“Police officers are always shown on television standing around dropping doughnut crumbs on battered corpses. Should you really be so dainty about a bit of a skunk?”
“Do you believe everything you see on television?”
“Not what I see on the news, but I do have a soft spot for those alien abduction shows.”
“That explains the mountain lion sighting. I bet you like crop circles, too.”
“If my sugaring business goes bust, I may start a new business laying out fake circles in the far pasture. There can be a swift trade in such things.”
“Should I worry your mountain lion sighting was merely crass commercialism at work?”
“Of course not.”
“Good. Because that would count as wasting police time and then I would have to arrest you.” Graham took a step closer, his eyes locked on mine, a slight smile curving his already curvy lips.
“You’d have to catch me first.”
“Are you saying I can’t?”
“Not to burst your bubble, but so far the only things you’ve caught in Sugar Grove are the ones I’ve helped with.” I crossed my arms over my sadly flat chest and wondered what he’d make of that. I felt a little bad reminding him how little he’d gotten done on his own steam, but he was the one who’d mentioned arresting me.
“As a keen observer of animal behavior, I’d say you’re helping me to catch you. Right now, your pupils are slightly dilated and you’re using your arms across your chest pushing things up and showing them off to best advantage.” Graham wiggled his eyebrows at me like an old-time movie bad guy. If I didn’t get out of here soon, I expected to be tied to a train track for not paying my mortgage. All he needed was a mustache to twirl and the image would be complete.
Luckily, the police arrived before I had to think of a response. I never expected to be happy to see Mitch, but for once, I welcomed him with enough enthusiasm to surprise the both of us.
Twenty
I was in the office at the sugarhouse the next morning trying to pretend I still had a business to attend to when the call from Myra about the fertilizer came in. After having spent a couple of hours kidding myself it was going to matter what I planned to order to stock the shop, it was a relief to have any sort of distraction.
“Zip. That’s what I got from all my digging around.” Myra exhaled forcefully then coughed. She must have been calling me during a smoke break. I imagined her leaning her stretch pants covered backside against the peeling clapboards of the old wooden police station, flicking ash close enough to worry the fire department.
“No one knows anything. How can that be?” I was astonished. Myra never failed to turn up the dirt on anything she set her mind to finding. She was like a human truffle pig when it came to delicious nuggets of knowledge. The only way I could imagine her not finding what she was looking for was because it didn’t exist. Or maybe the only people who knew about it had a very compelling reason to keep quiet. But why would anyone want to keep quiet about his or her business? I yakked about mine to everyone in my path. I paid for advertising and conducted free talks anywhere that would have me just to get the word out about Greener Pastures.
“What I’m wondering is if your guy at the state was wrong. Maybe he remembered the name incorrectly. Or maybe he is just messing with you.”
“He wrote the name down when the call came in and read it back to me so I don’t think he got it wrong. And what possible reason would he have to make something like that up? He volunteered the information.”
“Maybe Alanza lied to him when she called. You never knew what that woman was up to or why, but you knew it was to stir up trouble for someone.”
“What could she gain from lying about an unregistered fertilizer business?” It didn’t seem worth her bother.
“I’m going to mention this to Lowell.”
“But I thought you hadn’t discovered anything.”
“Dani, if someone doesn’t want anyone to know they are making or selling fertilizer, what might that mean?” Myra’s voice had taken on a worried note I never associate with her. She is bossy, pushy, brash, and nosy but never worried. My stomach got squishy and my legs felt like the bones had turned into licorice whips as I understood what she was implying.
“Explosives.”
“Exactly.”
• • •
I drove to Tansey’s hoping to hear how things had gone with the police questioning her and Knowlton about the rat poison in her shed. She was sitting on her porch, her feet in her usual gardening boots, a cat in her lap. Her greeting felt more forced than usual and I can’t say I blamed her.