The Puzzled Heart Read Online Free PDF Page B

keeping a close record of everything that happened. “We shall be in a position to prosecute when this is all over. Meanwhile, we want you to do something.”
    “A cat this time?”
    “Sarcasm is a nonproductive mode of communication,” Toni said with pedagogical hauteur. “Listen, I don’t want to stay longer than the other students and call attention to myself, so I won’t go into all that Harriet and I are doing. Here’s what we want you to do.”
    Kate looked both frightened and eager, a combination hard to achieve and terrible to experience.
    “Don’t look so appalled,” Toni said. “This is aninteresting job. Harriet told you that one of the daughters leads what the mother and son consider an unacceptable life, and I’ve tracked her down. She doesn’t seem to see much of her mother and brother, but I think she’s not much in sympathy with them. She doesn’t know about Reed; you will have to meet her more or less accidentally, and using your own judgment, tell her as much as you want. My hunch is that she may be able to help us.”
    “And how do I meet her?” Kate asked.
    “Easy. She lives in Putnam County, where she runs a kennel and boards dogs. You and Banny will go and check it out. Here’s the address and phone number. You take it from there. But remember, if you have the least doubt, keep it a visit about boarding dogs.”
    “Perhaps I should cut my class and office hour tomorrow and go to visit her.”
    “Absolutely not. Don’t, whatever you do, change your normal habits. You can go after your class tomorrow. Call first to make sure she’ll be there and that a visit of inspection is welcome. And don’t forget to take Banny. When one questions dog owners, it’s ever so much more convincing if you have a dog.”
    And so, the next day, after her class, Kate picked up the car from the garage and Banny from the apartment. She had called and been told she would be welcomed by the owner herself, Dorothy Hedge, daughter of the right-wing mother, sister of the son. “A Saint Bernard!” the owner had exclaimed. “What a brave woman you are. I raise Norwich terriers.They love big dogs; I suspect they think they’re big themselves. So come right along.”
    Kate parked Banny in the backseat, but it soon became clear that Banny had no intention of staying there. She squeezed through the space between the two front seats and plopped herself in Kate’s lap. Kate pushed her onto the other front seat when they stopped for a light, and Banny tried putting just her head on Kate’s thigh, but that interfered with the gearshift. So she went back to Kate’s lap and flattened herself, more or less, under the steering wheel. It was far from a safe arrangement, but it had its comforts. Kate found herself talking to the dog, and checking the directions out with her.
    Rather to her surprise, Kate found the right turn off the parkway, and after that it was just a matter of counting lights and then mailboxes. They pulled into Dorothy Hedge’s driveway, clearly marked with a sign ( HEDGE KENNELS ), to a cacophony of barks punctuated by a cheerful female voice shouting “Quiet, quiet, you beasts,” to no effect whatever.
    As the owner of the voice approached them, Kate had the impression of someone enjoying herself in a ritual that had meaning only for the participants and was never meant to change immediate circumstances. Dorothy Hedge was a large, hearty woman, her booming voice natural, Kate felt, one that would be so even in a job that did not require it. She welcomed Kate with a vigorous handshake and Bannywith some mild roughhouse. “Aren’t you adorable,” she said.
    “I supposed that owners of dog kennels were rather restrained in their enthusiasm,” Kate said, smiling. “How nice to see someone so frankly happy about dogs.”
    If Dorothy Hedge thought this a somewhat odd remark, she did not show it. “It’s easy to be boisterous around dogs,” she said. “They don’t have principles, only