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truck pulled into his driveway so RJ could go around him. After RJ left, the truck returned to the street to block the driveway again.
    "That RJ has the patience of a saint," Paul said. "The parking on this street has gotten worse and worse. Wharton Meadows keeps adding residents and expanding their services to nonresidents, all without considering the traffic flow. The rumor is that they would like to purchase the garden land for an additional building and a great deal of parking."
    "Like the Joni Mitchell song about paving paradise and replacing it with a parking lot?" Having said it, Helen had a feeling "Big Yellow Taxi" was going to be running through her head nonstop for the next few days.
    Paul smiled. "That is what Dale believes."
    "So if the owner of the retirement community had been plowed under instead of Sheryl Toth, Dale would have been the prime suspect."
    "With Sheryl as well," Paul said. "Putting a dozen town houses on this land, like she wanted to do, would have been almost as bad as paving it over."
    "Good thing it was just an accident then, or Detective Peterson would probably have Dale in custody by now," Helen said.
    "She would not be the only suspect," Paul said. "Marty Drumm would be another."
    "But he was distraught when he heard about her death."
    "That is so, but his distress could have been as much for himself as for her. She was not an easy person to work for. Today, it is not that uncommon for a woman to own a construction business, but thirty years ago, it was different. A woman had to be tougher than the toughest man. She learned that lesson perhaps a little too well. By the time she had become accepted, she did not know any other way to act." He shrugged. "Or perhaps she was just like that naturally. It is difficult to say."
    "If Marty can operate a bulldozer, he has skills that are in demand," Helen said. "If he didn't like working for Sheryl, he didn't have to kill her. He could have just gone to work for someone else."
    "The rumor is that Sheryl recently threatened to fire him for drinking on the job. He could not have gotten another job with that on his record. Not driving heavy equipment."
    "It's a good thing, then, that the police are convinced Sheryl's death was just an accident," Helen said.
    "I am not so sure." For once the smile on Paul's face faded, and while he didn't exactly frown, there was a hint of sadness in his eyes. "Sheryl took risks with her business ventures but not with personal safety. I believe you have had some experience with the local police being wrong before. They could be wrong this time too."
     
    *   *   *
     
    Paul glanced at the sky. "I must get to my office. I did not mean to stay in the garden so long this morning. But I am glad we had the chance to talk again, Helen Binney."
    "I might as well go too," Helen said. "There's nothing more for me to do here."
    Before Helen could insist that she didn't need help, Paul had carried her kneeler and tools over to the sidewalk beside the Harley. She thanked him, and he headed over to his pickup truck.
    Helen pulled out her phone to call Jack, a little surprised he hadn't simply shown up already. Before she dialed though, she was distracted by Dale's approach.
    Helen nodded a greeting. "Any news about Sheryl's death and when the police will be releasing the crime scene?"
    "I'm afraid not." Dale absently lifted the helmet off the back of the Harley. Beneath it, the tour-pak had a bumper sticker that read Born to Hang.
    Dale followed Helen's glance down to the bumper sticker and laughed. "It's not what it looks like. It's part of the campaign to ensure that everyone has the right to hang laundry outdoors."
    "I didn't know it was an endangered activity."
    "It is," Dale said. "Homeowners associations love to ban it as an eyesore. But line drying is environmentally beneficial. Did you know that drying clothes accounts for about ten percent of all residential electricity costs? Plus, generating all that electricity wastes