The first room—the display room—was empty, as it had been before. “With you in a minute,” Madeline Somers called, evidently from the next room, and there was the scratchy sound of paper being torn. Pam, from long experience, immediately identified Miss Somers’s activity. Miss Somers was changing cats’ toilet pans, shredding fresh newspaper to replace the old. “It’s Mrs. North,” Pam called back. “No hurry.” She sat. She heard more paper torn. A cat shop, she thought, must run to a good deal of newspaper. There was then the sound of something being opened—of course, a cage. There was the sound of something being closed. Miss Somers came through the curtains, wearing the same beige-colored suit, clutching a small Siamese, who spoke, as before. Miss Somers said, “Good morning. Isn’t it a lovely day? Here’s the little doll.” She started to put the little doll on the display pedestal. “Let me have her,” Pam said. “Well,” Miss Somers said, and hesitated.
