As soon as Cooper drove off, Fair called Ned. "Ned, I need you."
After Ned agreed to represent Fair, Harry called Patricia Kluge and Bill Moses, since they were the last people to see Professor Forland alive, apart from the killer. Harry then asked Bill if she could bring over a strip of the flypaper with the strange insect.
If Bill didn't know what it was, he'd find out fast enough, since he had every conceivable program for his computer relative to wine-growing.
Then Harry, Fair, Mrs. Murphy, Pewter, and Tucker glumly sat in the living room.
Finally Harry said, "We'll get to the bottom of this."
"I hope so, honey. Innuendo can ruin one's reputation. Sometimes I think the facts are irrelevant once the media gets hold of you."
"We'll come through." She put her hand on his. "In the meantime, we carry on. Business as usual."
He was glad she was by his side. "Right."
Pewter, on the back of the couch behind Fair, faced Mrs. Murphy, who was behind Harry. Tucker curled up at the end of the sofa.
"Thought of something,"Pewter piped up.
"What?"Mrs. Murphy's tail swayed slightly.
"Jedheard two trucks."
Tucker lifted her head."Hy's and Fair's." "He couldn't have heard Fair's truck. Jed had jumped out and was on his way by then. That's why Fair couldn't find him." Pewter sat up.
Mrs. Murphy looked at Pewter, then at Tucker."She's right"
27
"It cuts the water supply, cuts off the nutrients going through the xylem, like our veins." Bill Moses studied the sharpshooter on his computer screen.
Harry had taken the strips to Bill and Patricia. Hy Maudant might know of the glassy-winged sharpshooter, but Harry had considered his position and hers. Also, Patricia and Bill could quickly command help if needed. Right now, Hy could not.
Patricia leaned over her husband's shoulder as he brought up a picture of the odd-looking insect. "How long does it take to get established?"
"That's just it." Bill hunched forward as he scrolled up more information. "The sharpshooter shouldn't be here at all. We're too far north."
"But it is here." Harry absorbed their rising concern.
"It just doesn't make sense." Bill then answered his wife's question. "If this insect introduces the bacteria into the vine, it can kill all of them in one to two years. According to this, some vines may survive five years, but the glassy-winged sharpshooter shouldn't be able to survive frosts."
"What were the sharpshooters doing in my peach orchard?" Harry asked.
"Because the bacteria can infect peaches, plums, almonds, as well as grapes. It may not take hold in your orchard, but you don't want to wait to find out."
"No." Angry, Harry's heart beat faster. "No. And why does someone want to harm my peaches? There are hardly any Alverta peaches left. Bad enough Professor Forland's body was there. I just can't believe it."
"Right now your Alverta peaches seem to be a magnet for evil." Patricia put her arm around Harry's shoulders, then asked her husband, "Bill, how does the disease spread? I know the insect carries it, but how quickly can it spread?"
Bill scrolled up more information. "Mmm,a sharpshooter can fly a quarter of a mile. Once established, the insect population explodes. And the bacteria can be transmitted to the host within an hour's worth of feeding."
"That's a long time to eat," Harry ruefully joked.
"What else?" Patricia moved from Harry to lean over Bill again.
"One good thing: not all sharpshooters are infected."
"So maybe these bugs are clean?" Harry said hopefully.
"We should call the USDA."
"Yes. We need to send some of these strips to Virginia Tech, too. They'll work fast." Bill looked back at the screen. "Today. We have to do this today. In the 1880s, the sharpshooter destroyed thirty-five thousand acres of vineyards in southern California. When the sharpshooter migrated to the Hill Country of Texas after five unusually warm winters, it killed every vine in every vineyard, and that was after 1995."
"My grapes are more than a mile from the peach orchard." Harry felt a ripple of despair. "Isn't there anything I can do to protect my peaches or my grapes?"
"Put up sticky strips to keep an eye on your insect population. There isn't a tried-and-true remedy." He stood up. "I'll run these strips down to Blacksburg."
Blacksburg, home of Virginia Tech, was in the Shenandoah Valley, a good two-and-a-half hours away.
"I'll take some to the USDA office, then," Patricia said. The agency kept a small office off Berkmar Drive in Albemarle County.
"I'm going back to my peach orchard. Maybe I can trap whoever is doing this. Put up a sticky strip for a human."
"Harry, don't do that," Bill commanded. "I mean it. You don't know who did this. Considering everything that's been happening, it could be dangerous."
"Killed for a peach." Harry rolled her eyes.
Bill's brows furrowed. "People have been killed for less. Until we really know who killed Professor Forland, we'd better be as vigilant around people as around these sharpshooters."
Patricia punched a button on her cell phone for a prerecorded number. As she waited she asked Harry, "Are you going right home?"
"Yes."
"Sixty-four?" Patricia named the interstate.
"Yes."
Patricia diverted her attention from Harry. "Hello, this is Patricia Kluge. Is Deputy Cooper there?"
Within seconds, Cooper picked up. "Deputy Cooper here."
"Coop, will you meet Harry at her farm in a half hour? Apart from last night's grisly discovery, someone has been tampering with her peach orchard, and it could have disastrous consequences for many of us. She'll explain when you get there."
"I'll be there."
"Harry, get moving." Bill kissed her on the cheek.
As she drove out, Harry noted that Kluge Estate sat at the same elevation her farm did, from eight hundred to one thousand feet. That elevation was perfect for apples and certain grape varieties.
Virginia ranked sixth in the nation for growing apples, and the state was moving up in the grape-growing numbers, too.
When Harry arrived home, two disgruntled cats and one joyful dog greeted her.
"You left without me."Pewter coolly received Harry's hug.
Mrs. Murphy wasn't much better."We should be with you at all times!"
"Hi, Mom. Hi, Mom."Tucker ran in circles.
"She is so obsequious,"Pewter remarked.
"Dogs—" Mrs. Murphy didn't finish her sentence, as she heard the squad car coming down the drive.
As soon as Coop pulled in, Harry hopped into the squad car along with her three animals. She told the deputy about the sharpshooter as they drove.
They had to drive back out, turn right on the state road, and go a mile to the old Jones driveway.
"You going to rent this place?" Coop asked as the gray number-five stones rattled off the skid plate.
"Up to Herb. He owns ten acres and the house."
"When's he moving out?"
"Well, that's the thing. He swears he will retire next year, but we all know that's not going to happen."
"Think he'd rent it to me?"
"What a good idea!" Harry's countenance brightened, as she was happy to have her mind off events if even for a moment. "Ask him."
"I will."
As they passed the house, turning left by the cattle barns, the dust from the road kicked up behind like a rooster's plume.
"After all the rain we've had this spring, I can't believe how dry this road is."
"That's central Virginia, isn't it? Walk ten paces and you're standing on a different kind of soil. One type drains well and another doesn't."
"I didn't think you were interested in such things," Harry replied.
"I'm not a farmer, but I am observant. Part of my job." She smiled as she pulled over. "Wish these squad cars had four-wheel drive. Wouldn't be as good in a car chase, I guess."
They got out then walked the rest of the way to the orchard. Yellow tape cordoned off the grave site. It would be removed and the dirt filled back in once Rick felt certain they hadn't overlooked anything.