“This is where the barn stood.”
Neil’s voice came from behind us.
“I remember.”
We turned.
His truck was parked near the road. He approached alone, his hands shoved into his jacket pockets.
Robert’s expression closed.
“Why are you here?”
“Thomas called me.”
“Did you know about the ledger?”
“No.”
“Did you tell Mercer?”
Neil looked toward the ground.
“I told Grant old records might exist.”
Vivian made a sound of disgust.
Neil raised his head.
“I didn’t tell anyone to steal anything.”
“You gave them the map,” Robert said. “You don’t get to act shocked when they followed it.”
Neil’s face crumpled for an instant.
“I signed an agreement.”
We already suspected it, but hearing the admission changed everything.
“What agreement?” Evelyn asked.
“They gave me fifty thousand dollars as an advance. If I helped establish ownership and convinced Robert to sell, I’d receive a percentage.”
Brooke stared at him.
“You were going to profit from Dad losing the farm?”
“I thought I owned half.”
“You weren’t sure,” I said. “That’s why you hid it.”
Neil’s shoulders sagged.
“I was scared.”
“Of what?” Robert asked.
“Of being left with nothing. Again.”
Robert stepped closer.
“You left. That is not the same as being abandoned.”
Neil’s eyes filled.
“You always got to be the good son.”
“No. I got to be the son who stayed when there was work to do.”
The wind moved through the grass.
Neil wiped his face with one hand.
“I’ll return the money.”
“That won’t undo this.”
“I know.”
For the first time, Robert’s voice rose.
“No, you don’t know. You let strangers attack our family because you were afraid I might have more than you.”
Neil did not defend himself.
Evelyn asked for a copy of the agreement. He promised to provide it.
Before he left, Robert said, “I don’t know whether I can trust you again.”
Neil nodded.
“You shouldn’t.”
That honesty hurt more than another excuse would have.
We spent the afternoon searching Thomas’s outbuildings, though none of us believed the ledger had simply been misplaced.
Near sunset, my phone rang.
Caleb had found an overlooked digitization log.
“One page from the missing ledger was scanned separately,” he said.
“Does it include the signatures?”
“Most of them.”
“Most?”
“The bottom edge is cut off.”
He emailed the image.
Robert’s mother had transferred full management and ownership rights to Robert. Irene’s father had notarized it. Two witnesses had signed.
At the very bottom, only the upper strokes of another signature appeared.
The name was missing.
Without it, Neil could still claim he had never consented.
Then headlights swept across the field.
A motorcycle stopped beside the road.
A young man removed his helmet and walked toward us carrying a black plastic bag.
Thomas whispered, “That’s Logan.”
Logan’s face was gray with fear.
“I took the ledger,” he said.
Then he held out the bag.
“But before you read it, you need to know what Mercer plans to do tomorrow.”
### Part 9
Logan’s hands shook so badly that the plastic bag crackled.
Evelyn took it from him and removed a thick, clothbound ledger. The cover was stained brown at the edges. A paper label had almost completely peeled away.
Thomas pressed both hands to his mouth.
“That’s it.”
Robert did not touch the book.
“Why did you take it?”
Logan looked toward the road, as though expecting a black SUV to appear.
“My supervisor told me it belonged to the company because it contained material relevant to a pending acquisition.”
“That’s nonsense,” Evelyn said.
“I know.”
“Did Grant Mercer order you to steal it?”
“He didn’t use that word. He said to secure it before the Carter family altered or destroyed evidence.”
Vivian stared at him.
“And you believed him?”
“At first.”
“What changed?” Daniel asked.
Logan swallowed.
“I heard Grant talking to the company lawyer. They planned to file an emergency petition tomorrow. They were going to argue the ownership dispute made the property vulnerable to waste and ask the court to freeze any county compensation.”
Evelyn’s expression sharpened.
“That would give them leverage to force a settlement.”
Logan nodded.
“They said the family would turn against each other once the money was delayed.”
Robert looked at Neil.
Neil closed his eyes.
Logan continued.
“I opened the ledger last night. I saw the signatures. I realized the company knew the ownership was probably valid. They weren’t trying to clarify anything. They were creating confusion.”
He pointed to the book.
“The final page is still there.”
Robert opened it beneath the fading daylight.
The paper was yellow and brittle. Evelyn held the corners flat while we read.
The transfer language was clear. Robert received complete ownership after settling family debts, maintaining the property, and assuming responsibility for his mother.
Popular Posts
→- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
Recently Viewed
Stories you read recently will appear here.
