War and Peas

wouldn’t have talked about it to him. And I don’t think anybody else would.“
    “And Georgia?“
    “Oh. I see. Yes, Georgia would know, I guess. She was Miss Daisy’s niece and would have heard.”
    So that was how Derek had learned the information, Jane thought. But why did his version have Babs “murdering“ her husband when it was simply a car wreck?
    “Why are you asking about all this?“ Sharlene was suddenly wary.
    “No reason,“ Shelley replied. “It’s just such a moving story...“ She paused, took in Sharlene’s skeptical look, and glanced at Jane, who nodded. “That’s not true,“ Shelley said. “Jane overheard an argument between Jumper—Tom, rather—and Derek this morning. Derek made a nasty crack about Babs and said she murdered her husband.”
    Sharlene was horrified. “No! What a terrible, terrible thing to say!“
    “He was very angry,“ Jane explained. “Jumper had told him that he wouldn’t support his appointment as permanent director, and Derek was just flinging insults left and right.”
    Sharlene’s pretty face was flushed. “That makes me so mad!“
    “I’m sorry we upset you,“ Jane said. “But you obviously didn’t believe why we were asking questions. Still, look at it this way—Derek has probably ruined any chance he might have had of staying on at the Snellen. It was an ugly thing to say, but it almost certainly means he’s not going to be your boss for much longer.”
    The redness in Sharlene’s face faded somewhat and she smiled. “Thank you, Jane. For telling me the truth and for making me feel better. I’m sure Tom won’t let him be director. Tom thinks the world of Babs. I guess nasty things sometimes happen for good reasons, don’t they?“
    “Sometimes,“ Jane agreed. Then she said to Shelley, “Are you going to let the rest of the cats out of the bag?“
    “Georgia, you mean?“
    “What about Georgia?“ Sharlene asked.
    “Derek said something about Georgia, too,“ Jane told her. “About how she cheated on the fund-raising money and kept some of it herself. Do you suppose that’s true?”
    Sharlene looked down at her lunch for a long minute, then sighed. “I shouldn’t talk about this, but I think everybody already knows. Including the police. Yes, Georgia often seems to turn in less money than is actually raised. I take minutes, you know, for the board meetings, and I’ve heard the rest of them question her about her figures. And I’ve taken enough accounting courses myself to see that she’s probably skimming.“
    “The whole board knows this?“
    “Knows? I’d say suspects strongly. Georgia’s not stupid, you understand. Caspar is, but Georgia isn’t.“
    “And they let her stay on the board?“ Shelley was shocked to the core.
    Sharlene nodded. “For a couple reasons. For one thing, she doesn’t seem to keep much. Not enough for the risk she’s taking. It seems to be a game or something. Just to feel that she’s putting something over on them, maybe. I don’t know.“
    “It would probably cost them more to prosecute her than she’s taken, then?“ Shelley asked.
    “I imagine so. And until Miss Daisy died, nobody wanted to embarrass her by throwing Georgia off the board. Miss Daisy knew Caspar and Georgia were both crooks and all, but that would have made it public.“
    “Still—“ Shelley said.
    “The thing is, Georgia is good at fund-raising,“ Sharlene explained. “Very, very good. She knows lots of people with lots of money to give away. Before Miss Daisy’s bequest, the museum might have gone broke without Georgia. Miss Daisy wouldn’t have let it really happen, of course, but she’d have been awfully disappointed in all of us. So the board is grateful to Georgia, see?“
    “But they have plenty of money now,“ Jane said.
    “Yes. That’s true.“ Sharlene thought for a long minute, then said, hesitantly, “I guess you might as well know—there was supposed to be a regular board meeting the week after the Pea Festival closed. I typed up the agenda. One of the items Ms. Palmer had on it was ‘Replacement of board member.’ I didn’t ask, of course, but I assumed that meant Georgia. Of course, Ms. Palmer died, and now all the normal business is sort of on hold and they’re only having emergency meetings to cope with it.“
    “This agenda you typed up,“ Shelley said. “Had everyone on the board seen it?“
    “Oh, yes. The bylaws require that I send it to everyone a week before the