Free Cat of the Century by Rita Mae Brown

friend.”
    “Oh—” Inez couldn’t finish her sentence.
    They cried, then laughed, finished their martinis and cigarettes, and went to bed, as the world outside transformed into a cold but extraordinary winter kingdom.

G iven that it was going to be a long day, Inez started the meeting at nine. A foot of snow already covered the ground. Still, it kept coming down.
    She looked around the room. “Let’s wait five minutes.”
    Flo wiggled in her seat but said nothing. She conspicuously checked her watch.
    Five minutes passed.
    “Does anyone have any idea where Mariah is?” Inez asked.
    “We can go on without her,” Liz stated.
    “Yes.”
    The meeting went smoothly without Flo and Mariah sniping at each other.
    Inez wrapped it up in an hour, to her great surprise. Then she walked through the hall to Kenda Shindler’s office.
    “Hello.”
    “Kenda, did Mariah call you to say she wouldn’t be attending the meeting?”
    “No.”
    “That’s not like her.”
    Inez left after a pleasant exchange. She walked along the shoveled paths back to the Fairchild Alumni House. Once there, she pulled out her cell and called Pete, Mariah’s husband. Not wishing to worry him,she asked if he knew where Mariah had stayed last night. He cited a very nice B&B. Then Inez told him that Mariah hadn’t attended the board meeting. This surprised him, but he didn’t seem alarmed.
    Next Inez called Gayle Lampe, because Gayle knew Mariah’s habits fairly well; they often traveled to the summer Saddlebred shows together. But Gayle hadn’t heard from Mariah after a quick coffee in Gayle’s office at about 6:00 P . M ., the previous evening.
    Inez fought a sinking feeling in her stomach. She didn’t want to spoil Tally’s big day with her worry over Mariah. First she called Jahnae Barnett. Jahnae suggested they should leave a message with the proprietor of the B&B. If Mariah didn’t show up by 2:00 P . M ., Jahnae would call the police.

D eputy Knute Sorenson arrived at Jahnae Barnett’s office at 3:00 P . M . in a hard snow. Residents of Callaway County might be accustomed to driving in the snow, but there was always a slick spot here or there or the one fool who flew along at sixty miles an hour, only to spin out of control. It had taken the deputy longer to get to the campus than he would have liked.
    Inez, tired, waited with Jahnae. The president had also called her husband, Eddie Barnett, a calm figure in a crisis and one not given to flights of fancy. Cognizant of news that the storm would worsen, he was heading home from one of his XVIII Wheelers Truck Washes out on Route 70. While Eddie might not carry an official title at the school, his common sense was appreciated by his wife, who was facing a troublesome, perhaps deeply upsetting situation.
    Inez explained to Deputy Sorenson, a competent fellow of about thirty-four, who was missing and why she thought it highly unusual.
    “Any reasons you can think of concerning her absence?” He was a pleasant, respectful young man.
    “No,” Inez replied patiently. “She did borrow from the alumnae accounts without clearing it with the board, but she replaced the money quickly. Twenty-five thousand dollars.”
    “Did anyone else know but you?”
    “The president, Dr. Barnett, was informed yesterday.”
    “Did Mrs. D’Angelo have enemies that you knew about?”
    “Flo Langston. Perhaps ‘rival’ is a better term than ‘enemy.’ They graduated in the same class in 1974. Never did get along.”
    “Did Mrs. Langston know about the twenty-five thousand dollars?”
    “No,” Inez crisply replied. “Had she known, she would have used it against her. The two have been fighting for control of the board for the last year. It reached a nadir recently. The standing chair had to step down, which is why I’m acting chair despite my advanced age.”
    “Which is?” He’d been scribbling in his notebook.
    “Ninety-eight.”
    He looked up quickly from his notebook, his brown eyes