The Tail of the Tip-Off by Rita Mae Brown Read Free Book Online Page A

altar,”
Pewter said.
    â€œThat's true.”
Mrs. Murphy laughed.
“But if those two wanted to get into the church I bet they'd find a way. They're pretty smart.”
    Fred stomped by them.
    â€œWhat an old grouch,”
Tucker noted.
    â€œHumans get the lives they deserve.”
Pewter then quickly added, because she knew there'd be an uproar,
“Short of war or famine or stuff like that.”
    Before the last word was out of her mouth, H.H., shepherding Anne and Cameron, was three vehicles away. He jerked his head up, sweat poured down his face, his eyes rolled back in his head, and his knees collapsed. He dropped down in a heap.
    Anne knelt down. Then she screamed for help.
    Tucker noticed Fred turn. He saw who it was and hesitated for a moment. With reluctance he walked over to Anne.
    â€œHelp me!”
    â€œDaddy, Daddy, wake up!” Cameron was on her knees shaking her father.
    Harry, Fair, Susan, and Ned heard the commotion. Susan's daughter, Brooks, was with her friends, behind her parents. Matthew and Sandy, his wife, sprinted toward the fallen man. From the other side of the parked cars, Tracy hurried up.
    Fair bent over, took H.H.'s pulse. None.
    â€œMatt, help me get his coat off.”
    Matthew and Fair stripped the heavy winter coat off H.H., Fair straddled him and pressed hard on his heart. He kept at it, willing H.H.'s heart to beat, but it wouldn't.
    Tracy looked gravely at Jim, who'd just reached them. He already had his cell phone out.
    â€œAmbulance to U-Hall. Second row from the main entrance. Hurry!” Jim called the rescue unit closest to the university. As mayor of Crozet, he knew everybody in an official capacity.
    The ambulance was there within five minutes.
    Fair, sweat rolling off him, kept working on H.H.'s chest. He stood up when the rescue team arrived.
    Little Mim had the presence of mind to wrap her arms around Anne because she didn't know exactly what the woman would do. Big Mim held Cameron.
    They all watched in complete dismay as John Tabachka, head of the ambulance squad, quietly said, “He's gone.”
    Herb knelt down, placing his hand on H.H.'s head. “Depart in peace, thou ransomed soul. May God the Father Almighty, Who created thee; and Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, Who redeemed thee; and the Holy Ghost, Who sanctified thee, preserve thy going out and thy coming in, from this time forth, even forevermore. Amen.”
    â€œAmen.” Everyone bowed their heads.
    â€œAmen,”
the animals said.

6
    F air and Ned Tucker accompanied the corpse to the morgue. Ned, as the family lawyer, wished to spare Anne further distress. Fair thought Ned might need some bolstering.
    Little Mim and Susan Tucker took Anne and Cameron to their home in the Ednam subdivision just west of the Clam on Route 250.
    Each person, after ascertaining if they could do anything, finally went home.
    A subdued Harry flipped on the light in the kitchen. She made a cup of cocoa, feeding her pets treats as she sipped. She felt miserable.
    Ned felt miserable, too. He'd never witnessed an autopsy. Fair had. All living creatures fascinated him, how they functioned, how they were put together. He often thought that an autopsy was a way to honor life. How could anyone view a horse's heart or a cat's musculature without marveling at the beauty of it? Any chance he had to learn, he seized. The human animal was complex in some ways and quite simple in others. For instance, humans had simple dentition. Sharks, by contrast, had a mouthful of really complicated teeth.
    Tom Yancy, the coroner, had been called by John Tabachka and had everything ready. Anne had insisted on an immediate autopsy. Grief stricken and shocked as she was, she wanted to know exactly how her young husband had died.
    Yancy for his part was only too happy to comply. By the time he got to a body it had usually been in the cooler or worse.
    Even laid out on the gleaming stainless steel table, H.H. was a