41

"This area where they're working—I only know this because I did a little research into the town's history a long time ago, but—there was once a plan to build some sort of mine down here," your grandma tells you, pointing to a section of the forest on the map, which you realize is very near to where you are now. "As far as I could tell, the plan was based on rumors that there was something valuable in the ground. This is only a guess, of course, but I wouldn't be too surprised if that company had heard about those rumors themselves—and maybe decided to check them out, separately from the developments."

She gazes down at the map for a few moments, her brow knotted with concentration. You wonder if her mind is whirring as fast as yours is now.

"So far, I don't have any proof," she says after a little while, her expression distant. "But I realized there was a chance that the developments within the forest could be delayed—or perhaps even forced to stop—if it turned out that not everything this company was doing was precisely legal. Maybe, if somebody discovered something a little underhanded—something that nobody was ever supposed to find out about—then they'd have to put the plans on hold."

She lifts her head and gives you a significant look. At once, it strikes you that there's no way everything she's saying is simply an afterthought. She must have been thinking along these lines for a while, and you almost have to wonder why she decided to put all of her energy into her other plan when this was an option all along.

"Of course, all that relies on this company actually having done something wrong—and somebody else being able to prove it," she adds after a moment, glancing back down at the map. "Personally, I'd bet whatever they make in a year there's something in all of this that isn't exactly aboveboard, but I don't know anything at all for sure. But—if there's anything you might have seen—"

Her eyes meet yours again in a flash.

"Anything at all you might have heard, about whatever it is they're doing—then maybe we could put it together between the two of us. Maybe we could stop these developments, and we wouldn't have to worry about my other plan at all."

She sits back in her chair, watching you for your response.

It takes you quite a long time just to be able to say: