Mulch ado about nothing

leashes,“ Julie laughed.
    “And this is Shelley Nowack, my next-door neighbor and best friend. We were enrolled in the class you were to give on botany and gardening. I have three questions to ask you if you don’t mind.”
    Julie looked surprised. “I guess that’s all right. I hope I can answer them.“
    “Okay. First, would you open one of your file drawers?”
    Julie, looking a bit like she was concerned for Jane’s mental health, pulled a drawer open. Jane nodded, thanked her, and asked the second question. “Here’s a list of the people in the class. Do you recognize any of the names?”
    Julie studied the list. “Most of them,“ she said.
    “Have you done whatever you do, which I’m sorry I don’t quite grasp, for any of them?“
    “I was called in to analyze material regarding a patent for these two. “ She picked up a pencil and checked off two names.
    Jane nudged Shelley. “I think I’m right. Thank you so much, Dr. Jackson. There’s Black Forest cake and coffee upstairs. Are you feeling well enough to have some?”
    Julie smiled. “After nearly five days of hospital food? Of course I am.”
    Jane and Shelley made small talk, knocked back a cup of coffee each, and made their escape.
    As soon as they were on their way home, Shelley said, “It isn’t proof of anything.“
    “But there is proof. And Mel can get to it if it hasn’t been destroyed yet.”
    Jane went straight home and called Mel and outlined her case. He, like Shelley, scoffed at her crazy reasoning. But having hashed it out with Shelley and squashed her objections, Jane was ready with her ammunition.
    “Jane, I don’t pretend to believe this story. “
    “But you’ll check it out anyway.“
    “I guess I have to.”
    On Saturday, Jane was never away from the phone, but Mel didn’t call. He’d either found a lead of his own, or was still chewing over what she’d said. She knew better than to run him down and ask which it was.
    Sunday morning he called and said, “May I run by and take you for a ride? Maybe somewhere out in the country where you can’t hurt anyone with your crutches?”
    It was a rehearsed line. Meant to be funny, but failing.
    She was ready and waiting outside when he drove up. She squashed herself into his little MG, being very careful not to dent it with the crutch. They were well out of town when he finally said, “You were right. He admitted all you imagined, and more.“
    “You probably won’t believe me, but I’m sorry I was right,“ Jane said sadly.
    “You might not be when you hear all of it. You were right about the flowers he gave you. Dr. Jackson explained it all, even though the files were missing from her office. Darlene Waring had nursed along what Dr. Jackson called a ‘sport,’ a natural mutation of a marigold. Those pitiful plants Arnie gave you were descendants of her seeds. A year before she died, she sent seeds to Dr. Eastman. She’d heard him speak and thought he might be interested in what she’d found. He replied that the plants he’d grown with the seeds were useless. Too sprawling, unreliable colors, too fragile stems, and a bunch of other criticisms. Or words she took to be criticisms.“
    “But he admitted he’d grown them?“ Jane asked. “Yes, and Arnie in his own distinctive way interpreted it as a devastating insult to her that weakened her to the point that she didn’t take care of herself when she became ill. He blamed Eastman for her death.“
    “That’s unreasonable. It’s why I doubted what I saw and smelled on my hands when I dropped the vase and handled the plants he’d given me.“
    “Not unreasonable to him. He’s never accepted that she was ill simply because she had a fatal disease. We’ll never know, of course, whether she was really as upset as he thought she was. But when he got his computer and started to cruise the Internet, one of the first things he looked up was any references to Dr. Stewart Eastman.“
    “That’s something I hadn’t thought about,“ Jane admitted. “I just thought he was a pretty up-to-date old guy to even have a computer.“
    “He found lots of references to Eastman’s patents. And a piece from a plantsmen’s journal hinting that Eastman was working on a marigold.“
    “Eastman told us nobody developing a new patent plant should ever talk to anyone but a reliable trialler.“
    “Apparently he hadn’t taken his own good advice.“
    “How did Arnie come to consult with Julie