“The cut.”
“You told me that.”
Eli shrugged.
“That was it.”
“No.”
Calvin shook his head.
“There had to be something else.”
Eli thought.
Then answered.
“Everybody kept saying somebody tried to open the safe.”
“Obviously.”
“But they didn't.”
Calvin frowned.
“They cut the side open.”
“They started.”
Eli held up one hand.
“Then stopped before reaching the chamber. And afterward somebody reinforced it.”
Calvin stared.
“So?”
“If somebody gives up because the safe is empty or worthless, they don't usually spend more work sealing it afterward.”
Calvin looked toward the courthouse.
For the first time since Eli had known him, the man had no immediate answer.
He finally said, “You got lucky.”
“Maybe.”
“You could've spent forty dollars on nothing.”
“Yes.”
Calvin looked at him.
“That doesn't bother you?”
“It did.”
Eli smiled faintly.
“But forty dollars would've taught me something either way.”
Calvin studied the fifteen-year-old.
Then nodded once.