Greedy Bones by Carolyn Haines Page A

came out of my dire thoughts of economic ruin, I found I'd ridden miles from home. Across a big field was the cottage that a handsome young blues-man had rented. Another page of my past rose up to haunt me on this strange night.
    This was also the location where Coleman and I had first kissed.
    The house he rented wasn't far. I checked my watch. It was nearly five in the morning. He'd be up in another half hour. I'd surprise him by riding up and having a cup of breakfast coffee. I needed to ask him a few things about the case.
    Fifteen minutes later, Reveler and I walked down Coleman's dirt driveway. I wondered what happened to the house he'd shared with Connie. Knowing Coleman, he'd signed it over to Connie without a backward look.
    Just as I slid out of the saddle, Coleman stepped onto the front porch of the wooden cottage. He wore jeans and a T-shirt, and he held a mug of steaming coffee. When he saw me, a smile spread across his face before he reined his expression in.
    My stomach fluttered, and a delicate curl of nausea teased me, but I walked to the porch leading Reveler.
    "Are you investigating on horse back now?" he asked.
    "I couldn't sleep, so I went for a ride. I guess Reveler and I rode a little farther than I anticipated."
    "Coffee?"
    "I'd love some." I removed the bridle and let Reveler graze in Coleman's front yard while we sat on the porch and drank our java.
    "Have you made any progress in the case?" I asked.
    Coleman gazed to the east, where day was breaking. "Bonnie Louise believes someone deliberately loosed some kind of bacteria at the Carlisle plantation."
    "Does she have any evidence of that?" I kept my voice neutral.
    "She's examined some of the weevils at the Carlisle place. They're a mutant strain. Something she's never seen, and boll weevils are her specialty. She and Peyton believe the weevils and genetically altered cotton are connected. I've been trying to reach Lester Ballard for days. I gather he's so deep in the South American jungle no one can contact him."
    "Have you talked to Luther?"
    "I have. He doesn't have a clue. Or if he does, he isn't saying."
    I brought him up-to-date with Erin Carlisle and the research I'd done into her family's past.
    "So she thinks Luther may have done something to destroy the value of the land agriculturally."
    "Maybe."
    "Bonnie took some weevils to Starkville to the university. There's a scientist affiliated with the school who specializes in insects and he's agreed to help. Her concern is that these weevils have such a short gestation period." He rubbed his jaw and I saw he hadn't shaved. "It could be a serious problem for the farmers here. Everywherecotton is grown. The good news is that this is confined to the altered cotton. The weevils, the destruction of the cotton, even the illness."
    "Has she pinpointed whether the weevils are related to what's wrong with Oscar and Gordon?"
    He shook his head. "No one can make that link."
    "You said Bonnie Louise believed the infection was bacterial. Surely it can be treated with antibiotics?"
    "Doc has used every antibiotic available. He's trying for some experimental medicine now. Nothing has touched this."
    If antibiotics weren't working, in my mind, that meant viral. "Maybe some of those new bird flu drugs, something to attack a virus instead of bacteria."
    "Sarah Booth, Doc's tried everything. Bacterial and viral."
    We sat side by side in two old cowhide rockers. "That cotton didn't get there by accident. We have to figure out who and what is behind this."
    "If Erin is correct, Luther Carlisle stands to gain financially if the land is contaminated for agricultural purposes," Coleman said.
    I nodded. "And his sister, too. While she says she doesn't want to sell the land for development, she'd make a lot of money."
    "I can't believe either of them would be stupid enough to infest a field with boll weevils." Frustration was evident in Coleman's voice.
    I told him about Erin's suspicions that her brother was behind the