“Oh, but there may be other herbs and rare plants the Smithsonian doesn’t have in their collection. Dr. Norwood would welcome anything I could find as an excuse to offer me a permanent position. Please, Gray.”

And like magic, he conceded. He was apologetic as he explained that the backlog of work that had accumulated during his illness required him to stay in town, but that was exactly how she wanted it. Gray sent word to Lester Jenkins, the groundskeeper who lived at the farmhouse, to expect her that weekend. Mr. Jenkins would pick her up at the dock and sail her back home.

All she had to do was make a thorough search of Windover Landing, and then she could put this entire distasteful episode behind her.

Gray waited until his housekeeper had left to do her weekly shopping to invite Otis into the library. They were alone in the townhouse, but he locked the door anyway. Caution came naturally to him, even during times when secrecy wasn’t important.

But today it was, as Otis had been spying for him again. The younger man sat on the opposite side of Gray’s desk and leaned forward to report what he’d learned.

“The Magruders are using a recipe cooked up by a German chemist,” he said in a low voice, reaching into his pocket to extract a slip of paper. “They’re using wood-tar creosote from pine trees to make the extract. They cut a deal with a paper mill down in North Carolina to get the wood pulp.”

Gray studied the recipe, grim satisfaction running through him at this tangible proof that the Magruders were using a wood byproduct to make their imitation vanilla extract. Their product had the same look and scent of real vanilla, but the taste wasn’t there yet. Clyde Magruder had an army of chemists working on the solution, and Gray planned to stop them.

“The meeting of the Food and Spice Association is next week,” he said. “I’ll be there to sound the alarm. The food industry needs to start policing ourselves, or the government will do it for us.”

The Food and Spice Association was the most likely group to pressure the Magruders to clean up their act. Once a year, the professional association brought rival companies together to share information and advocate for conditions favorable to their industry. Gray had secured a prime spot at the podium to discuss the problem of artificial flavorings. So far, their industry had avoided government interference, but passing off wood-tar as a food product was asking for trouble.

And Gray already had enough of that without asking for more.