“The Toad Wars,” I said. “That’s what the brigade members call it. I didn’t go along on that one, but I’ve heard about it.”
“The company that was trying to build the mine was called Amazonite Unlimited.” She glanced down at the papers in her hand. “A name that would lead you to believe that they were planning to dig up amazonite—a green-colored form of feldspar whose main commercial use is in making inexpensive jewelry.”
She looked over the top of her reading glasses at me as if this was a cue.
“But since they put up a hell of a fight to keep Grandfather from derailing their plans, I assume they were planning to mine something a lot more lucrative than amazonite,” I said.
“Exactly,” she said. “They were planning on extracting natural gas using hydraulic fracturing—better known as fracking, of course.”
“Aha,” I said. “Grandfather’s not very keen on fracking.”
“Many people aren’t,” she said. “It’s controversial, but potentially quite lucrative for the company that’s doing it. And while your grandfather wasn’t alone in his opposition to what Amazonite Unlimited was going to do, he was their most visible opponent. Instrumental in uncovering and publicizing their plans and organizing the opposition that helped stop them.”
“So Amazonite Unlimited wouldn’t be terribly fond of Grandfather,” I said.
“Amazonite Unlimited no longer exists,” Anne said. “And its owners lost a pretty penny on the project.”
“So they blame Grandfather for going broke,” I said.
“They’re not just broke,” Anne said. “They’re so deep in debt they may never dig their way out, and on top of that they’re getting sued right and left by people they promised the moon to when they were trying to get their fracking operation set up. So no, I don’t think they’re very fond of your Grandfather right now. Caroline Willner told me that Dr. Blake has been getting death threats lately.”
“He always gets death threats,” I said. “He has a knack for rubbing people the wrong way.”
“More death threats than usual, according to Caroline,” Anne said. “And I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that the owners of Amazonite Unlimited were responsible for the uptick.”
“And do any of those owners live here?” I asked.
“Amazonite Unlimited was a wholly owned subsidiary of a company called Smedlock Mining,” she said. “And—”
“Theo Weaver is on their board of directors,” I finished for her.
“Yes.” She nodded.
“Which means Theo Weaver would have a reason to hate Grandfather,” I said. “And I can understand why. To listen to Grandfather, you’d think mining was up there with the seven deadly sins. But we need minerals. Even Rose Noire’s healing crystals have to be mined somewhere. As long as mine owners do everything they can to protect the environment—”
“You’re talking about responsible mine owners,” Anne said. “Not the Smedlocks. I’ve done the research. This is a company that would be solvent and maybe even thriving if they’d made a reasonable investment in pollution controls and worker safety. I found an article that quotes one of them as saying that the EPA fines and court judgments are about to bankrupt them, and he’s probably right, but they earned each and every one of those fines and judgments. Not that they’ve paid most of the fines and judgments. They’d rather spend the money on fast cars and such.”
“And one of their allies lives right here in Riverton.”
We both fell silent as I pondered the implications.
“Of course, it might be just a coincidence,” she said.
“I’m not a big believer in coincidences,” I said. “We should tell Chief Heedles about this.”
“I agree,” she said. “I’m going to drop by the station and try to see her. If you run into her first, fill her in, will you?”
“Roger.”
“I should be going,” she said. “I need to feed the dogs.”
We both pried ourselves out of our lawn chairs and shook hands.
“Thank you,” I said.
“Just look after that grandfather of yours.”
She trotted off. I pondered her information. And then I stuck my head inside the tent. Michael was curled up with the boys, reading his textbook.
“I’m going to go over to see Miss Annabel for a few minutes,” I whispered. “I’ll be back in time for dinner.”
He nodded and blew me a kiss.
I hurried through the camp. It was a lot more crowded than it had been earlier, and there was a big crowd around the fence. By this time I recognized most of the volunteers, even if I didn’t know their names, and these were not familiar faces.