A Murder of Crows

A Murder of Crows by Jan Dunlap Page B

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Authors: Jan Dunlap
Tags: Fiction, General, Mystery & Detective, Mystery
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change everything else about the person. Permanently.
    I thought again about Luce’s theory. Could Sonny’s death have been the result of a fatal mistake in a natural diet? The absence of any suicide evidence had caused the police to label it murder, but I seriously doubted that organic tea fans routinely left notes stating that in case they were found dead, the investigators should know they had picked their own tea leaves that morning.
    My, what a pleasant way to start another day of counseling high school students. Some people repeated affirmations or listened to music. I pictured dead bodies.
    I pulled into my usual parking space behind the gym and turned off the engine. As I opened the car door and stepped out, a perfect V of Canada Geese flew overhead, heading south.
    In another month, we could be looking at highs in the teens for temperatures. We’d already had one hard freeze, and the Farmers’ Almanac was predicting another long, frigid winter. Last week, Mr. Lenzen had even posted his annual ridiculous list of energy-saving tips in the teachers’ lounge in hopes of miraculously lowering the school’s heating bills.
    Somehow I doubted that putting up posters of tropical destinations was really going to make a difference in how students and teachers perceived the chill factor in a freezing classroom. I knew from my own cubbyhole-of-an-office experience that when your fingers got too cold to feel a pen in their grip, not even the memory of a hundred-degree day in July was enough to get the blood pumping again. If Mr. Lenzen was really serious about reducing energy bills, he should have pushed harder to get one of those wind turbines that the Savage school district installed last spring near the middle school.
    I’d forgotten about the wind turbines.
    A year ago, the School Board had asked for input from the schools in the district about where the turbines should go. It was part of a project with the local utilities company, as I recalled—something about ensuring compliance with the Minnesota state law that required electrical utilities to provide twenty-five percent of their total electricity sales from renewable sources by the year 2025. I think there had been some debate about the turbines functioning in sub-zero weather, but the turbine manufacturer assured everyone it wasn’t an issue and swore that the schools wouldn’t get stuck without power in the middle of winter.
    Of course, if I was representing a multimillion-dollar project that was dependent on turbines, I’d probably say the same thing, especially if I was staring at a government deadline for developing alternative sources. What utility company wouldn’t be eager to tap into wind power first and then work out the kinks in the technology as it developed? Being the first kid on the block—or in this case, the first turbine on the block—could only be good for business.
    Which would also make it understandable that those same energy companies wouldn’t appreciate Sonny’s vehement protests against their wind farm plans in Stevens County.
    Renewable sources versus conservation.
    Weren’t those two supposed to be on the same side?
    I wanted to believe that, but anyone who read the news in Minnesota would find out differently.
    The LeSuer/Henderson Recovery Zone utility battle had ended years ago, but another environmental debate was now raging in Goodhue County, east of Savage, between a proposed wind farm project and federal and state wildlife officials, not to mention local residents and conservation advocates. The issue was what would happen to the eagles—nesting and migrating Bald Eagles, as well as visiting Golden Eagles—that used the proposed site, once the wind farm was up and running. With fifty turbines planned for the farm, everyone knew that some eagles would be killed by the big blades of the wind towers—eagles that were protected by federal law.
    Consequently, every interest group involved was trying to come up with a way to

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