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can get their bees going again. What else, Renee?”
    Renee reached down into her briefcase by her chair and pulled out a folder filled with news clippings. “I did a little research and found out that Menadrin was produced by a chemical company called Pioneer Laboratories. They were based in New Jersey, which, as you know, is not too far from here. They thought they’d invented a miracle potion for growing fruits and vegetables, like I said a few days ago, and they were so sure it was going to be a hit that they produced tons and tons of it. They poured a lot of money into the project. It was a huge risk, but they gambled that there would be no side effects.” She raised one eyebrow and said, “They were wrong.”
    â€œSounds like someone lost a load of money,” Grandfather observed.
    Renee nodded. “Sure did. Someone lost a fortune. ”
    â€œWow!” Jessie said.
    Benny couldn’t keep quiet about their own news any longer. “We were in the diner this morning, and we saw Mr. Price talking to another man, a man we saw on the Shermans’ farm a few days ago. When we first saw him, he told us his name was Mr. Carlson, but when Henry overheard them talking, Mr. Price called him Mr. Wentworth.”
    â€œ Tyler Wentworth,” Henry added.
    â€œOh, my goodness,” said Renee. “He was the owner of Pioneer Laboratories!”
    She pulled a magazine article out of her folder and showed it to the Aldens. One of the pages showed a man’s photograph with the caption Tyler Wentworth , and the children recognized him instantly.
    â€œLet me guess — he’s the man who lost all the money, right?” said Henry.
    Renee nodded. “That’s right. He lost so much that he had to go out of business. No one’s heard much about him since. It probably ruined him.”
    Grandfather said, “This is starting to make sense now. I’ll bet the first thing that was on Tyler Wentworth’s mind when he learned that he was going to lose all that money was how to get it back.”
    â€œBy making it so the Shermans’ bees didn’t produce any more honey?” Renee asked. “That doesn’t make sense.”
    â€œUnless Mr. Wentworth decided to go into the honey business himself,” said Henry. “And from what I overheard today, he has!”
    â€œYou mean the reason Wentworth was talking to Mr. Price was because he was trying to get that big contract?” asked Renee.
    â€œAnd it was very good for him that both Sherman and Hennessey were having trouble with their bees at the same time,” Violet added. “That meant Mr. Price would be stuck, right, Grandfather? And he’d have to buy honey from someone else.”
    â€œThat’s right,” Grandfather said.
    â€œIn fact,” said Henry, “that’s exactly what they were talking about in the diner — the contract. Still, I suppose it could be a coincidence. I wish we had one more clue.”
    â€œWait,” said Jessie. “I remember Mr. Wentworth had all these red marks on his arms. Could that be a sign that he was the one who sprayed the Menadrin on the wild-flowers?”
    â€œIt certainly could be,” Renee told her. “Menadrin is known to cause mild rashes on the skin, even without direct contact. If you sprayed it without gloves and long sleeves and the wind blew it back onto you … sure, you could very easily develop a rash.”
    Everyone fell silent as they considered what this meant.
    Violet said, “I think this is the big break we’ve needed.”
    â€œSo what’s next?” Renee asked.
    â€œI think it’s time to give the Shermans a call,” Henry said.

CHAPTER 9
    A Fair Price
    E veryone ate quickly, then piled into the station wagon and headed over to the Shermans’ farm. At one point in the journey Grandfather joked that they were “making a beeline ” over there, but instead of