Smoky Mountain Mystery 01 - Out on a Limb (31 page)

BOOK: Smoky Mountain Mystery 01 - Out on a Limb
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They all looked like road kill.

“Who’d ye shoot first?” asked Henry.

“The bear.”

Henry nodded, “Good choice.”

“Do you need to do anything to him?”

“Nah, when he wakes up, he’ll run off and, after the awful way you’ve treated him, I can personally guarantee that he’ll never come back to this area again.

“Wonder
what’s the best way to get the insurance to pay for the damage to Jill’s car
? Should she claim human or animal damage?”

“Why not both?” said Henry.

Phoebe looked at him, trying to really see him this time. He was a wreck. “Do you get tore up like this often?”

“Yeah,” he said, sighing. “I guess I’m lucky I know a good nurse.”

They both laughed and Phoebe leaned forward to hug him. He winced, thought about asking her for a rain check on the hug, then changed his mind and hugged her back with the arm that had a bullet in it, saying “
Owwww
!”

Chapter 41
 

 

It was spring by the time the authorities got things sorted out well enough to schedule a press conference about the discovery of the new drug.

Ivy had made a full recovery from her ordeal. She’d always have a small scar at her temple, but she didn’t mind. It reminded her of how tough she was and how every achievement came at a price. Henry’s arm healed well, attended to assiduously by Phoebe. Henry had good government insurance so
Waneeta
made sure Appalachian Healthcare got paid for services rendered.

Phoebe and Henry had a date to attend the ceremony honoring Ivy at Twin Creeks. The event was drawing major media attention. Ivy was going to sign the official document with the National Park Service confirming the location of her discovery, thereby guaranteeing the park would receive half of the proceeds from the commercialization of the substance produced by the new species of slime mold she’d found.

So far only a couple of people knew it, but Ivy had named the medicine
jillleoncillin
in honor of Jill and Leon’s
crucial
interventions to rescue her and her specimens and she’d named the
myxo
Physarum
polycephalum
smokus
phoebehenrii
to thank her other benefactors. Pharmaceutical analysts on Wall Street were predicting that the new antibiotic would be worth tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars. So the park’s share was a lot of money. Phoebe hoped some of that would eventually trickle down into a raise for Henry and some additional full-time positions in wildlife management, but she knew that was unlikely since Henry and his boss were getting along even worse than usual in the aftermath of the brouhaha.

Park Superintendent Fielding read Henry the riot act about his unauthorized use of a motor vehicle in the park. And he went purple in the face when berating him for allowing a National Park Service animal tranquilizer rifle to be operated by unauthorized personnel, and even worse, for advocating the use of said rifle on a human being!

Henry was also severely admonished about involving himself in events outside the boundary of the national park. But after a comprehensive tongue-lashing, Superintendent Fielding grudgingly mumbled that he’d decided not to fire Henry. He wasn’t honest enough to admit that it was because without Henry’s so-called inappropriate activities, the park would’ve had no share in the profits from Ivy’s discovery.

Henry endured the dressing down with as much equanimity as he could muster. He even kept a straight face during
Fielding’s
rants about the importance of following the rules, setting a good example, and maintaining the public’s trust in government servants.

When he was sure his boss was finished, Henry reached into the breast pocket of his uniform shirt and took out the brass key stamped
GSM-147
and set it carefully on the Superintendent’s desk. He’d had a chance to talk to Ivy about the cabin and she’d told him it was
Fielding’s
secret love nest. She knew she was only one of several women who’d been given keys. She’d made it clear that she had no interest in his advances, but Fielding urged her to keep the key in case of emergency, to give
himself
plausible deniability.

Next, he set the nickel Sequoia cone hatband ornament beside it. Henry waited for Fielding to grasp the significance of the two items, then, when he saw the Superintendent’s eyes widen, he left the office without saying a single word.

The
University
of
Tennessee
was scrambling to handle their own debacle quietly, behind the scenes. First, they had to decide how to deal with a young graduate student who’d made a discovery of major significance to both science and medicine, and simultaneously lost her major professor, and nearly her life, under circumstances that were extremely awkward to say the least.

The University was trapped between a rock and a hard place. They wanted to minimize the scandal but were also desperate to horn in on the media storm surrounding Ivy. The kid was already the youngest person to make the cover of
Fungi
magazine.

The President, Chancellor, and Dean of the Botany Department met with Ivy to assure her that she would be getting an ethical and cooperative new major professor and that she would be awarded her doctorate on an expedited schedule if she made any gesture whatsoever toward completing the requirements.

A worldwide bidding war broke out among the pharmaceutical conglomerates, but Ivy was talking to
Weleda
, trying to convince them to function as her primary agent so the new antibiotic would be made available as naturally and cheaply as possible. Tests by scientists confirmed that the compound was indeed effective for treating brain infections that had previously been fatal.

As a way of paying back the people who saved her life and protected her discovery, Ivy had already signed the paperwork to establish a foundation for rural healthcare. The Foundation would begin by building a combination childcare, eldercare, hospice, and special needs respite facility for the town of
White Oak
.

She asked Phoebe, Doc,
Jill
,
Leon
, and Henry to serve on the Board of Directors.

Leon
promised Ivy that when she was feeling up to it, he’d show her more places with distinctive micro-climates like the one where she’d made her discovery. His
grandmaw
had shown him several such places on their herb gathering trips.

Because Ivy, Phoebe,
Waneeta
, and Jill wore Jill’s colorful creations at all the media events, Jill’s business exploded. Her upgrades of traditional Appalachian rags were featured in magazines from
Altered Couture
to
Vogue
.

Cloud Forest’s boutique was selling out of her coats as fast as she could make them and custom orders were coming in at a dizzying rate via Etsy.com. The business needed an official name
so,
Goodwill Jill
became
Queenagers
with a sideline for younger people called
Ragamuffin
.

The jobs created by the expansion of Jill’s business would give a nice boost to the local economy. And it was great news for the regulars at the café, too, because Jill wouldn’t have time for them anymore. They appreciated her years of effort on their behalf, but the truth was she wasn’t much of a chef. They were hoping she’d hire someone with real talent, but nobody had the courage or bad manners to suggest this to her directly. Instead, they put out a request via the local gossips for a good cook to put in an application.

Professor Whittington was residing in a jail cell in the
Riverbend
Maximum Security Institution in
Nashville
. In solitary confinement for his own safety, he believed himself to be more secure in prison than he would’ve been on the outside. He’d have felt a lot less secure if he’d realized how far Lester and Fate’s network extended.

After Ivy signed the deal with the park, there was a gala reception benefiting Appalachian Bear Rescue. Henry and Phoebe had arrived together, which was sure to start a lot of tongues wagging. As they made their way toward the buffet table they passed
Waneeta
and Professor Van
Landingham
standing together, deep in conversation.
Waneeta
had a hand on the Frog Whisperer’s arm and was obviously charming the socks off him.

When
Waneeta
saw Phoebe and Henry, she winked and gestured at them with a cute little four-fingered wave that Phoebe interpreted for Henry, “It looks like we have a go for husband number four.”

As Phoebe reached for a cookie she heard
Waneeta
say, “Walter, honey, will you do the chorus frog again? I just love that one.”

 

Acknowledgments
 

 

This book could never have been written without a lot of help.  I’m especially grateful for the assistance of Dave
DeBruicker
. Many thanks also to friends who read and commented on drafts of the manuscript – Mary
Benami
, Wendy Welch, Martha
Eddington
, Sandy
Johanson
, Fran Hoffman, Jill Draper, Yvonne
Loveday
, Elise
Jourdan
(Momma), and the amazing Richard McWhorter.

 

Shout out to Jill
Kerttula
who has been such a blessing in my life, making custom coats that give me courage to cope with large speaking engagements.  www.Jill2day.com

 

Admiration, respect, and gratitude go out to Kim
DeLozier
, Rick Varner, and Dan
Nolfi
, brave wildlife rangers who struggle to protect park visitors and critters from each other 24/7/365 without ever breaking any rules.

 

Deep gratitude to Dr. R. Wayne Van
Devender
who is a real Frog Whisperer and one of the most impressive teachers I’ve ever had the privilege to meet.  Thanks also to Dr. Sydney Everhart, the real
myxomycete
expert who unintentionally inspired this book by scampering around in the treetops and startling the heck out of me.

 

And thanks to several friends who appear as characters in this book but refused to allow me to identify them.  You all know who each other are.

 

About the Author
 

 

A former U.S. Senate Counsel to the Committee on Environment and Public Works and the Committee on Governmental Affairs, Carolyn
Jourdan
has degrees from the
University
of
Tennessee
in Biomedical Engineering and Law.

 

Carolyn lives on the family farm in
Strawberry Plains
,
Tennessee
, with many stray animals.

 

Her first book,
Heart in the Right Place
, is a Wall Street Journal national bestseller. It’s the true story of a spoiled, high-powered Senate lawyer (Carolyn) who gives up a glamorous life in Washington and comes back home to the Smoky Mountains to work as an inept receptionist in her father's rural medical office.  It’s on many lists of best books of the year, best book club books of the year, and funniest books ever.  It was
Family Circle
magazine’s first ever book of the month and won
Elle
magazine’s Readers Prize.

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