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Stevie smiled. “I don’t mind at all. Being self-sufficient is one of my favorite things to talk about.”

She explained that they grew their own organic vegetables as well as apples and pears. “We don’t eat much meat but what we do eat comes from a small farm a few miles west where the animals are free-range.”

We spent another twenty minutes or so with Stevie, sitting in the sunshine and learning more about her desire to get her pear and apple butters business going. Finally Rose looked at me and said, “I think we need to be getting back on the road.” We all stood up. Rose took one of Stevie’s hands in both of hers. “Thank you for talking to us and thank you for letting us see this beautiful place.”

“You’re welcome,” Stevie said. She handed Mr. P. a piece of paper. “That’s the contact information for the registrar and several people who can tell you where I was the night Leila was hurt. I’d feel better if you confirm I’ve told you the truth.”

She shifted from one foot to the other. “I’m afraid I don’t have an alibi for the night Erin Fellowes was killed, unless you’d take the word of a couple of raccoons. I was here by myself. Davis has been away in Nova Scotia at a course on organic farming methods for the last couple of weeks.” She stopped and frowned. “I did have a flat tire earlier in the day. I’m not sure if that matters.”

“Thank you, my dear,” Mr. P. said.

“Had you spoken to Erin recently?” I asked. We still didn’t know how Erin had located Mac.

Stevie shook her head. “No. I barely knew her. She was Leila’s friend.” She brushed something from the front of her shorts. “Would you . . . tell Mac I’m thinking about him?”

I smiled. “We will.”

“You’re welcome to visit, you know,” Rose said.

Stevie smiled. “Maybe I will.”

As we started for home I glanced in the rearview mirror at Mr. P. in the backseat. “Do you think Stevie is telling the truth?”

“I want her to be,” he said.

Beside me Rose nodded. “I like her.”

“Neither of you answered my question,” I said.

Rose exhaled softly. “She had answers to all of our questions and all the right emotional responses.”

“But . . .”

I glanced at Rose. Her hands were folded in her lap and her expression was serious. “Well, sweet girl,” she said, “I’ve been around the block enough times to know that money makes people do things you just wouldn’t believe they’d do.”

“I’m afraid Rose is right,” Mr. P. said from the back.

“So we keep on digging,” I said.

Next to me Rose was nodding. “We keep on digging,” she echoed.

Chapter 8

We got back to the shop about one thirty. I was glad to get out of the SUV and stretch my legs. We’d stopped at a farm stand for tomatoes, green beans and new potatoes.

“You made good time,” Charlotte said as I handed her a bag of vegetables.

“That’s because Sarah needs glasses,” Rose said.

I turned to look at her. “I do?”

“Well, it would explain why you didn’t seem to be able to see any of the posted speed limits.”

I put my hands on my hips. “Are you implying I was speeding?” I said.

Mr. P. noisily cleared his throat.

Rose shook her head as she headed for the stairs. “I guess I’m getting old. I didn’t think I was being overly subtle.”

“I wasn’t speeding,” I said. “I may have accelerated several times to pass other cars that were going too slow, but I wasn’t speeding.” I might have been just a little self-righteous in my denial.

Rose kept going. Charlotte’s lips were twitching.

“Liz drives faster than I do,” I said.

Rose stopped on the bottom step and looked over her shoulder at me. “And if Liz drove off a cliff would you do that, too?” she asked. She started up the steps.

I’d been hearing some version of that line from her and Liz and Charlotte and my grandmother since I was five. “Well, if I did it wouldn’t be because I was speeding!” I called after her.

Rose started up the steps but I could tell from the way her shoulders were shaking that she was laughing.

Liz came in later in the afternoon to report on her dinner with Channing. He’d used his contacts in the business world to find out more about the lawsuit and the fraud investigation into du Mer. The quality of the products was the problem. Customers were claiming the products were not organic and natural and didn’t contain the ingredients listed on the label.

“That’s impossible,” Mac said. “Leila graduated with a bachelor of science in chemistry before she got her MBA. She understood the manufacturing process and she’d put quality control checks in place.” He shook his head and grimaced. “I know I keep saying this, but nothing, nothing makes sense.”

Liz patted her blond hair. “Let us figure things out. We’re pretty darn good at it if I say so myself.”

“You are pretty darn good at it,” he said. “I’m glad you’re on my side.” He looked at me. “I’m going out to the shed to take another look at that old bed frame.”

I nodded. Once Mac was gone I put my arm around Liz and kissed her cheeks. She smelled like spring flowers. “Thank you for having dinner with Channing,” I said. “I know it was a sacrifice.” I tried not to grin but it got away from me.

Liz turned her head and gave me the stink eye. “You’re not too old to spend five minutes in the corner,” she warned.

I laughed. “Did you know that Gram still has the naughty chair in storage?”

“And clearly we still have the girl who used to sit in it.”

“Liam spent as much time in that chair as I did,” I protested.

Liz squeezed my cheeks between her thumb and middle finger. “What I remember is how many times you were both in it at the same time.”

I grinned at her, remembering the big upholstered chair in Gram’s living room where she would put Liam, or me, or most often Liam and me for a time-out. We were supposed to think about whatever it was we’d just done. Mostly we’d poke each other with our elbows and smack the sides of our sneakers together, and the time in the chair would end up getting extended by several minutes.

“So when are we going to see Liam again?” Liz asked.

Charlotte came past us with a box from under the stairs and smiled. “Is Liam coming?” she asked. My tall, blond brother with his little boy good looks was popular with women of all ages, and Charlotte and the others loved to spoil him.

When my mom married Liam’s dad not only did he get me, and a stepmom who loved him like crazy, he also got a grandmother and three fairy godmothers. When I reminded him of that he’d pretend to get thoughtful for a moment and then say it was worth putting up with me to get all of them.

“I think he’s coming around Labor Day,” I said. “He’s still consulting on the harbor front development.”

The downtown project, which was going to add a hotel and several new shops to the waterfront, had already had several stops and starts. Now the start date had been delayed from the end of the month to the beginning of October because the town still got a lot of visitors during September. The developers were trying to cause as little disruption to businesses in the area as possible.

Charlotte set the box she was carrying on the counter next to the cash register and smiled. “It’ll be good to see Liam and Isabel will be here in—”

“—ten days!” I finished, grinning at her. “I can’t believe Gram and John have been gone so long.”

“It’ll be good to have them home,” Liz said. “And it would be nice if we could have this business with Mac settled by then.” She held out her hand and studied her nails for a moment. “I think I need to go do a little more fact-finding and maybe get French tips.” She waved at us and left.