“They are. Allison says they have no children to consider. And Edna seems to be pretty well off on her own. And they don't consider their investment useless. They want to live here until they die.”
Shelley shook her head. 'I don't believe it. I think they've just decided this is the official line they're taking with us.'
“Allison was perfectly sincere, Shelley. I'd bet my bottle of Giorgio on it.'
“Maybe so, but we haven't heard Benson's version. He's a very bright, ambitious guy in spite of his aging- hippie appearance. Look at the effort he's put into this sales job on us.'
“That's true.'
“And nobody gave him this place to start with. He must have paid plenty for it. Or maybe his mother paid,' Shelley said.
“I don't think so. Allison made clear that Edna kept offering to move them to Chicago and support them, and Allison said they wouldn't consider it.'
“Where do you suppose he did get the money?' Shelley said. 'He lived close to us once, didn't he say? And they were going to buy one of those houses that was supposed to go up behind our block. Those were to have been very expensive. Wonder what he did for a living.'
“You've got me there. I'll see if I can find a chance to ask Allison. So I've been hiding from the group this morning. Are we still batty outcasts?'
“Nobody's said a single word to me about bodies, alive or dead,' Shelley said.
“And have you thought of any new explanation?”
“I toyed with an international spy ring,' Shelley said. 'But it didn't work out. Couldn't figure out why anybody'd need to fake a dead car dealer. Then I considered a big drug cartel transporting drugs inside the works of new cars, but that wouldn't account for the dead car dealer coming back to life. I can't come up with any explanation that makes the least bit of sense.”
Jane put the damp towel back in the bathroom. When she came out, Shelley was standing by the glass doors overlooking the creek. 'Look at this, Jane. Isn't that water getting closer to us? I don't like that.'
“Hmm. Maybe. But it's still a long way below us. Don't worry. Your spiffy notebook isn't going to be washed away in a raging torrent.'
“You know what I'm wondering?'
“I can guess. The same thing I am,' Jane said. 'Could all this stuff about the zoning restrictions have anything to do with our finding what was definitely a dead body?'
“Exactly. Or, even more likely, the environmentalists.'
“How so?'
“They're trying to make the point of how much political power they can wield by ruining Benson's business. And he hasn't kept what he's doing a secret. He's invited half the county to come to these classes and demonstrations. Looks like it could be a very successful bid for the school to send their kids here and profit him considerably. That would wreck their plans, wouldn't it?'
“Okay. .'
“So what could be more discouraging to potential `investors,' which we are in a way, than to have one of us killed off?'
“So the victim was to be whoever was the last to leave, not Sam Claypool specifically?'
“Could be,' Shelley muttered. 'But—”
Jane ran her hands through her hair in a despairing gesture. 'I know! I know! It still doesn't explain how he came back to life!”
When Jane and Shelley walked back to the lodge, the environmentalists were out in force. They were dressed in costumes. Animal heads that covered their heads, and black cloaks — for mourning, Jane assumed. They carried signs that said things like THE WILDLIFE WAS HERE FIRST! and ONLY FISH BELONG IN WATER.
“Do you think we could mention frogs also living in water?' Jane said under her breath. 'Not to ignore newts and insects and all kinds of slimy things.'
“I wouldn't mention anything to them,' Shelley said. 'I imagine every one of them can do a solid hour's worth of harangue.”
One demonstrator had a large poster with a disgustingly vivid picture of a road-killed possum and the message SHAME! Jane turned away, revolted, and stuck close to Shelley, who was dodging through the line of protestors. In the distance they could hear a siren.
“Poor Benson,' Jane said, entering the lodge. 'They're trying to wreck this school project for him.'
“But we're all smart enough to figure that out,' Shelley said. 'Still, posters like that picture could be really upsetting to impressionable kids. I hate myself for it, but I'm starting to have real doubts about the wisdom of sending them here.”
Liz was standing by a front window of the lodge, watching the crowd outside. 'Not good,' she said when Jane met her gaze. 'I don't like this kind of terrorism. Have you two had lunch?'
“Not yet,' Jane said.
“Then come and sit with me, would you? I've been waiting for Al, but he's probably lost,' Liz said. 'The man has no sense of direction.”
They got their plates and found an empty table in the far back corner of the dining room. 'So how many of the morning-session classes did you get to?' Liz asked.
“Just one,' Shelley said. 'Leatherwork.”
