"What? It is an alloy. Who told you that? Degas?" She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Why on earth would a small-town preacher know off the top of his head the metal composition of brass? You mean to tell me that someone mistakenly told you something they didn't actually know, and you were so willing to take that for granted that you were going to risk irreparably damaging your reputation here by doing corporate espionage?"

What a mess. Thank goodness she'd been able to correct this before it got out of hand.

"It's copper, for the record," she added. "The primary metal found in the Crane's Ridge mine is copper, and a bit of zinc."