Read Online The Grub-And-Stakers Move a Mountain by Charlotte MacLeod, Alisa Craig - Free Book Online Page B

frost was out, so he could pretend they were hitting frozen ground instead of rock. He’s got away with so many other things, I suppose he’d be cocky enough to think even a fool stunt like that would work.”
    “Only he didn’t count on having a new man with a few brains in his head join the department just at the wrong time,” Dittany added. “Frankland did say he’d protested to Mr. Architrave about the ground being too hard to give a proper reading.
    Maybe that finally penetrated the old man’s skull and he got to wondering about it himself and that’s why he went up there today and that’s why McNaster had him killed. And, Hazel, I think they’re putting out a contract on me.”
    “A what?”
    “I think that’s what they call it.” Dittany wasn’t sure, having watched only one television crime show in her life and found it dull stuff in comparison to any average day’s doings around Lobelia Falls. “Anyway, the lawyer-McNaster called him Charlie and I got the impression that he’s from Scottsbeck-said Andy had better find out who that woman from the Conservation Committee was if he knew what was good for him, and what was good for him would automatically have to be bad for me, wouldn’t it?”
    “Maybe you’d better put that wig back on before you leave,”
    Hazel replied in a worried tone. “How did they know you were from the Conservation Committee without knowing your name too?”
    “I mentioned the committee when I was yelling at that Frankland man to get off the Spotted Pipsissewa, and I didn’t tell him who I was until after that arrow had been fired. So the man who shot Mr. Architrave must have been right there on the other side of the ridge where he could hear me but not see me, and ran away as soon as he’d loosed his second arrow. Or she did,” Dittany added, thinking of her meager gleanings from the receptionist’s wastebasket. “The woman in the front office didn’t seem to have done much of anything today. Maybe she was busy elsewhere. I wonder who she is and how heavy a bow she pulls.”
    “That’s a thought, Dittany. She wouldn’t be anybody local.
    You know McNaster can’t get anybody from Lobelia Falls to work for him because we all hate his guts. I must say I can’t imagine why Jim Streph does, though he’s so wrapped up in his art that he’d design new hinges for the doors of Hell if the Devil asked him to, and never think twice about where the money was coming from. But surely McNaster didn’t admit he’d put somebody up to killing old John?”
    “Naturally not. He blustered around and claimed he didn’t know a thing about it, but what would you expect? Anyway, this Charlie kept insisting McNaster had better drop the idea of stealing the land. Even if he wasn’t guilty he’d get into trouble because Mr. Architrave’s death would focus public attention on the Enchanted Mountain. But McNaster said he wouldn’t because it’s all sewed up.”
    “How, for goodness’ sake? Not that goodness has anything to do with it, obviously.”
    “You sound like Mae West. That’s the most fantastic part of all, Hazel. You know Sam Wallaby is running for Development Commission, eh?”
    “Is he? I’m afraid I hadn’t paid much attention.”
    “Then you darn well should because he was right there in that office with the rest of them.”
    “Sam Wallaby from the liquor store? That’s impossible. He’s always so nice about donating-“
    “The eggnog for the Old Folks’ Christmas Party. I know. He was laughing his head off about how nobody could run against him because everybody thinks he’s such a fine, public-spirited citizen. And when I think of the two bucks I wasted on that fancy stationery so I could write him a nice thank-you note for the sauterne and Seven-Up we had at the flower show, I could spit!”
    Hazel sat back and shook her head. “I simply cannot believe it.”
    “Then you just sit back and fold your hands and see what’s going to happen as soon as