He laughs, drying them on a tea towel. “No, of course not. I used a pair of work gloves. And the birds are in a garbage bag in my boat now. I’ll get rid of them for you, but I’m gonna take one by animal control to get it tested. And you should probably wash the verandah down with a few buckets of soapy water.”

“Animal control said it could take up to a month to get any results.” I throw a hand up in exasperation.

He shakes his head. “Don’t worry about that. I know someone that works there, and he owes me a favor. I’ll make sure we get the results faster than that.”

Affection for him swells in me, almost muffling the anxiety. Even mad at me he comes here and takes care of everything. What Leslie implied about him yesterday is literally blown apart. Ezra Keen is a good man, I’m sure of it.

“I’m really sorry about yesterday,” I say. “It was totally selfish and out of line. And I don’t think your dad killed mine. I was just asking questions, trying to get her to talk.”

He shakes his head again. “I shouldn’t have reacted so strongly. I know you’re dealing with a lot of new stuff up here and want answers. Just like I did. Still do.”

I sit down across from him. “So we’re okay then?”

He reaches out and takes my hand and gives it a squeeze. “We’re good.”

I’m about to launch into a recount of my encounter with Leslie when his phone buzzes. He looks down at it and frowns. “I’m really sorry, but I have to go. I was right in the middle of a landscaping job when you called me, and I left a guy there on his own. Apparently, he’s knocked down the corner of a stone wall.”

“You have guys?”

“Yes, I have guys,” he says, with a deep chuckle that moves my insides. “Just three who I bring on for the bigger jobs.” He gets up from the table, so I do too. “Are you going to be okay here on your own?”

“I’ll be fine. It takes more than some dead birds to scare me away. I’ll just spend the day thinking up my revenge for Leslie Swann.”

Ezra laughs and shakes his head. “Come on, June, you can’t be sure it was Leslie unless you caught her in the act.”

I give Ezra a quick synopsis of what happened yesterday when Leslie came over. “So you see? She’s the only one with a motive.”

He huffs out a laugh. “I wouldn’t say the only one.”

“What? There are other people you could see putting dead birds all over my verandah? Seriously?”