Jeopardy In July

Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

Seeing him there, it was hard to believe this was the same person we'd thought looked so dangerous. In my mind, he had been taller, younger, and much more threatening than the man calmly talking to Jodi. It helped that he was now surrounded by beautiful flowers and that he wasn't brandishing any weapons. Context is everything. Upon closer scrutiny, I could see he was in his late sixties with a neatly-trimmed gray beard and precise mannerisms. He looked like a professor or the conductor of a symphony orchestra, exacting, decisive, in charge. Or maybe my imagination was just on overload. That was a definite possibility.

Jessie was having none of it. "Who do you think you are?" she demanded, wagging her finger practically in his face.

I didn't know her all that well but the Jessie I thought I knew was a giggly purple-haired savior of dogs who loved the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and tie-dye. This version of Jessie was a spit-fire, Jessie 2.0, and she wasn't taking crap from anyone.

Jodi looked shocked. "Jessie, what's going on here?"

"I'll tell you what's going on, do not trust this man. We caught him in the woods carrying an axe and a knife. Who does that? You don't scare me, Mister, so why don't you go intimidate somebody else!"

"That's not--you're making a--" Jodi interjected.

"--It's all right, Mrs. Martin, I can speak for myself," the man said touching her lightly on the arm. He was smooth, I'll give him that.

He turned to Jessie with a forced smile that never reached his eyes. "I apologize for the incident earlier, but I meant you no harm, I assure you. Your dog was being aggressive and blocking my path."

Jessie looked skeptical. "Who takes a nature walk carrying a knife and an axe?"

He stared her down, a pillar of composure and self-assurance. "I'm sorry if they offend you but those are my tools. I take cuttings of plants for grafting and cultivating."

Jessie's expression went from doubtful to smug. "I guess you don't know it's against the law to remove plants from a nature preserve."

It was his turn to look superior. "And what you don't know is that this rule doesn't apply to me," he said disdainfully, then turned and walked away.

Jodi and Jessie were both shaking their heads, but for different reasons.

"That was a bit much, Jess, don't you think?" Jodi was wearing a pained expression.

"Why doesn't he have to follow the rules?" Jessie snapped. "What makes him so special?"

"He's a certified master naturalist, for one thing," Jodi explained.

"Well," Jessie said, not backing down, "he should wear a bell around his neck so he doesn't scare people to death. Seriously, all he needs is a mask and he'd look like Jason from Friday the 13th."

"I hate to tell you this," Jodi said, "but you're going to be seeing a lot more of him."

"Why?"

"Because he lives here. That's Eli, the botanist. He's the new resident."

Jessie scowled. I took that as my cue to take my leave before I passed out from heat stroke and needed my own ambulance with handsome paramedics.

"Hey Jess, I should go, I have a client coming in this afternoon. Thanks for the tour, it was fun. Or something." I laughed and Jessie did too. "Do me a favor?" I said. "Don't tell anyone I was here to see the Petersens, okay? Client confidentiality and all that."

"No problem," Jessie agreed. "Gossip is the only thing these folks enjoy more than Bingo."

"Thanks, and if I ever need an enforcer, I'm calling you. You're something else. But for now, try to play nice in the sandbox. Okay?"

"I'll try," she said making a face, "but it won't be easy. Come on, Marley, let's go see the Card Sharks."