A horn sounded loudly from the street and a girl's voice yelled, "Mister! Sir - Mister!"
Solo turned to meet the half-running figure of a girl. She came onto the sidewalk smiling, dropping a coin in a parking meter where there was no car as she passed it. She was tall and blond with a figure that was astounding under the tight slacks and brightly printed shirt. She trotted along with firm steps. Wholesome was the word for her, he decided. Her body was young, ample, and gently muscled.
"Were you calling me?" he smiled.
"Yes, if you don't mind. I have this terrible problem and I wondered if you'd help me."
"Anything. Just ask."
She held out a set of keys that dangled on a leather strap. "Would you park my car for me? Right there in that empty space? I know it's crazy, but since they put in parallel parking, I simply can't handle it by myself. I always have to ask."
"And who would refuse?" Solo took the keys gallantly.
"It's gotten to be a town joke." She smiled at him. "All the boys know that if they want to talk to Gloryanna Piper, they only have to wait by an empty parking space. It causes me more trouble than good. You're the only man on the block today."
"And very obliging. I'll park it and be right back." Solo got into her car, swung it forward and then back into the cramped space. When he returned, she was standing hands on hips.
"Good job," she said.
"Now, is there anything else I can help you with? You look a little warm, so how about a soda, Miss Piper?"
She flushed. "Oh - I don't know -"
"My name is Napoleon Solo and I suggested a simple soda, not a drink. Chocolate, strawberry, pineapple...?"
She hesitated, then surrendered. "I suppose it would be all right." She linked her arm through his. "Make mine chocolate."
He led her along the street, liking the feel of her arm, strong and yet pliant. She seemed to be that way from head to foot. They entered the soda parlor and he was pleased to find it decorated in the old-fashioned tradition with wire-backed chairs and marble-topped tables. Pink and white walls sported pictures of confections. There was the traditional soda jerk, too, but his gaze wasn't friendly as he took their order.
Gloryanna looked down her pretty nose at him and concentrated on Solo. "You're with the Department of Agriculture?"
"No." He made up his mind quickly. It wouldn't do to identify himself with the government since they were here in such force. "I'm just passing through town. A friend and me."
"I'm glad. I don't think much of the Agriculture men, to tell the truth. They're very rude and I don't like their looks."
"Rude?"
"They swarm all over our farm, taking soil samples and checking about, but when Dad goes out to talk to them they treat him like the dirt they're walking on. We get the impression they wish we'd all move away and let them have the land."
"You've seen their credentials?"
"Of course. We wouldn't let them come around with out that. And there are so many of them."
"That's funny," Solo said. "I didn't see many names on the hotel register."
The sodas arrived, but Gloryanna went on talking. "They don't stay at the hotel. They have a better place, people say - fancier. It's a big estate about a mile from our farm."
Solo opened her straw for her and plunked it into her soda. "They like luxury, huh?"
"Well, it is luxurious. One of those gentlemen farmers, I guess you call them, built the place years ago. Acres and acres. A big house and big barns and a great fence all around it. It has hills and woods and a stream. I used to dream about living there. It stood empty for years, but a few months ago someone bought it. Not that we've seen anything of them." She sipped at her soda and smacked her lips. "I shouldn't be mean about them, though, because they did make one of their barns available to the road show that came to town. That was friendly enough."
"When was that?" Solo asked, knowing he'd soon have to stop the flow of questions or she would notice that she was giving all the answers.
"Right now," she said. "It's a big show and would have been such fun, only now we don't have the heart for it. With the trouble and all."
"Yes." Solo let his expression fall, "I've seen the fields around here."
"It makes you sick, doesn't it? Even my flower garden is gone. My daffodils and spring flowers were so beautiful, but my annuals - Sometimes I don't think I can stand to go out of the house and see the devastation."
"Do you suppose I could get a closer look at the land?"
"To gawk?" She was angry. "It's not nice to be curious about other people's tragedies, Mr. Solo. We've lost every thing we planted. We may even have to sell our dairy herd because we have no pasture for them."
"Sorry." And Solo was. He didn't mean to appear uncaring. Not to this girl with her special freshness and obvious misfortune. "Drink the last of that soda and I'll splurge for another. A double, if you like."
She forgave him with a quick laugh. "You'll make me fat. But I'll accept."
They sat in the soda parlor for a long time, talking about nothing in particular, but it wasn't wasted time for Solo. Gloryanna Piper was his link to the fields around Riverview and he had to make her consider him a friend. He had little in the way of solid leads, although the estate she had mentioned sounded interesting.
The door opened and out of long-trained habit he checked who was coming. It was Illya. He came in frowning. "Here you are! I've been looking everywhere. I thought you said three o'clock."
Solo looked at his watch and found it was three-thirty. "My apologies, Illya. You should have rung me up."
"I thought of it, and then thought better of it." Illya was looking at Gloryanna. Solo made quick introductions. "I should have known." Illya sat down. "Just follow the trail of the town belle and you find Napoleon."
"Always," Solo said. "But something more. Gloryanna is going to take us into her father's blighted farmland."
Gloryanna straightened, feeling herself maneuvered into a corner. "Now, I didn't say I'd do that, Mr. Solo."
"But you did. How about right now? While the light holds?" He softened the demand with a grin. "And call me Napoleon."
As she grinned back, he coaxed her to her feet, giving her no chance to refuse. "Men!" she growled, and led the way outside.
Chapter 9
"I Prefer the Yellow-Bellied Thrush"
GLORYANNA PILED them both into the front seat of her car - after Solo had unparked it for her - and drove them out of town into the brown desolation. She pointed out the gated entrance to the estate she had mentioned but there was nothing to see from the road since the buildings were set far back on the acreage. A mile further on she entered her own driveway and braked to a stop.
"Come on and see what you have to see," she called, striding ahead.
"Quite a girl." Illya fell into step beside Solo. "She reminds me of Russian peasant stock - sturdy, lithe, and fetching."
"There aren't any peasants around here, my friend."
"Right. But she reminds me."