The door opened and Mr. Feldman joined them. A scarecrow-thin man wearing a dark suit, Horatio Feldman could not be more different than the matronly Mrs. Sharpe.

“I’ve got ten minutes to hear about this counterfeit applesauce,” he announced, plunking a stack of paperwork on the table and making the teacups rattle. “Let’s get down to business. Where’s the applesauce?”

The atmosphere pivoted, and Gray pivoted along with it. He set a jar with an original label from the Magruder factory on the table. With its colorful label featuring shiny red apples in a basket, it looked perfectly harmless.

“We have had scientists examine the contents, and they concluded it is a cheap mixture of stewed pumpkin and chemicals that simulate apples.”

Horatio Feldman twisted the lid off and spooned some into a bowl. “Mrs. Sharpe?” he asked.

“I’ll wait for our own tests,” she said with a slight wrinkle in her nose.

“A wise decision,” Gray said, passing her the list of ingredients. “As you can see from the test we commissioned, this is not an appealing concoction. In fact, it’s outright fraud to pass off a vegetable as apples.”

“A vegetable?” Mr. Feldman asked. “I thought pumpkins are considered a fruit.”

“They are,” Annabelle said, turning a smug look on Gray. “A fruit is a seed-bearing structure that develops from the ovary of a flowering plant. Vegetables are other edible parts of a plant, such as the leaves, roots, or stems. Everyone knows pumpkins are a fruit.”

He stiffened. He hadn’t gone to college and couldn’t spout off formal definitions, but before he could say something to redeem himself, Mrs. Sharpe came to his rescue.

“Not precisely,” she corrected Annabelle. “In culinary terms, only sweet items are deemed fruits. Savory edibles such as tomatoes and pumpkins are fruits by the botanical definition, but the culinary definition considers them vegetables, my dear.”

Gray shot to his feet and kissed the back of Mrs. Sharpe’s hand. “That was exactly what I was about to say. Thank you for not forcing me to correct my beloved Miss Larkin.”

“Because you hate doing that,” Annabelle said.

Mr. Feldman continued in a businesslike tone. “You claim that millions of these jars might be circulated. Will they all be consumed as straight applesauce, or can applesauce be used in cooking?”

Annabelle was ready with the answer. “Applesauce is often used as a sweetening element in baked goods and sauces. Young mothers routinely use it as baby food.”