he"d been paid for the farm and how he planned to divide
the sum up between all of his father"s descendants.
"That seems very fair of you, Mr. Westerly." She closed
her notebook. "Now, are you sure you don"t mind me
printing up this information-things like the selling price
and all that?"
He shook his head. "I don"t have any secrets. Nothing to
hide."
She sighed. Unfortunately, not everyone in this transac-
tion had been so honest. "Thank you for your time, Mr.
Westerly."
He waved his hand in dismissal. "It"s been a real pleasure.
I should be thanking you. But honestly, I don"t see how this
makes for much of a story. Don"t know why anyone"d care
about me selling my farm."
She looked into his faded eyes. The color reminded her of
the sky today-pale shades of gray. "Mr. Westerly," she
began slowly, glancing to see that the recorder was still run-
ning. "I want to be completely honest with you, okay?"
"Of course. I"d expect you to be. Is something wrong?"
"I"m not sure. But I"ve heard, and maybe this is just a
rumor-I plan to check everything out completely before I
write my story-but Greg Snider"s wife told me that Greg
and Rick were purchasing your property together... as part-
ners." She wanted to add "in crime," but controlled herself.
Looking for You All My Life25
Mr. Westerly"s face clouded over. "But why would Greg
Snider be interested in my farm? He can"t even manage his
own."
"Because, from what I heard, their plan is to develop it."
"Develop it?" His face grew puzzled. "Develop it into
what?"
She drew in a deep breath. "I"ve heard that Greg and Rick
plan to turn all three of these farms into a very large com-
munity development with condominiums and maybe even a
golf course-"
"No!" Mr. Westerly abruptly stood, sending his cup and
saucer to the hardwood floor with a loud crash of shattered
china.
"Oh, I"m so sorry." Maggie fell to her knees and began
picking up the shards of broken porcelain. "And this was
such a pretty cu~"
"No," said Mr. Westerly again, only more quietly this
time. "What you"ve heard is not true. It"s just some mean
rumor concocted up by Greg Snider"s wife. To be completely
honest, those Sniders aren"t the nicest of people. Over the
years I"ve tried to be friendly with Hank, but he was always
a cantankerous fellow. Still, I"m certain that what you heard
is a falsehood, Mrs. Carpenter. You go and speak directly to
Rick Tanner and he"ll straighten you out, I"m sure of it."