LITMIR.BIZ

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Stan,” Aunt Susan said, “but don’t forget that the publisher is one of the store’s financial backers, at least so we’ve been told. We can’t expect him to be entirely objective.”

      “It’s not Whiteside that’s the problem,” Archie Watson said. He’d been the last to arrive, still red-faced and apoplectic after his chat with Cal Grigsby at the paper. “It’s that little hack who’s working for him. He talks a smooth line, but he’s biased as hell.” He glared around the room, challenging anyone to disagree with him. His gaze lighted on me and a dangerous spark flashed in his eye, identifying me perhaps as the witness to his show of temper in the Gazette office. I smiled blandly at him, and he looked away.

      “I think Cal’s very nice, Archie,” Emma Tempest said. “Granted, he made you look foolish in his article, but if you will make inflammatory statements, you can’t blame the boy for using them. He has a job to do, same as you.”

      I hadn’t seen the article they were talking about. I’d meant to look at the Gazette before coming to the meeting, but I got distracted by Kountry Kow. Now I was itching to read it. I love a good bit of dirt in the local rag.

      “I think we should all agree not to talk to the press individually,” said Florence Levine, the small, birdlike woman who owned the Homerun Video Den. “If we have something to say about the development, we should issue press releases.”

      “That’s a good idea,” Susan said. “If we present a united front, we’ll have more clout.”

      “I think this whole thing is a waste of time,” said Mr. Drugstore, who had been introduced as Joseph Olszewski. He was an older man with a baggy, basset hound face and a voice like a foghorn. I still couldn’t shake my mental image of him in bed in his white coat, except now, my wicked brain had added a long, wagging tail to the picture. Can’t say why this was. I couldn’t look at him without an inclination to snicker. “The Kountry Pantree is a done deal,” Olszewski continued. “The building’s almost finished, and if you look in the classifieds, you’ll notice they’re already advertising for staff. I don’t see what we can possibly do to stop it now.”

      “We need to know who the proponents are,” Susan said. “Polly can help us with that, I think.”

      “Why’s she here, anyway?” said Pete Holicky, the Pizza man. “She’s working for the enemy, isn’t she?”

      “She is?” Emma Tempest said, turning to me, her face sagging in disappointment.

      “I’m doing a contract for them,” I said. “And I don’t really know why I’m here. Susan asked me.”

      “Polly’s an independent freelancer,” Susan said. “She’s not a supporter, per se. Are you, Polly?” Ouch. On the spot. Time for my face to go red.

      “Whether I support it or not is immaterial,” I said, carefully. “I agree with Mr. Olszewski, though. I don’t think there’s much you can do at this point.”

      “Ah, but we have an ace in the hole,” Emma said. “Does she know, Susan?”

      “No, she doesn’t, Emma,” Susan said, “and it’s best not to tell her. As you can see, she’s an open book.” This third-person “she” stuff really bugged me, and I didn’t appreciate having my blushing mug pointed out to these people I hardly knew. Next she would be telling them that I was dating a cop and could be relied on to pass along everybody’s dirty secrets to him. I blushed harder and glanced over at George, who wasn’t saying anything. He was looking at Susan with an expression of mild amusement. You’re laughing now, I thought at him. Just wait till she blabs to everybody that you sing opera in the shower, George, and see how you like it.

      “You said I could help you, Susan,” I said coldly. “Just how, exactly?”

      “You met with one of their committees recently, didn’t you?” she said, ignoring my tone.

      “I did,” I said.

      “Well, who was there? That will give us some idea of who we’re up against.” I felt like I was in a bad spy movie. Kidnap the enemy. Feed her mini-pizzas and coffee, then make her spill the goods, boss. If she don’t talk, make her eat a cupcake.

      “You probably know already,” I said. “It’s no big secret. There was David Kane, of course. He’s the front line man. He’s too young to be putting up all the cash himself, though. I think his parents may be helping him.”

      “That’d be the distillery Kanes in Toronto?” Holicky said.

      “Yup. Big bucks there,” Susan said. “Who else, Polly?”

      “Well, this was just a focus group to come up with a mascot for the store. The others aren’t necessarily backers, you know.”

      “A mascot?” Archie Watson said. “You mean like a logo or something?”

      “No, a sort of mascot character, like the Zellers teddy bear.”

      “Huh. A big fat pig would be appropriate,” Watson said. “A stinking, greedy . . .”

      “Archie, let it go,” Susan said. “So who was in the focus group, Polly?”

      “I don’t know if I should tell you,” I said, feeling that at least a token resistance was called for. I was working for them, after all, and while they hadn’t sworn me to secrecy or anything, I felt like I was ratting them out. It was obvious that the group was bent on taking some kind of action against them.

      “You said yourself it’s not top secret information, dear,” Emma Tempest said, reading my mind.

      “I know that. This just makes me uncomfortable,” I said.

      “Told you she was working for the enemy,” Holicky said. “You watch. She’ll go right back to them and say who was here and what went on tonight, and they’ll get us back.”

      “This is not international espionage, Peter,” Susan said. “There’s no need to be melodramatic.”

      “This is how such things begin, though,” Olszewski the druggist said. “Secret meetings, strategy, informers. Before you know it, there’ll be a pogrom.”

      “Oh, please,” I said. “If it means that much to you, the Elliots and Duke Pitblado were there too. Okay? Everybody happy now?”

      “The Elliots. I might have known,” said the photo shop guy, Herman. “They come to this town and take over a century-old inn and turn it into Disneyland. Of course they’d be behind it.” Winston and Serena Elliot had bought the Mooseview Inn more than ten years ago. They’d upgraded the original building, built condos on the property and put in a golf course, but you could hardly call it Disneyland. If they hadn’t bought the old place, which had been falling apart, it would have collapsed into the Kuskawa River.

      “I knew Duke Pitblado negotiated the land deal, but I’m surprised that he’s involved,” Emma said. Duke was a local real estate broker. He lived in a palatial home in the East End, overlooking Settlers’ Lake.

      “I’d’a thought he was too busy making babies,” Holicky said. Duke had married a woman half his age, who had been in a perpetual state of pregnancy since her wedding. It was sort of a town joke—not a very nice one.

      “Well, there’s local money behind it, just as I thought,” Susan said, satisfied. “With the Elliots and Pitblado on board, David Kane wouldn’t have had any trouble getting past any zoning restrictions at Town Hall.”

      “But the land belonged to the town to begin with, didn’t it?” Florence Levine the video lady said.

      “Yes, it did, but I think we’d better save that discussion for later,” Susan said, casting a significant glance in my direction.

      “Oh, I see,” I said. “Pas devant les domestiques, is that it? Worried I might go scuttling off to the committee and tell them you’re planning to sue them for corrupt practices?”

      “What

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