When they got back to the Jeep, Cern had Dema drive around the perimeter of the big farm, so they could get a look at the many acres of cornfields.

"And this is just one farm!" said Dema. "We've seen farms like this along the whole drive up here. And it's like this all over the Midwest. It's hard to believe there's really a market for all that corn."

"You're right. The corn grown in the Midwest could probably feed the entire population of the planet. But only a small proportion of it is grown for human consumption. Far more is grown for livestock feed, and an increasing amount is grown to make ethanol to be used as biofuel. Bill Estes, the guy who owns this farm, belongs to an ethanol cooperative called Western Wisconsin Ethanol. They're committed to growing corn for fuel."

"Why the interest in biofuel? I know it was a hot topic politically when gas prices got so high, but a whole farm cooperative just for biofuel?"

"There are, or were, big government subsidies that made biofuel especially profitable. That attracted speculation, and drove efforts to expand the farm acreage used for the purpose. Not all of it good. One farm group was fined for filling in wetlands without a permit, just so they could expand their ethanol acreage. Something like that might be going on here. The Miller farm's dairy pastures would make prime corn acreage."

"You mean if Miller can be pressured into selling out, the ethanol co-op would stand to gain increased subsidy money?"

"I think that might be Estes' plan anyway. But Miller has consistently turned him down. He's been quite vocal in his objections to the ethanol push, which he considers the antithesis of responsible organic farming."

"So that's why Estes has it in for him."

"That's my guess."

By now it was late afternoon. Dema drove to the town of Willard and found the address from the magazine. It was a small house, and there were a lot of pickups in the neighborhood and other evidence that it was a farm community.

There was a very muddy ATV parked beside the house. Dema said, "That could be the one he drove to the marijuana plot. I'm going to check it out."

She snapped a couple of pictures, and got a sample of mud from the tread. She could have the forensics run on it at the police lab if necessary. But she could already sense that some of the mud came from the plot. She looked at Cern.

"Let's knock on the door and see if he's home. This could be interesting."

A man came to the door. If this was the south, Dema thought, he'd be called a redneck. But through the open door she could see he had an internet game going on a big screen display. You just couldn't tell anymore.

Dema said "John Andrews?"

He looked her over and his face got a bit friendlier. "Call me Bud. What can I do for you?" He walked back inside, and they followed him."

"Nice gaming setup," Dema said.

Bud's smile widened and he nodded.

"My name's Dema, this is Cern. You work at the Estes farm?"

Some of the smile left his face. "Sometimes."

"You know about the marijuana plot found on the Estes land?"

His reaction told both Dema and Cern that they definitely had the right man, but he tried to stay cool. "Yeah, doesn't everyone?"

"You know that Estes has been making allegations that his neighbor Jeff Miller had something to do with it?"

Bud's face said he thought he saw an out. "Maybe he did."

Cern said, in an easy, friendly tone, "Bud, I'm Miller's legal counsel. We know he didn't. I think you know that too. Look, I know you don't want any trouble, but there's a world of trouble available here. Maybe you can help me understand what's really going on. I just want to get this settled without any legal hassle for anyone."

"Hey, man, I don't know nothing. I just work on the farm, okay?"

Dema said, "Then you don't know how your ATV out there came to have marijuana stems stuck in the mud on its treads? Or that the marijuana came from one of the other two plots on Estes land?"

Bud knew he was caught, but this wasn't his first time. "Like the man said, I don't want any trouble. If I tell you what I know will you keep me out of it?"

"So far this is just a civil matter," said Cern, "And it doesn't have to get any bigger. I just want to get Estes off of Miller's back. I'm not really interested in the marijuana, as long as I can accomplish that."

"Look, you guys wouldn't be here if you didn't know I have a record. But that was all small time kid stuff. Estes uses it to pressure me into helping him with the marijuana, but it was his idea."

"Why does a big time farmer want to mess with marijuana?"

"Hey, you think he tells me anything? I suppose he had some debts he needed to cover under the table or something."

"Why point at Miller?"

"Miller's a pain in the ass for him. Always pushing the organic shit. Miller hates the ethanol investors, says they'll ruin farming for everyone. I think he's jealous of the subsidies."

"Why would that be?"

"All these organic guys sweat their balls off doing things the old fashioned way, and barely scrape by. They think they're the ones who ought to get subsidized, for saving the environment or something. When Miller sees Estes getting rich by using all this new tech, he's got to be jealous. When the ethanol boom started, Miller and his bunch went nuts. I'm surprised it wasn't them that started with the sabotage."

"Sabotage?" Dema didn't get it right away, but Cern was quicker.

"Bud means the pesticides."

Bud knew he'd slipped, and he hesitated, but then decided that if he really gave them the goods they'd owe him big time. Besides, he needed to tell someone just to get it off his chest. He didn't like doing all of Estes' dirty work.

"This is just my theory, okay? When the ethanol co-op came around, Estes bought all the way in. Since then he's been pushing his farm to the limits, looking for the big payoff. But the gas prices came down, the politics changed, and the subsidies faded. He was always eyeing Miller's land, now he starts to think he can't survive without it.

"Miller's as stubborn as ever. He's always been complaining about the pesticides in the river from Estes' runoff water, saying they are bad for his farm. Estes knows the river dilutes them down to where Miller still meets the standards, even in the worst season. Miller doesn't care about that, he wants the water pristine for his precious dairy cows.

"But if Miller's farm was to actually fail a pesticide test, it might drive him under, and Estes could pick up the pieces.

"So that's when he calls me in. He tells me to go down to the river at night when Miller's pump is running, and dump a barrel of pesticide into the river right upstream from the pump intake."

"You did this?"

"Hey, I ain't admitting to nothing here. Let's just say I know it happened."

"More than once?"

"Every time the pump was running at night."

"So if Miller didn't pump at night, he'd eliminate the risk."

"Yeah, if he was to suddenly get that smart, his problems would be gone."

"And Estes would have no reason to ask you or anyone else to dump pesticides in the river at night anymore. Thanks, Bud. Estes will never know it, but you just saved him some big legal bills."

Before Dema and Cern were out the door, Bud was back at his gaming console.