‘Sure, Jack. Della – this is Jack Marowitz, my technical genius. Jack, this is Mrs Della McIntosh. She’s working with Senator Jones on the Blight Crisis Fund.’

‘Pleased to know you,’ said Jack, shaking Della by the hand. ‘Listen, Ed – can you give a minute of your time? No offence meant, Mrs McIntosh – but alone?’

‘No offence taken,’ said Della. ‘Maybe I’ll just go right along inside and introduce myself to your mother.’

‘That’s a nice idea,’ said Ed. ‘I won’t keep you long.’ Della went inside, and the screen door banged behind her. Then Ed said, ‘What’s the problem, Jack? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.’

‘It’s a theory,’ said Jack. ‘That’s all it is. But somehow it seems to make a whole lot of sense.’

‘Go on.’

‘Have you been into Willard’s house lately?’

‘Sure. I was there last night. We had a drink together, Willard and me and Dyson Kane.’

‘Okay – then you can remember what’s on the wall.’

Ed frowned. ‘What’s on the wall? What do you mean – wallpaper?’

‘No, no. Pictures. Think of what pictures he’s got on his wall.’

‘I don’t know… he’s got a picture of Nanette… and that oil painting of Mount Sunflower… I can’t think of anything else.’

‘An aerial view of South Burlington, right?’

‘Yes, that’s right. Yes, that’s over the fireplace.’

‘Well – who took that aerial picture?’

‘I don’t know. It was taken earlier this year, wasn’t it? I think I was away in New York, clearing up some business. I remember Mom mentioning it to me… she was real pleased with it… but that’s all.’

Jack was very intense and excited. ‘Listen,’ he said, ‘that aerial photograph was taken by a company called Your Spread From The Sky, Inc. They operated out of the airfield at Salina for about a year, touring Kansas and taking aerial pictures of people’s farms and houses.’

‘How do you know that?’ asked Ed.

‘Their name’s printed on the bottom of the photograph. Your Spread From The Sky, Inc., Salina, Kansas. I talked to Willard about it, and he said that what they did was fly over your spread in a light plane – bright red, it was, with something like Aerial Photographs written on the side of it in white. They took a whole lot of colour pictures, and then sent you a sheet of proofs in the mail. If you wanted to buy a blow-up picture of your farm, you sent them back fifteen dollars, and they printed it up for you.’

‘So? I’ve heard of that kind of thing before.’