The Purrfect Murder by Rita Mae Brown Page A

this.” Tazio slumped down in the passenger seat of Susan’s Audi station wagon.
    â€œYou really didn’t have a choice,” Susan consoled her.
    â€œMim’s going to think I’m disloyal. And I don’t want to put pressure on Paul,” Tazio moaned.
    Paul de Silva, Tazio’s boyfriend, managed Big Mim’s stables. Tazio found him charming and irresistible. Fortunately, the feeling was mutual.
    Harry was half dozing in the backseat since the ride was so smooth, plus she was surrounded by the warmth of Mrs. Murphy, Pewter, Tucker, Owen—Tucker’s brother—and Brinkley, Tazio’s yellow lab.
    She opened one eye. “It was Big Mim’s idea.”
    â€œI know.” Tazio nodded. “But the way things are breaking, she might forget and take it out on me.”
    â€œShe’s not like that. She can be despotic, but she’s fair.” Susan had known Mim all her life.
    â€œBesides, she’s taking it out on Junior.” Marilyn Sanburne, Jr., was Little Mim’s correct name. “Junior” was a term loathed by Little Mim.
    â€œGot that right.” Susan checked her speedometer and slowed, for she was doing eighty on Route 29.
    â€œYou don’t know how fast you’re going in this car.” Tazio liked the wagon. “Good thing you slowed. Look up on the curve.”
    There sat a cop car waiting to feast on speeders. It was quota time, although the local police, sheriff’s department, and state police would never, ever, admit they met a monthly quota. The state laws had been changed. Going fifteen miles an hour over the limit netted a Virginian a one-thousand-dollar fine. Out-of-state drivers could go as fast as they wanted but only pay the old lower fees determined by a judge. The results, predictably, were that troopers and cops went after the Virginians. If anything, the new law, in effect July 1, 2007, made the roads more dangerous.
    â€œMmm, on the one hand, I’m glad they’re out here. On the other hand, I’m not,” Susan commented. “Given the way cars are built today, the speed limits are outdated and the new laws are beyond absurd. I’m waiting for the citizen revolt.”
    â€œWait until you drive the autobahn.” Tazio had piloted a BMW M5 two years ago when visiting Germany.
    â€œThat will be the day.” Harry sat up straight now. “Back to this Poplar Forest do. Big Mim suggested you to head the decorating committee—”
    Tazio interrupted. “Sure, so I could build the scaffolding. You know this fund-raiser is about as elaborate as a Louis the Fourteenth fete. Little did I know.”
    â€œAt least the committee has gotten the materials donated. Can you imagine the cost otherwise?” Susan checked her rearview mirror.
    â€œThirty-five thousand dollars.” Tazio’s voice was clipped.
    â€œWhat!” Harry grabbed the back of Tazio’s seat.
    â€œThirty-five thousand dollars.”
    â€œOh, my God.” Harry flopped back. “The fund-raiser won’t make that. Good thing the stuff is donated.”
    â€œAre you kidding? With Folly Steinhauser heading the committee, they’ve already received fifty thousand dollars in tables. She’s nabbed corporate sponsors for those. By the time individual contributions roll in—the silent auction plus the two live-auction items—this thing could very well clear two hundred thousand dollars.”
    â€œThat’s big money for central Virginia fund-raising.” Susan was astounded. “You know we aren’t unfeeling, but Southerners are taught to take care of our own. What’s left over goes to people you don’t know. That’s why charities can’t raise as much here as they do in the Northeast.”
    â€œNo one told Folly. I’d like to know how she vacuumed this cash out of pockets.” Tazio smiled. “Big Mim had no idea what she’d unleashed when she