I spotted Jim Williams by the fence and went over to ask him what was going on.
“Your grandfather invited the whole town to dinner,” Williams said.
“Oh, great,” I said. “If whoever tried to poison him wasn’t already in camp, I’m sure they’ll show up for this.”
Williams shook his head as if he understood my sense of frustration.
I thought Miss Annabel and I were probably on good enough terms that I could have knocked on her kitchen door, but given the presence of so many possible onlookers from town, I decided to keep things formal and go around to the front door.
She opened it before I had finished climbing the porch steps.
“What’s he up to now?” she asked. “Your grandfather, that is. I assume that mob is his doing.”
“Cookout for the locals,” I said.
“So he can show off the fact that he caught a few emus?”
I nodded.
“Hmph!” She sounded remarkably like Grandfather when she snorted like that. I suspected she wouldn’t appreciate it if I told her that. “Well, what can I do for you?”
“Anne Murphy from the library came up with an interesting bit of information about Theo Weaver,” I said. “Interesting and potentially useful, and I thought I’d share it.”
I brought her up to speed on the Toad Wars expedition and Weaver’s connection with Grandfather’s vanquished opponents.
“Interesting,” she said. “But I’m not sure I see how useful it is. There’s no connection between Cordelia and this Toad War thing.”
“No, it’s not useful for solving Cordelia’s murder,” I said. “And incidentally, the police chief agrees with you that it was murder.”
“Excellent!” she said. “I was hoping you’d win her over.”
“I didn’t have to—oh, never mind.” I could relate my conversation with Chief Heedles some other time, when I was less tired. “As I said, it’s not useful for solving Cordelia’s murder. But it does give Weaver a very plausible motive for wanting to poison my grandfather—and that gives the chief a valid reason to investigate him.”
“You think once she starts investigating she’ll figure out he killed Cordelia?” Annabel said.
“It’s possible,” I said. “Also possible that he could end up serving time for the poisoning.”
“True,” she said. “Although not necessarily very much time. Attempted murder’s a class three felony. Carries a penalty of five to twenty years under the Virginia penal code. Daddy and Granddaddy were both judges,” she added, seeing my surprised look. “So Cordelia and I grew up knowing things like that.”
“You sound like Dad,” I said. “Although he gets his information mainly from reading mysteries.”
“The recreation of intelligent minds,” Annabel said, nodding with approval. “Daddy and Granddaddy were also big readers of mysteries, and Cordelia and I grew up on Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys.”
“You really must meet Dad,” I said. “You have so much in common.”
“In good time.” She stiffened slightly as she said it, as if the idea still unnerved her. “Meanwhile, what are we going to do with this information about Weaver?”
“You mean, apart from giving it to Chief Heedles?” I asked.
“Hmph!” She snorted again, sounding so much like Grandfather that I had to smile.
“Look, I realize if he’s convicted of the attempted murder, he won’t serve as much time as you think he deserves,” I said. “But at least he’d do some time,” I went on. “And wouldn’t even five years without a man you believe to be a killer living next door be a good thing?”
“It would,” she said. “And maybe it would make the chief understand that he’s not some harmless old friend of her daddy’s. Who knows what might come out if she felt she had grounds to do a really thorough investigation of him?”
“That’s the spirit,” I said. “And maybe we can help her out. Can you think of any connection between Cordelia and Smedlock Mining?”
She frowned and appeared to be concentrating. I waited in silence. Well, at least until my stomach growled, which appeared to break her concentration.
“I’m keeping you from your dinner,” she said. “And no, I can’t think of any connection. But I’ll keep thinking. And I’ll look through her papers.”
“Good,” I said. “Oh, Thor told Grandfather that Cordelia had a list of all the emus. Any chance you might still have it?”
She frowned, and I realized that mentioning Grandfather might have been a tactical error.