Strawberries and Crime by Elle Brooke White

Author:Elle Brooke White [White, Elle Brooke]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books

Chapter Twelve

It was time for Charlotte to make her own list. When she arrived back at the farm, she felt a strong pull to talk this all over with Samuel. He knew a lot more than he was letting on, not just about farming but also about the people in Little Acorn that he had grown up around.

Diane, Alice, and Danny were completely consumed with putting the finishing touches on the restaurant. Beau had gone back to Los Angeles, and Joe had left early in the morning for a conference about produce farm futures.

Charlotte found Horse lazing on a porch swing and wondered first how he had safely gotten up there, and second, how the suspended seat continued to sway. Horse was lying on his back, dozing to the gentle back and forth rocking.

“Come on, sleepyhead—let’s go find Samuel,” Charlotte said as she walked right past Horse.

He hopped off the swing with surprising grace and started to follow her down the hill. It was now mid-afternoon, a glorious time on the farm, when everything slows down a little to appreciate the day. Farmers who had been up with the roosters had completed their chores, growing produce that had benefitted from irrigation and TLC, and had soaked up the nutrients from the afternoon sun; and warring insects and rodents had called a truce in their battles.

The barn and paddock were no exception. Pele the horse was out of his stall, enjoying the fresh air, and the goats were huddled in the shade of the barn doors, nonchalantly observing what they considered their domain.

Samuel was nowhere to be found. Charlotte thought about knocking on the door of his cabin but didn’t want to disturb him if he, too, was enjoying a much-deserved break.

“Horse, do you know where Samuel is? In his house resting?” Charlotte asked her pig friend, who was giving her his undivided attention. “That’s it, isn’t it?”

Charlotte could swear that she saw Horse shake his head from side to side. Suddenly he took off at a trot, and Charlotte had to break into a jog to keep up. He took her on a trail from behind Samuel’s house and up and down a hill on the northwest end of her property line.

It was untended land with beautiful, old oak trees, wild sage growing everywhere and fragrant brush like bay laurel, sugar bush and California lilac. It immediately reminded Charlotte of the silvopasture that she’d seen earlier in the day with Chief Goodacre.

Suddenly she heard Samuel’s voice.

“Hello, Horse. What are you doing away from that feisty redhead you call ‘mom’? She’s something, isn’t she, Horse?”

Charlotte peered from behind a sycamore tree and saw a clearing where a crudely built garage structure stood. Halfway in and halfway out of the building sat a vintage red pickup truck. Even in its dilapidated state, it was a thing of beauty.

Charlotte spotted a generator that supplied electricity to power up several work lights that hung around and under the vehicle. Charlotte saw no sign of Samuel as she moved closer, but she could still hear his voice.

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