ments."
"You going to take him up on it?"
"I don't know.. I'm certain I'd get a very carefully guided
tour, only showing me exactly what they want me to see, and
I'm sure everything will be impeccably perfect-just like that
slick video he showed on Saturday."
Clyde smiled slyly. "But now, you're smarter than them,
Maggie. You could easily do a little snooping around on
your own, ask some questions, take some photos. Isn't that
what they call investigative reporting?"
"I suppose so..." The idea of sleuthing around one of
Cohn Byers' developments did sound intriguing in a Nancy
Drew sort of way. "Who knows, maybe I'd find out I'd been
all wrong about him all along-but then at least I'd know
for sure myself."
Clyde shoved his hands in his pockets and scowled.
"Well, for Arnold Westerly's sake there's nothing I'd rather
see than that whole darn TS Development business shut
down once and for all!"
"But what if this guy's legit? What if we can't stop the
development? What then?"
He made a growling sound. "It just gets my goat to see
the likes of Snider and Tanner profiting by taking advantage
of old Arnold."
"I know," she said soothingly. "But we might have to
consider the bigger picture here. What if this developer can
really bring growth and progress to Pine Mountain? That
wouldn't be so bad, now would it?"
He eyed her with suspicion. "It sounds almost as if you're
consorting with the enemy."
126Melody Carlson
She shook her head. "Not at all. I'm just trying to be
open-minded and fair. The honest truth is I'd love to see that
whole development fall flat on its face too. But a lot of that
is based on my own personal feelings, not what would be
best for this town. And I do care about this town, Clyde. I
don't want to see one single business lost."
"I know, I know...but we aren't doing so bad, are we?
Why, just look at all the great progress that has taken place
in the last year-and most of it was due to you-"
She shook her finger under his nose. "Don't you forget,
Clyde Barnes, it took the whole town to accomplish those
things. And unfortunately, despite the improvements, this
town is still painfully dependent on something as undepend-
able as the weather. You know as well as anyone that these
aren't the old timber days where weather had little effect on
the local economy. Right now, we need tourism to survive-
and lack of snow for just one winter could shut this place
down completely."
"Maybe we should get your Michael friend to pray
again." Clyde looked at her from the corner of his eye and