Then the remaining useful equipment.
Taxes continued.
The land stopped earning.
Emmett did not look devastated at the auction because the devastating part had happened years earlier.
This was paperwork.
Closure.
The final signature after a long loss.
Grant Pritchard arrived expecting to buy cheaply.
His ranch bordered Juniper Crown on the east.
Grant had money.
Water infrastructure.
Equipment.
Labor.
He could afford to own marginal acres because they did not need to support themselves immediately.
He opened the bidding low.
A few people participated briefly.
Then stopped.
Grant went to $4,900.
Reina bid $5,500.
Grant turned.
He recognized her vaguely from irrigation work she had done on ranches farther south.
“Aren’t you the water-system woman?”
Reina looked at him.
“That’s one way to put it.”
He smiled.
“You inspect the well?”
“Yes.”
“It’s dead.”
“The pump is.”
“The well hasn’t produced worth a damn in years.”
“I know what the report says.”
Grant studied her.
Then looked toward the dry land.
“You planning to irrigate dust?”
Reina faced the auctioneer again.
Grant did not bid higher.
That was how she became the owner of Juniper Crown Ranch.
After signing, she found Emmett standing near his truck.
“Mr. Rourke?”
He turned.
“Emmett.”
“Reina Fletcher.”
“I know.”
She was not sure whether that was good.
He nodded toward the property.
“You walk it?”
“Yesterday.”
“Then you know what you bought.”
“I know some of it.”
A shadow of a smile appeared.
“That’s probably more than most.”
She asked:
“Anything you think the county paperwork doesn’t tell me?”
Emmett looked toward Juniper Crown.
“Plenty.”
Reina waited.
He seemed to consider saying more.
Then shook his head.
“Most of it probably won’t help.”
“Try me.”
He looked at her boots.
Then notebook.
Then back toward the land.
“North side stays cooler.”
Reina’s attention sharpened.
“The draw?”
Emmett nodded.
“My grandfather called it the cold pocket.”
“Why?”
“Never knew.”
“Water?”
“Not that I saw.”
“Cattle use it differently?”
“In summer.”
He paused.
“They’d crowd that corner when everything got bad.”
Reina wrote it down.
Emmett noticed.
“You really think there’s something out there?”
“I think I don’t know yet.”
That answer seemed to satisfy him.
Grant passed behind them on his way to his truck.
“Emmett, she changes her mind, tell her my offer drops every week.”
Emmett did not laugh.
Reina did not turn around.
The first month of ownership was brutal.
Juniper Crown immediately began converting her savings into problems.
The house needed roof repairs before the winter moisture came.
One section of decking had softened badly.
Several window frames leaked air.
The water heater worked when it felt generous.
The electrical panel was old enough to deserve an inspection before Reina trusted it.
Then there was fencing.
Nearly a quarter mile of south boundary needed posts reset or replaced.
The old cattle shed leaned but remained structurally salvageable.
The 240-foot well was worse.
Reina pulled the pump.
Corrosion.
Wear.