Free Maple Mayhem (A Sugar Grove Mystery) by Jessie Crockett

up behind his table with advice and daubers of their own.
    “What’s going on here?” I asked Myra Phelps. Myra may have taken the night off from her police dispatch duties but she was never out of gossip mode.
    “Your grandfather announced that you love Piper’s sausage so much that you would probably follow the winner home and sit on their doorstep until they felt sorry for you and let you in to sample the goods.”
    “He what?” I felt my face flush and my flight-not-fight impulse swell up inside me.
    “He sure did. I can’t believe you didn’t hear him.”
    “I was in the bathroom”
    “That explains it.”
    “But that doesn’t explain what happened to the tables. And the bingo competitors.”
    “Everybody bought out all the available cards. As a matter of fact your grandmother ran down to the town office and printed off a few dozen extras. Then everyone gave them to either Graham or Knowlton. There are far too many for them to keep track of themselves so everyone has chosen a favorite and is helping to mark them.”
    “They didn’t.” This was humiliating. It was one thing for your own family to get themselves tangled up in your love life, but for the majority of the town to weigh in as well was too darn much.
    “They did. And I happen to know Bob Sterling is in charge of a side-bet pool. But don’t go getting all worked up. It’s all in good fun and the winnings will be split fifty-fifty with the opera house fund.
    “I can’t believe this.” I couldn’t but it was instructive. It was clear to see where everyone stood on the issue of my love life and whether they were on Team Knowlton or Team Graham. Myra finished talking to me and went over to join Tansey at Knowlton’s table near Celadon and Pastor Gifford’s wife, Lisette. Loden, Roland Chick, and Phoebe, stood near Graham. My grandmother wisely kept out of the fray. Grampa did his best to stir things up from the stage.
    I headed over to where Bob, the only full-time EMT on the ambulance squad, was deep into a transaction with Dean Hayes. By spring Piper will have cast him off like an Icelandic sweater in a heat wave but for now they were a hot item. Why no one spent their time trying to get Piper married off instead of me I’ll never understand. She’s eligible, attractive, and runs her own business. She also might pay a contract killer to handle anyone who would meddle in her life the way people delighted in stomping around in mine. At least that was the kind of vibe my heavily tattooed, pierced, and purple-haired friend gave off and this probably explained the difference in how we were treated.
    As soon as I approached, the two men stopped talking like little boys caught chatting during a spelling test. “So what’s it that you two are talking about while everyone else is lining up the cards?” I noticed Bob slipping a wad of bills into his pocket.
    “Dean was just asking me about the lawsuit I’m bringing against Frank Lemieux.” Well, I expected him to fib but I didn’t expect it to be something like that.
    “What lawsuit?”
    “He’s taken over part of my property that adjoins his. He’s planning on tapping it and he says it was his all along. I have the place on the market and his behavior is ruining my sales potential,” Bob said.
    “What kind of behavior?” Frank would be intimidating if he took a notion to confront a potential buyer. I could see why Bob might be upset.
    “I mean I hired a surveyor to come out and clear things up once and for all and he ran the guy off with a shotgun.”
    “So you filed a lawsuit?”
    “What else can I do? I called the police but I didn’t feel like it was enough. I’ve had a bunch of different hot prospects look at the place and then go on to buy something else. When I asked my Realtor why he said the buyers told him the guy next door threatened them and painted a clear picture of what he would do to dogs, adults, and kids that trespassed onto his property. There is only so much