I peered out the front windows to make sure there was nothing there, and then went back to hunting.

Vess hadn’t been prone to clutter, so it didn’t take long at all to search the small house and confirm that the missing file wasn’t anywhere else. Not in the office. Not in the dresser or the bedside table. Not in any of the closets. Not in the attic, which was actually empty. Not in the garage, which contained only a bare minimum of lawn and garden tools.

Of course, that didn’t necessarily mean the file was missing—only that it wasn’t here. Perhaps Vess had left it in his car. Or had lent it to another member of the vestry, seeking their support.

I drifted back up to his office and wondered it I should turn on his computer. Not that I would expect to find much there—I’d already noticed that apart from the occasional letter or memo, most of the contents of his complaining files were handwritten.

And I was no computer forensics analyst, so why muddy the waters if the chief eventually did send someone to check the laptop. I left the laptop alone. It was time to go.

Though not before I fed the cat. If there even was a cat.

I went back to the kitchen. There, on the floor of the utility room, was a beige plastic mat with two bowls on it, both empty. You couldn’t even tell which was the food bowl and which was the water—both had been licked clean and dry.

There was dry cat food in a cabinet overhead. I rinsed out both bowls, shook a decent amount of food into one, and filled the other with water.

Just then the doorbell rang. I hurried to peer out a window and spotted Mother’s car. I opened the door to let her in.

“Hello, dear,” she said, giving me a peck on the cheek as she came in. “Did you also come to look after poor Barliman’s cat?”

“I came to look after you,” I said. “Given the fact that we don’t have any idea who killed Mr. Vess, don’t you think it was a little foolhardy to make such a fuss about continuing his quest, once you found out what it was, and then letting the whole world know you were coming out here by yourself to feed his cat?”

“I knew you’d come after me as soon as you heard,” she said. “And didn’t it give you a lovely excuse to come out here and poke around? Did you find anything interesting?”

“Maybe,” I said. “I’ll show you.”

I led her up to the office and pulled out the drawer containing Mr. Vess’s files.