Vera was relieved that Orville had agreed to help her, but the waiting would be interminable! She went to the office, and had to avoid BW, who was hounding her about when the next piece on Grey’s School of Etiquette would be written.
“Maybe after I take the course on how to politely flirt with someone else’s partner!” she muttered to herself. She tried to research another article, but her brain was all aflutter. Until she heard news from the prison, she couldn’t do much besides sit on her paws.
She slept badly that night, and snapped at everyone the next day. Those prison officials were so slow! A crow could fly there and back five times already.
The time crawled by. Vera went home a bit early, too flustered to work.
While still waiting to hear from Orville, she looked over the few belongings of Julia’s that she and Lenore had found in the woods. She had been over and over the letters, but she really had not looked closely at the other things she’d pulled from the suitcase. Perhaps she had overlooked something that would provide a crucial clue.
She picked up the most interesting item first, a book titled The Road to Charmville. Vera had paged through it briefly when she first discovered it, chuckling at some of the advice offered in its pages—old-fashioned guidance about proper attire and when to wear white. Vera had tossed the book aside after nearly doing herself an injury laughing about a moose in white gloves and a hat. Now she studied the book more closely.
There was something on the inner flap of the book. An inscription read: “To Julia – Get ready for a moose and a mink to take on the world!” It was signed Mia. Vera hopped up and grabbed the stack of letters from her desk. She compared the spiky handwriting in the letters and in the front of the book. They were a match! That meant that Mia, a mink, was Julia’s friend and partner in the fashion scheme. Furthermore, a mink would most definitely fit the description that she had about the slinky, dark-furred robber from the Van Beaverpelt mansion, and the creature that Professor Heidegger had seen in the woods. Dark furred at the time Julia knew her…but not now.
Vera’s brain was working very quickly now. She ran almost all of the way to the police station. She stood just inside the front door, catching her breath and looking around for Orville. He wasn’t there. After she regained her breath, Vera called out for Orville. The response she got was not one that she had expected. She heard Lefty answer from inside his cell. She ran over to him to hear him better.
“Orville’s not here, Miss Vixen,” the raccoon informed her. “He got a message and stomped off somewhere. He seemed pretty worked up.”
Vera thanked Lefty and wished him well. “I hope you get sprung soon,” she said, inanely. Although he was untrustworthy, she quite liked the raccoon.
“You be careful out there, Vera!” he called after her.
The fox rushed out of the police station, and then paused when she got outside. What should she do? She was surprised that Orville had not come to her when he got the news from Stonehurst. Then she had a terrible thought. Had he gone to confront the robber all on his own? She knew that the police bear could handle himself in most cases, but this wasn’t most cases. This was a case where the murderer thought nothing of tipping a body into a hole for a tree and then strolling off as though nothing ever happened.
Vera made her way to Walnut Street to her destination. She pushed open the door without knocking and walked right up the stairs.
Standing at a table set for a high tea was the slinky, silver-coated mink.
“Good evening, Octavia,” Vera said.
The mink turned and smiled. “Why, it’s Vera. How are you, my dear friend?”