War and Peas

Babs McDonald said from the doorway. “Jumper isn’t here yet, is he?“
    “No,“ Sharlene said. “Is he supposed to be?“
    “I’m meeting with him this morning, but I’m terribly early. Jane. Shelley.“ She smiled greetings at them. “Did you get the rest of the paperwork I asked you for, Sharlene?“
    “Yes, but I don’t want you to trouble yourself with it right now,“ Sharlene said. “Everybody has much more important things to worry about than what classes I’m going to take in the fall. I’m awfully grateful for your taking an interest, now that Ms. Palmer’s gone, but—“
    “No buts, my dear. Just bring me the folder. Were you discussing Derek when I came in?“ She turned to Shelley to ask this question. Sharlene hastened away.
    “I wasn’t discussing anything,“ Shelley said with a grin. “For once. But Sharlene and Lisa were talking about him. He apparently failed to return a bunch of phone calls yesterday and hasn’t shown up yet today.“
    “Doesn’t surprise me a bit,“ Babs said. “If he has any sense at all, he’s home phoning for job interviews. Still—it’s irritating that he can’t even return calls. I guess I’ll do them instead. For all I know, he’s quit and simply hasn’t bothered to tell us.“
    “You don’t seem especially distressed about that,“ Shelley observed.
    “I’m not,“ Babs said frankly.
    “Won’t it be hard on everyone until you can find another director?“ Jane asked.
    “I don’t think so. I believe we have a line on an excellent candidate already. And I’ve reached the other board members and they’re FedExing proxies to Jumper. If Derek’s quit on his own, it will be easier to replace him. Meanwhile, I’ll go do his job.“
    “What’s this, Jane?“ Shelley asked when Babs had left. She was holding up an old, flat book.
    Jane looked at it for a minute. “I don’t know. Oh, yes, I do. I picked that up in the basement the other day when we were thinking about starting to inventory. I didn’t have a clipboard. I thought it would make a good substitute. What is it?”
    Shelley set the book on the table and opened it. She flipped a few pages. It was a handwritten ledger of some kind, done in an old-fashioned, somewhat florid style of writing. Some pages were filled out. Others had only a line or two on them.
    “Hard to read,“ Jane said. “I wonder what it is. Oh, I see why it’s hard to read.“ She laughed. “It’s in German. At least parts of it are.“ She looked more closely. “Shelley, I’ll bet...”
    Shelley nodded. “Yes. Auguste Snellen’s genetic experiments. Look, some of the pages have the same kind of numbers that are on the little labels on the pea cabinet. And some have a name, too. Here—Snellen’s Early Spring, and here’s one called Daisy’s Favorite. How sweet. He named a pea for his granddaughter.“
    “This is a treasure,“ Jane said. “And I was using it just as a flat surface. I’ll put it up safely. Remind me to give it to Sharlene when things settle down.”
    They put their purses away, poured themselves coffee, and as Shelley gathered her paperwork, Jane booted up the computer and sat down, after sliding the ledger book in under the board the stuffed cat was mounted on. Shelley started to leave the room, but hesitated and came back. “Jane,“ she said quietly, “you don’t think—no, that’s too stupid.“
    “You can say stupid things if you want,“ Jane said, grinning. “I don’t have a secret tape recording going.“
    “Smart aleck. I was thinking... could that book be what somebody was looking for in the basement?”
    Jane looked at her for a minute. “I wish I did have a tape recorder now. Why would anyone care enough to be sneaky about it?“
    “You’re right. Its only value is probably sentimental and historical. Forget I asked.”
    Shelley had been gone only a few minutes when Sharlene came back into the boardroom. “Babs, I just—oops. Where’d she go? Tom called and said he was tied up in court for a while.“
    “She said she was going to make some of Derek’s calls,“ Jane said over her shoulder. “Maybe she’s in his office.“
    “Thanks. I’ll look for her there. Isn’t that sweet of her?“ Sharlene said, bustling out of the room.
    Jane smiled at the cat. “Heidi, would you have the nerve to call Babs McDonald ‘sweet’? I wouldn’t.”

    Babs was back in an hour. “Any sign of Jumper yet?“ she asked Jane.
    “Not that I know of,“ Jane