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dragging Seth after him. Meg went to the door to let them in. “Lolly’s already had her dinner, so Max can join us for a bit. What’s that?” She pointed to a bag that Seth was carrying.
    “It’s a whole chicken I forgot I had. I thought maybe we could grill it outside?”
    “Brilliant! I love the way you return bearing meat, er, poultry. Hand it over.”
    He did, and Meg pulled it out and washed it, split it down the back, then threw together a quick marinade and stuck the spatchcocked chicken and the marinade into a plastic bag. As she was washing her hands Seth grabbed her from behind and turned her to face him.
    “You sure you’re all right?” he asked.
    “Oh, Seth, it’s sweet of you to ask, but I’m not a fragile flower of womanhood. I’ve handled worse, as you well know. Are you suggesting that I
should
be a fragile flower?”
    “Heaven forbid. I’ll take you just the way you are.” He grinned.
    “Dinner can wait. I’m all yours.”

4

    At seven the next morning, Bree stumbled down the back stairs to the kitchen.
    “I didn’t hear you come in last night,” Meg said. “We left some coffee for you.”
    “You might have been kind of busy when I got back.” Bree helped herself to coffee. Meg and Seth exchanged a smile. “Did I imagine it, or did you really say you found another body yesterday?”
    “Sad to say, yes,” Meg answered. “I think I told Detective Marcus he should hire me to find all the bodies in his jurisdiction.”
    “Did you at least get a smile out of him?”
    “I don’t think so. He was pretty focused.” Which was normal for him, Meg reflected. Detective Marcus never smiled much.
    “He won’t be coming by here, will he?” Bree asked darkly.
    “I don’t know why he would. We told him everything we knew, which wasn’t a lot.” Meg turned to Seth. “Are you going back to the sawmill today?”
    “Unless Jonas is tied up with the police. I can’t get started on Donald’s house until I know what lumber I’ve got to work with.”
    “What kind of wood did they use in Colonial construction? I never thought to ask.”
    “It depends on where you are, of course. Around here the original forests were pretty diverse: hemlock, beech, oak, birch, pine, hickory. When people settled in Granford in the eighteenth century, they used mainly pine, oak, and chestnut for timber frame construction, and other woods for fuel or fencing. Sometimes they used the trunks of whole trees—you’ve seen that in your basement and attic. It saved work, and why pretty up something most people would never see? How much do you know about the history of New England forests?”
    Meg smiled at his enthusiasm. “I know something about apple trees, and that’s about it. Are you going to enlighten me?”
    “I can give you the short version. First stage: natural forest when the settlers arrived, and they cut down most of it to make open fields for crops and to heat their homes. The peak deforestation took place in the mid-nineteenth century. Then in the second stage, people either moved to the cities where the jobs and money were or moved west for the same reasons, and the farms went back to nature again. That is, trees came back, but not always the same trees. Third stage: much of the state is now forest again—about three million acres, which is about sixty percent and puts it in the top ten in the country. Most of the forestland is privately held by people like Jonas. Most of the trees now are white pine, red maple, northern red oak, and hemlock.”
    “Is there anything you don’t know?”
    “Quantum physics,” he answered quickly. “How to knit. You want more?”
    By now Meg was laughing. “No, that’s fine. What kind of wood do you need to repair Donald’s house?”
    “Probably oak beams. For the clapboards, pine would be easiest, but it doesn’t last as well as cedar. Cedar grows around here, so it’s historically correct.”
    Seth was interrupted by a knock at the door, and Meg got