shaft and I’m ready to turn in he was glad of an excuse he had had

Enough of Amber’s company for one evening he would have preferred the preppy Mary or the mysterious Countess or even the affable dictatorial Mrs Tuttle he pictured her as a subject for his column old red was in operation and it took them to the eighth floor where he

Walked Amber to her door and said a courteous good night thanking her for her company and the indoctrination sorry I couldn’t give you much information she said but Mary will call you tomorrow we’re awfully glad you’re here Quail she gave him a lingering look that he pretended not to

Notice he walked up the remaining flights and when he arrived at 14 which was really 13 the door of old red was slowly closing someone was going down or had just come up unlocking his door and reaching for the light switch quillin discovered that the foyer and other

Rooms were already lighted although he distinctly remembered leaving the apartment in darkness except for the bathroom who’s here he demanded Koko and yum yum came running they showed no symptoms of Terror no indication that an intruder had threatened them they were simply aware that quillin was carrying a packet of ve

Scallops and Squid yum yum rubbed against his ankles voluptuously while coko stood on his hind legs and poured the air ignoring them he moved from room to room wearily in the library both the desk lamp and a floor lamp were unaccountably lit as were a pair of

Accent lamps on the foyer console the buffet lamp in the dining room and the bed lamps in both sleeping rooms the French doors to the living room were closed as he had left them and the area was in darkness likewise the kitchen he examined closets then went

Out on the Terrace and explored its entire length passing the French doors of 14b his neighbor’s blinds were closed but light glowed through dimly the huddled mass in a dark corner of the Terrace turned out to be a cluster of large empty plant pots kerin stroked his mustache in puzzlement and returned to

14a who could have entered and why did someone know he was being taken to dinner by sock did they have a key to his apartment but why would they leave all the lights blazing unless they were interrupted and made a quick getaway at that moment he heard the door

Of 14b open and close he rushed out to the elevator lobby but there was no one there merely the evidence that KRA hog had put her rubbish container outside the door mystified quillin returned to the kitchen to give the sies a taste of squid the chef had wrapped enough food for 3

Days but he was too late the cream colored napkin lay on the floor and the foil wrapper was open and licked clean while two satisfied gourmands sat nearby while washing up with not the slightest indication that they felt any guilt on the contrary they seemed proud of themselves chapter

5 you guys had a picnic last night quillin said grudgingly on Monday morning as he opened a can of boned chicken for the Siamese after stuffing yourselves with all that food you don’t deserve breakfast yet coko was prowling as if he had fasted for a week and yum yum was clawing quillin’s pant

Leg what I want to know is this which one of you two turned on all the lights while he was dining at Roberto’s with Amber Koko or yumyum or both of them had discovered that most of the L lamps in 14a had touch switches and the

Scamps had run from one to the othering making them light up no doubt they expected to make this a nightly romp but quillin foiled them before retiring he cat proofed all the lamps by turning off thumb switches or disconnecting plugs at the same time making the observation that touch switches were not practical

In households dominated by felines after that he had some difficulty in falling asleep he wasn’t accustomed to a water bed and he laid there expecting to drown listening to the periodic clanking of the radiators as the boiler sent up another burst of steam hearing the Drone of traffic on the nearby freeway

Counting the number of police and ambulance sirens wondering why the helicopter was hovering overhead recognizing an occasional gunshot he had lived too long in the country eventually he fell asleep and slept until the yowling outside his bedroom door told him to shuffle out into the kitchen and open that can of boned

Chicken while searching for the can opener he discovered a Japanese slicer with a tapered blade and light wood handle similar to those in the mushroom paintings he carried it into the gallery as he preferred to call the sunken living room to compare and he was right coko followed him and sniffed the blood

Stain opening his mouth and showing his teeth get away from that quillin ordered and put his shoulder to the bar once more to cover the stain then he changed his mind it was an awkward location for a bar he nudged it back again into a more suitable position and covered the stain

With a rug from the library an Indian Dury in pale colors that blended with the mushroom carpet Chee the cat from the gallery he closed the French doors yum yum was now batting some small object about the floor of the foyer Koko might have a notably investigative nose but yum yum had a

Notably metalsome paw Rings watches and coins as well as bottle caps and paper clips were within her realm of interest and any sudden activity that gave her pleasure was suspect this time it was an ivory colored tile less than an inch square not exactly square but slightly

Rectangular and not Ivory or ceramic but a lightweight wood in a smooth pale finish quillin confiscated it to Yum Yum’s disappointment and dropped it in his sweater pocket while waiting for the computerized coffee maker to perform its morning magic he ate a tangerine and speculated that the bowl of fruit had

Been Mary Duckworth’s idea she remembered that wine saps were his favorite apple and that Lobster sent the Siamese into to orbit did she have romantic memories of their previous Association or was this thoughtful gesture a political move on behalf of sck he could never be sure about that woman Circumstances had thrown them

Together in junktown 3 years before and she was huy and aloof at first but she had relaxed briefly on one Unforgettable Christmas Eve after that they went their separate ways at what point they would resume their acquaintance remain to be seen 3 years ago he had been a stranger

In town down on his luck and trying to make a comeback now he was in a position to buy the entire inventory of her antique shop as well as the Casablanca and most of zwinger Boulevard when she phoned him that morning however there was no hint that she entertained sentimental memories she

Greeted him in the crisp impersonal way that was her normal manner of speech good to hear your voice Mary he said how was your Philadelphia trip immensely successful and your journey down here quaill not bad it’s hard to get used to the smog though I’m used to breathing something called Fresh

Air in junk toown she said loftily we don’t call it smog we call it opalescence are you comfortably settled in your apartment settled but not necessarily comfortable more about that later but the cats and I appreciate your welcoming gift and I don’t need to tell you that dinner at Roberto’s was

Superb yes Roberto is a perfectionist he uses only the best ingredients and takes infinite pains with the preparation he actually Imports water from Lake KO you know for baking the rolls I noticed the distinction quillin said but I traced it to one of the Swiss Lakes that shows how wrong one’s pallet can

Be he said it factiously knowing that the literal antique dealer would take him seriously and she did she said you’re wonderfully knowledgeable about food quill when can you and I get together Mary I have a lot of questions to ask the sooner the better could you come to

My shop this afternoon around 4:00 we can have a private talk the shop is closed on Monday so we won’t be interrupted quillin agreed that would give him time to buy supplies for the cats reorient himself in the city and have lunch at the Press Club but before

Leaving the apartment he brushed the silky fawn colored coats of the Siamese all the while plying them with compliments on their elegantly long brown legs their gracefully slender Brown Tails their incredibly beautiful blue eyes and their impressively Alert white white whiskers they listened with Rapture displayed by their waving Tails

Then he tuned in the radio to check the weather prediction in doing so he learned that four houses on a Southside block had been torched by arsonists over the weekend a co-ed had been strangled backstage at the University Auditorium and a man had killed his wife and three

Children the weather would be clear but chilly they call this clear quillin said scornfully as he peered out the window at the smog filtered sunlight he walked to the Carriage House Cafe for ham and eggs wearing a Nordic sweater and field jacket and his Aussie

Hat its brim had a dip in the front that complimented his large drooping mustache and made women turn to look at him at the restaurant he found not a single familiar face the patrons gulping breakfast or reading the morning Rampage with their coffee were all strangers and

They were better dressed than the former denisons of junktown much had changed in three years but that was typical of inner cities in Moose County nothing ever changed unless it blew away in a high wind the same families went on for Generations the same storekeepers managed the same stores and everyone

Knew everyone else not only that but the eggs tasted better up north and when quill and paid his check at the carriage house he noted that ham and eggs cost $2 Less in pickaxe on one of the side streets he found a grocery store where he could buy

A 10B bag of sterilized gravel for the cat’s commode Gourmet canned goods for their meals and white grape juice for Cocoa further evidence that junk Town had upscaled he was becoming accustomed to surprises but when he walked back to the Casablanca he was shocked to see a painted sign on the vacant property

Across the street where a row of old buildings had been demolished the sign featured an artist’s rendering of a proposed building spanning zwinger Boulevard actually two towers connected by a bridge across the top somewhat like the bridge of size in Venice site of the new Gateway Al Kazar

The sign proclaimed offices stores and Hotel space now leasing one of the two towers obviously occupied the Casablanca site and quillin considered it an example of gross nerve he made a note of the firm promoting the project penamon Greystone and flud he knew of the wealthy penans and

The civic-minded greystones but flud was a new name to him he couldn’t even pronounce it at the Casablanca a stretcher was being loaded into an ambulance and quillin inquired about it at the manager’s desk an Old Gentleman on four had a heart attack said Mrs Tuttle as if it were a routine

Occurrence may I leave my groceries here while I go for a walk certainly she said be careful where you go stay on the main streets quillin had acquired the walking habit up north and he headed for downtown on foot proceeding at a studious Pace in order to evaluate the

Streetscape ahead of him stretched the new zwinger Boulevard with its trendy buildings glass office Towers like giant mirrors an apartment building like an armed Camp the new penamon Plaza Hotel like an amusement park the thought crossed his mind that the cling and chain fund could buy all of this tear it

Down and build something more pleasing to the eye he was of course the only pedestrian in sight traffic shot past him in surges barreling for the next red light like race horses bursting out of the gate at one point a police car pulled up looking for something sir asked an officer if

Quillin had said I’m thinking of buying all of this and tearing it down they would have sent him to the psychiatric ward so he flashed his press card and told them he was reporting on the architecture of inner cities in the Northeast Central United States next discovering an office building with

Shops on the main floor he bought a handbag for Polly and had it gift wrapped and shipped with an affectionate enclosure it was called a Paris bag something not to be found in Moose County where a Chicago bag was considered the last word he also entered a bookstore called

Books and stuff that stocked more videos and greeting cards than books furthermore its Supermarket lighting and background music discouraged browsing quillin had his own ideas about the correct Ambiance for a bookstore dim quiet and slightly Dusty downtown he passed the daily flu and would have dropped into banter with

The staffers but the formidable new security system in the lobby was inhibiting he kept going in the direction of the Press Club this venerable Landmark on Canard Street had been REM modeled and redecorated it was no longer The Hangout where he and Arch reker used to lunch

Almost every day at the same table in the same corner of the bar served by the same waitress who knew exactly how they liked their burgers none of the old crowd was there everyone seemed younger and there was a preponderance of AD salesmen and publicity hacks on expense

Accounts a suit and tie crowd he was the only one in the place who looked as if he had arrived on horseback he ate at the bar but the corn beef sandwich was not as good as it used to be Bruno the bartender had quit and no one remembered

Bruno or knew where he had gone as quillin was leaving the bar he recognized one familiar face the portly and easygoing Lieutenant haes of the homicide Squad was lunching with someone who was obviously a newsman and probably the new reporter on the police beat quillin could identify the breed

Instantly he stopped at their table what brings you down from the North Pole the detective asked in his usual jocular style the developers are evicting me from my Igloo quillin replied they’re building air conditioned condos you guys know each other hes introduced Matt something or other from the fuctions police Bureau the name

Sounded like figon spell it quillin requested as he shook hands with the young reporter thi g a m o n what happened to Lodge Kendall he went out west to work on some new magazine said Matt aren’t you the one who gave the big retirement bash for Arch rker I

Missed it by two days you’re entitled to a rain check what are you doing here anyway asked hes spending the winter with crime and pollution instead of snow drifts and icebergs I’m staying at the Casablanca are you nuts they’re getting ready to bulldoze that pile of rubble do

You still have your smart cat I sure do and he’s getting smarter every day I suppose you still indulge his Taste for Lobster and frog legs Quin said I admit that he lives high for a cat but he saved my neck a couple of times and I

Owe him hes turned to the new reporter quill has this cat that can dig up Clues better than the whole homicide Squad when I told my wife about him she bugged me until I got her a Siamese but ours is more interested in Breaking the Law than

Enforcing it pull up a chair quill have some coffee have dessert the flu’s picking up the tab quillin declined saying that he had an appointment and went on his way thinking about the proliferation of hogs and fans like names out of Science Fiction moreover the B lines at the

Fuction were getting longer and more complicated franer had been replaced by Marta Newton Fisk at the morning Rampage Jack Murphy’s gossip column was now written by Sasha Crispen Schmidt try saying that fast he thought try saying it three times in a critical and slightly grouchy mood he pushed through the lunch hour

Crowds on the street finding most of the pedestrians to be in a mad rush tense and rude the women he evaluated as Chic glamorous and self-consciously thin though not as pretty or as healthy looking as those in Moose County returning to the Casablanca too early for his appointment with Mary

Duckworth he went for a ride extricating the purple plum from the parking lots Tire bashing cracks and craters and driving to River Road his last address before moving up north his old domicile and the tennis club next door had been replaced by a condo complex and Marina and he could

Hardly remember how either of the original buildings looked too bad he chocked up another score for the developers and drove back to the Casablanca hoping it would still be there what he found was a revised situation in the parking lot His official slot number 28 was still

Occupied not by the green Japanese car but by a decrepit station wagon with a New Jersey license plate someone else had pulled into number 29 so he wheeled the purple plum into number 27 after a morning of disappointment indignation and other negative reactions quill was none too happy when he left

For Mary Duckworth’s antique shop the blue dragon still occupied a narrow townhouse handsomely preserved and a large blue porcelain Dragon not for sale still dominated the front window Bay that much had not changed nor had the entrance hall with its Chinese wallpaper Chippendale furniture and silver chandeliers there was a life-size ebony

Carving of a Nubian slave with jeweled turban that had not yet sold and quillin glanced at the price tag to see if it had been marked down it had gone up another 2 Mary’s kle being if it doesn’t sell raise the price as for Mary herself she still had

The Sleek blue black hair and willowy figure that he remembered but the long cigarette holder and the long fingernails were no longer in evidence instead of an oriental kimono she wore a well tailored suit and Pearls she shook his hand briefly and glanced at his Nordic sweater and aussy hat

You look so sportif quill I see you haven’t sold the blackamore he said I’m holding it back originally it stood in the lobby of the Casablanca and it will appreciate and value no matter what happens to the building you still keep that unfriendly German Shepherd actually said Mary I don’t feel

The need for a watchdog considering the new atmosphere in junktown I was able to find him a good home in the suburbs where he’s really needed come into the office she motioned him to sit in a wing chair its tall narrow proportions labeled it an antique and he glanced at

The price tag he looked twice at first reading he thought it was $180 then realized it was $118,000 he sat down carefully before we say another word he began would you explain the dark line that makes the Casablanca look like a refrigerator it’s just above the ninth

Floor there was a projecting ledge there she said and the city ordered it removed portions of it were falling down on the sidewalk and injuring passers by our architect maintains it can be safely restored and it should be restored being an integral part of the design meanwhile the building management is reluctant to

Spend money on cosmetic improvements because because the building may be torn down next week quillin interrupted everyone chant that excuse like a Greek chorus and they may be right this morning I Saw the Sign announcing the Gateway Alcazar the developers seem to be supremely confident aren’t you

Appalled Mary said with a shudder The Audacity Of Those People is Unthinkable they’ve even contrived a publicity story in the morning Rampage comparing their arched monstrosity to the Arc D Triumph well the penans own the Rampage don’t they nevertheless Roberto wrote a letter to the editor calling it The Arc du

Catastro if your clingin chain fund comes to our rescue we shall be eternally grateful what do you know about Penman Greystone and f l u d d I don’t know how to pronounce it flood what’s their track record flood has recently joined them but the Penman and Greystone firm has

Been in real estate development for years they’re the ones who wanted to tear down the Press Club the media clobbered that idea in a hurry quillin recalled has the daily flu come to the support of sock not with any conviction they merely fuel the controversy the mayor and the city council have made

Statements in favor of the Gateway alkazar but the University City and the art community support sock how about your father what does he think about saving the Casablanca Mary raised her eyebrows expressively as you know he and I are always at odds on every issue and his

Bank has already agreed to lease space for a branch office in the Gateway building ironic isn’t it tell me about the counters he said so far no one has mentioned her name she is Adelaide St John Plum her father was Harrison Wills Plum who built the Casablanca in

1901 she was born on the 12th floor of the Casablanca 75 years ago with a midwife a nurse and two doctors in attendance according to the story she tells and tells and tells she’s inclined to be repetitive did she ever marry no she was engaged at an early age but broke it off

She adored her father and they were very close I see how does she react to all this brewhaha over her birthplace that’s a curious situation Mary admitted I believe she enjoys being the center of attention the promoters make her large offers and ply her with gifts while sock appeals to her better

Instincts and makes pointed references to her father her dear father she procrastinates and we all for time hoping to find an angel do you play bridge joted by this non seor quillin said uh no I don’t how about backham frankly I’ve never liked games that require any mental

Effort what’s the reason for this interrogation may I ask let me explain said Mary the Countess has one interest in life table games cards par cheesy check maang anything except chess Roberto and I stay in her good graces by playing once a week as’s much money exchange hands There’s No gambling she

Plays for the pleasure of competition and she’s really very good she should be she’s been playing daily all her life beginning as a young child did Amber tell you that the Countess is a recluse no she didn’t quillin’s vision of Lady Hester stanh hope flashed across his mind

Yes she lives in a world of her own on the 12th floor with three servants surely she goes out occasionally she never leaves the building or even her own apartment which occupies an entire floor her doctors lawyers hairdresser dress maker and missuse all make house calls what’s her problem

Agoraphobia she claims to have trouble breathing if she steps outside her door you don’t play dominoes no especially not Domino’s Scrabble he shook his head does this woman know I’m here and why we told her you’re a writer who inherited money and retired to the country and you’re spending the winter here to

Escape the bad weather up north what was her reaction she asked if you play bridge does she know I used to write for the fuction there was no point in mentioning it she never reads newspapers as I said before she has created a private world quillin was convinced he had

Discovered lady Hester In the Flesh he said does anyone know of my interest in buying the Casablanca only Roberto and myself and the architect and we confided in Amber of course when I had to leave town since the klling and chain board of directors won’t even hear about this

Until Thursday I don’t want my possible involvement to leak out we understand that I’ll be filing stories for the Moose county paper while I’m here and I’m thinking that a column on the Casablanca would make a good kickoff will the counters object to being interviewed I’m sure she’ll enjoy the

Attention although she’ll want to talk mostly about her dear father who handles the business end of the Casablanca a realy firm with her lawyers as intermediaries is she interested in the tenants only if they have good manners and good clothes and play bridge to break the ice I’d like to take

You to tea on 12 she pours every afternoon at 4: first kerin said I want to know your architect’s appraisal of the building as of this moment I don’t believe it shows much promise Mary handed him a bound copy of a report there it is 200 Pages most of

It is technical but if you read the first and last chapters you will have all the necessary information quillin noted the name on the cover grinman and Hills Architects and Engineers it was a well-known firm magazines had publicized their projects around the country an art museum a University Library the restoration of a

19th Century Government building not a bad connection he said I’ll study this thing and if I have any questions whom do I call grinman or Hills they’re both deceased Mary said only the name remains and the reputation the man who prepared the report for sock virtually greatest is Jefferson LEL he’s

Totally sympathetic to the cause you’ll like him this ends side one of cassette 2 cassette 2 side two quiller and Rose this discussion has been enjoyable and enlightening Mary I’ll let you know when I’m ready for tea with the Countess time is of the essence she reminded him after all the

Woman is 75 and anything can happen she accompanied him to the door through a maze of high-priced pedigreed antiques do you still have your Macintosh coat of arms I wouldn’t part with it it’s the first antique I ever bought and it’s incorporated into my apartment of

North he drew a a small object from his pocket can you identify this where did you get it my cat was batting it about the floor in the penthouse it’s a blank tile from a Scrabble set blanks are wild in Scrabble the former tenant was an avid

Player she was an art dealer I understand and that explains some of the peculiar artwork but why so many mushrooms who painted them they’re signed with a double r Mary’s eyes wavered as she replied he was a young artist by the name of Ross Rasmus why did he put a knife in every

Picture she hesitated momentarily Roberto says there’s sensuous pleasure in slicing a mushroom with a sharp knife perhaps that’s what it’s all about with a searching look quillin said I hear she died unexpectedly what was the cause of death really quill we avoid talking about it Mary said uncomfortably it was

Rather sorted and that’s not the image we want for the Casablanca you don’t have to be Cy with me Mary since I’m subletting the apartment I deserve to know well if you insist I have to tell you that she was murdered he stroked his mustache smugly that’s what I surmised there’s a

Sizable blood stain on the carpet someone had placed a piece of furniture over over it for camouflage but coko found it how is coko Mary asked brightly never mind coko tell me what happened to the art dealer the words came out reluctantly she her throat was cut by the mushroom artist she nodded

That figures he was obsessed with knives when did this happen on Labor Day weekend why is so much of this RW fellow’s work hanging in the apartment well said Mary selecting her words with care he was a young artist and she thought he had promise and she

Promoted him in her Gallery he was her Protege you might say uhuh said quillin knowingly where is he now I assume he was convicted no Mary said slowly he was never brought to trial you see he left a confession and took his own life chapter 6 quillin felt in better spirits when he

Left the blue dragon Koko’s Discovery was pertinent 14a had been the scene of a murder that cat had an infallible sense when it came to turning up evidence of criminal activity carrying the grinman and Hills report quillin headed for home with a Brisk step eager to start reading

Instead of wasting time on dinner in a restaurant he stopped at the Carriage House Cafe to inquire about takeout food we don’t usually do takeouts said the cashier in a distracted way she was staring at quillin’s oversized mustache are you on television regarding her with mourn Eyes

Under drooping Lids he said in a rich resonant tone reserved for such occasions at this moment I’m live in person talking with an attractive woman behind a cash register regarding the possibility of a takeout dinner I’ll see what I can do she called over her shoulder as she hurried into the

Kitchen immediately a man with long hair and a chef’s hat peered through the small window in the kitchen door querin gave him a cordial salute the cashier returned we don’t have to take our trays but the cook will put together a serving of today’s special if you don’t mind

Carrying a regular plate you can bring it back tomorrow are you driving I’m walking but I don’t have far to go what is your special beef strong enough it sounds most appetizing we’ll put some CAW on a dinner roll in foil the cashier volunteered while retrieving his bill

Clip from his pocket quillin placed the grinman and Hills report on the counter and noticed the cashier trying to read it upside down Grinch men and Hills she read aloud is that the script for a movie she asked wide-eyed yes but keep it quiet he replied in a low voice with a swift

Glance to either side it’s going to be a buddy movie like Bonnie and Clyde or Harold and Ma I’m playing grinman leaving a sizable tip for a happy and flustered cashier he departed with the bulky report under one arm and a plate of hot food covered with foil on

Top of which were balanced two foil packets your call buted roll the cashier told him with an expansive display of hospitality open the door for him she called to the bus boy quillin covered the distance to the Casablanca quickly and a young man held the two heavy doors for him saying

Somebody’s going to eat tonight on the main floor there was activity suitable for late afternoon on a Monday the person seated in the phone booth was telephoning and neither swigging nor snorting an elderly man using a walker moved down the hall slowly and with extreme concentration Kitty baby having picked

Up the scent of the beef stroganov was dogging quillin’s feet in the vicinity of the desk a young man was swinging a mop across the floor while Mrs Tuttle sat at her post knitting and Rupert lounged about in his red hat despite the tools in his jacket

Pocket he never seemed to do much work among the persons waiting for the elevator were employed tenants with gaunt endof Day expressions the Asian mother with her children elderly Souls complaining about Medicare and students with an excess of youthful energy talking loudly about bridges professors and final exams probably engineering students

Quillin guessed rert caught his eye and nodded toward the elevators both working today a cause for celebration querin replied while the passengers waited in suspense reassuring knocks and wines could be heard in both elevator shafts old green was the first to appear immediately filling with passengers and

Going on its way then the door of old red opened and two of The Waiting students rushed aboard quillin stood back allowing a white-haired woman with a cane to go next slowly one faltering step at a time she approached the car and just as her head and one foot were

Inside the heavy door started to close hold it he yelled one student lunged for the door the other lunged at the woman pushing her from danger as she toppled backward quillin dropped everything and caught her while old red closed its door and took off instantly Mrs Tuttle and rert were

On the scene the custodian retrieving the woman’s cane and the manager saying are you all right Mrs button set back on her feet but shaking violently the woman raised her cane as if to strike and screamed in a cracked voice that man grabbed me he saved you Mrs button explained the

Manager you could have fallen and broken your hip he grabbed me wheelchair Mrs Tuttle mumbled and Rupert quickly brought one from the office and took the offended victim upstairs in old green while quillin surveyed the gooey hash on the floor I’m so sorry Mr quillin said Mrs

Tuttle is that your dinner it was my dinner anyway the plate didn’t break but I’m afraid I messed up your floor don’t worry about that the boy will take care of it I don’t think that’ll be necessary he said Kitty baby had been joined by Napoleon and two other cats and the

Quartet was lapping it up Cole SLO and all at least let me wash your plate Mrs Tuttle offered it looks as if old red is my nemesis said quillin as he nodded his thanks to a child who handed him his butted roll and a man who picked up the

Grinman and Hills report straightening its rumbled Pages could the boy go out and bring you something to eat the manager suggested I think not thank you I’ll go upstairs and feed the cats and then go out to dinner when he opened the door of 14a coko and yum yum came forward

Nonchalantly how about showing some concern he chided them how about displaying a little sympathy I’ve just had a gring experience they followed him into the kitchen and watched politely as he opened a can of crab meat they were neither prowling nor yowling nor ankle rubbing and quillin realized that they were not

Hungry has someone been up here he demanded did they give you something to eat when he placed the plate of food on the floor the cats circled it and sniffed from all angles before consenting to nibble daintily then quillin was sure someone had been feeding them he inspected the apartment

For signs of intrusion and found no evidence in the library or in either bedroom the doors to the Terrace were locked both bathrooms were undisturbed only in the gallery was there anything different and he couldn’t imagine exactly what it was the Indian Dury still covered the

Blood stain on the carpet No artwork was missing the pot of trees had all their leaves but something had been changed at that moment coko entered the gallery and embarked on a business-like program of sniffing he sniffed at the foot of the stairs alongside the sofa on

The gallery level between trees and in front of the stereo the pales quillin shouted someone took the pales he hurried to the house phone in the kitchen and said to a surprised Mrs Tuttle what happened to my pales your what she asked this is quillin in 14a they were plastic pale

Standing around my living room to catch drips when the Skylight leaks what happened to them it might rain oh I forgot to tell you she apologized the man was here to fix the Skylight today so rert collected the pales I forgot to tell you during the trouble with Mrs

Button I see sorry to bother you he tamped his mustache he would have to speak firmly to rert about feeding the animals but his annoyance at the custodian was erased by his admiration for Coco the Cat had known the exact location of every pale now quillin was twice as hungry

Carrying the clean plastic plate he returned to the Carriage House Cafe oh it’s you again cried the cashier in Delight how did you like the special you didn’t need to bring the plate back right away it was so good quillin said that I’d like to do it all over again

Including that delicious cold SLO and perhaps two rolls if you can spare them he sat on a stool at the counter and the cashier insisted on serving him herself while the cook waved a friendly hand in the small window of the kitchen door and later sent out a complimentary slice of apple

Pie thus fortified quillin returned to the Casablanca where he found the red-hatted rert sitting at the manager’s desk reading a comic book I noticed that the skylights been repaired he said to the custodian yep no more leaks the man held up crossed fingers how did you get along with the

Cats when you picked up the pales okay I gave him a jelly donut they gobbled It Up Jelly Donut quillin was a ghast rert misunderstand in his reaction excused the apparent extravagance by explaining that it was a stale donut that had been lying around the basement for several

Days controlling himself quillin said in a friendly way I’d rather you wouldn’t give the cats any treats if you have occasion to enter the apartment rubert they’re on a strict diet because of because of their kidneys yeah cats always have trouble with their kidneys seems if but thanks

For collecting the pales friend you’re right on the ball then quillin rode up to 14 on Old Red and confronted the Siamese stale jelly donut he said in indignation you ate a stale jelly donut and yet you guys turn up your nose at a fresh can of salmon if it’s pink you

Hypocrites changing into a warm-up suit he locked himself into the library to study the grinman and Hills report it appeared to be a formidable task and he wanted no one sitting on his lap or purring in his ear the introduction described the original structure as Amber had quoted from the sock

Brochure then came the chapter on necessary improvements which quillin condensed on a legal PAD as follows clean and repair exterior and restore ornamentation restore grassy Park on west side and in port koser on the East acquire property behind building for parking structure new roof and Skylight new triple glazed Windows

Throughout custommade mechanical update elevators heating and air conditioning Plumbing wiring TV cables and intercom remove superimposed floorings false walls and dropped ceilings restore former apartment spaces with Maids rooms update bathrooms in the character of the original restore marble woodwork paneling mosaic tile duplicate original light fixtures custommade furnish lobby as before

Spanish Furniture Oriental Rugs oil paintings Green State restaurant on 14 converting pool area into Sidewalk Cafe landscape Terrace in 1900 style update basement apartments for staff redesign kitchen and laundry facilities preserve owner’s apartment on 12 as refurbished in 1925 after compiling this ambitious list quillin blew into his mustache an expression of

Incredulity turning to the Final Chapter he had greater cause for disbelief the bottom line was in nine digits he emitted an audible gulp such a sum was beyond his comprehension despite his inheritance he still bought his shirts on sale and telephoned long distance during the discount hours

Nevertheless he knew that the Kling and chain fund was accustomed to dispersing hundreds of millions without blinking and he managed not to Blink although he gulped audibly as he mused on the possibilities and problems of such an extensive restoration the hush of the library was broken by the sound of drum beats they

Were coming through the wall from 14b Thump Thump Thump dum dum thump dum dum thump bong the final beat reverberated like a Chinese gong then he heard a shrill voice although the words were inaudible followed by a repetition of the drum beats he went out on the Terrace and

Walked past the French doors of 14b but the blinds were closed as before next he went out to the elevator Lobby and listened at his neighbor’s door he could hear a voice chanting then more thumps and a bong he was standing with his ear close to the door when noises in the Elevator

Shaft alerted him and he sprang back just as old red debouched a creature with spiky hair wearing black tights black boots a black Poncho and black eye makeup good evening he said to the creature giving his greeting a neighborly inflection without replying he or she darted past him hammered on the door of

14b and was admitted amid birdlike shrieks the charivari had no effect on the Siamese who were sleeping soundly somewhere full of crab meat and stale jelly donut querin spent the next two hours in the gallery however with the French doors closed and the stereo volume turned to

High toward the end of the evening when the thumps and bongs had subsided he heard a commotion in the hall the door of 14b slamming a cacophony of shrill voices he grabbed his waste basket and opened his front door on the pretext of putting out his

Rubbish as he did so he caught sight of more creatures in Black chattering and shrieking like inhabitants of a rainforest as they boarded old red when they saw him they fell silent and stared with black rimmed eyes the elevator door closed and old red descended quillin told himself with a

Chuckle that they were members of some kind of satanic cult and old red was taking them down to the infernal regions perhaps it was the sudden silence that roused the Siamese or their internal clock told them it was time for their 11:00 treat whatever alerted them they wandered out from wherever they had

Been sleeping and performed the ritual of yawning and stretching first two four legs and then one hind leg coko jumped to the desktop and nosed the grinman and Hills report yum yum stood on her hind legs and placed her paws on the edge of the waist basket peering into its depths

In Hope of finding a crumpled paper or piece of string I don’t know about you quillin said to the pair but I’ve had a most interesting evening if we do what the Architects suggest this building will no longer look like a refrigerator and it won’t be a sore thumb on zwinger

Boulevard the lobby will be a Showplace the apartments will be palacial the rooftop restaurant will be exclusive and they’ll no longer allow cats how do you react to that y said Coco who was now examining the library sofa it was covered with fake leopard and he knew it was not the real thing

Industriously with vertical tail he sniffed the seams paed the button tufting and reached down behind the seat cushions some of his memorable discoveries had been made behind seat cushions cocktail crackers paper clips folding money pencils and small articles of clothing now he was scrabbling so assiduously that quillin went to his Aid

He removed one of the seat cushions and there tucked in the crevice between the seat platform and the sofa back was an item of gold jewelry good boy he said let me see it engraved discs were linked together to make a flexible bracelet but the clasp was broken one disc was engraved

In cursive script to Diane another was inscribed from Ross the remainder bore the numerals 1 141 511 1 4135 Etc obviously it was a secret code between the two okay this is enough excitement for tonight quillin said but tomorrow we do a little research on the Labor Day incident on Tuesday Morning quillin

Called Jefferson LEL at grinman and Hills inviting him to lunch at the Press Club and the AR accepted there was a certain Mystique about the Press Club and most persons jumped at an invitation before going out to breakfast he checked the weather report on the radio and learned that the narcotics

Squad had rounded up 52 suspects in a drug bust a judge had been indicted for accepting bribes and a coldfront was moving in on his way out of the building quillin was flagged by the manager she said I’m sorry about that commotion last night Mrs button is very old and a

Little confused at times I understand Mrs Tuttle last year she had an attack and the paramedics gave her CPR the next day she accused them of rape it even went to court but of course it was thrown out I’m glad you warned me querin said next time I’ll let her

Fall if Mrs Tuttle appreciated his Sly humor she gave no indication I also want her to tell you Mr quillin that some of our tenants do cleaning those that are on Social Security you know they like to keep active and earn a little extra let me know if you need help with your

Apartment I’ll take you up on that he said but don’t send me Mrs button then he walked downtown it was a good day for walking by Urban standards a light Breeze diluted the emissions from cars and trucks and diesel vehicles on Route he stopped for pancakes and sausages observing that they were twice

The price of a similar breakfast and pickaxe and the Sausages were not half so good moose County had Hog Farms and independent butchers made their own sausages he was spoiled at the daily fuction he braved the security cordon and gained admittance to the library where he asked

To see Clips on the Bessinger murder the film Bank produced three entries the first dated the day after Labor Day although the victim’s name was spelled differently in each news item that was not unusual for the daily fuction murder suicide jolts art world the violent deaths of an art dealer and

An artist Sunday night apparently murder and suicide have shocked the local art world and the residents of the Casablanca apartments the the body of Diane Bessinger 45 co-owner of the Bessinger Todd Gallery was found in her Penthouse apartment Monday morning her throat had been cut the body of Ross

Rasmus 25 a client of Bessinger was found earlier at top a car in the parking lot below the murdered woman’s Terrace Rasmus apparently jumped to his death after leaving a contrite confession dobbed on a wall his body landed on the roof of a car owned by a

Casablanca tenant who found it at 12:05 a.m. Monday and notified the police I went out for some smokes and beer said Jack yasb 39 and the top of my car was all bashed in he wasn’t that big of a guy but it’s a long way down Bessinger died between 11:00 p.m.

And midnight Sunday according to the medical examiner although the body was not discovered until Monday morning when her partner Jerome Todd phoned and was unable to get an answer I heard about Ross’s suicide on the radio and tried to call her Todd said when she didn’t answer I got worried and called the

Building manager the gallery had mounted a Onan exhibit of rasmus’s mushroom paintings in June they sold poorly said Todd and Ross blamed us for not publicizing the event enough Rasmus rented a loft apartment at join joing bessinger’s lavish Penthouse at the Casablanca Jessica Tuttle manager of the

Building called him a good tenant he was a nice quiet serious young man she said we rent it to him at Miss bessinger’s recommendation it was Tuttle who found the murdered woman’s body Mr Todd called me about not getting an answer on the phone he was sure she was home because

She had guests coming for a holiday brunch so I took my key and went up there her body was on the living room floor and there was a lot of blood on the carpet Bessinger had been in the news frequently in connection with the save our Casablanca Committee of which

She was founder and leader following the news item a brief obituary had been published in the Wednesday edition of the fuction with a half column photo of the deceased a vivacious looking woman with dark shoulder length hair Diane had become Diana Bessinger Diana Diana Bessinger 45 of the

Casablanca apartments died Sunday at her home she was co-owner of the Bessinger Todd Gallery founder of the save hour Casablanca committee an officer of the turp and chisel club and an active worker in local art projects a native of Iowa she was the daughter of the late

Professor and Mrs Damon Bessinger she is survived by one brother brother and two daughters private services will be held Thursday memorials may be made to the turp and chisel scholarship fund the following Sunday the art page of the fuction carried a commentary by Art writer Elana tar with yet a third

Spelling of the victim’s name a photo taken by a fluin photographer at the Rasmus opening in June showed a smiling Diane Bessinger and a sh Ross Rasmus posed with one of the mushroom paintings the by line quillin noted was another one of those names that was just as logical spelled backward or

Forward mushroom murder has no answers by Elana tar there is only one topic of conversation in the Galleries and Studios as Diane Bessinger is tearfully laid to rest and the ashes of the mushroom painter are shipped ignominiously to his home town somewhere why did he do it what caused

This talented thoughtful artist to turn violent and commit such a heinous crime his suicide is easier to explain it was the only possible escape from intolerable guilt desperate remorse must have driven him over the parapet of the Casablanca Terrace Lady D was his Patron his enthusiastic press agent his best friend

Who saw Merit in his work when no other Gallery would take a chance on his monomania for mushrooms once when asked why he never painted broccoli or crook neck squash Ross said meekly I haven’t said all I have to say about mushrooms granted mushrooms are erotic and he captured their mushroom

Succinctly pairing the fleshy fungus with the razoredge knife as he did bordered on soft porn I and said in an interview last June there have been artists who painted softness crispness silkiness or mistiness sublimely but only Rasmus could paint sharpness so sharp that the viewer cringes the knife he portrayed in the

Paintings was always the same a tapered pointed Japanese slicer with a pale wooden handle and a provocative shapeliness of its own one shuds to think too much about the actual CME the motive is all one can safely or sanely contemplate and that is a question that will never be answered

Diane Bessinger was the founder and president of sock it was a passion with her and she would not want her worthwhile cause to be overshadowed by the notoriety surrounding her tragic death she would say let the matter Fade Away now and get on with the business of saving the

Casablanca quillin finished reading the clips and patted his mustache it would be a challenge he thought to uncover that hidden motive it might be buried in 14a chapter 7 on an Impulse after reading the murder suicide Clips in the fuction library quillin walked through the Bessinger Todd Gallery in the financial

District it had the same address as the old Lamberth gallery that he knew so well but the interior had changed dramatically at that morning hour the place had a vast emptiness except for a business suited man supervising a jeans clad assistant perched on a stepladder he turned in Surprise as quillin entered

Saying we’re closed I thought the door was locked am I intruding I’m Jim quillin formerly of the daily flu I used to cover the art beat when Mount Clemens was the critic how do you do I’m Jerome Todd I’ve heard about Mount Clemens but that was before my time here I’m from De

Mo I’ve been away for 3 years I see you’ve enlarg the gallery yes we knocked out the ceiling so we could exhibit larger works and we added the balcony for crafts objects quillin said I’m reti TI now and living up North but I heard about the tragic loss of your partner and wanted

To extend my condolences thank you is there anything I can do for you Todd asked in an Abrupt change of subject he was a tall distinguished looking man with one disturbing mannerism the habit of pinching his nose as if he smelled an unpleasant odor quillin was Adept at inventing impromptu replies

I happen to be staying at the Casablanca he said and I would like to propose a memorial to miss Bessinger that would help the cause she championed Todd looked surprised and wary in equal proportions what I Envision quillin went on smoothly as if he had been planning

It for months is a book about the historic Casablanca using old photos from the public library for text I would rely on interviews and research that would be costly to put together said the dealer withdrawing slightly as he began to anticipate a touch for money there are grants available for

Publishing books on historical subjects quillin said coly and revenue from the sale of the books would go to the Bessinger memorial fund my own Services would be donated instead of being relieved Todd showed increased weariness who would be interviewed he asked sharply local historians Architects and persons who have Recollections of the early

Casablanca you’ll be surprised how many of them will come forward when we broadcast a request my own attorney remembers eating spinach timos in the rooftop restaurant as a boy I wouldn’t want anyone to go digging into the circumstances of my partner’s death there’s been too much notoriety and gossip already the dealer said

Pinching his knows there would be nothing like that I assure you said quillin at that moment a glimpse of movement overhead caused him to look up a Persian cat was walking along the railing of the balcony by the way he said I’m subletting Miss bessinger’s apartment

While the estate is in Probate and I admire her taste in furniture and art Todd nodded in silent agreement how long were you in Partnership Mr Todd 18 years we came here to take over the Lamberth Gallery when Zoe Lamberth moved to California do you happen to have any

Rasmus paintings I do not and I’m weary of the talk about that fellow there are plenty of living artists Todd pinched his nose again the only reason I asked is that I’m in the market for large scale art for a house I’m building up north quill was exercising his talent for instant

Falsehood then you must come to our opening on Friday night said the dealer visibly relieved as he anticipated cash flow we’re in the process of mounting the show so the walls are vacant but you’ll see some impressive works at the Veris I’m converting a barn into a residence said quillin embroidering his

Innocent lie so I’ll have large wall spaces and I was hoping for a mushroom painting mushrooms seem appropriate for a barn stiffly Todd said all his work sold out immediately after his suicide if ID had my wits about me I would have held some back but I was in

Shock they didn’t sell well at all in June he’s worth more dead than alive but if you come here Friday night you’ll see the work of other artists you might like what kind of barn are you remodeling an Apple Barn octagonal the barn on the king and chain

Property had indeed stored apples and it really was eight-sided spectacular you might consider contemporary tapestries do you know the sizes of your wall spaces actually the job isn’t off the drawing board as yet said quillin being completely truthful come anyway on Friday there’ll be champagne or deres live music and

Valet parking what are the hours from 6 o’ until the well runs dry thank you I’ll be here quillin started toward the door and turned back tell me frankly how do you feel about the future of the Casablanca it’s a lost cause said Todd without emotion yet your partner was convinced

It could be saved yes but the picture has changed theill building is being raised to make way for the new Gateway Alcazar which will be the missing link between the new downtown and the new junk town I’m moving the gallery there I’ve signed up to lease space twice the size of what

I have here quiller and consulted his watch it was time to meet the architect at the Press Club well thanks for your time Mr Todd I’ll see you on Friday as he walked to the Press Club he told himself that the book project borne on the spur the moment was not a bad

Idea as for converting The Apple Barn that sounded good too it would be 10 times roomier than his present apartment in pickaxe and the Siamese could climb about the overhead beams the Press Club occupied a grimy Stone Fortress that had once been the county jail and as a hangout for the

Working press it had maintained a certain forbidding atmosphere for many years the interior had changed however since quillin’s days at the daily flu it had been renovated modernized brightened and in his estimation ruined yet it was a popular place at noon he waited for the architect in the lobby observing the

Lunchtime crowd that streamed through the door reporters and editors advertising and PR types radio and TV personalities event eventually a man with a neatly clipped beard entered slowly appraising the lobby with curiosity and a critical set to his mouth quillin stepped forward and introduced himself I’m Jeff LEL said the man so

This is the celebrated Press Club somehow it’s not what I expected he gestured toward the damus walls and guilt framed mirrors they redecorated a couple of years ago said quillin apologetically and it’s no longer the Dismal shabby Press Club that I loved shall we go upstairs upstairs there was a dining

Room with tablecloths cloth napkins and peppermills on the tables instead of paper place mats and squeeze bottles of mustard and ketchup they took a table in a secluded corner so you’re interested in the Casablanca restoration said the architect interested enough to want to ask questions I’ve done my homework I

Spent last evening reading the grinman and Hills report you seem quite sangin about the project as the report made clear it’ll cost a mint but it’s entirely feasible it could be the most Sensational preservation project in the country LEL said what is your particular interest for one thing I lived in that

Building for a few years before I was married and there’s something about the place that gets into a person’s blood I don’t know how to explain it but but chiefly my firm is interested because the Casablanca was designed by the late John grinman and we have all the original specs in our

Archives naturally that facilitated the study immeasurably grinman was a struggling young architect at the turn of the century when he met Harrison Plum Plum had a hairbrain scheme that no established architect would touch but grinman took the Gamble and the Casablanca made his reputation in design

It was ahead of its time morish didn’t become a fad until after World War I the walls were built 2 ft thick at the base tapering up to 18 in at the top all the mechanical equipment water pipes steam pipes electric conduits were concentrated in crawl spaces between

Floors for easy access and to help soundproof the building and there was another feature that may amuse you the occupants could have all the electricity they wanted what do you know about Harrison Plum quillin asked his family had accumulated their fortune in railroads but he wasn’t

Inclined to business he was a dreamer a diletant he studied for a while at Le de boar and while he was in Paris he saw the nobility living in lavish apartments in the city he brought the idea home he dreamed of building an apartment Palace what was the reaction from the

Local Elite they tumbled for it it was a Smash Hit for families there were 12 room apartments with servants quarters there were smaller apartments for Bachelors and Mistresses horses and carriages were stabled in the rear and available at a moment’s notice like taxis curiously there were no kitchens

But there was the restaurant on the top floor and the residents either went upstairs to the dining room or had their meals sent down what about the swimming pool that was for men only and somewhat of a conceit on the main floor they had a stock broker Jeweler law firm and insurance

Agency in the basement there were laundresses and cobblers Barbers tailor seamstresses and hairdressers were on call to the apartments and Plum kept the best apartment for himself the entire 12 floor it was designed to his specifications in Spanish style and then redesigned in the 1920s in the French

Modern of its day if the building is restored the plum Suite could eventually be a private Museum it’s that spectacular quillin said suppose the klling and chain fund undertook to restore the Casablanca to its original character would there be a demand for the apartments I have no doubt I suppose you’ve met Harrison

Plum’s daughter only twice said Lo the first time was when I asked permission to make the study I buted up the old girl invoked the memory of her dear father indulged in some architectural double talk and got her okay the second time was when I presented her with a

Copy of the report leather bound mind you which I’m sure she hasn’t opened even though we Bound in a photo of her father arm in arm with John grinman unfortunately I’m not a bridge player so I was never invited back I have yet to meet the lady said

Quillin what’s she like nice enough but an absurd anachronism living in a private Time Capsule she doesn’t give a damn if the front steps are pulverizing and the tenants elevators are shot if someone doesn’t shake some sense into her she’ll hang on to the place until

She dies and that’ll be the end of the Casablanca I don’t want to be there on the day they blast this end side two of cassette 2 of the cat who lived High the cat who lived High cassette 3 they ordered the Press club’s Tuesday special pork chops and talked about the

Metamorphosis of zwinger Boulevard the proposed Gateway Al Kazar and the gentrification of junktown then over cheesecake and coffee they reverted to the subject of the Casablanca let’s drw the battle lines said quillin on the one side the developers and the city fathers want to see it demolished also the financial backers

For the Gateway Alcazar also the realy firm that manages the Casablanca the building is a headache for them in spite of the low rents it’s only half occupied and the mechanical equipment is constantly breaking down because of age and mishandling okay and on the other side we have sock and G age

Right plus the art and academic sector plus an army of former tenants in all walks of life who’ve contributed to Sock for the campaign strange as it may seem there are people who are sentimental about the Casablanca in the same way they love the memory of say Paris it has almost a living

Presence it’s too bad what happened to die Bessinger she had a lot of drive and as you probably know she was set to inherit the building that’s news to me quillin said you might say she had a vested interest in the Casablanca that’s not to Discount her genuine love for it of

Course are you telling me that the Countess had named Bessinger in her will yes D spent a lot of time up on 12 and it must have been appreciated by the older woman who let’s face it lives a lonely life tell me this said quillin if the Kling

And Shain fund makes an offer and at this point I’m not sure they will can we be certain that the counter will sell that I can’t answer said the architect Mary Duckworth thinks the woman is craftily playing cat and mouse with both sides she can’t possibly want

To see her home demolished and yet she’s related to the penans on her mother’s side and their financial backers for the Gateway do you know the penans I know they own the morning Rampage said quillin and as an alumnus of the daily fuction I don’t think highly of their paper also they’re big

In radio television and God knows what else Penman is spelled p w r in this town it would give me personally a lot of satisfaction to see that crew get their blocks knocked off this is going to be an interesting Crusade said quillin you understand of course that

The cling and chain board doesn’t meet till Thursday and at this point it’s just Pie in the Sky the two men shook hands and promis to keep in touch from the Press Club quillin wandered over to the public library one of the few buildings in town that had

Not changed except for the addition of a parking structure it was 40 times the size of the librarian pickaxe and he wondered if Polly Duncan had ever seen it she crossed his mind more often than he imagined she would what would she think of the Casablanca elevators the tenants

The conversation pit the mushroom paintings the gold faucets the water bed he doubted that she had the objectivity to appreciate a building that looked like a refrigerator browsing through the library’s local history collection he was gratified to find abundant material on the Casablanca in the years when zwinger Boulevard was

Crowded with horses and carriages later with Stanley Steamers and Columbus electrics photos in sepia or black and white depicted presidents Financial Wizards and theater greats standing on the front steps of the building or stepping from a dusenberg with the assistance of a uniformed doorman or dining in the palm Pavilion on the roof

Women in satin hobble skirts and Furs escorted by men in Opera cloaks and top hats were shown departing for a charity ball in the grassy Park adjoining the building a bevy of nursemaids aired infants in perambulators and overdressed children batted shuttlecocks with battle doors there was even a photo of the

Undersized swimming pool with male bathers wearing long-legged bathing suits what interested quiller in most were the pictures of Harrison Plum with his little mustache probably a souvenir of his Paris days he was shown sometimes with his friend grinman often with visiting dignitaries frequently with his wife and three children the boys in knee

Pants and little Adelaide with ringlets cascading below the brim of a flower Laden hat in later photos Adelaide and her father posed in a stuts bearcat or at a tea table on the Terrace quiller and recalled hearing that the personalities and events of the past seep into the brick and stones and

Woodwork of an old building giving it an aura if true that accounted for the Casablanca magic that LEL had tried to describe following his two-hour immersion in the gentle elegant past quillin found the whizzing traffic hard to take he walked home briskly because a cold breeze was blowing and zwinger

Boulevard with its high buildings functioned as a wind tunnel it had been called E Street by the flu food editor and quiller encountered a dozen ethnic restaurants not to be found in Moose County Polynesian Mexican Japanese Hungarian sesan and Middle Eastern to name a few he intended to try them all

He wished Pary were with him it was the end of the day and tenants were converging the Casablanca by car bus and taxi quillin the only one to arrive on foot checked the parking lot hoping that his space might be vacant but this time a 1975 jalap was parked in number

28 as he joined the miscellaneous crew trooping through the front door a man with a reddish mustache hailed him hi did you move in yes I’ve joined the happy Fu quillin acknowledged what floor 14 does the roof still leak know better when it rains but they claim to have

Fixed it yesterday he must have connections they never fix anything around here he ran ahead to catch the elevator and only then did quillin realize that he was the friendly jogger who had helped him on his arrival Sunday afternoon in the lobby were workmen in coveralls carrying sixpacks boisterous

Students with book bags women dressed for success in carrying briefcases and elderly inmates with canes and bandages and swollen legs together they created the atmosphere of a bus terminal and a hospital Corridor most tenants stopped in the mail room to unlock their mailboxes after which they looked sourly at what

They found there upon entering the crowded cubicle quillin had to dodge a large hairless man wearing a t-shirt imprinted ferdy lull next a middle-aged woman in a sequin studded black cocktail dress looking anxiously at a handful of envelopes collided with him sorry he mumbled well hello she said in a girlish

Voice regarding his mustache appreciatively where have they been hiding you there was no mail in quillin’s box it was too soon to hear from Polly and other letters were being intercepted by his part-time secretary rert was standing by as if expecting an emergency his red hat having the visibility of a fire hydrant

Mrs Tuttle was sitting behind her desk knitting but keeping a Stern eye on the engineering students and among those waiting for the elevator was Amber carrying a bag of groceries and looking tired quillin asked her is there an engineering school in the vicin these kids are always talking about

Bridges they’re from the dental school she said quill meet my neighbor on8 Courtney Hampton Courtney this is Jim quillin he’s got D’s Apartment on 14 the young man she introduced had Square shoulders slim hips and a suit of the latest cut he glanced at quillin’s boots and Tweeds and said with a nasal

Twang just in from the country Amber said Courtney works at Kipper and fine the men’s clothing store what have you been doing all day quill walking around getting oriented everything has changed the cablanca will be the next to go her neighbor predicted don’t unpack your luggage I wonder what’s on TV tonight

Amber said with a weary sigh as for me said Courtney with a grandiose flourish of eyebrows if anyone is interested I am playing bridge with the Countess tonight L said Amber both elevators arrived simultaneously and the crowd surged aboard separating quiller and from the other two as old green reluctantly ascended it

Performed a sluggish ritual at each floor first bouncing to a stop then listlessly opening its door to unload a passenger after which had waited a long minute closed its door in slow motion and crept upward to the next floor no one spoke passengers were holding their Collective

Breath it had been a long day and querin was glad to to be at home but when he opened the door of 14a he was met by a blast of heat the radiators were hissing and clanking and both cats were stretched full length on the floor panting what happened he demanded it

Must be 110 in here he hunted for a thermostat and finding none grabbed the house phone Mrs Tuttle quillin in 14a what happened to the furnace we’re suffocating the cats are half cooked I expect the window glass to melt open the windows she said calmly your side of the building heats up when

A cold wind comes from the East we don’t have much control over it the apartments on the east side are freezing and the furnace works over time to try to get them a little heat just open all your windows he did as he was told and the Siamese revived sufficiently to sit up

And take a little nourishment in the form of a can of red salmon as for quillin he lost no time in going out to dinner it occurred to him that he should invite Amber she looked too tired to thaw whatever was in her grocery bag and the temperature in her

Apartment might be insufferable whether she lived on The Frigid or sweltering side of the building yet he disliked her line of conversation and he believed that too soon an invitation might encourage her in his present financial situation he had to be careful women used to be attracted to his ample mustache

Now he feared they were attracted to his ample bank account feeling guilty he went to the nearest restaurant on each Street which happened to be Japanese a room full of hiachi tables under lighted canopies against a background of soji screens and Japanese art each table seated eight

Around a large Grill and quillin was conducted to a table where four persons were already seated he often dined alone and entertained himself by eav dropping and composing scenarios about the other diners at the hiachi table he found a young couple sipping tea from handleless Gray cups and giggling about the

Chopsticks the man was cloyingly attentive and His companion kept admiring her ring finger Newly Weds quillin decided from the country honeymooning in the big city they ordered chicken from the low end of the menu at the opposite end of the table two men in business suits for drinking

Sake martinis and ordering the lobster steak shrimp combination on expense accounts querin guested he himself ordered the medium priced Teriyaki steak upon further study pursued surreptitiously he decided that the man wearing a custom tailored suit and ostentatious gold jewelry was treating the other man to dinner his guest being

A differential sort in a suit off the rack and a shirt too loose around the neck also he had a bandage on his ear they were a curious pair employer and employee quillin thought judging by their respective attitudes he had a feeling that he had seen that ear patch at the

Casablanca in the lobby or in the elevator the man in question suddenly glanced in quillin’s Direction then mumbled something to his host who turned to look at the newcomer with the oversized mustache all of this quillin observed from the corner of his eye enjoying it immensely conversation at the table

Halted when the Japanese Chef appeared an imposing figure in his stovepipe hat 2 feet tall and his leather knife holster he bowed curtly and whipped out his steel spatulas which he proceeded to wield with the applum of a symphony percussionist the audience was speechless as he manipulated the splash

Of egg the hill of sliced mushrooms and the mountain of rice steaks seafood and chicken breasts sizzled in butter and were doused with seasonings and flamed in wine then the chef drew his formidable knife cubed the meat and served the food on rough textured gray

Plates with a quick bow he said have a nice evening and disappeared quillin was the the only one who used Chopsticks having acquired virtuosity when he was an overseas correspondent watching him in admiration the bride said you’re good at that I’ve been practicing he said is this your first time here yes

She said we think it’s neat don’t we honey yeah it’s neat said her groom when quillin left the restaurant it was dark and he took the precaution of hailing a taxi it was mid evening now and the main floor of the Casablanca was deserted most of the tenants were eating dinner

Or watching TV the students were doing their homework and the old folks had retired for the night as quillin waited for old red the door opened the young woman who stepped out could only be described as a vision she had a model’s figure and an angel’s face enhanced by incredibly Artful makeup

He stared after her and confirmed that she had also a model’s walk and an ais’s clothing budget he blew copiously into his mustache after old red scented with expensive perfume had transported him to 14 which was really 13 He greeted the Siamese in a Daz saying you wouldn’t believe what I’ve Just

Seen yow said coko Rising on his hind legs sorry no samples tonight how’s the temperature a little better I apologize for the SAA how would you guys like a re shedding his street clothes gratefully and getting into his pajama bottoms quillin intended to read another chapter of King lak’s

Ethan it may have been his imagination but the Siamese seemed to enjoy the references to camels goats and beasts of Burden their ears always twitched and their whiskers curled it was uncanny so the three of them filed into the library Coco Leading The Way with tail erect as a flag pole followed by

Yum yum slinking sinuously one dainty foot in front of the other exactly like that girl in the lobby quillin thought he brought up the rear wearing the bottoms of the Valentine red pajamas that py had given him the previous February the library was the most livable room in the apartment made

Friendly with shelves of art books and walls of paintings the furniture was contemporary Teakwood and chrome created by bigname designers whose names quillin had forgotten he dropped into an inviting chair and turned to chapter 10 while yum yum turned around three times on his lap and settled down with chin on

Paul coko had just assumed his posture of eager listener when a slight noise elsewhere catapulted both cats out of the library and into the foyer quillin followed and found coko scratching at something under the door an envelope had been pushed halfway underneath there was no name on it but

It contained a sheet of heavy Note Paper embossed with a W and the following message had been written with an unsteady hand welcome to the cablanca come down and have a drink with me anytime it was signed by Isabelle Will Burton of apartment 10f the one who wanted to sell her baby grand

Piano quillin growled into his mustache and tossed the note into the waist basket being careful not to crumple it crumpled paper was like catnip to Yum Yum and she would retrieve it in 3 seconds all his life it had been his compulsive Habit to crumple paper before

Discarding it but those days were gone forever amazing he thought how one adjusts to living with cats a few years before if anyone had suggested such a thing he would have called that person a blasted fool back in the library he turned once more to chapter 10 but a slight quiver

On his upper lip caused him to put the book down he passed a hand over his mustache as if to calm the disturbing sensation let’s sit quietly and think for a while he said to the waiting listeners we’ve been here for 4 48 hours and I’m getting some

Vibrations the fact that someone had been murdered on the premises did not bother quillin it was Koko’s interest in the incident that alerted him that cat knew everything first he found the blood stain under a heavy piece of furniture and then he found the gold bracelet

Buried in the aost of a sofa coko had an instinct for sinister truths hidden beneath the surface quiller and himself after reading the newspaper accounts questioned the motive of the nice quiet young man who brutally knifed his benefactor his best friend to whom he had given a gold bracelet inscribed with an intimate

Code Ross may have blamed the gallery because his paintings fail to sell but that was a weak excuse for murder it was Todd who gave the flu that Frey scrap of information Todd with his nervous habit of nose pinching what did that signify the news that D Bessinger had

Been named heir to the Casablanca also raised suspicions in quillin’s mind many powerful interests opposed her it was definitely to their advantage to have her out of the picture even her own partner disagreed with her on the preservation of the old building and was now planning to move the gallery to the

Gateway alkazar but none of this explained the role of Ross Rasmus as the Hitman what’s your opinion coko quillin asked the cat was not listening he was craning his neck and staring toward the foyer a moment later there was a frantic banging on the front door quillin

Hurried to the scene and yanked the door open catching a wild-eyed woman with fists raised ready to pound the door panels again she screamed the building’s on fire chapter eight just as the woman from 14b screamed fire quillin smelled smoke and heard the Sirens Don’t take the elevator she cried

As she dashed for the stairwell in a ter cloth robe he jammed the cats unceremoniously into their carrier grabbed his pajama top and started down the stairs assuming that the boilers had overheated in their battle with the bitter East Wind other tenants joined the downward trk at every floor most of

Them grumbling and whining why are we doing this the building’s fireproof one protested my husband’s watching football on TV and he won’t budge said a woman I say let him burn smells like burning chicken to me said another did they ring the firebell I didn’t hear it my neighbor banged on

My door they’re supposed to ring the firebell bet you 10 bucks the counter ain’t walking down by the time the disgruntled refugees reached the main floor the lobby was filled with a hubub of voices raised in alarm or indignation while Mrs Tuttle tried to calm them they were a mly assemblage in

Various states of undress women with hair curlers and no makeup hairy-legged men in night shirts old tenants without their Dentures bald tenants without their hair pieces quillin was conspicuous in his red pajamas a few persons were clutching treasured possessions or squalling cats and the Siamese in their carrier yowled and

Shrieked in the spirit of the occasion among the refugees was a man in a washed out sear sucker robe that might have been perined from a hospital he had thinning hair a pale face and a white patch where his right ear should be quillin recognized his fellow Diner from The Hibachi

Table fortunately for the underclad residents the lobby was on the warm side of the building those from the cold side were threatening to bring their mattresses and sleep on the lobby floor Mrs Tuttle was doing a heroic job of controlling the crowd then an elevator door opened and

Firemen in black rubber coats and Boots carrying red- handled axes stepped out go back to bed folks they said grinning only a chicken burning the tenants would have been happier if it had been a real fire what I walked down six flights for a chicken

I knew it was a chicken I know burning chicken when I smell it somebody put it in the oven to thaw and went out to the bar and forgot it whoever done they should kick him out they’re going to kick us all out pretty soon the crowd began to disperse some

Boarding the elevators and some heading for the stairwells While others hung around the lobby welcoming the opportunity for social Fellowship the Siamese following their rude experience among angry tenants and complaining cats were understandably upset quillin too was restless and perhaps slightly Lonesome although he would not have admitted it he considered

It too late to call Polly but took a chance on phoning Arch rker how’s everything in pickaxe he asked his old friend I wondered when you were going to report in said the editor everything’s just the way you left it no snow yet any world cheing news we had

Some excitement today one of the conservation officers spotted a bald eagle near Wildcat Junction what did you do put out an extra a blue pen so that cynical remark you talk like city folks have you seen Polly yes at a library meeting tonight she showed slides of her trip to England

She told me she’d heard from you what’s happening at the paper hickie sold a full page ad to Iris Cobb’s son he’s going into business up here watch her he’s happily married quillin said and we ran a notice in the sick column that old man dingleberry is in the hospital for

Observation of the nurses no doubt that old Ru is 95 and thinks he’s 25 what about you asked rker what have you been doing nothing much dropped into the flux office today had lunch twice at the Press Club bumped into Lieutenant haes there a whole string of new

Restaurants on zwinger that you’d like Arch so far I’ve tried North Italian and Japanese why don’t you fly down for a few days can’t right now there’s a special edition coming out for deer season and we’re sponsoring a con test for hunters what do you think of the

Casablanca not bad for an old building and the sunsets from the 14th floor is spectacular that’s one thing the city does well said rker sunsets that’s because of the dirt in the atmosphere my apartment has a skylighted living room a Terrace a water bed gold faucets and a library of art books that

You wouldn’t believe how do you do it quill you always look out how do the cats react to the altitude no complaints although I think coko is disappointed by the scarcity of pigeons have you decided about the restoration I’ve done some research and had a couple of conferences today I met

With the architect and next I’m going to meet the owner of the building so it’s coming right along you know Arch what we have here is King tutt’s tomb waiting to be excavated well stay out of trouble Chum said rker and don’t forget to send us some copy after delivering this upbeat report

Quillin felt better and he retired allowing the Siamese to share the water bed because of their Disturbed State of Mind yum yum particularly liked the sensation on Wednesday morning he telephoned to Mary Duckworth he said I’ve read the grinman report and I’m ready to meet the Countess when can you

Arrange it how about this afternoon at 4: how do I dress I suggest a suit and tie and she doesn’t permit smoking no problem I’ve given up my pipe quillin said I found out the smoke is bad for the Siamese I’ve given up cigarettes she said my doctor finally convinced me the

Smoke is bad for antique furniture have you talked to Jefferson LEL we had lunch nice guy are you convinced quill I don’t know as yet where should we meet at the front door a few minutes before 4 one is always prompt when calling on the counters before having his haircut his

Mustache trimmed his good gray suit pressed and his shoes shined quillin checked the weather on the radio and learned that a woman’s Shopper had been abducted from a supermarket parking lot a jogger had been beaten by hoodlums in Penman Park and rain was predicted clearing in mid-afternoon

He taxied around downtown to do his errands had a quick lunch at the junk toown Deli and returned to 14a early enough to spend a little quality time with the Siamese he proposed another chapter of Ean and the cats followed him into the library but Koko had other ideas he

Jumped to the library table and started pawing furiously Koko was known to be a biblo file and on the 6-ft library table there were large format art books reproducing the work of Michelangelo Renoir van go WTH and others although the cat usually preferred small volumes that he could easily knock off a

Bookshelf what are you doing you crazy animal quillin said Koko had found a long flat box among the art books it looked like leather and it was labeled Scrabble the blank tile found by yum yum had obviously strayed from this box oh opening it quillin found a 100 or so

Small tiles each with a single letter of the alphabet the site was like a B12 shot to one who had won all the spelling bees in grade school and had been an orthographic snob ever since he sat down at the desk opened the game board and read the rules out of sheer

Curiosity this is easy he said scooping up a handful of tiles at random he spelled words like caddi and jagar years of playing a dictionary game with Koko had given him a vocabulary of esoteric words that he had little opportunity to use soon he was building a crossword

Arrangement on the board it began with CAD grew to cadmium and intercepted with slump this connected with egrets and Opie the Siamese watched patiently waiting for their quality time but quillin was fascinated by the lettered tiles and the small numerals that gave the value of each letter all too soon it

Was time to put on his gray suit and meet Mary Duckworth on the main floor before leaving the apartment he slipped a piece of fruit in his suit coat pocket you look Splendid she said when they met although she gave a brief qualifying glance at the Bulge in his

Pocket they rang for the private elevator at the bronze door and rode up to 12 12 in a carpeted car with Rosewood walls and a velvet covered bench the ride was no faster than old red or old green but it was smoother and quieter on the way up quillin

Mentioned you knew that D Bessinger was going to inherit the Casablanca Mary nodded regretfully who gets it now various Charities Quil I don’t know what you’re expecting but the plum apartment may come as a surprise it’s done in vintage Art Deco they stepped off the elevator into a large foyer banded in horizontal

Panels of coral burgundy and bottle green defined by Thin strips of copper and the floor was ceramic tile in a metallic copper glaze everything was slightly dulled with age a pair of angular chairs flanked an angular console on which were two dozen t- roses reflected in a large round

Mirror Mary pressed a doorbell disguised as a miniature Egyptian head and they waited before double doors sheathed in tooled Copper when the doors opened they were confronted by a formidable man in a coral colored coat good afternoon Ferdinand said Mary Miss Adelaide is expecting us this is Mr

Quiller sure you know where to go the Houseman waved a ham like hand toward the drawing room he had the build of a linebacker with beefy shoulders a bull neck and a bald head the countess’s living bodyguard quillin guessed doubled as Butler she was late getting up from her

Nap the man said then she had to have her hair fixed she fired the old girl that fixed it and the new girl is kind of slow interesting said Mary stiffly the drawing room was more than quillin could assimilate at a glance what registered was a peach colored marble floor scattered with geometric

Patterned rugs and Peach walls banded in Copper and hung with large round mirrors Mary motioned him to sit in a tub-shaped chair composed of plump rolls of overstuffed black leather stacked on Chrome legs you’re sitting in an original bibendum chair from the 1920s she said his gaze went from item to item the

Tea table was tortoise shell all lamps had bulbous bases the windows were frosted glass crisscrossed with copper Grill work everything was somewhat faded and there was a sepulcral silence Ferdinand followed them into the drawing room you never been here before he said to quillin the this is my first visit

You play bridge I’m afraid not she likes to play bridge so I have heard said quillin with a glance at Mary she was sitting tight lipped and haughty she likes all kinds of games said the Houseman is it still raining it stopped about an hour ago we had some good weather this

Week very true I used to wrestle on TV said the big man is that so kerin wished he had brought his pocket tape recorder I was FY leol that’s what they call me the Houseman unbuttoned his Coral coat and exhibited a t-shirt stencl with the name you never saw me

Wrestle I never had that pleasure here she comes now Ferdinand announced ad BL St John Plum was a small unprepossessing woman who carried her head cocked graciously to one side and spoke in a breathy little girl voice so good of you to come brown hair plastered flat against

Her head in uniform waves contrasted absurdly with her pale aging skin a network of fine wrinkles so did the penciled eyebrows and read Cupid’s bow mouth mouth she was wearing a peach chiffon tea gown and long strands of gold beads her guests Rose Mary said Miss Plum may I present James quillin so

Happy to meet you said their Hostess a Shante said quillin bending low over her hand in a courtly gesture then he drew from his pocket a perfect Bosque peir with bronze skin and long curved stem offering it in the palm of his hand like a jewel encrusted fabber

Bble the perfect compliment for your beautiful apartment Mademoiselle the Countess was a trial slow and responding how Charming please be seated Ferdinand you may bring the tea tray she seated herself gracefully on an over stuffed sofa in front of the tortoise shelter tea table I trust you are well

Mary quite well thank you and you miss Adelaide very well did it rain today yes rather briskly the hostess turned to quillin inclining her head winningly you have recently arrived from the east from the north he corrected her 400 mil North how cold it must be be Mary

Said Mr quillin is spending the winter here to escape the snow and ice how lovely I hope you will enjoy your stay Mr quillin do you play bridge I regret to say that bridge is not one of my accomplishments he said but I have a considerable aptitude for

Scrabble Mary expressed surprise and the Countess expressed Delight how nice you must join me in a game some evening Ferdinand wearing white cotton gloves placed a silver tea tray before her cubistic in design with eony trim and the hostess performed the tea ritual with well practiced gestures Mr quillin is a writer said

Mary how wonderful what do you write I plan to write a book on the history of the Casablanca he said astonishing Mary once more the public library has a large collection of photos including many of yourself Miss Plum do they have pictures of my dear father quite a few I would

Adore seeing them she tilted her head prettily do you have many Recollections of the early Casablanca yes indeed I was born here in this very sweet with a midwife a nurse and two doctors in attendance my father was Harrison Will’s Plum a wonderful man I hardly remember my mother she was

Related to the penans she died when I was only four there was an influenza epidemic and my mother and two brothers were stricken all three of them died in one week leaving me as my father’s only cons ation I was 4 years old Mary said tell Mr quillin how you

Happened to escape the epidemic it was a miracle my nurse I think her name was Heda asked permission to take me to the mountains where it would be healthier we stayed there the two of us in a small cabin living on onions and molasses and tea I shuddered

To think of it but neither of us became ill I returned to my home to find only my father alive a shattered man I was 4 years old ferdinand’s clumsy hands in white gloves the size of an outfielders mitt passed a silver salver of Pound Cake studded with carow seeds the Countess went

On I was all my father had left in the world and he lavished me with attention and lovely things I adored him did he send you away to school quillin asked I was schooled at home by private tutors because my father refused to allow me out of his sight we went

Everywhere together to the symphony and Opera and charity balls when we traveled abroad each year we were entertained royally in Paris and always dined at the Captain’s Table aboard ship I called father my best bow and he sent me tea roses and Cherry cordials Ferdinand you may pass the bom

Bones the big hands passed a tiny footed candy dish in which three chocolate covered cherries rested on a linen doily quillin took the opportunity to say you have a handsomely designed apartment Miss bum thank you Mr quillin yes my dear father designed it following one of our visits to Paris a Charming

Frenchman with a little mustache spent a year in rebuilding the entire Suite I quite fell in love with him she said cocking her head coquettishly Artisans came from the continent to do the work it was an exciting time for a young girl do you remember any of the people

Who lived here at that time do you recall any names oh yes there were the penans of course my mother was related to them and the ducksbury family they were bankers and the tea handles and wilberton and greystones all the important families had complete sweets or P how about visiting celebrities president kulage

Caruso the baramor I’m sure they stayed here but life was such a whirl in those days and I was only a young girl forgive me if I don’t remember I suppose you dined in the rooftop restaurant the Palm Pavilion yes indeed my father and I had our own table

With a lovely View and all the serving men knew our favorite dishes I adored banan’s Foster the captain always prepared it at our table on nice days we would have tea on the terce I made my debut in the Palm Pavilion wearing an adorable white beaded dress

I enjoy that same view from my apartment quillin said I’m staying where Diane Bessinger used to live I understand you knew her well the Countess lowered her eyes sadly I miss her a great deal we used to play Scrabble twice a week Such a Pity she was struck down so

Early in life she simply passed away in her sleep her heart failed quillin shot a glance at Mary and found her frowning at him furthermore Ferdinand was standing by with arms folded looking Grim Mary Rose thank you so much Miss Adelaide for inviting us it was a pleasure my dear

And Mr quillin I hope you will join me at the bridge table soon not Bridge he said Scrabble yes of course I shall look forward to seeing you again Ferdinand followed the two guests to the foyer and whipped out a dogeared pad in the stub of a pencil Friday Saturday and Sunday is

Full up he said nobody’s coming tomorrow she needs somebody for tomorrow he looked menacingly at quillin tomorrow 8:00 it sounded less like an invitation and more like a royal command 8:00 will be fine quillin said as they stepped into the waiting elevator once in its Rosewood and velvet

Privacy they both talked at once he said where did she find that 300 lb Butler Mary said I thought you didn’t play games quill her hair is like Elanor Roosevelt’s in the 30s I almost choked when you handed her that pair she doesn’t even know that Diane was

Murdered this IDE one of cassette 3 cassette 3 side two as they stepped out of the Rosewood elevator on the main floor the work a day crowd was pouring through the front door they stared at the privileged pair quillin said I’ll walk out of the building with you Mary I want to check

The parking lot I’ve been here since Sunday and five different cars have been parked in my space as they approached the lot he asked may I ask you a question of course what do you think was the artist’s motive for killing his Patron jealousy she said with finality you mean he had a

Rival not just one she replied with a knowing Grimace D liked variety were you friendly with her I admired what she was trying to accomplish and I admit she had Charisma or people would never have rallied around sock the way they did kerin stroked his mustache could there have been anything

Political about her murder what do you mean they had arrived at the entrance to the parking lot and Mary was looking at her wristwatch we’ll talk about it another time perhaps we could have dinner some evening he suggested if we arrange it for a Sunday or Monday she said adopting her usual

Business-like delivery I’m sure Roberta would like to join us quillin said it would be a good idea he had lost his personal interest in Mary yet it was a remarkable fact that she was the only woman Koko had ever actively approved the cat discouraged Melinda antagonized Ki and feuded openly with

Rosemary as for Polly he tolerated her because she had a soothing voice but he endorsed Mary Duckworth because she was an opportunist and so was he coko knew a kindred spirit when he sniffed one also in her favor was the entire case of canned Lobster she had

Given the Siamese 3 years before that’s the way it was with cats while Mary returned to the blue dragon quillin zigzagged his way through the parking lot avoiding potholes filled with rainwater to his surprise slot number 28 was finally vacant now he could move the purple plum into its rightful

Space he pulled out his car keys but there was something wrong with the purplish blue metallic four door parked in Number 27 it appeared to have sunk into the ground actually it had four flat tires chapter nine whether the tires of the Purple Plum were slashed or the valves were

Loosened it made no difference to quillin in high dudgeon he stro toward the building entrance halfway there he stopped and considered if he left the scene someone could pull into the lot and turn into his legal parking space he returned to number 28 and stood between

The yellow lines or lines that had been yellow Once Upon a Time he took up his position with a belligerent stance and folded arms and fierce expression made more intimidating by his rambunctious mustache the first car to pull into the lot was a BMW hm kman murmured to himself what was

A BMW doing in the Casablanca parking lot the driver parked several slots away and walked slowly toward the building entrance it was a woman she walked seductively she was dressed exquisitely she was the vision he had seen in the lobby the night before Excuse Me Miss he said in his

Richest most mflu tones are you going into the building he was glad he was wearing a suit and tie that was my intention she replied in a silky voice he had no time for pleasurable reactions kindly do me a favor he asked tell Mrs Tuttle to send

Rert out here someone has slashed my tires he gestured toward the dejected vehicle slumped in the adjoining slot who would have the T ity to perpetrate such a reprehensible act she replied quillin thought she’s not real she’s a robot she’s programmed she’s from outter space calmly he said I was parked in his

Or her space because my own was occupied by someone else and I suppose he or she resented it have you had any trouble like that fortunately I seem immune to hostility she replied I shall be happy to send the custodian to your assistance what out for the puddles he advised they’re a foot

Deep she gave him a languid smile and walked toward the building in a state of transfixion quillin watched her go breathing lustily into his mustache when rert arrived a few minutes later lat it was determined that the tires were not slashed someone had tampered with the valves and rert knew a

Garage that would come right over with portable air tanks who pays for number 27 querin demanded I don’t know well as soon as the ties are inflated I’m going to move my car into my own slot and leave it there for the rest of the winter I’ll

Walk or take the bus by the way who is the woman who drives the BMW Winnie Wingfoot said rert she’s a model lives on 10 is that her real name I don’t know I guess so if quillin entertained any thoughts of revenge against the reprehensible perpetrator they were mollified by thoughts of Winnie

Wingfoot he floated up to 14 on Old Red changed absentmindedly into red pajamas instead of his gray warm-up suit and fed the cats twice for his own dinner he phoned for pizza guysa bla what floor asked the order taker 14 we don’t deliver in that building any higher than three send it

Over I’ll meet the delivery man at the front door Quin said he walked down to the main floor for the sake of the exercise and encountered the jogger between 11 and 10 the man was running up the stairs between aerobic gasps he explained too muddy around the vacant Lots then he

Added you going to bed early only then did quillin realize his fraudi and slip he returned to the pen house and changed from red pajamas into gray warm-ups in the lobby a white-haired man was taking his constitutional by walking briskly the length of the hallway and back swinging his arms and taking

Exaggerated strides a few stragglers were picking up their mail the Asian woman was coming in with her two children and Amber was on her way out I’ve been trying to get you on the phone she said Courtney wants me to bring you to dinner at his place Saturday night you remember the Kipper

And fine salesman what’s the occasion nothing he just likes to show off he can be a nerd sometimes but the food’s always good better than I cook and he knows all the gossip I accept said quir without further deliberation cocktails at 6 come as you are she said are you

Waiting for someone the pizza man by the way Amber I’m ashamed to admit I don’t know your last name she said something like cowbell spell it k o w b l Here Comes Your Pizza quill got a dash I’m late the pizza was good better than any

He had found in Moose County he had to admit he gave the Siamese a taste of the cheese and a nibble of the pepperoni then he push buttoned a pot of coffee and carried it into the library he intended to study his Scrabble particularly the scoring rules

And the value of the various letters in preparation for his forthcoming joust with the Countess he unfolded the board and deployed the tiles on the Teakwood and chrome card table then started building crosswords playing for premium squares as well as high value words Koko was on hand watching the process in his

Nearsighted way abruptly the cat lifted his head and listened a minute or so later there was a knock at the apartment door no one had buzzed from the vestibule so it was obviously a resident and a fantasy flashed through quillin’s mind it was the beautious Winnie Wing

Foot then again he reflected it might be rert nevertheless he gave the mirror a quick glance smoothed his mustache and finger Co combed his hair before opening the door a woman was standing there wearing a fur coat and it was not when he Wingfoot it was Isabelle the

Middle-aged tippler and she was carrying a bottle he regarded her without speaking hello she said good evening he replied cooly like a drink she asked looking flirtatious and waving the bottle her other hand clutched the coat and he hesitated to guess what she might have under it if

Anything no thanks I’m on the wagon but thanks for the offer he said in a monotone intended to discourage her can I come in she asked you must forgive me but I’m working and I have a deadline don’t you want to take your mind off your work she opened her coat

And quit in’s wildest surmise was confirmed he said you’d better bundle up before you catch cold gently he closed the door hearing a vulgar remark as he did so huffing into his mustache he returned to the library that was Isabel he told coko too bad it wasn’t Winnie she has a better

Vocabulary at that moment he felt an uncomfortable desire to talk with poly Duncan in Moose County even though the 11:00 discount was not yet in effect he dialed anyway I’m so glad you called quill she said I was just thinking about you how is life in the wicked City you’d be

Surprised how Wicked he said today someone let the air out of my tires and tonight a female flasher present Ed herself at my door oh no quill you must have been encouraging her all I did was pick her up off the floor when she fell out of the phone

Booth how are things in Moose County I’m starting to pack things to go into storage Bootsie is helping me by jumping into every carton he’s adorable but he’s a monomaniac about food quill tries to steal it right off my Fork he’s growing he’ll get over it coko and yum

Yum have gone through all kinds of phases how do they like it down there yum yum has discovered the water bed and get some kind of catly thrill out of it Koko and I are learning to play Scrabble I have a Scrabble date with the CEST tomorrow night is she very

Glamorous Polly inquired anxiously not exactly she’s a gracious Hostess but out of touch with reality I don’t know how I’m going to talk real estate business with her is the Casablanca as wonderful as you thought yes and no but I’d like to write a book about its history I wish

You were here Polly so we could discuss it I wish I were too I miss you quill there are some interesting restaurants we could explore quill something has been worrying me suppose I move into your apartment hold it he shattered into the phone I can’t hear you there was a prolonged

Wait during which a helicopter circled overhead okay Polly sorry what were you saying a helicopter was hovering over the building and creating Pandemonium the cats hate it what’s happening she asked who knows they’re up there every night sometimes shining their search light into my window why that’s terrible isn’t that

Unconstitutional now what were you saying about moving into my apartment suppose I move in and then the Casablanca project falls through and you decide to come home we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it quillin said call me if anything interesting happens or even if it doesn’t I will dearest

Abiento he said with feeling abiento sometimes he wished he could find the words to express what he wanted to say to Polly though a professional Wordsmith he was Tongue Tied with this woman of whom he was so fond but she understood feeling suddenly bereft of human companionship he considered

Calling Amber cowbell but decided he was not as bereft as all that on the Scrabble table Koko was sitting tall in his impudent pose with ears a skew and whiskers tilted he had been to some kind of Mischief Quin could read the signals a brief search revealed a

Scattering of Scrabble tiles on the floor under the table you Joker you think that’s funny said the cat what’s this new noise you’re making it sounds like a Scrabble tile stuck in your throat quillin stooped to gather up the tiles and at the same instant Koko

Jumped from the table with a flip of his tail that struck the the man on the cheek stinging like a whip please watch your tail Koko walked stiff-legged from the room turning once to look scornfully over his shoulder Koko’s scorn had an edge Like a Knife quillin wondered did I say

Something wrong is he trying to tell me something compulsively he tried to make a word out of the tiles that coko had dislodged h r o SB X and A on the first try he came up with SAR but that was worth only four points bore was good for

Six he was beginning to think in terms of scoring was even better seven points but hoax added up to 14 quillin congratulated himself he was getting the hang of it out in the foyer Koko was warbling his new tune chapter 10 on Thursday morning when quillin was brushing the Siamese and giving them

Their daily dose of flattery he was interrupted by a phone call from Jeff LEL of grinman and Hills I hear you’re going to do a book on the Casablanca he said news travels fast I saw Mary Duckworth last night the reason I’m calling we have photographs in our archives of both exterior and

Interior taken in 1901 you’re welcome to use them we even have shots of Harrison plums Moorish Suite on 12 with its carved lates and decorative tiles and iron gates fantastic was the art deco renovation ever photographed not to my knowledge our firm wasn’t involved with that it should be photographed

Could you recommend someone to do it sure could he mentioned a name that sounded like Sor bhra spell it quillin asked s o r g b u t r a want me to tell them you’re interested just give me his phone number I haven’t broached the subject to the

Countesses yet did Mary mention anything else I discussed about the bessing her murder no I just saw her briefly in the theater Lobby I have a theory I’d like to try out on here whenever we can get together well I’m leaving for San Francisco right now but I’ll get in

Touch when I get back enjoyed lunch on Tuesday Quil so do I have a good trip Jeff nice guy he said to the cats when he resumed the brushing I never met an architect I didn’t like ick said Coco now what does that mean the phone rang again and this time

It was from the daily fuction police Bureau sure Matt I’m always interested in ideas quillin said what’s on your mind well I don’t know about that hes is a smart cop but he goes overboard about Coco yes I admit he’s a remarkable cat but okay Matt let me think about it why

Don’t we have lunch see you at the Press Club at noon that was Matt figman he explained to the cats afterward he wants to do a story on you coko on your sleuthing how does that grab you coko rolled over thrust one leg Skyward and proceeded to groom the base of his

Tail I assume you’re giving him the leg I agree with you we don’t want any publicity but I’m taking him to lunch anyway wonder what the weather is going to be he tuned in the newscast and learned that a law clerk who had been fired returned and shot his boss and the

Boss’s secretary a councilman was found to have more than a 100 unpaid parking tickets and the weather would be cold and overcast with a slight chance of showers in pickax he reflected wpk X would be announcing that a bow hunter had bagged an eight-point buck and a 14-year-old girl had won the quilt

Contest to create a stir at the Press Club quillin wore a plaid flannel shirt a field jacket and his Aussie hat Matt said enviously you’re already living the life quill they sat at a table in a far corner of the bar I wish I had a nickel quillin remarked for every time Arch

Rker and I had lunch at this table I hear he was a great guy said Matt he left just before I joined the staff what’s he doing now he’s editor and publisher of our small newspaper up north it’s called The Moose County something and what do you do up there

I’m busier in my retirement than I was when I wrote for the fuction merely keeping up with the local gossip can be a full-time occupation in a small town they ordered french onion soup and roast beef sandwiches and quillin specified horseradish there had been a time when every waitress in the club

Knew that quillin liked horseradish with beef but those days were passed Matt said is that your cat’s picture in the lobby yes it’s Coco he’s a lifetime member of the Press Club and he has his own press card signed by the chief of police haes says he’s

Psychic all cats are psychic to a degree if you pick up a can opener they know whether you’re going to open a can of cat food or a can of green beans they can be sound asleep at the other end of the house but all you have to do is

Think about salmon and they’re right there I have to admit though quillin said with thinly veiled Pride that Co coko goes the average cat one better perhaps you’ve heard about the pottery murders on River Road Koko solved that case before the police knew a crime had been

Committed prior to that there was a major theft in muggy swamp and then a shooting at the Villa veranda and later a high death rate among antique dealers in junktown Koko investigated all those incidents successfully not that he did anything UNC catlike he just sniffed and scratched and shoved things around found

Coming up with pertinent Clues I don’t want him to have any publicity however it might go to his head and cause him to give up sleuthing cats are perverse and unpredictable like wives are you married Matt asked I was at one time for how long long enough to become an authority on the

Subject the young reporter said I just got married last June and I think it’s the only way to live good for you the roast beef sandwiches were served and quillin had to ask for horseradish a second time he said to Matt where you living Happy view Woods all young couples quillin had

Discovered were paying mortgages in Happy view Woods raising families and worrying about crab grass in their lawns he himself had always preferred to live in apartments or hotels being somewhat of a gypsy at home heart he said I’m staying in the penthouse apartment the Casablanca does that ring a

Bell that’s where the art dealer was murdered a couple of months ago did you see the scene of the crime no the coverage was cut and dried said the police reporter the murderer left a confession and killed himself also there was a major airline crash at the airport

On the same day and that took precedence over everything for two weeks did you know anything about the murderer his name was Ross Rasmus an artist he specialized in painting mushrooms can you swallow that he must have been crazy to begin with he dobbed his confession on a wall with red paint which

Wall I don’t think anyone ever mentioned which wall the chances were quitan reasoned that the artist went back to his Studio where he kept his paints and dobbed it on his own wall that would be 14b KRA hog might know something about it was there any speculation about

Motive he asked Matt well they were lovers you know that was pretty well known she liked to discover young Talent young male Talent everybody figured she discovered a successor a Ross Rasmus and he was jealous the autopsy turned up evidence of drugs he was stoned when he did did

It what was the weapon I don’t believe the actual weapon was ever identified the reason I ask the penthouse has a lot of his paintings on the walls each with a knife included with the mushrooms it’s a Japanese slicer and there’s one exactly like it in the kitchen oh yeah said Matt

There’s plenty of those around my wife has one she’s into stir fry they munched their sandwiches in silence quillin wishing he had some horseradish after a while he said the artist’s body landed on some guy’s car he was quoted in your story do you remember the name gosh no I don’t that

Was two months ago at that moment a young woman in Boots and a long skirt wandered over to their table and Matt introduced her as Sasha chrisen Schmidt of the morning Rampage quillin Rose and said cordially but not truthfully that he had read her column and enjoyed

It thanks please sit down she said looking at his mustache I’ve heard about you don’t you live up north in a town with a funny name pickaxe population 3,000 and if you think that’s funny we also have a sawdust City chipmunk and Burr spelled BR

Rrr would you join us for coffee or a drink wish I could said Miss Crispen Schmidt but I have to get back to the office for another paralyzing meeting what are you doing down here I just wanted to spend one winter away from 10ft snowbanks and Wall to Wall Ice Matt

Said he’s staying at the old broken down Casablanca really she said I lived there for a while myself why did you choose that grungy place they allow cats quillin said and I have two Siamese how do you like the building it’s interesting if you’re a mass kissed what floor are you on

14 well it’s better if you’re high up not when both elevators are out of order at the same time Quin told her isn’t 14 where they had a murder a couple of months ago so they tell me well look I’d love to stay but maybe we can have lunch while you’re here by

All means said querin when she had walked away he said to Matt attractive girl married the reporter nodded to one of our Sports writers shall we have dessert Matt today’s specialist pumpkin pie with whipped cream I wonder if it’s the real thing one gets spoiled living half a mile from a dairy

Farm the waitress who had not brought his horseradish was now unable to say whether the whipped cream was actually from a cow if you don’t know it probably isn’t quillin said bring me apple pie with cheese is it real cheese never mind I’m sure it isn’t bring me frozen

Yogurt after coffee and dessert they left the Press Club Matt to return to Police Headquarters and quillin to ride the zwinger bus to the Casablanca thanks said mat I enjoyed the lunch my pleasure said quillin and say would you do me a favor check your story on the Bessinger murder

And see whose car was damaged in the parking lot will you then give me a ring here’s my number it was quiet around the casablanka in the early afternoon before climbing the crumbling steps he had a look at the parking lot the purple plum was safe in slot number 28 but what he

Really wanted to check was the row of parking spaces adjacent to the building they were numbered 1 to 20 and directly above them was the parit of the Terrace from which Ross had jumped slots 21 to 40 were on the west side of the lot both rows were inadequately lighted after

Dark a single flood light was mounted on the side of the building midway between front and back only one light for a very large lot it was another management economy kerin couldn’t say why but his hand went to his mustache this luxuriant facial feature was notable not only for its size but

For its response to various stimuli reactions of Doubt or apprehension or suspicion were always accompanied by a Tremor on his upper lip he pounded his mustache with his fist as he entered the building upstairs he found another envelope under his door and he groaned presuming that Isabelle had been there

Again but this time it was a heavy Ivory colored envelope with his name inscribed in very proper handwriting perhaps it was from Winnie Wingfoot he thought hopefully as he tore it open the message obviously written with a fountain pen and not a ballpoint read as follows would you do me the

Honor of dining with me tonight at 7:00 adelade plum in the lower left hand corner she specified RSVP and gave a telephone number somewhat deflated quillin called to accept FY laul answered okay I’ll tell her said the Houseman she’s having her nap it’ll be chicken hash tonight do you like

Chicken hash I don’t call that real fool but she always has chicken hash on Thursday whatever the menu Ferdinand please convey my message Mr quillin accepts with pleasure hanging up the phone he called out to the Siamese you guys will eat better than I will tonight where are you

Koko was sitting quietly in the foyer gazing out at the French doors to the Terrace waiting patiently for the pigeons that never came in for a landing yum yum was asleep on the water bed she slept entirely too much since arriving at the Casablanca kerin thought in preparation for his Suare

With a countess he threw some shirts and socks into a shopping bag and ventured down to the basement laundry room for the first time as old red slowly descended he read the following notices on the bulletin board wanted to buy guitar apartment 2f free kittens apartment 9B reward who stole cassettes from

Parking lot C manager at the fourth floor old red came to a grinding stop and a woman carrying a laundry bag started to board the car catching sight of the mustached stranger with a shopping bag she started to back off but apparently decided to take a

Chance there was no no eye contact but roguishly quillin started to breathe heavily causing her to Edge closer to the door he was feeling playful following his stimulating lunch at the Press Club and his brief dialogue with the countess’s Absurd Butler when the elevator reached the bottom with a crash

The other passenger scuttled off the car and he followed her with deliberately heavy footfalls the laundry room was large and dreary with one row of washers and another row of dry fires many of them labeled out of order the peeling masonry walls had not known a paintbrush for

Perhaps 60 years at that time when family laundresses did the washing ironing and mangling a cheerful environment was not thought necessary now the somber workplace was enlivened by a veritable gallery of prohibitions and warnings neatly printed with red and green felt markers and lavished with exclamation marks no smoking no loud

Radio no horsing around have respect for others Canadian coins don’t work not responsible for lost wash stay with your things balance your load machines were churning and spinning and one thumped noisily not everyone had balanced his or her load several persons were patiently staying with their things an old man

Jabbering to himself the woman with two small children speaking in their native tongue another woman in a house dress and sweater glowering at a student with his nose in a textbook who had not balanced his load Quin studied the signs for instructions too much soap messes up machines don’t feed the mice mothers

With babies no diapering on machines use restroom although no stranger to laundromats querin found sadistic pleasure in asking his fearful fellow passenger from old red how to use the washer explaining in a graveyard voice that he was new in the building she obliged without looking at him then moved away

Quickly he balanced his load inserted a coin and studied the posted messages for further inspiration no doubt from the motherly Mrs Tuttle be a good neighbor clean lint trap don’t hog the dryers no liquor no loitering this is not a social hall only one person at a time in the

Restroom or it will be locked the benches were hard and backless and not likely to encourage loitering but quillin sat down and scanned the newspapers he had brought along until from the corner of his eye he cut a flash of red rert had sauntered into the room and was surveying it for violations

Quillin beckoned to him and asked may I ask a question rert why are there no pigeons on the Terrace my cats like to watch pigeons them dirty birds said the custodian in disgust lady that lived there before she used to feed him and The Parkers in the

Lot raised holy hell don’t let Mrs T catch you feeding him or she’ll be after you with a rolling pin quillin resumed reading Sasha Crispen Schmidt’s column in the morning Rampage a shallow recital of gossip and rumors when another tenant entered the room carrying a laundry basket he made

The mistake of looking up it was Isabelle wilberton wearing a soiled house coat she came directly to him sorry if I offended you last night no harm done he said returning to his newspaper she loaded one of the washers and he wondered if she would move her

House cat and throw it in but she was still decently clothed when she sat down beside him on the uncomfortable bench I get so lonely she said that’s my trouble I don’t have any friends except the Damned rum bottle the bottle can be your worst enemy take it from one who’s been there

I used to have a wonderful job I was a corporate secretary what happened my boss was killed in a plain crash couldn’t you get another job I didn’t I couldn’t the heart went out of me I’d been with him 20 years ever since business school he was more than a boss

We used to go on business trips together and a lot of times we’d work late at the office and have dinner sent in I was so happy in those days I suppose he was married Quin said it’s Isabelle heaved an enormous sigh I used to shop for gifts for his wife and

Children when he died everybody felt sorry for them nobody felt sorry for me 20 years I used to have beautiful clothes I still have the cocktail dresses he bought me I put them on and sit at my kitchen table and drink rum why aren’t you drinking today the check hasn’t come yet

Did he lead you at trust she shook her head sadly it comes from my family where do they live in the suburbs they have a big house in muggy swamp apparently you haven’t sold your piano Winnie Wingfoot looked at it but she can’t make up her mind do you know

Winnie I’ve seen her in the parking lot quillin said isn’t she gorgeous if I had her looks I’d have a lot of friends of course she’s younger could you use a piano I’m afraid not is that your washer it stopped Isabelle informed him quillin transferred his clothes to a

Dryer and returned to the bench aren’t you friendly with your family they won’t have anything to do with me I guess I embarrass them do you have a family only a couple of cats but the three of us are a real family did you ever think of getting a

Cat there are lots of them around the building but I’ve never had a pet she said with lack of Interest they’re good company when you live alone Almost Human Isabelle turned away she looked at her fingernails she looked at the ceiling querin said someone on nine is offering free

Kittens if I just had one friend I’d be all right she said I wouldn’t drink I don’t know why I don’t have any friends I can tell you why he said lowering his voice I had the same problem a few years ago you did although he had a healthy curiosity

About the secrets of others quillin was loathed to discuss his own personal history but he recognized this was an exception drinking ruined my life after I’d had a successful career in journalism did you lose someone when you loved she asked with sympathy in her bloodshot eyes I made a bad marriage and went

Through a shattering divorce I started drinking heavily and my ex-wife cracked up two lives ruined so then I had a load of guilt added to my disappointment and resentment and murderous hate for my meddling in-laws I lost my friends and couldn’t hold a job no newspaper would hire me

After a couple of bad incidents and and I didn’t have any convenient checks coming in the mail what did you do it took a horrifying accident to make me realize I needed help I was living like a bum in New York and one night I was so drunk I fell off a subway

Platform I’ll never forget the screams of onlookers and the Roar of the train coming out of the tunnel they hold me out just in time believe me that was a sobering experience it was also the turning point I took the advice that had been given me and got counseling the road back was

Slow and painful but I made it and I have never again touched alcohol that’s my story Isabelle’s eyes are filled with tears would you like to have dinner at my place tonight she asked hopefully I could thaw some spaghetti I appreciate the invitation he said but I have an important dinner date

So important he added with an attempt at jewry that I’m washing my shirt and socks he was relieved to see his dryer stop churning putting his shirts on hangers and throwing his socks and undershorts in the shopping bag he escaped from the laundry room his telephone was ringing when he

Unlocked the door to 14a the caller was Matt thamon sorry to take so long he said I got the guy’s name it’s Jack y Hasbro spell spell it y a z b r o thanks a lot Matt anytime quillin lost no time in going downstairs to the desk Mrs Tuttle he

Said I want to compliment you on the way you run this building I’ve seen you handle a variety of situations in a very competent Manner and deal with all kinds of tenants thank you she said with her hearty smile although it was partially canceled out by her intimidating gimlet

Stare I do my best but I didn’t think anyone ever noticed even your signs in a laundry room are done with a certain flare oh my that makes me feel real good is everything all right on 14 everything’s fine the Skylight doesn’t leak the radiators are behaving the sunsets are

Spectacular too bad this building is going to be torn down do you know when she Shrugged nobody tells me a thing I just take one day at a time and trust in the Lord one question do you happen to know where Mr yro Parks his

Car wait a bit I’ll look it up in the rent book she Leaf through a loose leaf Ledger I remember he changed his parking space a while back he always liked to park against the building but but what quillin asked when she failed to finish the sentence something fell on his car and

He asked to be changed do things often drop on cars parked near the building Mrs Tuttle glanced up sharply from The Ledger we used to have trouble with pigeons don’t you go feeding them now here it is Mr yasb he was in number 18 now he has number 27 she slapped the book

Shut 27 she said thank you Mrs Tuttle keep up the good work quillin made a beline for the parking lot he had been parked in Number 27 when someone tampered with his tires now there was a minivan parked there the slot had been vacant during the afternoon yasb had just come home from

Work that is if the minivan belonged to yasb it was impossible to be certain considering the disorganized parking system he recorded the license number on a scrap of paper and returned to the front desk waving it at Mrs Tuttle sorry to bother you again he said but is this Mr yz’s license

Number she consulted The Ledger again and the two numbers tallied is anything wrong she asked there certainly is y Hasbro is the snake who let the air out of my tires yesterday and I’d like to discuss it with him what’s his apartment number he’s in

4k I hope there won’t be any trouble Mr quillin do you want rert to go up with you no thank you it won’t be necessary this ends side two of cassette 3 of the cat who lived High the cat who lived High cassette 4 chapter 11 writing old red up to yasb br’s

Apartment on four quillin had plenty of time to plan his confrontation with the man had deflated his tires he had dealt with villains before and he knew how to bring them to their knees without incurring hostility he was a good actor and could always carry it off the trick

Was to open with friendly Small Talk throw in a little prevarication and then catch them off base with an accusation and a warning that was Sinister but not too threatening he knocked on the door of 4K with authority but not belligerence that was another important detail then he

Waited he knocked again a voice from within shouted who’s that your neighbor Mr yasb he replied in an ingratiating voice quillin standing 6’2 and weighing a solid 220 did not consider himself a small man but the giant with bulging muscles and aggressive jaw who answered his knock totally filling the doorway

Grasping a beer bottle by the neck and stripped to the waist made him feel like a pygmy Mr yasb he asked with poise that was admirable yeah do you drive a minivan and park in Number 27 yeah no one had ever called quillin a coward but he knew the better part of

Valor and he was a master at inventing the quick lie I believe you left your parking lights on he said agreeably just thought you’d like to know then without waiting to hear Yas bro’s grunts of Rage he walked casually to the elevator and pressed the up button for old

Green the giant soon followed rattling his car keys and muttering to himself and pressed the down button for old red we’ve had a lot of rain lately quillin said pleasantly yeah said y Hasbro as old green opened its door and transported quillin inch by groaning inch to

14 the Siamese met him at the door time for dinner he asked him a reply of sorts rattled in Koko’s throat does that mean you want roast raccoon rare or Ragu of rabbit Coco gargled and quillin opened a can of red salmon reflecting that he might have to take

The cat to the veterinarian for laryngoscopy while they devoured the salmon with wrapped concentration he analyzed Coco’s current behavior besides making ugly noises in his throat he prowled restlessly and followed quilin everywhere patently bored it was understandable yum yum was sleeping a lot and providing little companionship there were no pigeons for

Entertainment and quiller and himself had been absent a great deal or preoccupied with matters like Scrabble or the grinman and Hills report okay you guys he said let’s have some fun he produced the new leather harnesses jiggling them tantalizingly Coco had been harnessed before and was eager to buckle up but

Yum yum resisted the col in and girdling although usually susceptible to blandishments she disregarded remarks that the blue leather matched her eyes and enhanced her fawn colored fur she squirmed she kicked she snapped her Jaws when quillin tugged the leash she refused to walk or even to stand on her

Four feet he tugged harder and she played Dead when he picked her up and set her on her feet she toppled over as if there were not a bone or muscle in her body and lay there inert not moving a whisker you’re an uncooperative unappreciative impossible wench he said

I’ll remember this the next time you want to take possession of my lap meanwhile Koko was prancing about the room dragging his leash he was a veteran at this some of his greatest Adventures had happened at the end of a 12-ft nylon cord now he made it clear

That he wanted to explore the Terrace it’ll be cold quillin warned him yeah Koko replied and there are no pigeons and it’s getting dark y Koko said vehemently tugging toward the exit on the Terrace he led the way impatiently pulling quillin toward the front of the building and then all the

Way back to the rear at one point the cat stopped abruptly and turned toward the parit quillin tightened his hold on the leash as coko prepared to jump on the stone batt teetering on the railing with his four feet bunched together he peered over the edge holding the leash taut quillin also

Looked over the railing directly below was parking slot number 18 the number painted on the tarmac in faded yellow paint incredible said quillin said Koko let’s go inside it’s chilly Koko refused to move and when quillin grabbed him about the middle his body was tense and his tail curled

Stiffly why quillin wondered as he carried the cat back indoors did Ross walk run or stagger 100 feet down the Terrace in order to jump on Yas bro’s car even more mystifying was the next question how did coko know the exact spot where it happened back in the apartment he found

Yum yum asleep on the water bed harness leash and all gently quillin rolled her over unbuckling the strap and drawing the collar over her head without opening her eyes she purred and why not she had won the argument she had had the last word just like a female quillin

Muttered it was time to dress for dinner with the Countess and he brought his dark BL suit and white shirt from the closet marveling that he had worn suits twice in 2 days in Moose County he had worn them twice in 3 years once for a

Wedding and once for a funeral to his funeral suit he now added a red tie to elevate his mood a striped chirt would have had more snap but sartorial niceties were not in quillin’s field of Interest this social event was one he hardly approached with Keen anticipation nevertheless years of carrying out

Unattractive Ive assignments for tyrannical editors had disciplined him into automatic performance of Duty also there was the prospect of a book on the Casablanca a coffee table book in folio format with large photographs on good paper the K fund would underwrite it this was the afternoon he remembered

That the cling and Chin board was scheduled to meet Hassel presenting the Casablanca proposition with quivering excitement and anecdotes about spinach to sys as if his thoughts were telepathic the phone rang at that moment and Hassel was on the line advising him that the board had voted unanimously to foot the

Bill for saving the Casablanca leaving the amount entirely to quillin’s discretion this may not be the last said the attorney a resolution was passed to pursue similar ventures in the public interest as a means of enhancing the cling and shown image quillin cons Ed his watch the

Invitation was for 7:00 and it was not yet 6 he telephoned Mary Duckworth are you busy do you have a few minutes I’d like to drop in for a briefing before I Ascend to Art Deco heaven in the Rosewood Chariot also I have good news yes come along she said ring the

Bell the shops closed in his dark blue suit with a raincoat over his arm quillin rode down on old green a red-haired woman boarded the car at 99 and he could feel her staring at him he straightened his shoulders and concentrated on watching the floor indicator since some of the lights were

Inoperative the car descended from 8 to 5 to two to one in the lobby Mrs Tuttle looked up from her knitting with a smile of admiration two old ladies in quilted bathrobes squinted at him without scowling it was a dark suit he decided he should wear it more often instead of

Waiting for another funeral as he stroe down zwinger Boulevard toward the blue dragon he was stopped by a woman walking at Dalmatian excuse me do you know what time it is she asked my watch says 6:10 you’re new in the neighborhood just visiting he said as he saluted courteously and went on his

Way next it was Mary Duckworth’s turn to exclaim you look tremendously attractive quill she said Adelaide will be swept off her feet she phoned me today first time she has ever called and said how much she enjoyed your company she thank me for taking you to tea it’s only because I play Scrabble

No I think she liked your mustache or it was the BOS pear whatever it was you’ve kindled the light in the old girl’s eyes from the appearance of the old girl’s eyes quillin said she has cataracts why doesn’t she have surgery it may be that she doesn’t want

To see any better than she does did you notice that the windows have frosted glass she wants time to stand still Circa 1935 but she can see the playing cards well enough and the game board what’s your good news they sat in the shop querin in a genuine Chippendale Corner chair and

Mary on a Chinese ebony throne inlaid with mother of pearl he said the clling and chain fund has given me cart blind for the Casablanca preservation wonderful but I’m not surprised after all it’s your own money isn’t it my father says that’s no secret in financial circles it won’t actually be mine for

Another two years but that’s neither here nor there The crucial question is will I be able to convince the counters to sell the way things look said Mary you should have no problem are you looking forward to the evening I find the prospect challenging but the environment depressing like a glamorous old Movie

Palace that hasn’t shown films since World War II you must remember she said that an interior acquires a certain patina after 60 years and the plum apartment is Museum quality there’s a large vase in the drawing room decorated with flowers and nude women I don’t know whether you

Noticed it I noticed it that piece alone is worth thousands of dollars on today’s market it’s a Rene BAU spell that b u t h a u d we have a shop in junktown that specializes in art deco and the lowest price tag is in four figures I’ve been meaning to ask you

Mary he said how long have you known the counts I didn’t meet her until I joined sck and D Bessinger enlisted me for back coming but I’ve heard the Adelaide Legend all my life and what might that be quillin’s curiosity caused his mustache to bristle not anything you’d want to put

In your book but it was common gossip in Social Circles in the 30s according to my mother well let’s have it this is a true story she began soon after Adelaide made her debut she became aien to a man who was considered a great catch provided a girl

Had money he was penniless but handsome and charming and from good St Adelaide was the lucky girl and the Envy of her set then the economy collapsed the banks closed and Harrison Plum was in desperate Straits he had never been financially astute my father said and he

Had thrown away Millions on the art deco renovation but now half the units of Casablanca were vacant and the remaining tenants lacked the cash to pay the rent the building had been his passion for 30 years and he was about to lose it suddenly three astounding things happened Adelaide broke her engagement

Her father was solvent once more and one of her penan cousins married the jilted man are the obvious deductions true quillin asked there’s no doubt about it Adelaide Bartered her fiance for Millions to save the Casablanca and save her dear father from ruin and in those days a million was a lot of

Money that says something about Adelaide but I’m not sure what Quin remarked was it Noble sacrifice or cold calculation we think it was a painful selfless gesture right afterward she dropped out of the social scene completely sadly her father died within months and the Casablanca never regained its

Prestige how old was she when this happened 18 I believe she gives the impression of being satisfied with her Choice who handles her financial affairs after her father’s death her penan relatives advised her to invest his life insurance and exploit the cablanca naturally the penans are now advising

Her to sell to penamon Greystone and flood of course and you expect me to Buck that kind of competition you’re a dreamer you have a strong Ally though in her love for the building and for her father’s memory you can do it quill huffing into his mustache he stood up to

Leave well wish me luck what’s that thing he pointed to a small decorative object it’s art glass a pill box art deco designed probably 75 years old would you like it she’d love it even more than the Bosque Paar I’ll buy it he said take it with my compliments Mary

Removed the price tag I’ll put her in a velvet sack with the Velvet sack in his pocket quillin paid his second visit to the plum Palace on 12 as he waited for the elevator at the bronze door The Feisty Mrs button came hobbling down the hall with her

Cane my you do look handsome she said in a high cracked voice my late husband always looked handsome in a dark suit every Thursday evening he would put on his dinner coat and I would put on a long dress and we would go to the

We always sat in a first tier box are you going up to play cards with Adelaide have a lovely evening Mrs button hobbled as far as the front door then turned and hobbled back again one of several ambulatory invalids who took their prescribed exercise in the hallways of the

Casablanca quillin thought if the building reverts to its original palacial character what will happen to the old people and the students and Isabelle and Mrs Tuttle and rert pondering this he rode up to 12 in the Rosewood elevator and was admitted by Ferdinand looming huge in his coral colored

Coat it’s not going to be chicken hash were the houseman’s first words it’s going to be shrimp I don’t know why it’s always chicken hash on Thursday the hostess came forward with Hands Extended and head tilted prettily to one side she had been tilting her head prettily

For so many years that one shoulder was now higher than the other yesterday querin thought her posturings and obsessions were ludicrous today having heard the Adelaide Legend he found her a pathetic figure despite her turquoise chiffon Hostess gown with floating scarves and square cut onx and Diamond

Jewelry so good to see you again Mr quillin she said he sat in the bibendum chair and Ferdinand served heavily watered grape juice and square cut stemware quillin raised his glass in a toast to gracious ladies in Enchanted palaces the sad little Countess inclined her head in acknowledgement have you had an

Interesting day she asked I spent the day looking forward to this evening and selecting this trinket for you he presented The Velvet sack with cries of delight she extracted the art deco pillbox oh thank you Mr quillin it’s French modern I shall put this in my

Budoir I thought it would be in keeping with the stunning Ambiance you have created is that a Renee bhau vase on the mantle he asked flaunting his newly acquired knowledge yes and it means so much to me it contains the ashes of my dear father he was such a handsome and cultivated

Gentleman how he loved to take me to Paris to the Opera and museums and salons did you meet gerud style we attended her Salon I was a very young girl but I remember meeting some dashing young men I think they were writers Hemingway Fitzgerald she raised her hands in a

Gracefully hopeless gesture that was so long ago forgive me if I don’t remember at that moment Ferdinand made his menacing appearance and announced in a musclebound growl dinner served it was served on square cut dinner wear on a round ebony table in a circular dining room paneled in black

Turquoise and mirror its perimeter lighted with tar the entree was shrimp Newberg preceded by a slice of pate and followed by that favorite of the 20s Waldorf salad then Ferdinand prepared Banana’s Foster in a chaing dish with heavy-handed competence and a disdainful expression meaning that this was not real

Food during dinner the conversation lurched rather than flowed their voices sounding Hollow in the vault-like room quillin was relieved when they moved to the library for coffee and Scrabble here he proceeded to amaze his Hostess by spelling such highs scoring words as zi and kot and once he ret tripled she was

A good player and she seemed to relish the challenge she was a different woman at the game table at the end she said this has been a most enjoyable evening I hope you will come again Mr quillin enough of formality he said could you bring yourself to call me quill it’s good for

17 points I must correct you she said merrily 14 points 17 he insisted I spell it with a qw then you must call me zizu my father’s pet name for me it’s worth 23 her laughter was so giddy that Ferdinand made an alarmed appearance in the

Doorway may I beg a favor of you zizu quiller and asked taking advantage of her happy mood yesterday I mentioned writing a book about the C BL Banker would you consent to having your apartment photographed would you take my picture too she answered Coy by all means

Sitting on the sofa pouring tea that would be quite exciting what should I wear you always look beautiful whatever you wear do you have a camera yes but not good enough for this I’d hire an architectural photographer he could take some striking views of these rooms

Would he photograph all of them all that you wish to have photographed oh dear I wonder if my dear father would approve quillin launched his proposal he would approve enthusiastically and there is something else that your father would want you to do he would realize that buildings like

People get tired in their old age they need Rejuvenation if he were here he would know that the Casablanca is badly in need of repair from the roof to the basement shocked at the suggestion the Countess fluttered her hands about her jewelry I find my suweet quite quite satisfactory that’s because you don’t

Venture beyond your magnificent copper doors zizu this may be painful for you to contemplate but your Palace is in bad condition and there are people who think it should be torn down she stiffened that will never happen some of the people who play bridge with you are asking to buy the

Building are they not if you sell to them they’ll tear it down to save the casablanka you need a partner someone who appreciates the building as much as you do careful he thought it sounds like a marriage proposal fedy leul was around the corner listening you need a financial partner

He went on who will put money into its renovation and restore it to its original Beauty your father would approve of a partnership when he built this Palace in 1901 he had an architect for a partner a financial partner would be the beginning of a new life for the

Casablanca the expression in her clouded eyes told him that the concept was beyond her comprehension her brain was geared for grand slams and retrip her face was a blank she was withdrawing as if sensing a crisis Ferdinand made his clumsy entrance want me to bring the tea once more the Countess cocked her

Head prettily and said in her debutant voice would you like a cup of chamomile tea before you leave Mr quillin no thank you he said Rising it has been an enjoyable evening but I must say good night Miss Plum he bowed out out and the glowering Houseman showed him to the

Door nibbling at his mustache quillin rode down to the main floor in luxury and rode up to 14 in the Dismal clutches of old green ignoring Koko’s greeting at the door he went directly to the telephone and called poly Duncan I crashed he announced without Preamble I broached the subject of

Restoration to the Countess and hit a stone wall that’s too bad she said soothingly but not earnestly she’s been out of touch for 60 years she doesn’t know what’s happening and doesn’t want to know one can’t reason with her perhaps you should consider this setback a signal from your tutelary

Genius telling you to forget the Casablanca and come home I can’t give up so easily the K fund okay the investment today and it would be embarrassing sleep on it Polly advised tomorrow it’ll be clear what you should do but I wish you would seriously consider coming home today on the radio

They reported a shooting in an office building down there a man killed a lawyer and a secretary that was a disgruntled law clerk who had been fired quillin explained next time it could be a disgruntled motorist who doesn’t like the way you change lanes on the freeway

She said sharply you have a duty to play it safe like English royalty kerin grumbled he took time to groom his mustache with his fingertips before changing the subject how’s everything with you I may have some good news quill there’s a chance that old Mrs Gage on good winter Boulevard will rent her

Carriage house what about Bootsy she doesn’t object to cats how are the Siamese yum yum is rather lethargic and Coco is acting strangely he said they’re homesick for pickaxe Polly said cunningly adding weight to her argument she knew he would return for the cat’s well-being if not for his

Own what else did you do today I had lunch at the Press Club but the service was terrible and the food isn’t as good as it used to be I took Coco for a walk on the Terrace and I did some laundry in the basement of the building they rambled on like

Comfortable old marrieds until Polly ended the conversation with think about what I said dearest and call me about your decision she knew that quillin liked to limit his long-distance calls to 5 minutes abiento abiento his frustration was subsiding and he was about to relieve it further with a large dish of ice cream

When he received an urgent phone call from Amber asking if he had seen the night edition of Friday’s morning Rampage you’re in Sasha Crispen Schmidt’s column she announced I haven’t seen the paper read it to me you won’t like it she said and then read guess who’s staying at the Casablanca in the

Penthouse apartment of the late Diane Bessinger none other than Jim quillin former daily fuction writer who inherited Untold millions and moved to a small town that no one ever heard of would anyone care to put two and two together our guess quill is here to bankroll the preservation of the

Casablanca which so many local bigwigs want to tear down get your ringside tickets for the battle of the Bucks chapter 12 early Friday morning quillin called Mary Duckworth have you seen the morning Rampage he asked abruptly I’ve just finished reading about you I loathe that kind of Journalism where did they get their

Information I was lunching with a fluxion reporter at the Press Club and Sasha what’s her name came to our table the guy told her I’m staying at the Casablanca in retrospect I’m convinced her appearance at our table was not accidental had somehow leaked out that the cling and chain fund is interested

In backing sock and she was snooping for information Mary said I wonder what effect the item will have no doubt the developers will step up their campaign the city might find an excuse for condemnation proceedings or and this is a wild supposition add adela’s penamon cousins might conspire to find her mentally

Incompetent with their Unholy influence in this town they could swing it but here’s the real setback Mary I got nowhere with aday last night although the evening started well after Scrabble we were un first name terms then I started to talk business as diplomatically as I could and she

Retired into her shell it’s like trying to save a sailor from drowning when he doesn’t know his boat is leaking what can we do I’d like to discuss it with Roberto he used to be her attorney you told me surely he learned how to get through to

Her can we pry him loose from his kitchen long enough for a conference Sunday evening is his night off then let’s get together on Sunday you line it up let me know when quillin was in a bad humor he paced the floor for a while accidentally stepping on a tail or two before

Deciding that ham and eggs would improve his disposition but first he tuned in the radio station that offered Round the Clock news and weather he learned that the 37th youth had been shot in a local high school and the temperature would be mild with high humidity resulting in increased

Smog on the way out of the building he was passing the manager’s desk when a commotion at the rear of the main floor indicated that something or someone was being brought down on the freight elevator he watched while ambulance attendants whisked a covered body to the front door who’s that he asked Mrs

Tuttle Mrs button the dear Soul she talked to me last night and she was in fine shape that’s the way it goes the ways of the Lord are mysterious have you decided whether you’d like cleaning help Mr quillin Mrs Jasper is available on Mondays okay send her up he

Said oh look what we have here old green had arrived at the main floor and Isabelle wilberton stepped out of the car cradling a kitten in her arms white with orange head and tail isn’t this the cutest funniest thing you ever saw she gushed he’s so

Sweet what are you going to call him asked Mrs Tuttle it’s a girl I’m going to call her sweetie pie I got her from the people in 9B how old is she quiller and eded away from the desk and went out to breakfast putting the CEST out of his mind he

Spent most of the day writing a column on the Casablanca for publication in the Moose County something the problem was how to make the subject credible to North Country readers when he could hardly believe it himself while working he evicted the Siamese from the library an unfriendly act that aroused the indignation of

Cooko the cat prowled outside the closed door muttering his new intestinal as if he were about to regurgitate after listening to the unsettling performance for half an hour quillin yanked open the library door what’s your problem he demanded coko ran to the end of the foyer where the French doors led to the

Terrace but it was not the outdoors that interested him it was the bloody Butcher Block painting standing on his hind legs with his head weaving from left to right like a cobra he uttered his gagging guttural frankly I feel the same way about it Quin said Not only was the

Subject matter nauseating but the canvas was hung in a makeshift way off center and too low with suspicion teasing his upper lip he lifted the painting down from its hanger immediately coko stretched to his full length and sniffed the mushroom tinted wall compared with the adjoy walls it looked freshly painted quillin examining

It closely detected some unevenness enough to feel with his fingertips and when the cat started prancing in circles with his back arched and his tail bushed it was time to take the matter seriously kin removed the shade from a table lamp and used the Bare Bulb to sidelight the wall

Surface his suspicions were confirmed the oblique light accentuated some crude doll bbing under the recent Paint Job large block letters and three ragged lines spelled out forgive me Diane there was a signature two RS back to back so this was the confession the management in preparation for quillan’s arrival had painted over

It and hung a picture for further camouflage did Co smell fresh paint or did he know it concealed something of Interest he was Adept at detecting anything out of order or out of place you’re a clever fellow he said to the cat who bounded away to the kitchen

And looked pointedly at his empty plate as quillin was giving him a treat the telephone rang and he took the call in the library it was a familiar voice from moose County hey quill I’ve just been reading about you in the outstate Edition of the Rampage said Arch rker damn it I didn’t

Want the competition to know why I’m here quillin replied my story is that I’m here to write a book on the Casablanca which is more or less true and to get away from the severe winter up north skip the book and send us some copy said the editor I’m working on it I

Was interrupted a few minutes ago by our resident investigator he dredged up some evidence in connection with a murder suicide incident in this apartment what Mur murder what suicide you didn’t tell me anything about a crime it was a lovers quarrel so they say but when old nosy starts sniffing around in that

Significant way of his my suspicions start working overtime now back up Quail don’t go charging into something that doesn’t concern you rer warned him just Bear Down on completing your original Mission and hightail it back here while the roads are still open we’ve been lucky so

Far no snow but it’s on the way down from Canada I wish they’d export more cheese and less weather quillin said neither yes nor no he disliked being told what to do if you talk to pully don’t mention the murder he said she worries you know she thinks murder is contagious like

Measles when he concluded the phone call Koko was sitting tall on the desk looking hopeful yearning for attention and quillin felt sorry for him in the old days they had invented a game with the unabridged dictionary which amused them both okay let’s see what you and I can

Do with Scrabble he said to the cat as he scattered the tiles over the surface of the car table you fish out some letters and I’ll see if I can make a word coko looked down at the assortment of small squares in his nearsighted way and did nothing until quillin paed at

The tiles himself then the cat got the idea and withdrew e h i s a p and w in a matter of seconds quillin had spelled whips those letters add up to 13 points he explained and the ones I didn’t use add up to two that’s 13 to two in my

Favor if you want to score high you have to choose consonant like x and q and not too many vowels as if he understood Koko proceeded to improve his game and the score was a near tie when it was time for quillin to quit and dress for the

Evening nothing personal he said to the cat but I found the game more stimulating with the Countess he taxied downtown and dined at a middle eastern restaurant before heading for the Veris at the Bessinger Tod Gallery in the canyons of the financial district the Friday night hush

Was disturbed by a commotion around the gallery as cars pulled up one after the other three valets and red jumpsuits were kept hopping and the hubbub within the building could be heard out on the sidewalk guests were pouring through the front door into an exhibit space already

Packed with art lovers although art was not their prime interest they milled about drinking champagne and shouting to be heard above the clanger of the music while the musicians increased their volume in order to be heard above the din of voices the center of attention seemed to be a young man with shoulder-length

Blonde hair who stood Head and Shoulders Above All the Rest quillin saw no one he knew apart from Jerome Todd and the sour-faced critic from the daily flu he was not interested in the bar and the buffet was engulfed by hungry guests four deep as

For the art he saw nothing he would care to hang on the walls of his remodeled Barn if he had one the focal point was a trio of large canvases depicting ravenous eaters devouring fast food obviously by the same artist who had painted the spaghetti orgy in

14a on the balcony away from the Press of bodies he found a more intimate collection of Ceramics blown glass stainless steel sculpture and bronzes as well as more breathing space he was particularly curious about some ceramic discs displayed on small easels looking like limp pie crust paper thin they were embellished with wav

Sheaves of paper thin clay and fired in Smoky mushroom tones as he studied them with baffled interest a hearty voice behind him said I’ll be damned if it isn’t the best looking mustache east of the Mississippi he turned to see a tall gaunt woman with straight gray hair and

Gray bangs and he recognized the city’s dean of Potters ingga Berry he exclaimed what a pleasure quill I thought you were dead until I read about you in today’s paper is it true what they said never believe anything you read in the morning Rampage he cautioned will you explain these

Things to me he pointed to the ceramic discs do you like this Goofy stuff she asked with a challenging frown inab Berry was known for her large scale ceramic pots thrown on the wheel and intricately glazed they appealed to me for some obscure reason he said probably because

They look like something to eat I wouldn’t mind buying one the Potter pounded his lapel with her fist good boy these are my current indiscretions in clay I call them floppy discs what happened to your spectacular pots she held up two misshapen hands arthritis when your thumbs start to go you can’t

Throw pots on a wheel but these things I can do with a rolling pin congratulations on indiscretions how do you get the appetizing effect smoke fired bisque your glass is empty Ina may I bring you some champagne she made a Grimace of distaste I can drink a gallon of this stuff

Without getting a glow let’s get out of this mad house and get some real Hooch she pushed back her bangs with a nervous hand quillin shouldered away through the crowd the Potter following with a slight limp good show Jerry she called out to Todd as they left and quillin threw the proprietor a

Complimentary hand signal that was more polite than honest out on the sidewalk ingga said pH I can’t stand crowds anymore I must be getting old the bessing your Todd openings never attracted a crowd like this before all the lurid publicity do you have a car ringer he

Asked I came on the bus a car’s too much of a problem in the city especially at my age then we’ll take a taxi valet C please I’m going on 880 you know said Inga smoothing her ruffled bangs that’s when life begins nothing is expected of you and you’re forgiven for

Everything are you still teaching at the ARs and craft School retired last year glad to get out of that cess poool of twaddle when I was young we had something to say and we were damn good at saying it but today quillin handed her into a

Taxi how about going to my place at the Casablanca I happen to have some bourbon hot dickity you’re speaking my language I spent some giddy hours at the Casablanca in the 30s the rents went down and a lot of artists moved in and gave wild parties beer in the bathtubs

And nude models in the elevators those were the days we knew how to have fun when the cab pulled up in front of the building she said this place will be gone soon I signed a petition for sock but it won’t do any good if the penans

And the city fathers get their heads together and want the building torn down it’ll disappear overnight you ride the elevator at your own risk he warned as they boarded old green do you still have your beautiful cats more accurately they have me at this moment coko knows we’re on the way

Up to 14 and he’ll greet us at the door did you ever see the bezer apartment no but I’ve heard a lot about it her murder was something I can’t get through my noodle she was a good woman I don’t know about her private life but she was

Always honest and fair with artists and that’s more than I can say about most dealers and more than I can say about her husband I didn’t know she was married although I think the obituary mentioned daughters oh sure she and Jerome Todd were married for years in De Mo they

Divorced after they came here apparently it was amicable yes and no according to scuttlebut to tell The Awful Truth I never knew what she could see in Todd he’s such a cold fish but they stayed together as business partners she took care of the talent and he was a good

Businessman good for himself that is not so good for the artists he represents old green finally stumbled up to the top and stopped with a bang as if it had hit the roof and when quillin unlocked the door to 14a and switched on the foyer lights coko walked to greet

Them with stately gate and lofty ears hello you Swanky Rascal said Inga look at that Noble nose look at that tapered tail talk about line and design where’s the other one probably asleep on the waterbed the Potter gazed around the foyer with an artist’s eye pretty POS where do you see the gallery

Quillin opened the French doors and turned on the track lights that illuminated the mushroom paintings the conversation Pit and the well stocked bar we’ll have our drinks in the library but I wanted you to see the artwork iner nodded this ends side one of cassette 4 cassette 4 side

Two I knew Ross when he was in art school before he got into mushrooms found himself those paintings are worth plenty now what’s the cat doing coko was borrowing under the durri in front of the bar merely expressing his Joy at seeing you again iner he was loading a tray with bourbon

Mineral water glasses and an ice bucket go into the library and look at the art books while I get ice from the kitchen when he carried the tray into the library ingga was exclaiming over the collection if they have’t estate sale I’ll be the first in line that’s the

Only way I can afford books like these quillin poured the drinks there won’t be any Bargains iner the murder will give all of this stuff a juicy Providence and the prices will Skyrocket disgusting isn’t it she said murder used to be shocking now it’s an opportunity for profiteering she raised her glass here’s

To the memory of two good kids I don’t understand how Ross could do it the autopsy showed drug use she shook her head woefully I can’t picture Russ as a drugie he was kind of a health nut you know he didn’t go in for weightlifting or jogging or anything like that but he

Had definite ideas about food he was the next best thing to a vegetarian what about his relationship with Lady Dy ah there’s the fly in the soup hinger said from what I hear that’s what broke up her marriage they say Ross’s motive was jealousy Dy had found a new

Protege Inga scowled into her gray bangs R Wilk he was there tonight spell it quillin requested re e w a y n e w i l k big blonde with long hair and a cleft chin maybe you saw his three Masterworks he calls them the pizza eaters the hot

Dog eaters and the wingding eaters all I can say is Van go did it better with potatoes may I fresh in your drink Eng I never say no I suppose you’ve heard about Ross’s confession painted on the wall he said as he poured I found it today it had

Been painted over but the lettering shows through faintly where let me see it they went to the end of the foyer coko trotting ahead as if he knew their destination quillin removed the Butcher Block painting and sidelight the wall with a bare lamp bulb Ingo said it looks

Like he used pigment right out of the tube and his brush was a number 12 bright but he spelled her name wrong poor kid he had talent and a future and he threw them both away speaking of wasted lives quillin said do you know Adelaide Plum we’ve

Never met but I’ve known about her for years do you know the story about her how she sold her fiance for Millions to save the ca Blan it wasn’t her idea said iner she did it under duress what are you implying her father said it up that’s not the conventional

Wisdom but I happen to know that it’s true I was around in the 30s don’t forget what time is it here I am babbling like an idiot and it’s time for me to go home I live at the senior towers and if I’m not in by 11:00 they check the

Morg I’ll take you home quillin said just call me a taxi firmly he saiding I’m not letting you out of my sight until I deliver you to the senior towers and get a signed receipt well I guess this is one of the perks when you’re 80 she said patting her gray bangs

Smugly coko followed them to the door back in a few minutes quillin promised and when he returned the cat was waiting expectantly he led the way into the library and massaged the Scrabble box eagerly with his front paws no games tonight old boy said quillin we have matters to

Discuss coko sat on the library table tall and alert as querin opened the covers of several large art books then he opened a desk drawer and examined the bracelet that Koko had found behind a sofa cushion Inga is right he said addressing the cat lady dce signed herself di a n

NE e on her book plates the vanau was a gift from Ross and he inscribed it to d i a n NE from Ross the bracelet he gave her was engraved with the same double n why would he paint d i a NE e on the wall y said Coco

Encouragingly and why would he sign his so-called confession with his professional logo he was Ross on the bracelet and Ross in a gift book quillin pattered his mustache it looks to me as if the suicide was a hoax someone drugged him and threw him off the Terrace then went

Into a studio and got a tube of red paint said Koko tomorrow will have a talk with lieutenant haes and let him figure out who really killed lady Dy and who dumped her lover from the rear end of the Terrace where the flood light doesn’t reach the cat slapped the table with his

Tail twice there may have been two of of them involved in the crime chapter 14 authors note there is no chapter 13 in this book early Saturday morning quiller imp placed a telephone call to the homicide Squad and left a message for lieutenant hes when the phone rang a few minutes

Later he was prepared to greet the detective but heard instead the soothing voice of Polly Duncan where were you last evening she began I tried to reach you what time did you call at 11: when the rates dropped to taunt her he replied I was

Taking a woman home I met her at an art gallery and we came here for a few drinks there was a worried pause who was she an artist did you just pick her up no we’d met before you don’t need to worry Polly she’s 80 years old and crippled with

Arthritis why were you trying to reach me to tell you that I read about you in the morning Rampage the library subscribes you know but mostly to thank you for the beautiful handbag it’s the nicest I’ve ever owned that was very thoughtful of you dearest although it only makes me miss you

More I wanted you to know I’m thinking of you in spite of being surrounded by female flashers and arthritic octogenarians and eccentric ayses he made no mention of Winnie Wingfoot although he moistened his lips as her image flashed through his mind how’s the kitten with a Hollow Leg absolutely incourage last night I

Brought home two little lamb chops for my dinner and as soon as I unwrapped them he swooped in and dragged one down to the floor any news about the carriage house yes Mrs Gage is letting me have it with the idea that I’ll keep an eye on the

Big house while she’s in Florida so you can have your apartment quill if you come home what did you decide I have 18 more restaurants to try before I can return to face moose County goulash oh quill it’s not that bad where did you have dinner last night at a

Middle eastern place down toown humus Peta kebabs and Tula alone alone and I have a reced guest check to prove it after more affectionate banter Polly said do be careful dearest if anything happened to you it would break my heart you know that I’ll be careful he

Promised when he went out to breakfast he discovered that Saturday morning was Carnival time in the Casablanca lobby as the tenants turned out to shop for groceries do laundry pay the rent pick up their dry cleaning stock up on videos for the weekend return books to the

Library jog around the vacant lots and do all the other busy work that occupies working people and students on their day off even the old and infirm were circulating the two elderly women who usually drifted through the halls in quilted robes were fully dressed explaining to everyone that they were

Being taken to visit a friend in a nursing home Mrs Tuttle was busy handling complaints and writing rent receipts rert was directing a youth who was trying to mock the FL Napoleon and Kitty baby were dodging feet after picking up a few treats for his roommates at a neighborhood Deli

Quillin returned to the building and was heading for the elevator when he encountered the person he least wanted to meet surprisingly Isabelle wilberton presented a neat and appropriate appearance in a white blouse and Cy skirt on previous occasions he had seen her in a spotted house coat or a

Cocktail dress or a fur coat or less she was carrying her kitten nestled in a blue towel Mr quillin I took your advice she said isn’t she adorable her name is Sweetie Pie she’s an appealing little cat he agreed and she’ll be good company for you would you like to have dinner with

Us tonight I’m cooking a pot roast I hope it’ll be good I haven’t really cooked anything for ages I appreciate the thought he said but I’ve already accepted another invitation how about tomorrow night she asked hopefully unfortunately I’ve agreed to keep Sunday open for a meeting with the officers of

Sock you see I’m writing a book on the historic Casablanca oh really I could tell you a lot about that my grandparents had an apartment here back in the 1920s when it was so exclusive My grandmother used to tell me stories about it I’ll keep that

In mind thank you for the suggestion he said inwardly recoiling has the male person been here Isabelle waved an envelope yes the male just came in she appeared quite happy about it no doubt the envelope contained her subsistence check quillin went to the mail room and

Found the door blocked by fery leul his imprinted t-shirt stretched across his enormous chest he confronted quillin with a menacing scowl that was his idea of social Grace when you’re going to take the picture pictures he demanded of Miss Plum’s apartment whenever she gives her approval anytime okay she never goes

Out all right I’ll notify the photographer and he’ll call you to make an appointment she’s all head up about it said the Houseman is he going to take my picture too he passed a hand over his bald head probably does he play bridge you’ll have to ask him said quillin

Encouraged by this positive development he determined to go ahead seriously with the book as he waited for the elevator he visualized about 30% text and 70% black and white photos views of the opulent Lobby and palm Pavilion pictures of celebrities old cars and residents in nostalgic Fashions from Edwardian to

Flapper era to early 30s in the center a color section would feature overall shots of the art deco rooms as well as close-ups of the rare vays containing Harrison plums ashes the Cubist rugs and pillows a tooled copper screen inset with ebony tables with angular legs club chairs with voluptuous

Curves and walls of framed French art photos of the 1920s it was all Lush and otherworldly the fronter piece would be Adelaide St John Plum with her plucked and penciled eyebrows and her marcelled hair sitting on the overstuffed sofa and pouring tea looking like a living relic of the Casablanca dim

Past for the text he would like to interview oldtimers surely there were such persons tucked away in odd corners of the building living in faded Splendor it was a Pity that Mrs Button had not survived a little longer even Isabelle wilberton might have to be interviewed as he pondered the possibilities the

Door of old red opened and the white-haired manager of Roberto’s restaurant stepped from the car accompanied by a pale-faced man who was much younger he was the fellow with a bandage where his right ear should be Charlotte rup was looking buoyantly happy Oh Mr quillin she cried I want you

To meet my friend Raymond dimwitty Ray this is Mr quillin who I’ve told you so much about not believing what he had heard quillin said I didn’t catch the last name spell it for me du n w o d y said the man quillin made heroic attempts not to

Stare at the ear patch as they exchanged polite words Charlotte said we always go out to lunch on Saturday and then to a movie there’s a discount if you go early and I don’t have to be at the restaurant until 4: I hope you have an enjoyable

Afternoon you have good weather for us it quillin said courteously old red had gone up without him and now he waited for old green wondering how this unlikely couple had met Charlotte with her fluttery spinster is Manner and white hair like spun sugar a woman well past retirement age and

Raymond Dunwoody with his ear patch and blank expression a man not over 45 when the elevator arrived and opened its reluctant door a cheerful passenger with a laundry basket on her way up from the basement crowed oh wow we have somebody rich and famous living here now this was followed by a Gusty

Laugh if I were rich and famous I wouldn’t be living at Ye Old broken down Casablanca quillin said with forced geniality that concealed his irritation he disembarked at 3 and walked the rest of the way up to 14 silently cursing Sasha what’s her name for revealing his financial status

He enjoyed the role of a retired journalist he did not enjoy the role of a millionaire briefly he considered moving to the Penman Plaza until he remembered that hotels didn’t accept cats on the way upstairs he heard an ambulance siren winding down in front of the building another casualty who was it this

Time arriving at 14a he found a newspaper clipping under his door with a note from Amber scroll CED in the margin did you see this it came from the business page of Saturday’s morning Rampage an interview with one of the principles of Penman Greystone and flood rexwell flood stated

That the proposed Gateway Al Kazar was 50% least and ground would be broken sooner than expected a one column headshot of the developer showed a long narrow face with high cheekbones and blow dry hair quillin crumpled it in disgust and tossed it in the waist basket immediately the delicate thud of

Velvet Paws could be heard bounding out of the bedroom and yum yum the Sleeping Beauty made a nose dive into the waist basket to retrieve the crumpled clipping the crumpling of paper was a sound she could hear in her dreams quillin took it away from her not

Wanting her to chew it and ingest printer’s ink as he did so he had another look at that arrogant face and wondered where he had seen it before yum yum was peeved and to assuage her ruffled feelings he stroked her fur and paid her a few lavish compliments on

Her pulchritude her sweetness of disposition and her nobility of character she purred and went back to bed why does she L around so much he asked himself is it the smog or some kind of stress meanwhile Koko was waiting for action on the Scrabble table and he won

The first few draws so handily that quillin changed the rules to permit proper nouns slang and foreign words even with a handicap the cat won but the man had the satisfaction of spelling such words as iion Mercy chow and snafu toward the end of the game he

Spelled a word that proved to be prophetic oops as it happened he intended to spend the afternoon at the library and on his way downtown he stopped at the Penman Plaza for lunch the coffee shop was on the mezzanine and he was stepping on the Upward Bound escalator when he heard a

Cracked voice directly behind him crying Help me he half turned and caught a glimpse of a dirty white beard at the same moment someone grabbed his arm what happened next seemed to be in slow motion his hand reaching for the handrail the handrail moving beyond his grasp his body sinking backward his feet

Continuing to move upward the steps behind him rising to meet his spine the whole escalator ascending relentlessly as he lay on his back riding to the mezzanine feet first the absurdity of his position stunned him momentarily until screams from onlookers recalled the episode on the subway tracks and Marshall his

Wits in a matter of seconds he had to swing his legs around in the narrow space maneuver his feet lower than his head scramble to his knees stand up just as the moving steps telescoped into the floor above he was upright and hands were helping him step onto

Terrafirma are you hurt sir a security man asked I don’t think so quillin replied only a trifle surprised let me take you to the manager’s office sir first I want to sit down and have a cup of coffee and figure out what happened you can get coffee

Right here in the bar sir are you sure you’re all right the uniformed guard conducted quillin into a dimly lighted Lounge I’ll notify the manager sir he’ll send someone down Mr quillin what happened the bartender called out he had a reddish mustache and quillin recognized the jogger from the Casablanca I don’t know

Exactly another security guard arrived on the scene I was down there I seen it one of them cooks that wanders around kind of unsteady on his feet wanted to get on the escalator and I told him not to he grabbed this man’s arm I rode up feet first quillin

Explained to the bartender I’ve gone feet first into worse situations than this but I’ll admit this was a peculiar sensation you need a stiff drink while the beig my days as a stiff Drinker are over but I could use a strong cup of coffee coming right up quillin sipped the Brew gratefully

While security Personnel hovered about to prevent his Escape pending the arrival of a hotel official he said to the bartender you know my name but I don’t know yours Randy Randy Jupiter I remember reading your column when you wrote for the flu the reviews about restaurants I mean I clipped everyone

And then check them out on my day off you were always right on quillin smoothed his mustache having his column clipped was his favorite kind of compliment a lot of new eating places have opened since then he said I’ve been away for 3 years they sure have it looks

Like nobody stays home and Cooks anymore how long you going to be here I could recommend a few good ones my plans aren’t definite I’m here to write a book on the casa Blan and it’ll depend on what luck I have with research the Rampage said you’re going

To buy the building Jupiter said with a grin No One Believes the Rampage stick with the flu boy didn’t you say you’re around 14 in 14a that must be the Bessinger apartment I’ve never seen it but I hear it’s something else it’s Unique quillin agreed the assistant manager appeared

And quillin assured her he was not hurt and saw no reason to hold the hotel responsible he willingly supplied the personable young woman with the information she needed for her report and accepted vouchers good for dinner and dry cleaning when the transaction was completed the bartender said to

Quillin that’s not too shabby she might have offered to go to dinner with me then it would be worth the indignity of writing up feet first how long have you lived at the Casablanca just a few months do you like jazz I was a jazz Hound in college but I

Haven’t done much listening lately quillin felt comfortable with the bartender it was his private theory that men with large mustaches tend to gravitate toward other men with large mustaches likewise fat men get together men with beards or long hair like to talk to men with beards or long

Hair Jupiter said I’ve got a super collection of old jazz artists anytime you want to hear some great sounds like jelly roll the Duke do you have Charlie Parker I have everything just knock on my door I’m in sixa my apartment has a fantastic stereo system and spectacular Acoustics Quin

Said perhaps you’d like to bring some recordings upstairs I’d go for that I’ll get in touch with you call me here or at home Jupiter scribbled two phone numbers on a cocktail napkin okay now I’m ready for lunch lunch at the Penman coffee shop was agreeably uneventful quillin also

Welcomed the scholarly Silence of the library’s history department where he selected photos and signed in order for copies to be made back at the Casablanca 14a was equally quiet too quiet coko seemed preoccupied as he waited for the mincing of the roast beef from the deli and yum yum didn’t report

At all until quillin went to the bedroom and said would Cleopatra consent to rise from her Divan and repair to the dining salon for a light repast he should have known that Koko’s distracted demeanor was the countdown before the Blast Off chapter 15 Koko’s abnormal behavior during the

Preparation of his dinner meant that Mischief was hatching in that fine brown head but kerin had other matters on his mind such as what to wear for his dinner engagement at Courtney Hampton’s apartment Amber had specified that dress would be casual remembering the clothing salesman’s supercilious Jive just in

From the country he deliberately chose to wear his cashmir pullover a garment that would impress anyone who knew the price of sweaters at the appoint time he walked downstairs to the eighth floor and knocked on Amber’s door when she opened it he caught a glimpse of a room piled

High with cardboard cartons and shopping bags how recently did you move in he asked as they walked down the hall to the front of the building I’ve been here 2 years but it seems i’ never get around to unpacking she said with a humorously hopeless shrug now let me tell you about

Courtney’s play so it won’t come as a total shock he has one of the big old apartments and he puts on the dog when he entertains even hiring a woman to cook and a man to serve but he doesn’t have any furniture if the food is good I’m

Prepared to eat off the floor querin said incidentally I have yet to see an apartment in this building other than the penthouse and the Art Deco Extravaganza on 12 I meant to ask how did you get along with the Countess very well we played Scrabble and I better win a little you

Men are so Galant when you lose a pair of topiary trees flanked the entrance to AA he only puts them out when he’s having company Amber explained as she clanged at the door knocker I hope he also takes in the brass knocker when he goes to bed quillin said someone stole

My plastic rubbish container last night the door was opened by an emaciated gray-haired man in a white duck coat someone quillin had seen in the lobby or on the elevator or possibly in the laundry room not far behind him was the host wearing a suit in black silk and making gestures of Oriental

Welcome well look at you Amber exclaimed just in from the rice Patty quillin asked they entered a large room with dark walls lighted only by candles and remarking I see Mrs Tuttle cut off your electricity again Courtney reproached her with flared nostrils what you see here he said to

Quillin loftily is one of the original Suites occupied for 60 years by a bachelor judge all I did was paint the walls Venetian red the black walnut Woodwork and the hardwood floors are original I apologize for the lack of furniture special order items take an unconscionably long time they’re growing the trees Amber

Said as quillin’s eyes became accustomed to the dim light he realized he was in a room at least 50 ft long and bare enough to be a ballroom in one corner was a compact seating arrangement two couches right angled against the wall covered with fringed Spanish rugs and heaped with

Pillows of some ethnic origin the couches were actually Army Cuts he later decided for a cocktail table there was a large square of thick plate glass supported by concrete blocks and under it was a worn Persian rug the only Floor Covering in the room three long stemmed

White carnations in a tall crystal vase looked aggressively contemporary in candl light the corner was almost glamorous you have a new rug Amber observed a semi antique tab my dear this month’s acquisition from our friend Isabelle she explained to quillin he means Isabelle wilberton he’s systematically stripping the poor woman’s

Apartment I am keeping the poor woman afloat Courtney said With Ur last month’s acquisition was that painting over the sideboard American of course probably of the Hudson River School a curator from the art museum is coming here tomorrow to identify it incontrovertibly the Misty landscape in an elaborate gilded frame was hanging

Above a sideboard composed of two large wooden packing cases on which stood a silver te- set would we all like a margarita quill doesn’t drink Amber announced Evan asked the host Evan will do kerin said if you don’t have squonk water the other two gave him a brief

Questioning glance no one outside of moose County had ever heard of squank water then Courtney turned to the white-coated server Hopkins bring us two margaritas and an Evan for the gentleman the white coat disappeared into the Gloom at the far end of the room and the host went

On originally the suite consisted of this drawing room plus a large bedroom totally without closets plus a huge bathroom where did they hang their clothes in 1901 and what did they do in the bathroom that required so much space fortunately the judge added closets in the kitchenet Amber said to quillin you

Should see Court’s previous apartment it was like a cell at lenworth court me he corrected her with a frown the drinks and a silver bowl of macadamia nuts were served by Hopkins moving as if in a trance quillin asked how was your card game Wednesday night not too excruciating although I could manage

Nicely without the chamomile tea and caraway seed cake the Countess was my partner considering that she acts like a ghost of the 1920s she’s a killer at the bridge table who else was there Amber asked Winnie Wingfoot and that pushy Randy Jupiter he probably bribed ferdy to

Include him Courtney said with a curled lip I think Randy has a lot of Personality Amber said in his defense too much personality I don’t trust that kind and he jogs you’re such a snob court courtne please at least Randy is friendly in a alive she persisted most of the people

In this building are half dead the host said that reminds me guess who died today okay 20 Questions Amber said was it a man no then it was a woman did she wear a hearing aid no was she in her 80s no in her 70s no you’ll never guess

Amber did she live on seven no did she break her hip last year give up Amber give up you’ll never guess said Courtney according to Madame defarge who sits behind her bulletproof window knitting and counting bodies it was elidia that They carried out what cried Amber who’s elidia

Quillin asked the count is’s personal maid she said what happened Courtney n say it was food poisoning but I think it was an OD being personal made to the counters would drive anyone to pills quillin said I never saw the maid or the housekeeper the maid was kind of weird

But the housekeeper’s nice Amber informed him she’s fery’s mother she has her own apartment on too but fery lives in she commutes daily to 12 where she bakes her famous carway seed cake Courtney add incidentally I’ve asked Winnie to drop in for a drink before she goes out for

The evening have you met Winnie quill may I call you quill by all means I haven’t met Miss Wingfoot but I’ve seen her a beautiful girl when I look at Winnie Amber said I want to go home and take an OD myself the door knocker resounded and quillin’s pulse quickened he smoothed

His mustache and jumped to his feet as Hopkins admitted the satin clad model she glided into the room glittering and dragging a fur jacket Winnie my angel said the host this is quill quillin who is going to buy the cassablanca not true said quillin taking the hand that was extended languidly in his

Direction our paths have crossed said Winnie in the car park under inauspicious ious circumstances I trust your difficulties were satisfactorily resolved thanks to your prompt assistance Miss Wingfoot winred she corrected him would you like a margarita Angel the host asked it would pleasure me immensely she sat on the Army cut next

To quillin who was aware of a heady scent and long silky legs the weather turned to be quite Pleasant today he said knowing that it was a dumb remark quite revivifying she said did you buy Isabelle’s piano Courtney asked her she told me you were looking at it I have it under

Consideration do you play quillin inquired yes rather well she replied bestowing a sultry glance on his mustache Courtney said Mrs button died this week and Madame defarge says there’s going to be a tag sale I hope it’s true I have my sights on a small Ruben’s peel Hopkins materialized from the dark

End of the room with a tray of margaritas Amber said Isabelle has adopted a cat and I may have to break down and get one myself I had another mouse last night if you would clean up your apartment amberina dear said Courtney you would solve your problem the little things are incubating in

Those 84 shopping bags when is the Bessinger estate going to be liquidated quaill I have no idea I’m just subletting while I work on a book about the Casablanca Courtney explained to Winnie quill is a noted journalist how delicious she said I’m hoping to interview oldtimers who remember something about the early days

Any recommendations Mrs Jasper said Courtney and Amber in unison she did housework in the cablanca way back when Amber said and she can tell you all kinds of stories Winnie Upon finishing her drink uncrossed her incredible legs and Rose saying I regret I must wrench myself away from the stimulating group but I

Have a dinner date as the host escorted her to the door quillin remarked quietly to Amber I imagine she has no trouble getting dinner dates I’m in the wrong business she whispered Courtney lighted candles at the dark end of the room where planks were laid across Columns of concrete

Blocks to form a long narrow table Hopkins tell cook we wish to serve now he said the seats were upended orange crates each with a velvet cushion weighted at the Four Corners with tassels watch out for splinters Amber warned quillin for a table centerpiece white carnations were arranged with weeds from the parking

Lot peor service plates and goblets were set on the bare boards and there were four tall peor candlesticks where did you steal these Amber asked and Courtney reproved her with a withering glance the soup course was cream of Water Crest followed by crab cakes with shitake mushrooms baby beats in an orange glaze

And wild rice a salad of artichoke hearts and Sprouts were served on laik plates as a separate course and the meal ended with a chocolate sule not bad Krillin thought for a crate and block environment Amber said to him every year on the 4th of July Courtney

Gives a party on the roof with picnic baskets full of chicken and wine and cherry tarts the roof is a super place to watch the fireworks how do you get up there there’s a stairway from 14 the door says no admittance but it’s never locked it’s

A nice place to Sun in the summer quillin said as an expert on the Casablanca scene perhaps you could answer some questions Courtney how come rert never seems to do any work he just hangs around found actually he’s a security guard said the host and he has an arsenal under that ill-fitting

Jacket how about this guy y Hasbro on four he’s a Furniture mover with one claim to fame Ross’s body landed on his car and he got his name in the paper shall we have coffee in the lounge area and would we all like to hear some nol

Coward he moved toward a stack of strawberry CR containing cassettes and compact discs play the tape of your own show Courtney said Amber she turned to quillin he’s producing an original musical called the Casablanca cat house and the opening number is a blast I’m doing the book in lyrics but I

Haven’t found a composer yet said the impressario KRA is doing the choreography you may have heard quill about KRA head rug and her gut dancers she lives in 14b are they belly dancers I’ve heard some strange bumps coming through the wall they are non-disciplinary non-motivational interpreters of basic sensibilities Courtney explained

Patronizingly play the opening number Court Amber urged Courtney he rebuked her you’ll have to imagine the music the tape started to Unreal and his voice with an affected British accent announced presenting a musical in two acts by Courtney Hampton the Casablanca cat house act one scene one the lyrics

Followed there’s a spot that has been libeled as an odious address because it’s old and battered and the lobby is a mess true the roof May leak the hallways wreak the elevators fail to rise the ceilings drop before your eyes but it’s really not as squalled as you’d

Guess the window sills may start to rot the Taps run dry both cold and hot and occasionally the kitchen sink develops A peculiar stink but it’s really not as nasty as you think yes the cablanca cat housee is a marvelous place to live tenants getting more exclusive all the

Time the strippers from the beu were evicted the first night we’ve lost the drunken dead beats who had that bloody fight there’s a Madam on a but she seems a bit all right and the window washer fell and gave up crime yes the Casablanca Catos is a m

Marvelous place to live the mice are getting smaller every year we’re just a tad Bohemian with a decadent kind of chic we pass each other in the halls and never never speak whenever we get mugged we simply turn the other cheek to be normal good or rational is queer oh

We’ve got intriguing clutches of folks with canes and crutches and lonely wraiths and elderly voyur and male and female flashers and flocks of Aging Mashers and gorgeous broads in diamonds and Furs yes the Casablanca couse is a marvelous place to live all others by comparison seem dead it has a reputation

As a seedy sort of spot no one runs for Congress and no one owns a yacht but things are getting better since poor old Gus was shot and the helicopters always overhead there was a long pause Courtney pressed a button and he and Amber looked expectantly at their guest it’ll never play

Broadway kerin said but you might do a season on the Casablanca roof the plot the author explained is based on the Bessinger murder quillin was staring into space he cued a hand around his mustache he jumped to his feet I’ve got to get upstairs excuse me he blurted

Heading for the door great evening great dinner he was out in the hall when he finished his explanation and he ran upstairs to 14 a tremor on his upper lip warned him of trouble as he unlocked the door to 14a he heard water running and splashing he dashed down the bedroom

Hall flipping wall switches as he went when he reached the master bedroom he found the floor wet the water bed he thought no the gushing and splashing came from the bathroom he turned on the light the floor was flooded the wash Bowl was overflowing the faucet was

Running full force and there on the toilet tank sat Coco surveying his achievement this end side two of cassette 4 of the cat who lived High the cat who lived High cassette 5 chapter 16 when quillin rushed into 14a and found the bathroom flooded and the culprit sitting on the toilet tank he

Had no time to analyze motives he tore off his shoes and socks threw bath towels on the floor then squeezed them out a performance that Koko found diverting quillin growled into his mustache but realized the futility of a reprimand if he said bad cat Koko would

Merely gaze at him with that no speak English expression the mopping job finished he took the towels to the basement to put in the dryer but the laundry room was locked for the night it gave him time however as he rode down on sluggish old

Red and up again on lagered old green to think about Coco’s misdemeanor the cat had rubbed his jaw against the lever type faucet it was obviously neurotic Behavior he was bored and lonely and wanted to attract attention with yum yum in her indolent mood Koko missed the chasing frolicking

Wrestling and mutual grooming sessions that are so important to Siamese pairs it’s my fault quiller and said said to himself I dragged them to the city when they wanted to stay in the country coko was waiting for him when he returned with the pale of wet towels I’m sorry old friend he said

Tomorrow’s Sunday we’ll spend the day together we’ll find something interesting to do if the weather permits how would you like to go for a walk on the roof said coko squeezing his eyes he gave the cats a bedtime snack a more so of smoked salmon from the deli

And was getting into his pajamas when he had reason to pause and listen something could be heard crawling under the floor that’s no mouse he said aloud that’s a rat the cats heard it too coko scurrying around with his nose to the floor and even yum yum sniffing in a lacad isical

Way quillin stroe to the house phone in the kitchen and rang the manager’s night number rert answered rert this is quillin on 14 we’ve got rats up here under the floor rats that’s what I said r a TS yes I can hear them under the floor

In the master bedroom the cats hear them too oh is that so h i see that’s too bad well sorry to bother you Rupert good night he returned to the bedroom it’s a plumber in the crawl space he informed the Siamese he’s investigating a leak Waters dripping down into the

Countess’s bedroom does that make you feel guilty Coco the Cat laundered a spot on his chest with exasperating nonchalance if it had happened to any apartment but that of the Countess quillin reflected the management would have waited until Monday true to his word he spent Sunday with the Siamese first grooming them

Both with a new rubber bristled brush he had found in a pet shop then he read aloud to them from Ean yum yum falling asleep on his lap during the chapter on the Cairo plague around noon time he strapped the harness on Coco and took him for a walk

Out of the apartment across the elevator Lobby through the door marked no admittance up two flights of stairs and out onto the roof coko marching with soldierly step and perpendicular tail it was glorious on the rooftop there was a dramatic view of the downtown Skyline and the river curving away to the

South the cat sniffed the breeze hungrily and tugged on the leash he wanted to walk to the edge quillin had other ideas he pulled Coco to the Skylight and peered down into the penthouse apartment although the glass was clouded with age certain pains had been replaced in recent times

And it was possible to see the long sofa the large p paintings and some of the potted trees at night with the gallery lighted anyone on the roof could look down and see whatever was happening in the conversation pit quillin thought what if what if someone on the roof had

Witnessed the murder of D Bessinger and knew the true identity of the murderer why wouldn’t he come forward with the information because he would fear for his own life or because he would recognize an opportunity for blackmail but that was the way it happened in mystery novels not in real

Life the Skylight held no attraction for Koko who preferred to walk on the low parapet that edged the roof together they made one complete turn around the perimeter before going downstairs for the next activity which was Scrabble hardly had the game started when the telephone rang pin hoped it

Might be Winnie Wingfoot he had a hunch she would follow up their brief acquaintance of the evening before instead it was the disappointing re voice of Charlotte rup are you busy Mr quillin I hope I’m not interrupting anything I was just thinking of going for a walk he said but that’s all right

I wondered if I could go up and see your beautiful Pussycats a little later on if it wouldn’t be too much of an imposition she had shown no interest in the Siamese when they lived on River Road sure he said without enthusiasm what time would be convenient well I’m do at

The restaurant at 4: and if I went up there about 3:30 that’s good he said thinking that she would be unable to stay long I’ll expect you at 3:30 I’m in 14a do you mind if I bring my friend of course I don’t mind what else could he say to coko he

Said your old pal Charlotte is dropping in at 3:30 try to act like a gentleman during their previous acquaintance which had been brief the cat had gone out of his way to shock and embarrass the woman Charlotte was easily shocked and embarrassed in those days they went back to their

Scrabble Koko was partial to the letter O and quillin was building words like foot roof toot and dodo when the telephone rang again this time he was sure it was Winnie foot but it was Isabelle wilberton and she was inebriated what you doing she asked in a

Sleepy voice I’m working at my desk he said cooly mind if I come up I’m afraid this is not a good time to visit I’m concentrating on a problem want to come down here I’ve just told you miss Wilton that I’m extremely busy and cannot leave my

Work at this time he said with a touch of impatience why don’t you call me Isabel all right Isabelle as I said I can’t interrupt what I’m doing don’t you like me he had a great desire to hang up but he said as graciously as he could it’s

Not that I don’t like you it’s simply that you are calling at an inopportune time don’t you want to see my cat I’ve seen your cat Isabelle I saw her in the lobby yesterday she’s a nice little kitten and I told you so want to come and have dinner he tried to speak

Kindly perhaps you don’t remember but I told you yesterday that I have a dinner meeting with the officers of sock nobody wants to eat with me she whined I don’t have any friends I’m going to jump off the roof now wait a minute Isabelle don’t talk like that you have a good life

Ahead of you how old are you 42 43 I don’t remember do you remember the conversation we had in a laundry room I had the same experience when I was your age so I know how you feel and what you’re going through I also know you can

Get help the way I did and start enjoying a good life again there are groups you can join where you’ll meet people who have the same problem as yours don’t have any problem just don’t have any friends no reason to live anymore going to go up on a roof and jump

Off Isabelle the last time I saw you in the lobby you were carrying your kitten in a blue blanket and you seemed very happy what’s the name of your kitten sweetie pie Her speech was slurred is she good company there was no answer he thought he heard a glug and a

Swallow what do you feed her stuff out of a can do you play with her kittens like to play you should tie a Twist of paper on a string and swing it around let her jump for it and Chase it it was an asinine conversation but he

Was trying to distract her from her Grizzly intention where does she sleep on my bed is she a happy cat guess so does she purr a lot he hoped that something would capture her interest I don’t know kittens need love and attention they like to be brushed too have you

Tried brushing her quillin mopped his brow why was he perspiring why was he working so hard she wasn’t even listening why to come down have a drink she mumbled have you had anything to eat today Isabelle going to jump off the roof end it all listen Isabelle you can’t do that

Think of Sweetie Pie she needs you what would she do without you she’s just a helpless kitten going to take her with me he paused for an instant then hold the line a minute Isabelle don’t hang up I’ll be right back hurrying to the kitchen he rang the house phone Isabelle Wilton’s

Threatening to jump off the roof he shouted I’ve got her on the phone keep her on the line Mrs Tuttle said I’ll go up to her apartment he rushed back to his phone in the library but heard only a dial tone was she on the way to the roof with a

Kitten running out of the apartment and slamming the door he sprinted up two flights of stairs three at a time there was no one up there he waited for a while but Isabelle didn’t appear could she have arrived before him impossible yet he looked over the edge

Apprehensively of the wind had sprung up and he stepped inside the stairwell for protection what am I doing here the Casablanca he asked himself it had been nothing but stress in the last week cranky elevators cold showers runaway radiators the gut dancers trouble in the parking lot the crazy CEST and now

Isabelle after 10 or 15 minutes he was sure she had been intercepted and he started downstairs at the bottom of the second flight he received a harsh surprise the steel door shutting off the stairwell was locked at first he refused to believe it then he realized that Mrs Tuttle had

Sent Rupert up to lock the door and foil the wouldbe suicide he banged on the door with a fist hoping that KRA hog would be spending a quiet Sunday afternoon at home and would hear him the only response was a muffled Yow from behind the door of

14a Koko knew he was in trouble but a lot of good that did quillin returned to the roof and looked over the edge doubting that he could signal for help from that height there was no one in the parking lot Sundays at the Casablanca being as quiet as

Saturdays were hectic he circled the roof hoping to see a pedestrian walking a dog on zwinger Boulevard or a jogger behind the building or someone throwing rubbish into the dumpster there was no one in sight and it was getting cold slowly he started down the two flights to

14 in the stairwell he could hear the Machinery in the elevator housing as well as a certain familiar clanking and banging that meant old red or old green was approaching 14 he ran down the stairs and was pounding on the door and calling for help when the elevator arrived oh dear

Said a timid voice who’s that I’m locked in the stairwell get the manager to open the door oh dear this is Charlotte Mr quillin we were just coming to see you Raymond go down to the desk and tell them I’ll stay here there were sounds of an elevator

Descending how did you get locked in there Mr quillin asked the re voice that now sounded so welcome so comforting you’ll never believe my story he said on the other side of the door I’ll tell you when I get out Roberto was expecting you for dinner tonight he said to send you

Up to his apartment when you arrive am I holding you up I don’t want you to be late for work oh no it’s only 25 minutes to four I’m sure Raymond will get someone right away quillin had always found conversation with Charlotte to be strained even without a heavy door

Between them and he was relieved when the elevator made its noisy arrival and rert unlocked the door nobody told me you was on the roof he said nobody knew thanks Rupert I wasn’t looking forward to spending the night in the stairwell you’ll have to let me into 14a too I got my

Key standing by were Charlotte rup and her friend with the ear patch quillin felt momentarily grateful to both of them and he felt a flash of sympathy for dun Woody wondering why he wore such a noticeable Badge of his deformity perhaps he could not afford a prosthetic

Ear come in he said welcome to the garden spot of the Casablanca the two entered gazing in Wonder were you never here before he asked no said Charlotte I never was where did it happen Dunwoody asked where did what happen the murder I don’t know quillin said untruthfully he opened the French doors

To the gallery this is the former swimming pool now a combination living room and art gallery won’t you go in and sit down be careful going down the steps I’ll try to find the cats a struck the couple wandered into the skylighted Wonderland land of poted trees and gargantuan

Mushrooms quillin found yum yum in the bedroom dozing on the water bed and he found Coco in the bathroom sitting in the turkey raster just sitting there no comment please he said to the cat when he returned to the gallery with an animal under each arm his visitors were huddled

Close together on the 20ft sofa like B in the wilderness here they are this one is Coco the male and this is Yum Yum the female he said aware of the inanity of the statement what kind are they asked Dunwoody Siamese very intelligent yum yum demonstrated her intelligence by scampering up the stairs

Through the French doors and back to the waterbed KOCO scratched his ear with a hind foot a trick that required him to cross his eyes and show his fangs the least attractive pose in his entire Repertory may I offer you a drink quitan asked nothing for me said Charlotte

Wouldn’t mind a beer then Woody said his impassive face showing a glimmer of Interest excusing himself quillin went to the kitchen and returned with a tray just in case you want to change your mind he said to Charlotte here is a glass of white grape juice he refrained from saying that it

Was Coco Private Stock the notion would have offended her Dunwoody reached for his glass of beer gingerly it was doubtlessly the only beer he had ever drunk from Waterford cut crystal cheers quillin said grimly as he raised his own glass of grape juice unusual room said Dunwoody the entire apartment was

Created from a former restaurant called the Palm Pavilion the building has an interesting history I’m thinking of writing a book about it Charlotte said to her friend Mr quillin is a brilliant writer they both gazed on him in Wonder are you also in the restaurant business quillin asked the man no I work

For the city he’s an engineer said Charlotte proudly how do you like living in the country Mr quillin now that I’ve adjusted to the fresh air Safe Streets and lack of traffic I like it I’ve always lived in the city so is Raymond haven’t you dear she turned and beamed at her

Companion quillin resisted a desire to look at his watch how long have you lived at the cablanca ever since they tore down our old building on River Road Raymond moved in when did you move in dear 4 months ago it’s convenient to our work she explained that’s a definite Advantage said

Quillin the bus stops in front this was dun Woody’s contribution the three looked at each other quillin trying desperately to think of something to say it was the longest 10 minutes in his memory Dunwoody spoke again what’s that cat doing Koko was borrowing under the duy

In front of the bar stop that Coco quillin scolded he dragged the cat from under the rug and straightened it to cover the blood stain it’s a bad habit he’s picked up another beer Mr Dunwoody it’s time for me to go to work said Charlotte come Raymond thank you Mr

Quillin my pleasure I assure you it’s fortunate that you happened along when you did he had been so relieved to see them arrive and now he was so relieved to see them leave his guests climbed out of the conversation pit murmured their goodbyes and left the apartment

If kin had been a drinking man he would have poured a double Scotch instead he scooped a large dishful of neopolitan ice cream for himself and a spoonful for the Siamese they lapped up the vanilla but showed their disapproval of the chocolate and strawberry by powing the

Air in sign language that said take it and bury it considering the events of the afternoon quillin was glad when it was time to dress and go to dinner at Roberto’s out came the gray suit again and at 6:30 he walked to the blue dragon to pick up Mary

Duckworth on the way to the restaurant she said will you explain something quill last Monday you told me you didn’t play table games and 3 days later you were beating the counters at Scrabble it astounds me too Mary first yum yum found that blank tile and then Coco found the

Scrabble box so I read the instructions and decided to give it a try if I happen to win it was beginner’s luck he said modestly incidentally there are several tiles missing in the Scrabble said I wonder what happened to them Dy had a cat who used to steal them and push them

Under the refrigerator she said I didn’t know she had a cat a Persian named Vincent after van go you know what happened to him her ex-husband took him Vincent lives at the gallery now did she like Scrabble or did she play to humor the counters she was an

Avid player it was a Sunday night ritual I used to make a forsome occasionally were you there on the Sunday night when she died Mary nodded that’s a painful memory when I left the party around 8:00 everything was fine quillin had another question to ask but they had arrived at the restaurant

And two other couples were preceding them up the steps creating congestion in the foyer where Charlotte was official greeter we’ll go right upstairs Charlotte said Mary chapter 17 the eggplant color carpet of Roberto’s restaurant continued up the stairs to his apartment you’ll find that his taste has

Changed r ically quill said Mary raising the eyebrows that were so accustomed to being raised in Italy he discovered International modern as a purveyor of Chippendale and Chen L she obviously disapproved I like modern myself he said I’ve liked it ever since I subl Harry neon’s apartment at the Villa

Veranda noon’s place was Victorian Gothic compared to what you are about to see she replied the carpet ended at the top of the stairs and the floor from there on was a glossy expans of Amber marble here and there on this mirror-like surface stood constructions of steel rods or tubes combined with

Geometric elements of glass or leather apparently tables and chairs Roberto made his entrance from the far end where quillin supposed he did his actual living in a baronial Snuggery furnished with cushioned couches and red velvet this attorney who preferred to be a chef was an impressive figure of a man

His shoulders rounded from bending over law books and The Chopping board in dress he was still conservative and he still had a slow judicial manner of speech punctuated by thoughtful pauses but he used his hands more eloquently something he had not done before living in Italy for a year

Good to see you again he said there was no effusive Continental Embrace that would be too much to expect from the former Robert Mouse Roberto this is a great occasion querin said it’s been 3 years since we last met but it seems like three decades let me tell you that your restaurant is

Handsome and the food is superb I have learned a few things said the host sit you down we shall have an apparative and some private conversation and then go down to dinner Quillan selected an assemblage of rods and planes that seemed least likely to assault his body and found it not

Only surprisingly substantial but remarkably comfortable the other two members of the party seated themselves at some distance from each other and from quillin space was part of the design in this cool calm empty environment the service downstairs quillin went on is excellent where do you find such good

Waiters law students said the restur I tell them to consider our customers as the ladies and gentlemen of the jury I’m glad you’ve hired Charlotte r as your manager she seems very happy and not quite so straight laced Mary said you can’t give all the credit to the job

She has a male companion probably for the first time in her life I know said quill I’ve met him does anyone know what happened to his ear Dynamite explosion said Roberto the poor fellow is lucky to be alive he’s had extensive plastic surgery Mary added they discussed the metamorphosis

Of junktown zwinger Boulevard River Road and the city in general then Roberto said I understand you have a problem Mr quillin concerning the Casablanca I do indeed and it has nothing to do with Ways and Means since the Kling and chain fund has agreed to underwrite the restoration the obstacle is Miss Plum

Herself I thought I had established a rapport with her but as soon as I mentioned the possibility of a restoration she dropped the curtain perhaps you know how to get through to her after all you were her attorney for how many years Roberto took a deep breath and

Emphasized his words with the hand gestures of desperation 12 years 12 frustrating thankless years I much prefer to be stuffing tortillini Mary said how does she react to your proposal to write a book quill I doubt whether she grasps the concept but she likes the idea of having

Her picture taken leaving the book aside there is one aspect of this entire project that alarms me sck has powerful opponents and now that the news has leaked that sck has a source of funding they may take Desperate Measures all they need to do is pray for Miss Plum’s

Demise you know and their goal is accomplished if their prayers are answered Providence might deal her a sudden heart attack or a cerebral hemorrhage or salmonella poisoning a rather Gastly hypothesis said Roberto did you know that her maid died suddenly yesterday elidia Mary asked in Surprise Elpidia food poisoning they

Said was it the chicken hash or did she sneak some chocolates intended for the Countess Roberto said stiffly if you suspect attempts on Miss Plum’s life I see no Foundation whatever for your line of reasoning a great many interests would benefit from the countess’s death the developers the banks the city

Treasury but we are talking about reputable businessmen and Civic leaders not the underworld I know the penans and the greystones are fine old families patrons of the Arts and all that but who is flood Roberto and Mary exchanged glances but neither ventured to reply Mary said Quill’s hunches have been right in the

Past Roberto even when they seemed far-fetched I’m not making any accusations quillin said I’m just throwing out a few questions who for example is the grotesque Houseman who works for the Countess can he be trusted Ferdinand Mary said earnestly is a very loyal and helpful employee no

Matter how he may appear his mother has been housekeeper for the CEST for years and who handles her legal Affairs now that you’re out of the picture a b who drew up her new will after the bessing her murder my former Law Firm why did they steer her bequests to

Miscellaneous Charities are they unsympathetic to the Casablanca cause Mary said they were obviously influenced by the penens what I am saying say is this quillin interrupted the cards are stacked against us ordinarily I don’t give up easily but now I’m convinced that the Casablanca restoration is hopeless what concerns me is the safety

Of that pathetic little woman on the 12th floor what can be done to protect her Roberta was frowning and withdrawing in a display of incredulity you may think my suspicions unfounded querin went on but you said the same thing three years ago on River Road and you remember what happened

There quill may be right Mary said I would also like to submit that the ruthless forces endangering the Countess have already committed two murders in pursuit of their goal what are you saying Roberto demanded I have reason to believe that Bessinger as heir to the Casablanca was murdered by someone hired to eliminate

Her and Ross Rasmus was framed what evidence do you have enough to discuss with a friend of mine at homicide quillin smoothed his mustache confidently at this particular moment I’m not at Liberty to reveal the nature of the evidence or the identity of my source he had no intention of telling

This unimaginative dealer in torts and tortillini about the significant bristling of his mustache or Coco’s propensity for unearthing crimes at that juncture a waiter appeared and announced that their table was ready and Roberto ushered them downstairs obviously relieved to terminate the disagreeable topic of conversation in the restaurant

Surrounded by other diners one of whom was a man in a dinner jacket a man with a long thin face and high cheekbones they talked about Italian food the antique show in Philadelphia and life in Moose County and at the end of the meal Roberto said the matter you mentioned

Upstairs Mr quillin allow me to give it some thought as quillin escorted Mary Duckworth back to the blue dragon he was carrying a foil packet wrapped in a napkin they walked in silence for a while past a woman walking a Great Dane past the citizen Patrol swinging

Flashlights then he said tell me about the night she was killed who was there playing Scrabble earlier in the evening it was a holiday weekend Mary said and she had invited a lot of people in for snacking and grazing at 5:00 Roberta refused to go he is quite opinionated

About food as you know and he abor snacking and grazing so I went alone Ross was there of course and Elana tar who writes the art column for the flu and Jerome Todd and RNE wil D’s latest Discovery he paints disgusting pictures of people eating and there were some other

Artists she mentioned names that meant nothing to quillin and there was that pill Courtney Hampton whom I cannot stand Dy thought he was terribly clever and there were some others who live at the Casablanca how long did the party last it started thinning out at 8:00 and I

Left Dy wanted me to stay for Scrabble but I had promised to meet Roberto for dinner he has become a good and dear friend kerin told himself that these two stuffed shirts deserve each other he said no one answered my question when I asked about flood who is he

Anyway he’s supposed to be an idea man Penman and Greystone took him in a few months ago they were always rather conservative you know and flood is supposed to shake them up was the Gateway alkazar his idea I suppose so does he eat at Roberto’s Oran I don’t know I’ve never seen him

There well he was there tonight quillman stroked his mustache as they said good night in front of the blue dragon and he made a mental note to call Matt figon in the morning chapter 18 early Monday morning quillin received a phone call from homicide but it was not

Lieutenant haes on the line it was the nasal voice of his partner royi a by the book Cup who lacked Hayes’s imagination and had a lip curling scorn for meddling journalists and psychic cats whitei here he snapped you called hes anything urgent I owe him a lunch

That’s all is he around out of town for a couple of days thanks for letting me know I’ll call him later it was a promise querin was destined not to keep for the cat’s breakfast he minced baked shrimp stuffed with lump crab meat and placed the plate on the floor G Al

Roberto he announced with the compliments of the chef bonap Patito the Siamese plunged into their breakfast with gusto their current behavior might be normal but there was nothing wrong with their gustatory connoisseurship as he watched them Devour the repast with gurgling murmurs of ecstasy there was a knock at the door

Before he could respond a key turned in the lock the door opened and a gray-haired Rosy cheeked woman in a faded denim smack bustled into the foyer oh you still here morning to you I be Mrs Jasper she said Mrs Tuttle said I were to clean on

Mondays happy to to have you I’m on my way out to breakfast so I won’t be in your way do you know where everything is that I do I cleaned for Miss Bessinger and I handle everything careful like she said and clean the rugs with attachments them being handmade you moved one she

Exclaimed with a frown as she peed into the gallery where the Dury covered the blood stain I prefer to have it there Clan said will you water the trees they haven’t had any attention for a week water trees change beds put sheets and towels through laundry turn on

Dishwasher push V around and dust a bit she recited I don’t do windows she marched into the kitchen and poked her head into the dishwasher which was empty I take my meals out quillin explained that’s the cat’s plate on the floor there may be some cat hairs around the apartment I have two

Siamese it hardly needed mentioning coko was circling the woman with intense interest and sniffing her shoes no bother Miss Bessinger had a Persian and I have a Tom of my own though his Tom Cat Days be over you’ve seen Napoleon like has not we live on the main floor

And he’d be a sociable Critter she headed for the gallery with the vacuum cleaner and attachments which quillin offered to carry her Regional speech reminded him of certain longtime residents of moose County may I ask where you came from originally Mrs Jasper you’re not City

Bred I I come from a small town up north named name of chipmunk my PA had a potato farm I know chipmunk very well he said I live in piak city I pickaxe Paul used to drive the wagon to pickaxe to buy Feed and Seed Sundays we went

Fishing at purple Point once we see the mistal show at Sawdust City it were good living up there it were a body felt safe on the radio this morning there was three people shot to death at the penamon hotel and a man in a car shot

Another driver on the freeway way it w’t like that in chipmunk when did you leave moose County querin asked as he plugged in the vacuum for her I were 15 years old I’d be 76 next birthday but more strong and able than some young ones be on the farm I

Hold potatoes and kept chickens and milked the cow and growed vegetables for the table before I were 10 year old why did you leave chipmunk I were itching to see the big city so my P let me come and live with my aunt Flor she wore a cook for some

Folks living here and she got me a job as a housemaid worked here seven years before I married my Andrew and raised a family he were a mailman three boys and two girls we had and one born dead I cooked and cleaned and washed and ironed and made everything they wore on their

Backs till they growed up and moved away then I went back to housekeeping for folks and when my Andrew died that good man I moved in here main floor and kept right on working was Miss Bessinger nice to work for I she were very tidy some folks is

Terrible messy but not her it were a great pity what happened did you clean for the man next door also I he were messy but he were a nice man come from the country he did them tubs of dirt on the porch he growed Tomatoes corn and beans out there last

Summer and the helicopter were always flying over disturbing the piece didn’t know corn plants when they saw him were you shocked to hear he had murdered Miss Bessinger I were that I were up late that night watching TV and I heard screaming outside the window and then a big

Bang that were when he landed on a car I looked out but it were dark back there then the police and ambulance come and I went out in the hall everybody out there in their night clothes and Mrs Tuttle telling them to go back to bed it were awful

No one know she were lying dead upstairs Mrs Jasper turned down the vacuum cleaner putting an end to her monologue and quillin went in search of the Siamese yum yum was on the waterbed gazing into middle distance coko was prowling restlessly talking to himself in guttural Rumblings and curling his

Tail into a cork screw something he had never done before quitter and called the desk and inquired about an animal clinic are the kitties sick Mrs Tuttle asked no just acting Moody and I want to have them checked the nearest vet is out River Road 8 Miles She gave the name and

Number of the clinic you have to call for an appointment how is Mrs Jasper doing she’s a vigorous woman for her age don’t know where she gets her pep she’ll talk your ear off too if you let her hope there’s nothing wrong with the kitties he called the clinic and said he

Would like the doctor to examine two Siamese what is the nature of the problem asked the receptionist we’re from out of town and since arriving in the city the cats have not been themselves I want to be sure there’s nothing radically wrong with them they’re very important to me in that

Case we could squeeze you in this afternoon say at 4:00 what are their names Coco and yum yum my name is quillin I’m at the Casablanca we have a lot of patience from there so he it for it was another promise he would not keep before going to breakfast he tuned

In the radio not only for the weathercast but to cooporate Mrs Jasper’s report about three murders at the penan plaza oddly the shooting on the freeway was mentioned but there was no word about the triple killing at the hotel his mounting curiosity led him to the plaza for breakfast

On a new stand he picked up a copy of the morning Rampage and found that the paper had not covered the incident not all the homicides in a large city are reported in the Press of that he was well aware but when three persons are shot to death in a large Downtown hotel

With Deluxe pretensions it should be Front Page News at the coffee shop he ordered a combination of steak eggs and potatoes that would have been called a duck Hunter’s breakfast in Moose County at the penamon plaza it was the power brunch he waited until the waitress had

Poured his third cup of coffee before he asked her about the triple killing she had no idea what he was talking about on the way out of the building he stopped at the bar it opened at 11: and Randy Jupiter was in the process of setting up quillin perched in a bar

Stool I hear you had some excitement here over the weekend Randy we did I’ve been off since Saturday afternoon there were three murders in the hotel didn’t you hear about it the bartender shook his head it was on the radio are you sure it could have been some other Hotel Jupiter glanced quickly

Around the bar and then wrote can’t talk on a cocktail napkin he said the coffee is brewing want a cup no thanks said quillin I had three in the coffee shop he slid off the stool if you’re still interested in a jazz session how about tonight sure any requests your choice

But no screaming trumpet it sends the cats into fits I like Sachs myself shall we say 8:00 before stepping onto the escalator quillin checked the vicinity for possible hazards then rode slowly down on the moving stairs reflecting that the radio station he had tuned in as well as the morning Rampage where Penman

Owned for information on the triple murder he would have to wait for the daily fuction to hit the street or for the bartender to arrive with his Jazz recordings or for hes to come back to town returning to 14a he found Mrs Jasper in the kitchen with Coco watching her every

Move the boss he be telling me what to do she said now I’ll take the towels and things down to the laundry and have a bit of lunch before I come up again quillin went into the library to peruse his notes gleaned from photo captions at the public

Library coko followed and leaped to the library table where he took up his post on the volume of Van go Productions he could have chosen suzan Rembrandt or one of the other Masters but he always elected to sit on the van go complacently washing up it occurred to quillin that Vincent the Binger

Persian might have elected to sit in that spot while waiting to steal a Scrabble tile from his notes He Could reconstruct the Romantic past of the Palm Pavilion Harrison Plum had celebrated his daughter’s birthday with a musical featuring a string quartet from the penan conservatory the Will Burton hosted a

Reception for a visiting professor of anthropology who was lecturing at the university the penans entertained the French Ambassador Mr and Mrs ducksbury gave a dinner for the governor no amount of restoration and no amount of cling and chain money he had to admit would ever recall the magic of

The casa Blanca’s first quarter of a century It could only be captured in a book with pictures and text a thought which reminded him to line up the photographer he called Sor but’s number and was informed that the photographer was out of town on assignment quillin left a message for butra to call

Him it was a call he would never receive when Mrs Jasper returned with her laundry basket he flagged her down at the library door saying when did you first come to work at the Casablanca Mrs Jasper just before the 1929 crash that’s when folks was jumping off the roof it were

Terrible come in and sit down do you remember the names of any people you worked for she sat on the edge of a chair with the basket on her lap her Rosy Cheeks glowing I only worked for one family and they was just two of them father and

Daughter he were a nice man with a little mustache Mr Plum were his name his daughter still lives here I am 12 miss adate her and me was the same age here let me take that basket make yourself comfortable he said with a sudden surge of hospitality would you

Like a cup of coffee I just had a nice cup of tea downstairs thanky just the same what kind of work did you do for the plums I were backstairs made I had a room of my own imagine and meet just a young girl from chipmunk they hired a

Lot of help in them days we had a good time this ends side one of cassette 5 cassette 5 side two what was Adelaide like when she was young oh she were a sassy girl that one Mr Plum spoiled her something terrible bought her an auto mobile for her

Birthday and the housan used to drive her up and down swing a Boulevard like a princess I remember her coming out party and the dress she wore all Beads and feathers and way up above her knees that were the style then after that the young men Came Calling and bringing chocolates

And flowers first thing we knowed she were engaged to the handsomest of the lot Mrs Jasper shook her head sadly but it were too bad the way it worked out what happened well now the wedding were all set invitations and all wedding dress ordered special from Paris then

Something happened sudden like Mr Plum were upset and Miss Adelaide were pouting and the help was tiptoeing around afraid to open their mouth I asked housekeeper and she said Mr Plum was short of money next thing he sold the automobile and let some of the help

Go and Miss Adelaide stayed in her room and wouldn’t come out no matter what housekeeper said Mr plun made her break her engagement after that he got sickly and died Mrs Jasper leaned forward wide eyed it be my notion that Miss adelade poisoned him kerin who had been lulled into a Ry

By the sing song quality of the woman’s voice fairly jumped out of his chair what makes you think so she talks to me chumy like us being the same age what did she tell you oh she hated him for what he did that what she told me stamping her feet and throwing things

And screaming she was spoiled always got what she wanted and did what she wanted I wouldn’t put it past her to poison her own father how would she get her hands on poison there were rat poison in the basement the janitor had it in his cupboard with a big skull and crossbones

On it come on Mrs Jasper quillin chided can you picture the bell of the Casablanca prowling around the basement to steal rat poison not her it were a housan to my way of thinking he were a young man what looked like a movie star and she smiled at him a

Lot housekeeper said no good would come of it very interesting said quillin huffing into his mistake Ash he had a sympathetic attitude that encouraged confidences true or false and persons in all walks of life had poured out their secrets but servants gossip hardly qualified for the Casablanca

History I it were interesting Mrs Jasper went on after Mr Plum died and she got the insurance money the Houseman bought himself an automobile where would a young whipper snapper get money for an automobile in them days how many times have you told this story Mrs Jasper only to my Andrew after

We was married and he said not to talk about it but the count us be old now and it don’t matter and I always wanted to tell somebody well thank you he said it’s after 3:00 now and I must take the cats to the doctor I’ll Water the trees and then I

Be through said Mrs Jasper quillin paid her and said he would see her the following Monday another promise he would be unable to keep both of the Siamese were on the waterbed everyone up he called out cheerfully get your tickets for a ride in the purple

Plum he made no mention of the clinic and yet they knew no amount of coaxing would convince them to enter the carrier first he tried to push coko through the small door beginning with the for legs then the head but the cat braced his hind legs against the conveyance

Stradling the door and lashing his tail like a whip even employing all his cunning quillin still could not engineer four legs a head a lashing tail and a squirming body into the carrier simultaneously in frustration he abandoned the project and had a dish of ice cream and when he returned to the

Scene some minutes later both animals were huddled in the C barrier contentedly side by side cats quillin grumbled cats he carried the coupe from the apartment and rang for the elevator don’t shriek when the car is in operation he cautioned yum yum you know what happened last

Time he held his breath until old green landed them safely on the main floor bye-bye kitties called Mrs Tuttle looking up from her knitting as they passed the Bulletproof proof window the two old women in quilted robes had their heads together as usual scowling and complaining moving out one of them coked

In a ferial voice no just going to the doctor he replied it was a mission he never accomplished a Brisk Breeze was blowing down zwinger Boulevard whipping around the Casablanca and whistling through the cat carrier and quillin removed his jacket and threw it over the cage as fast as possible he zigzagged through

The parking lot sidest stepping the potholes not until the obstacle course was half negotiated did he look up and realize that slot number 28 was vacant the purple plum had vanished chapter 19 quiller and tore back into the building with two confused sies bumping around inside the carrier Mrs Tuttle he

Called out of the desk my car is gone it’s been stolen oh Deary me she said not as perturbed as he thought she should be did you lock your doors someone had cassettes stolen but he left his doors I always locked my doors was

It a new car no but it was in excellent condition rert hearing the commotion sauntered over and leaned on the counter don’t pay to keep a nice car Mrs Tuttle offered to call the police never mind quillin said in annoyance I’ll go upstairs and call them myself I just

Wanted you to know although he had no affection for the purple plum he resented having it stolen riding up in old green he said to the occupants of the carrier you two will be happy about this development now you don’t have to go to the doctor he telephoned the clinic and

Canceled his appointment my car has been stolen he explained I’ve had two stolen said the receptionist comfortingly now I drive an old piece of junk next he called the precinct station and a board Sergeant took the information saying they would try to send an officer to the building then he

Called Mary and broke the news I sympathize she said I don’t own a car anymore I take taxis or rent a car when I need Transportation they’re sending an officer over here don’t count on it too much quill suddenly he was enormously hungry he fed the cats hurriedly and went out

To dinner riding down an old red when it stopped at 4: yasb stepped aboard squinting at quillin with a glimmer of hostile recognition my car has just been stolen quillin said to enlist the man’s sympathy gbro grunted something unintelligible it was parked in number 28 next to your slot was it there when

You left this morning didn’t notice quillin went to the deli for an early dinner all he wanted was a bowl of chicken soup with matah balls a pastrami sandwich 2 in thick a dish of rice pudding and some time to sort out his feelings about life in the big

City the Press Club was not what it used to be the staffers at the daily fuction were all new and uninteresting there was no one whose company he enjoyed half as much as that of Polly Duncan and Arch rker not to mention and Larry LPE Chief Brody Junior

Good winter Roger mcgil and a dozen others the Casablanca itself was a disaster and the CEST would never agree to sell to the klling and chain fund and the last straw was the theft of his car even the prospect of writing a book on the Casablanca was losing its appeal

At this moment he had only one reason to stay he wanted to have lunch with Lieutenant haes as soon as the detective returned to town he wanted to tell him about Koko’s discoveries first the blood stain then the bracelet and finally the confession on the wall he would relate how the Cat

Found the exact spot where the artist was said to have jumped from the Terrace then he would Advance his theory that special interest groups were resorting to criminal means to clear the way for the Gateway alkazar knifing the air to the Casablanca and throwing her lover from The Terrace at after drugging them

Both but in attempting to frame Ross they had used an unlikely signature on his alleged confession and had misspelled Diane furthermore one tenant heard screams as the body plummeted to Earth as a newsman quillin had seen suicides jump off high buildings and bridges and they jumped in Desperate

Silence he walked home slowly and found the crumbling front steps of disgrace the lobby Grim the tenants depressing and old red an affront to human dignity coko met him at the door as usual and charted to the library as usual where he took up his position on

The van go volume as usual tensing his tail like a cork crew what are you trying to tell me qu and asked him was that Vincent’s favorite perch the thought crossed his mind that Vincent had witnessed the murder and he had an irrational desire to visit the

Bessinger Todd Gallery once more when he phoned he was answered in a hurry is the gallery still open he asked this is Jim quillin at the Casablanca I’ve just locked the door this is Jerry Todd what can I do for you I never had a chance to

Talk with you about artwork for my barn and I may be leaving soon if if you want to come over I’ll wait the art dealer suggested be right there quillin ran downstairs thinking it quicker and easier than taking the elevator he held a cab and arrived at the gallery within minutes Todd unlocked

The door that was fast I see you’ve seed a lot of things since Friday night said quillin observing the empty walls very successful opening the dealer said cheerfully pinching his nose in the odd way he had the pizza eaters the wingding eaters and the hot dog eaters all went

To one buyer a fast food chain they wanted them for their corporate headquarters it will occupy an entire floor of the Gateway Alcazar did you see anything you liked at the opening nothing suitable for a barn to tell the truth perhaps you should consider contemporary tapestries if you’re going

To have a lot of wood surfaces we have one artist who does abstract weavings in nature themes I can show you pictures of her work he produced an album of color slides quillin who truthfully had no plans to convert his barn was captivated how large are they she takes

Commissions to order including some huge tapestries for hotel lobbies you’d never guess it but she’s just a tiny little thing here’s her picture the artist had a rogish pixie face that appealed to quillin your suggestion is certainly something for me to consider he said I’ll get back to you after I consult my

Architect Architects approve of her tapestries they compliment rather than compete with the architecture and her perception of Dimension is outstanding she shows great sensitivity with threads and of course she Dy her own colors at that moment a mushroom tinted Persian walked into the room waving a plumed tail

Is that Vincent quillin asked yes that’s Vincent he was Diane’s cat and I adopted him they don’t allow pets where I live but he’s happy in the gallery and customers like him said Todd pinching his nose Vincent circled the two men with dignity and oscillating tail did he experience any psychological

Trauma as a result of the Labor Day incident apparently not she always locked him up in the bedroom when she had company he liked the water bed so he didn’t object in fact when he came to live at the gallery I bought him a catsize water

Bed you did where did you buy it I have a cat who’ like a water bed from a mail order catalog I can get the information for you if you’re interested I’d appreciate that and by the way when Vincent lived at the Casablanca did he

Make a habit of sitting on any of the art books not that guy he always looks for the softest seat in the house quillin cleared his throat I have something to tell you Mr Todd and I hope it won’t be too distasteful since living in the penthouse I found evidence that Ross did

Not commit the murder and did not take his own life Todd gulped and pinched his nose what kind of evidence that’s something I can’t discuss until I’ve talked with my friend at the homicide Squad oh God does that mean the case would be reopened we’ve had enough

Notoriety nobody knows me as a gallery director anymore I’m the ex-husband of a murdered woman I swear there are people who think I did it in a kindly vein quillin went on I understand there was a cocktail party the evening before Labor Day if you were there and can recall some of

The other guests it may help corob ate my suspicions I was there Todd said grimly D had invited a lot of people including the girl from the newspaper so I thought I should make an appearance Elana tar she writes the art column how late did you stay till about 10:00 I wanted to

Leave earlier because one fellow had brought Jazz records and Jazz drives me up the wall but it started raining a real Cloud burst the Skylight started leaking and we had to put pots and pans around around to catch the drips who was there when you

Left Ross of course D and Elana and Ross and another fellow from the building were playing Scrabble a few others were in the living room drinking and passing smokes around I don’t remember who they were the fellow who made a fourth for Scrabble do you know his name or what he looked

Like he was slick looking well- groomed sort of like a male model well I won’t detain you any longer querin said thanks for staying open I’ll call you about the tapestries when I get back to pickaxe I think we can do business he returned home changed into a sweatshirt track lighted the gallery

Filled the ice bucket on the bar and put a bowl of cashews on the cocktail table care for a few rounds of Scrabble while we’re waiting he asked Coco the cat was more than willing no wonder quillin thought he always wins on this occasion Koko was choosing a preponderance of lows scoring

Consonants like r s l t and n and quillin was considering another change in the rules when the Velvet paw Drew forth d e v b o g and J immediately quillin spelled Jo which netted 14 points leaving only seven for Coco by Jo he said to the cat I think we’ve got

It at that moment there was an awkward knock at the door he swept the tiles into the Scrabble box and went to admit his guest the penamon bartender was loaded down with cassette caddies and LPS relax he said I’m not planning to stay 3 days

I brought a whole bunch so you can take your pick come in I’ve been looking forward to this man this is not too shabby said Jupiter in admiration as he perused the foyer and it opens right onto the Terrace you’ve never been here before never got invited wait till you see the sunken

Living room querin opened the French doors the stereo is down in the pit here let me take some of that load They Carried the recordings into the gallery and piled them on the giant cocktail table the guest stood in the middle of the pit with his hands in his

Pock Pockets staring in every direction I should think you’d get fed up with mushrooms don’t knock them said quillin since the Scandal they’ve become guilt edged Securities they don’t belong to me of course I’m just subletting let’s have a drink what’s yours hearing the rattle of ice cubes

Koko made his imposing entrance through the open French doors here comes a lord of the manor goodlooking cat said Jupiter better than most of the Rat catchers around this building it was almost as if coko resented being lumped with rat catchers from that moment on he devised ways of tormenting

The visitor but first he had his saucer of white grape juice Jupiter with his vodka on the rocks and quillin with his club soda took seats on the long sofa and the latter said they stole my car from the parking lot today par for the course said the other with a

Shrug you people around here are so damn casual about car theft quillin complained even the old ladies in the lobby talk about muggings the way we talk about weather in Moose County coko jumped on the back of the long sofa and walked its length like a model on a

Runway on the way back he stopped to sniff the guest’s hair hey what’s going on back there Jupiter said slapping the back of his head sorry said quillin pushing the cat off the sofa he likes a shampoo now can you tell me what happened at the hotel over the

Weekend it was in the flu this afternoon so it’s no secret anymore two men and a woman in a suite on the top floor were gunned down execution style so you know it’s drug rated the hotel always tries to put the lid on anything like that they think it’ll scare off the tourists

And conventions hey what’s he doing coko was on the cocktail table biting the corners of record jackets quillin sent him flying with a gentle back hand and the cat spent the next 10 minutes licking his damaged ego how’d you get your big Jazz collection Randy I was lucky I had an

Uncle who was a bbop drummer never made it big but he got me hooked and then he died and left me all his records do you have any requests well I told you I like sacks Sydney bashet Jimmy dorsy Stan get Charlie Parker Cole train if I could

Play an instrument that’s what I’d like to play it’s almost like the human voice okay we’ll start with Charlie what’s that thumping noise that’s KRA hog and her gut dancers they rehearse in 14b every Monday night I’ll close the doors and it won’t bother us Koko was standing in the doorway half

In and half out of the room and when quillin climbed out of the pit and tried to close the double doors the cat stood as if glued to the threshold are you coming in or staying out kerin asked cooko liberated unable to make up his mind until a slight tap

From a size 12 shoe sent him catapulting into the gallery down into the pit up onto the rims circling it like an indoor track picking up speed and flying across the cocktail table scattering cassettes in all directions cripes he’s like a tornado Jupiter said as he retrieved his

Collection sorry he’s wound up tonight for some reason Coco you behave or Leave the Room the cat jumped to the top of the bar among the bottles and decanters where he could keep the visitor under surveillance and the evening progressed uneventfully for a while Jupiter played a program that went

From bbop to swing to Chicago Jazz to Big Band to Dixie Land to Blues to rag after his third drink he pantomimed a bbop drummer in syn with a recording and the frenetic performance sent coko burrowing under the Dury now what’s he doing the man wanted to

Know that rug covers the stain where Diane Bessinger bled to death no kidding I believe it was Labor Day weekend how long have you lived here I moved in let’s see Memorial weekend did you get to know Diane or Ross no they never came into the bar and

I don’t go for this kind of stuff Jupiter waved an arm around the gallery walls quillin said since moving into this apartment I’ve discovered some new twists regarding the murder did you know that there are prominent men in town who would profit by Diane’s death no kidding it’s a

Fact Jupiter said he’d like another drink and after pouring it quillin said what’s more I happen to have evidence that Ross did not kill Diane you’re kidding coko had returned to the sofa back and was sniffing the bartender’s head again his neck was rening he brushed the cat away like an annoying

Fly yes there’s no doubt in my mind that it was a frame up in fact I have an appointment at the homicide Squad tomorrow to turn my information over to the detectives how’d you find out the Vodka was coloring Jupiter’s face to match his mustache I have a Snoopy nature and a

Little experience in criminal investigation there are tenants who heard screams just before Ross landed on y Hasbro’s car Diane’s murderer tossed the artist over the parapet after dragging him down to the dark end of the Terrace quillin kept a sharp eye on his guest and saw his hand go into his sweater pocket

Want any more ice he asked as he carried his own glass to the bar feeling secure behind a massive piece of furniture he went on but here’s The Clincher you see that Skylight up there someone was on the roof when it happened there was a witness Jupiter struggled to his feet

Quillin thought he’s half by bombed the man walked unsteadily to the bar and stood on the duy his hand still in his pocket wordlessly the two of them faced each other across the bar until the heavy silence was broken by a clatter of glass wear as something dropped between

Them coko had flown through the air landing on the bar with arched back bushed tail flattened ears and Beed fangs taking advantage of the distraction Jupiter sneaked around the end of the bar snatching a small tube from his pocket as he raised it there was a click and a knife blade shot out

Quillin without taking his eye off the knife grabbed a bottle by the neck for one Frozen moment they faced each other at the same time a blur of fur passed between the two men landing on the asant shoulder a whip-like tail flicked twice there was a yell of pain

And a man put a hand to his eyes the other hand wavered and quillin smashed down hard on the knife then brought the bottle down on Jupiter’s head as he collapsed quillin kicked the knife away and stood over him with the bottle the French doors burst open two figures

Appeared on the level above one of them had a gun hold it I got you covered quillin started to raise his hands before he realized that the man with the handgun was wearing a red golf hat the man behind him had the ponchy figure of arch reker call the police quillin

Yelled Riker’s Ruddy face turned pale quill you’re supposed to be dead chapter 20 I need a drink said Arch rker after the police and their prisoner had cleared out first tell me what the hell you’re doing here quillin demanded of his friend I came to feed the cats and

Claim your remains at the morg I don’t get it rker explained slowly and clearly the police here called Brody and pickax early this morning they told him someone shot at you on the freeway they said your car crashed and burned they said you were incinerated along with all identification they

Traced the car to you through the license plates someone stole my car that’s what happened whatever I picked up your dental records from Dr Zer and caught the first plane out of pickaxe the whole of moose count is in morning quiller and started for the telephone I better call Polly don’t

She’ll have a stroke she thinks you’re dead I’ll call Brody and he can break the good news to her also I should call my news desk in the radio station if you’re feeling generous you can pour me a double Scotch when the two men settled down in the library with their drinks quillin

Posed a question was the episode on the freeway a random shooting or did they think they were taking a shot at me why would anyone want to shoot you it’s a long story coko walked into the room with feline inuence as if nothing had happened all evening he jumped to the

Library table and sat on the van go where’s yum yum Riker asked in the bedroom sleeping her life away I’ve got to get the cats back to pickaxe something here disagrees with them if people are taking shots at you and threatening you with knives you’d better

Get your own tail back to pickax friend what have you been doing meddling again snooping where you have no business do you want to hear the whole story Arch or do you want to preach a sermon quillin asked he related the murder suicide myth as reported in the newspaper and

Described Koko’s several discoveries here’s a bracelet he said drawing it from a desk drawer what’s the significance of the numbers it’s obviously a private code between lovers I think the numbers refer to the value of letters in a Scrabble set the 1141 for example could stand for l o

V it could also stand for T Fu although I doubt that how do you know so much about Scrabble all of a sudden I found out it’s not a bad game Arch I also tried entertaining Coco with a kind of scratch Scrabble because he was bored

And I kept spelling words that started a train of thought hoax for example I began to wonder if Ross had been framed at first I suspected Diane’s ex-husband pity us ex-husbands said rker we’re always the first suspects I live in Mortal fear that someone will murder

Rosie the guy had a habit of pinching his nose and I attributed it to guilt but later I decided he was sensitive to cat dander I’m glad the ex-husband got off the hook there’s more to the story Arch you want me to go on please do this is better than

Television okay then I realized that the developers who wanted to tear down the Casablanca had a strong motive for eliminating Diane and I began to suspect one of them A guy by the name of f l u d d pronounced flood Koko put the idea in my head I

Won’t tell you how because you won’t believe it anyhow I checked it out with a guy at the fuction and learned that flood has a past history of dirty tricks nothing felonious so far just unscrupulous so I thought suppose flood had an agent in Residence at the Casablanca who committed the double

Murder and tipped him off to my purpose here the word agent turned up on the Scrabble board and tonight I came up with Jo which is another name for Jupiter right rker said you spelled hoax and agent and Jo because the the ideas were already lurking in your

Subconscious be that as it may when Jupiter came up here for a jazz session I caught him in a couple of lies that suggested he had something to hide so I tried a little prevarication of my own after he’d had a few drinks and was losing control I told him that someone

On the roof had witnessed Diane’s murder through the Skylight that brought him out in the open and if Koko hadn’t whipped his tail at The crucial moment I probably wouldn’t be here talking to you Yow said Koko who liked to hear his name mentioned speaking of tals Koko is

Beginning to convey information by means of tail language just as humans express emotions with body language in the last few days he’s been twisting his tail like a cork screw are you trying to tell me that Coco knew the murderer was a bartender if so his Tail’s not the only thing

That’s screwy around here what does a cat know about bar accessories cats are gifted with senses that transcend human intelligence a fact that’s hard for us to accept and Coco’s senses are becoming more acute every year you’re really wound up tonight rker held out his glass how about another

Touch and then I’ll turn in this whole day has been an unnerving experience and I’ve got to catch an early plane tomorrow how about you what have you decided about the Casablanca I’m giving it up I’ll hang around long enough to turn my evidence over to Lieutenant hes and then I’ll

Rent a car and drive the cats back to pickaxe see in the morning Arch the guest room is down the hall first door on the right just throw the cat’s cushion off the bed quillin having made his decision to forget the Casablanca and go home slept well that night he slept well until

About 3:00 in the morning at which time he dreamed someone was pounding him on the stomach when he opened his eyes he was sitting and Koko was having a catfit jumping on and off the bed pouncing on his body yowling and growling when the cat ran from the room like a crazed

Animal quillin followed him down the bedroom Hall past the guest room where reker was snoring quietly and into the foyer there coko clawed at the paret floor his tail tense and twisted next he was racing madly about knocking things over crashing into Furniture quillin listened he could hear

What was alarming the cat it was a rustling crackling creaking under the floor bolting back to the guest room he yelled Arch Arch get up get up quick we’re getting out of here then he ran to the house phone and rang the night number ring the firebell he shouted get

Everyone out get the Countess out fire between 12 and 14 reer appeared in the foyer groggy with sleep what what no questions throw on some clothes quillin pushed yum yum into the carrier and coko followed her without bidding don’t pack no time to lose he pulled on

Pants and a sweater over his pajamas and pointed rer to the door down the stairs take the cats and start down hurry he delayed long enough to hammer at the door of 14b who is it a voice screamed buildings on fire get out fast he yelled then dashed for the stairs the

Firebell had started its urgent clamor and at the 10th floor tenants began stum Ling into the stairwell grumbling and questioning quillin caught up with rer and said give me the cats and you go ahead try to get a cab out in front what don’t ask just do

It on the main floor the tenants clutching cats and other Treasures were in an uproar quiller and shouted to Mrs Tuttle over the heads of the Milling crowd can you get Miss Plum out we phoned and rert went up there the emergency door was open and Sirens could

Be heard converging from all directions not stop in to recognize faces in the lobby quillin pushed through to the front door and found rker flagging a cab he put the carrier in the front with the driver and shouted penan Plaza before climbing into the back seat angrily rker

Said will you tell me what this is all about I don’t know quillin pounded his mustache with his fist oh my God a deafening explosion rocked the cab a flash of light illuminated zwinger Boulevard looking out the rear window they saw the cassablanca crowned with fire chees yelled the driver cracked my

Windshield he started to pull over don’t stop there’ll be Fallout moments later the roof of the cab was showered with debris Sirens screamed red and blue flashing lights filled the street at the hotel the security guards were out on the sidewalk looking toward the west while the cab waited quillin ran

Into the registration desk and came out with the word that the airport motel was the nearest facility that would accept pets the driver headed for the freeway and his passengers rode in silence sickened by the enormity of the disaster and stunned by the thought of their near

Extinction all was quiet in the cat carrier finally quillin said the noise I heard the noise coko detected under the floor it sounded like someone in the craw space setting a fire I didn’t have time to think now I realize they were planting a time bomb his thoughts went to those whose

Lives had touched his briefly the Countess had they been able to dislodge her from her palace rert with his handgun and Ferdinand with his muscle could overpower her if not convince her but they had only minutes to act it was questionable that all three could Escape Isabelle she lived on one of the

Upper floors was she sober enough to recognize the danger if not her troubles were over Winnie Wingfoot she also lived on 10 but she had probably stayed out all night KRA hog no cause for concern she would fly to safety on her broomstick amberina cowbell poor disorganized Amber at least she would

Never have to unpack the 84 shopping bags in the mountain of cartons Courtney he would get out all right lugging his Hudson River painting but what about the nameless old ladies in quilted robes and all the others with canes and crutches he said it would have been wrong Arch to

Evict all those people and revert the Casablanca to a ritzy Enclave for the super rich they’re evicted now that’s for sure said reer the driver tuned in the Round the Clock news station on his radio after a few words about a woman arrested for selling her children and

About the discovery of three bodies buried in Penman Park the announcer said bulletin an explosion rocked the near West Side at 3:18 this morning destroying the top floors of the Casablanca apartment house the cause has not been determined firefighters and rescue crew are on the scene and survivors are being evacuated the blast

Broke windows in junk toown and debris fell on an area of several blocks there is no report on the number of casualties at this time stay tuned the cause has not been determined quillin thought he remembered Amber saying the city would love it if something terrible happened to the

Casablanca he remembered that Raymond Dunwoody worked for the city and had lost an ear in a dynamite explosion had he planted dynamite in the crawl space between 12 and 14 if so at whose behest quillin felt a tingling sensation in the roots of his mustache the old

Familiar feeling that meant he was on the right Trail it was the man with an ear patch he recalled who had been the dinner guest of an affluent businessman at the Japanese restaurant the generous host quillin now knew was flood he had joined Penman and Greystone

In the spring and done what had been living with Charlotte rup for the last four months no doubt relaying information about sock when she innocently discussed conversations she had overheard at Roberto’s furthermore it was Memorial Day weekend when Jupiter moved into the Casablanca they were both undercover agents for

Flood rer broke the silence as they approached the motel I had enough sense to grab my credit cards but I don’t have my socks or my Razor or my partial I’m in the same boat quillin said I have my wallet but I’ve lost everything else including the cat’s turkey

Roaster the clerk at the motel said we have a few rooms with water beds not for me said rer I’ll take one said quillin and do you have a disposable litter box for the cats once situated in the room he opened the door of the carrier and threw

Himself on the bed while the siese inspected the room like veteran Travelers in a matter of minutes someone kicked the door and reker was standing there with two paper cups turn on the TV there’s live coverage on all night news right after the commercials and hear some free

Coffee an announcer in a parka filmed against a background of fire trucks ambulances and police cars was saying firemen are still fighting The Blaze at the Casablanca apartments following an explosion at 3:18 this morning the blast of Unknown Origin destroyed three floors of the building which is almost 100 years

Old the camera zoomed to the top of the blackened smoldering structure while the voice over continued 42 residents have been hospitalized with injuries and many are missing no bodies have been recovered Jessica Tuttle manager of the Casablanca says it is impossible to tell how many persons were in the building at

The time of the explosion the face of Mrs Tuttle grim and managerial flashed on the screen with a micro microphone thrust in front of her we have about 200 tenants she said but we don’t know who was in the building when it happened and who wasn’t we’re grateful for the prompt rescue

Attempts everything’s been handled very efficiently no I don’t know what could have caused it perhaps the Lord is trying to tell us something a cracked voice off camera shouted he’s telling you to tear the place down the video cut to a Red Cross van and then a bus being loaded with

Refugees in nightclothes some huddled in blankets voice over survivors are being bust to temporary shelters residents who were not on the premises at the time of the explosion are urged to telephone the following number to assist in the search for the missing querin said there’s Mrs Jasper with Napoleon

Boarding the bus she raised the cat’s paw to wave at the camera and there’s y Hasbro the skunkle at the air of my tires a man in a red golf hat was helping elderly tenants into the bus then as the camera panned the windows of the loaded vehicle showing strained and frightened

Faces quillin caught a glimpse of plucked eyebrows Marcel hair and a head tilted prettily to one side his sigh of relief was more like a groan he said I wonder if poor Charlotte got out safely I wonder if her gentleman friend got out in time if if not he’s

Lost more than an ear on this job said coko he was sitting tall on the TV and washing up just as he had sat tall on the volume of Van go licking his right paw and washing his mask his whiskers and particularly his right ear remarkable cat quillin murmured

Without elucidating to his skeptical friend I’ve had all can take said reker I’m going to bed as soon as he was out of the room the sies engaged in a sudden expression of Joy chasing each other wildly Under and Over the furniture they knew they were going home quillin propped himself

Against the headboard and watched the steeple chase eventually yum yum snuggled down on his lap she had lost her apathy and Moody aloofness had she been affected Ed by the opalescence that hung over the city like a stifling blanket did she find it unsettling to live on the 14th floor which was really

The 13th or was she simply using feline’s strategy to get her own way quillin stroked her soft silky fur and called her his little sweetheart and she responded by raising a velvet paw to touch his mustache all the while squeezing her eyes and purring deliriously as for Coco he jumped on the

Bed and flopped down in an attitude of exhaustion it had been a strenuous night he had saved an estimated 200 persons the end you’ve been listening to the cat who lived High by lilan Jackson R narrated by George guell