With that he left.
“You’re going into the chicken business?” the chief asked.
“Business, no,” I said. “We’re going to expand our hobby farming to include a few chickens.”
He nodded.
“Dangerous, having this fair in our backyard,” he said. “Minerva’s got her heart set on some chickens. She likes the idea of having fresh eggs for the grandkids.”
“We can build you a coop if you want, Chief,” Randall said. “Or a pen for the llama, if you’re going ahead with that.”
“Llama?” The chief sounded puzzled.
“Meg.” Randall turned to me. “I’ll send a few men over next week to make sure the coops and pens you already have are ready for your chickens. It’s the least we can do after all you’ve done for the fair. I’m off to supervise—I’ll let you know if I think of anything else that needs doing.”
He strolled out.
“We should get back to it,” Vern said. “We have a lead on a possible witness to the theft of the Sumatrans.”
“And we’ve put a rush on processing the evidence you’ve already delivered to the crime lab,” the state trooper added to the chief.
“Keep me posted,” the chief said.
Vern and the trooper headed for the door.
As they left, they let someone else in.
“Grand Central Station,” the chief muttered.
I was starting to agree, but then realized I was glad to see this new arrival.
“Molly!” I said. “Did you hear the news?”
“I’m so glad you’re all right,” she said, giving me a fierce hug.
“And that we found out who really killed Brett,” I said.
Molly looked over at the chief.
“Yes,” he said. “We’re satisfied that you had nothing to do with your late husband’s murder. I’m sorry for any additional stress our investigation caused at what I’m sure was already a difficult time.”
“You were doing your job,” she said. “And I can understand why you suspected me.”
“So what’s the prognosis with your farm?” I asked.
“I think one way or another I’ll manage to keep it,” she said. “Thanks in no small part to you and your family.”
“Not sure what help I was,” I said. “It’s not as if you need a divorce lawyer anymore.”
“No, but the guy your mother recommended also does family property law, and he can represent me if anyone tries to claim a part of the farm.”
“Like Brett’s family,” I suggested.
“Precisely,” she said. “And I bet they will. And my lawyer says they won’t have a leg to stand on.”
“Of course, paying the lawyer to get rid of them will take money,” I said.
“And paying the attorney I had to hire when I was arrested,” she said. “Not to mention settling Brett’s debts. Most of which were incurred while he was living the high life with Genette, so it doesn’t seem quite fair that I should be the one to pay them, but trying to fight it would take more money than just paying them. Between one thing and another, I’m going to have a lot of expenses in the near future, so thank goodness your brother came up with such a good idea.”
“Rob had a good idea?” I said. “I mean, he has lots of them, but most of them involve shooting aliens or driving race cars through lava, or whatever else people do in his company’s video games.”
“Apparently he’s been learning a lot about the financial world while running his company,” Molly said.
I nodded, and tried not to look alarmed. The last time Rob had taken an interest in the financial side of Mutant Wizards, his computer gaming company, his treasurer had nearly had a nervous breakdown trying to undo his meddling.
“It all started because your cousin Rose Noire sold all the cheese I’d brought,” she said. “So I had nothing left to sell—what a great problem to have! And she said some people were asking if they could place an order to be shipped later, which sounded good to me, but we didn’t want to take more orders than I could fill in the next few weeks. So while I was figuring out how much cheese I had at home and how much I could have ready within the next month or so, your brother was there, and that was when he had his idea.”
“And what was the idea?” I asked. I was hoping it wouldn’t be something so stupid that I had to try talking her out of it.
“He suggested I sell cheese futures,” Molly said. “People pay up front to have cheese mailed to them over the next several years. If someone pays a hundred dollars up front, for example, they are entitled to get fifty dollars’ worth of cheese each year for the next three years.”