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The receptionist at the desk looked up at me as I came in She was in her sixties Her salt-and-pepper hair was heavy on the salt, shoulder length, and blunt cut Her bifocals had beveled edges, with thin wire stems The tops of the lenses were tinted blue and the bottoms tinted pink I wondered how the world looked fro you can give me some information"

"I’ll try," she said Her smock was patterned with cats, every conceivable color combination, with real cat hair matted here and there She looked like someone who’d carry a cat around while the office was closed for lunch Belatedly, I noticed a s on her desk, curled in sleep like a hairy paperweight

"I’ for the vet who used to own this facility"

"Dr McNally?"

"Exactly Did you work for him, by chance?"

"No, but he cared for all s and I can’t even tell you how many cats"

"Do you have any idea how I can reach hiot an odd little problee request without a hitch I glossed over the surrounding circuard to Mary Claire Fitzhugh I did explain Ulf, the buried dog, the tag, and the for’s inter Dr McNally can fill in the blanks"

"It’s very possible and I’m sure he’d enjoy a visit He’s at Valley Oaks Nu on a second and I’ll look up his phone nuht and took out a leather-bound address book that looked like it was meant for her personal use "Do you wantby?"

"I’m not sure what my schedule is for the rest of the week, so it’s probably better not to call in advance I don’t want hiet there for a day or two"

"Understood," she said She made a note of his phone number and address, and passed it across the desk

"Thank you so

Hesitantly, she said, "I don’t suppose you’re in the market for a cat We have so many strays dropped at our door Some are older and harder to place, but you have no idea how loving they are"

"I’ll keep that in mind"

The Valley Oaks Senior Settlement had been established on an old estate in Montebello I liked the word "settleested an enca pioneers could find shelter and companionship At the entrance a painted map-board showed a layout of the units, and I took a ate at a crawl, obeying the sign that warned about the speed bu was beautifully maintained Many of the old oaks had been left in place Splitting off fro roads disappeared in all directions, eachthe name of the road and the unit numbers thereon A few of the units I spotted had rah the trees I could see an iinal mansion converted now to public rooms where residents could visit, dine, or entertain

Nue Hansel and Gretel would have liked, a snug stucco structure with a roof that looked like thatch The front door was dark green, the shutters painted to match A cluster of flowerpots took up one corner of the porch, all of them empty at the moment On the drive over, as I rehearsed my approach, I’d decided not to mention my sketchy acquaintance with his son I assual problems and it wasn’t a topic that would be productive Walker’s accident had nothing to do with es

I knocked and after a hties His hair was a thick gray, cropped short, and his bifocals had metal frames I didn’t see any particular likeness to Walker, but then again, I hadn’t seen Walker in years, so the two ht appear more similar than I knew He had on a navy blue sweatshirt with the sleeves pushed up and shorts that were creased across the lap He wore slippers instead of shoes and socks, and his shins looked like soup bones sparsely dotted with hair