Maple Mayhem (A Sugar Grove Mystery) Read Online Free PDF Page A

voted most likely to succeed and prom queen or king. Kenneth and Nicole won any position they ran for in local government and they all had naturally straight teeth. Unfortunately they were also inherently likable so you couldn’t even hate them for it.
    I followed Nicole into a lemon-scented kitchen and wished my boots weren’t covered in the dust from Tansey’s place. She set a French-press pot on the counter and filled a kettle with water.
    “Is Kenneth around?” I asked. “I have a question for him.”
    “He’s in the den pretending to work on his book, I believe. Why don’t you head back to talk with him while I finish brewing the coffee.” She flashed me one of the smiles Kenneth was known to mention as the reason he married her and waved me away to the other side of the rambling colonial. The Shaws’ house had been in the family almost as long as the Greenes’ but it had an entirely different character. I walked along the gleaming pumpkin pine floored hall accompanied by an entire line of Shaw men’s portraits glaring down at me, each more intimidating than the last. Their upper lips were so stiff you’d think Botox had been invented a few centuries before it actually was. At the end of the hall stood Kenneth’s den, or lair as he jokingly put it.
    “Come on in,” Kenneth called out. I stepped in and looked around. The room always reminded me of a movie set. It looked so much like a country gentleman’s office in a period English film it didn’t seem real. Every plaid, every stripe, every wall-mounted stuffed duck oozed professional decorator. Kenneth’s plaid flannel shirt even coordinated with the wallpaper. Every time I visited I wondered if he bought an entirely new wardrobe as soon as the room had been completed. “Well, Dani, what brings you here this morning?” Kenneth flashed me the smile that helped him win over hundreds of voters through the years. He pointed at a seat in front of the desk and I took it.
    “I wondered if anything unusual had been happening around your property.”
    “What kind of unusual?”
    “Vandalism. Odd phone calls. That sort of thing.”
    “Is this about what happened to your car?” Kenneth leaned back in his chair and tented his fingers.
    “You’ve heard about that already?” Someone sure had been watering the town grapevine with liquid turbo grow.
    “As the chairman of the select board I hear about everything sooner or later. I was just about to call your grandfather about this and ask if he felt it was wise to continue with your plans.”
    “No disrespect sir but my grandfather isn’t the one in charge of the maple cooperative. That’s why I’m here speaking to you.” On the outside I hoped I looked calm and collected, cool as a molded gelatin salad, but on the inside I was quivering like one, too. The cooperative was a way for me to make my mark in the community and, believe me, it hadn’t been easy to find some unstaked territory. Not with being the youngest in a family that helped settle the town more than two hundred years earlier. It meant more to me than I wanted to consider, especially as I sat in front of someone who could make it all fall apart.
    “It doesn’t seem possible you’re old enough to drive over here on your own let alone to be running a business but time runs amok once you get past forty-five and you’d best not forget it.” I stifled my annoyance at being reminded of my inexperience and youthful appearance. Kenneth Shaw’s participation meant the most of anyone’s and if he wasn’t convinced he should remain in the cooperative, no one else would be either.
    “I’ll bear that in mind.” I took a deep breath to steady myself and steered the conversation back to the point of my visit. “So, about the vandalism, have you experienced any?”
    “No, not as of yet. But I am very concerned about this. The community has certain expectations of us. They look to us for an example. I am not sure participating in something