There was shuffling and mumbling among the crowd again. It would have been funny if Dotty had not looked so stricken.
Now Edward spoke up as he stepped forward and tried to take her paw in his. “Dotty, honey,” he crooned in a low voice. “What is the matter with you? Can’t you see? It’s me, Edward. I’m right here, safe and sound.”
Dotty shuddered and stepped even farther away from her spouse. Edward looked embarrassed as he faced Mr. Fallow.
“Dotty is not herself, as you can plainly see,” he stated, reaching for his wife’s paw, only to be rebuffed again. “The trip back from my mother’s house must have been difficult. I’ll just take her inside so that she can lie down.”
Dotty drew herself up and looked around wildly at the crowd.
“Oh, no! I’m not going anywhere with that creature. He must have murdered himself and I won’t forget it,” she said firmly, no longer crying. “I want to go to the police station or to the hospital.”
This produced even more mumbling among the gathered crowd. “Unseemly” was heard, and “What does she think she’s saying?” Rats were generally dignified and discreet creatures. They kept their emotions to themselves and did not act out in public. Such histrionic behavior from one of their own was frowned upon.
With some hesitation, Vera said, “Is…is there something we can do?”
Mr. Fallow nodded, but said, “Wait a moment, Miss Vixen. We need to talk.”
We, meaning the rats. Vera stepped away from the main group, still keeping a sharp eye on Dorothy and Edward, twin islands of stillness in the midst of the shifting, confused crowd.
In fact, rats were also extremely kind animals, and they did not like to see a creature suffering, especially one of their neighbors. After a whispered consultation among several rats—including Mr. Fallow—the medical squirrels were summoned. It was collectively decided that perhaps Dotty was overtired from caring for her mother-in-law and exhausted from grief. A quick checkup at the hospital couldn’t hurt.
Dotty had calmed down significantly by now, and she went with the squirrels quietly. With a hurt and puzzled air, Edward went inside the Springfield house. He’d spoken to a few neighbors, but only in short, distracted phrases. He wore a worried expression…which was to be expected, considering he’d just been told he’d somehow killed himself.
“Thank you for staying,” Mr. Fallow told Vera. “I’m afraid this event has quite disrupted our talk. Would you excuse me for a little while? I’ll get back to you about your issue as soon as I can.”
She recognized that the attorney was actually very upset and murmured some words to let him go without worrying about her. Indeed, Vera’s nose was twitching with the scent of a story.
Before the crowd dispersed entirely, Vera interviewed a few of Dotty’s neighbors for an article in the paper. Most of them agreed that Dotty, while universally liked, was also known for being somewhat eccentric. She believed in things like ghosts and horoscopes, which were not typically tolerated among rats, who praised rationality and skepticism.
As for Edward, everyone seemed truly distraught that he experienced such a scene. Edward was beloved in his community. He was pleasant and friendly to everyone and did not subscribe to most of the wacky ideas that his wife did. (He was also on the board of the Homeowners Association, a thankless task.)
Vera scribbled notes and started to wrap things up. Then one of the rats mentioned, “Adora Springfield was loaded, you know. Edward and Dotty will come into quite a bit of money now that she’s gone.”
Vera commented that she was unaware of this.
The same rat replied, “Oh, you didn’t know? The Springfields made their fortune in silver mining over a hundred years ago. When Dotty and Edward inherit Adora Springfield’s estate, they will be very well off indeed, that is, even more than they are already. That should smooth over Dotty’s worst outbursts among the neighbors.”
With that, Vera snapped her notebook shut and thanked all of the bystanders for their help. It had been a very strange morning already, and she needed to think.
She made her way back to Shady Hollow, walking along the main street toward the center of town. At a temporary loss for what to do next, Vera’s paws led her to a stand of green bamboo, growing lush and thick at one side of the street. Only a few leaves had turned yellow so far, and the restaurant on the other side of the living wall was hidden, just as the owner intended.
Vera walked down the gently curving gravel path, thinking that Sun Li’s arrival in Shady Hollow was a fortunate occurrence. Not only did he offer some of the most delicious cuisine in the area, his very presence opened the settled, comfortable minds of the longtime residents to new ideas. Folks grumbled about the “weird trees” he’d planted when he first opened his restaurant a few years ago. But now they flocked to the place and considered Sun Li an integral part of Shady Hollow life.
The black and white bear smiled when he saw her. “Well, good day, Vera. Hungry? I’ve got some marinated mushrooms you’d love.”
“Just tea for now,” she said, returning the friendly smile. “I’m a little too stirred up to actually eat anything.”
“What’s the matter?”
“Oh, just a strange thing that happened.” She filled him in on Dotty Springfield’s bizarre accusation, and the general confusion of the neighborhood at the scene.
“She must be wrong,” Vera said in conclusion. “I mean, Edward was literally standing right next to her! But then again, she saw him too…and she still maintained that he wasn’t her husband, and that her husband was murdered.
