Not only:
How many acres?
How much frontage?
What soil classification?
He began asking:
Are there old easements?
Shared wells?
Water agreements?
Unrecorded roads?
Family surveys?
His employees complained that he became obsessed with old paperwork.
Calvin never explained why.
Eli knew.
The safe remained in the Mercer barn.
Ellis cleaned it slowly.
He removed loose corrosion.
Treated exposed steel.
Stabilized the door.
But when Eli suggested repairing the torch damage, Ellis refused.
“Leave it.”
“Why?”
“That's the most important part.”
“The ugly part?”
“The honest part.”
He pointed toward the scar.
“That is where everybody decided the story ended.”
Eli looked at it.
Ellis continued.
“Somebody tried to cut it open and stopped. Everybody saw failure.”
He pointed toward the reinforced chamber.
“You saw a question.”
Beside the safe, Ellis hung the auction receipt.
FORTY DOLLARS.