“Double M has never mentioned anything about this to me until today,” Darlene said, “but he called and said that rather than try to get Russ Evans reinstated when the president won’t even allow his name to be spoken, I should concentrate on stopping a shipment of corn that’s loaded on a cargo train scheduled to head west. I don’t know who supplied this corn, or precisely where it’s going or when, but I’ve been told that this shipment must be stopped.”

“Darlene,” Lou said, “is there any way, any way at all, that you can tell me something about this man that would help to figure out who he is? It may be very important.”

Darlene sighed deeply. “I’ve met him, but it was pretty dark, and he had on glasses with heavy black frames and a baseball cap—a Nationals cap, I think. He spoke to me using an electrolarynx, even though there was nothing that I could see wrong with his neck.”

“Probably just distorting his voice,” Lou said. “Go on, please.”

“Well, he’s a big man—probably taller than you.”

“I’m almost six-one when I don’t slouch.”

“Okay, six-one and a little on the husky side. He had a full beard, but I thought it might be fake. I promised I wouldn’t push him to tell me who he was. He said he would be in great danger if his identity became known.”

“I won’t ask again. He wants the corn shipment stopped by the president? What could be wrong with it?”

“I don’t know,” Darlene said. “According to Double M, you might have the answer to that.”

“Me? I don’t know anything about any shipments.”

“No, but Double M says you know a lot about the residents of Kings Ridge exhibiting very strange behavior. Apparently he believes there’s a connection.”

Lou flipped through the people he had spoken to since Meacham’s killing spree, focusing on those who were above average height and husky—Gilbert Stone, employees at DeLand Regional, members of the police department, farmers he had met at the Grange Hall—where he also posted a notice asking for any information surrounding shootings in the Chester Enterprises fields, or any stories of severe lapses in reason or judgment. Then there were the politicians he had yet to meet, and others who might have feelings pro or con regarding Russell Evans. The list was already daunting. In fact, Lou realized, Double M could easily be an actor hired by Russ Evans, and the tape could be bogus.

Lou stopped as though he had just walked into a wall. “Hey, what if it’s the corn itself?” he asked.

“The corn?”

“The Frankencorn. What if it’s somehow toxic for people?”

“Meaning that this shipment of corn and John Meacham are connected?”