There's nothing in there that can't be easily proven. I'd like
your family to know the truth, Jeanette, even if it's too late
to change anything."
"What do you mean, too late? To change what?"
"Just read the articledo it for your grandfather. Then
we can talk if you want to."
Loo king for You All My Life55
"Fine," she said sharply, her hand reaching for the door-
knob. "I'll read it."
Jeanette didn't call back until the following morning. "I
was on the phone for most of the afternoon yesterday," she
began in what seemed a rather flat and emotionless voice. "I
checked out everything you said. I even questioned Rick
Tanner for myself." She cleared her throat. "And I want to
apologize to you, Maggie. It seems you were right all along."
"I'm so sorry about all this, Jeanette. I know it must be
difficult for you to learn all about this right on top of your
grandfather's death. But I want you to know that even as I
gathered my information, I kept wishing to be wrong." She
sighed. "And I had meant to warn your grandfather before
he read the article.. but I got there too late. You see, my son
was in a car wreck that very same day."
"Is your son all right?"
"Yes, thank you. Just a broken foot that he's now playing
up for all it's worth."
Jeanette chuckled. "I can understand that. I have two
sons, and they always enjoy lots of sympathy for their sports
injuries.
"Right. Your grandfather told me about your boys. At
one time, he'd hoped that one of them would want to run
the farm..."
"Oh, if only I'd known about this development deal, I'd
have gladly agreed to have taken on the farm myself. But at
the time, I was afraid it would cause a family squabble. I
never dreamed anything like this would happen to the land.
It just kills me to imagine a bunch of cheap condo units
springing up out here-and I had my husband check into the
outfit that you wrote about in your article, and they sound
like one of the worst sort of developers around."
56Melody Carlson
"Have you considered having a lawyer go over all the
paperwork? Maybe there's some kind of a glitch some-
where."
"I already spoke to Grandpa's attorney. And while he's
happy to look over the paperwork again, especially after
reading your article last week, he thinks the sale is legal and
watertight."
"That's what Clyde's lawyer said too."
"Well, I have to return home tomorrow, but I'm not fin-
ished with this yet. I don't plan to leave any stone unturned.
By the way, do you think you'd like to keep Lizzie after all?"