She appeared to be studying me for a few moments. Then she nodded briskly.
“Yes,” she said. “I’d like that. Hang on a minute.”
She stood up and walked out of the room. I sipped my lemonade and enjoyed my view of the Biscuit Mountain pottery display. And then I noticed that her back door was open, with just a screen door between her and any possible intruders. Was she being careless or was I being paranoid?
“Here’s the place where we got the first generator.” Annabel returned and handed me a business card. “Cordelia checked out several vendors and picked this company. And if they don’t sell the same generator anymore, we want one very similar. If she were here, I bet she’d agree that there was nothing wrong with the generator until her killer meddled with it. Our requirements haven’t changed.”
“How about one change?” I suggested. “I bet you could have a switch installed so you could turn it off from the house. And if this company can’t do it, I know one that can.”
“I wanted that in the first place,” she said. “But for some reason she objected. No idea why. A switch right here in the utility room. You tell them that.”
Just then another chain saw started up, not far away. Miss Annabel started slightly.
“You’d think I’d be used to that by now,” she said.
She drifted over toward the back window and stared out.
“Must be costing your grandfather a fortune to hire all these people,” she said.
“Except for the film crew, I think they’re all volunteers,” I said. “Bird lovers, animal lovers, environmental activists.”
“He just waves his hand and they show up to work for him for nothing?” She shook her head in disbelief.
“I’m not sure it’s entirely due to his magnetic personality,” I said. “There’s also the fact that they’re all dying to be on television.”
She laughed softly at that.
“Well, I wanted to stir things up and make things happen,” she said. “They always say be careful what you wish for.”
But she continued to watch the camp with a worried look on her face.
“I’ll make sure Grandfather gives everyone strict orders to stay on the other side of your fence,” I said.
“It’s not the ones who follow orders that I’m thinking about,” she said.
Clearly she was worried. And as I walked back to my car, I realized it was contagious. Now I was worried about the horde of people we’d invited into her back yard. All those people camped so close to that flimsy screen door.
When I got back to camp, the chain saws were still going. I hunted down Caroline. She was scribbling away on a legal pad and looked busy.
“Mind if I interrupt you for just a minute or two?” I asked.
“Of course not.” She looked up with a smile on her face, but I could tell her mind was still on whatever she’d been working on and that this wasn’t the most convenient moment.
“This may sound like a stupid question,” I said. “But how do the Blake’s Brigade people find out about Grandfather’s projects?”
“Same way you do, I suppose.” She glanced down at her legal pad and then forced her eyes up again with a bright smile.
“I doubt it,” I said. “I usually hear about them at the dinner table when he’s staying with us or with Mother and Dad. ‘By the way, I’m going to Australia tomorrow to rescue some endangered kangaroos. Want to come along?’”
“It wasn’t kangaroos,” she said. “Wombats, wallabies, and fruit bats. And that wasn’t an official Blake’s Brigade effort. Just him and me and the film crew. Couldn’t expect the whole brigade to traipse off to Australia on short notice and at their own expense.”
“But a whole bunch of people showed up here less than twenty-four hours after he decided to come,” I said. “How did they all find out?”
“We have a group e-mail list,” she said. “Didn’t we add you to it? Your dad sent out word five minutes after Monty decided to come, and people started signing on and volunteering for crews within the hour.”
“But who are these people?” I said. “Do you really know them all?”
“Some better than others,” she said. “Some I’ve known for twenty years, even before they started working with Monty. Others I meet when they first show up for a project. Everyone’s new once. Why are you asking so many questions about the brigade members all of a sudden? You think one of them tried to poison Monty?”
“I think it’s quite possible,” I said. “Don’t you?”