Stone gripped George by the wrist and forcefully lowered his arm. “Son,” he said, “you’d best watch how you speak to Mr. Chester—especially in his home. He’s agreed to help us, and your accusations aren’t helping anybody. Got it?”

George nodded glumly.

“It’s all right, Gilbert,” Chester said. “Obviously these men have experienced some sort of trauma, and quite possibly on my land.”

“Any idea who might have been involved?” Stone asked.

“No, but I can assure you it was no one in my employ. I’ll be happy to make my employee records available to you.”

“I appreciate that.”

Chester turned his attention back to Lou. “Is it possible that in all the confusion you’ve described, Dr. Welcome, you merely thought a floodlight that had shattered some time ago had been shot out? Floodlights do break from time to time, kids and rocks and thermal changes, you know. Perhaps the piece you’ve found is an old one.”

“That’s not possible,” Lou said coolly. “I know what I saw. A man died next to me. I saw him get shot.”

“Then are you sure you were in the right spot? The fields can become quite disorienting, especially at night.”

“We strongly believe that was the spot,” Lou said.

“My, my,” Chester said. “This is certainly quite distressing. Gilbert, I’ll phone Stewart right away.”

“Who is Stewart?” Lou asked, his patience walking the edge.

“He manages all my fields,” Chester said. “I’m not denying some version of what you have said actually occurred, but I will strongly contest that any of my people were involved. I assure you, Gilbert, you’ll have my full cooperation.”

“Thank you,” Stone said, looking satisfied. “We’re going to bring a K-9 unit out to the fields later this morning and start searching for their friend.”

“That sounds like a fine idea,” Chester replied. “Is there anything else you think we should be doing?”

“Well,” Lou said, “I do have a question about your corn.”

“Go on.”

“Your plants seem quite high for this time of year.”

“And one other thing,” Cap said.

“Go ahead, Mr. Duncan.”

“I thought each stalk produced one ear. One of the stalks I checked had four. The other had five.”