“No.”
The boy stared.
“Then what was the point?”
Eli set down his wrench.
He wiped his hands.
Walked toward the safe.
“See this cut?”
The boy nodded.
“Everybody at the auction saw it.”
“So?”
“They saw a safe somebody couldn't open.”
Eli pointed toward where the hidden reinforcement had been.
“I saw a cut that stopped before it reached where it was supposed to go.”
The boy leaned closer.
“And that mattered?”
“It made me curious.”
Eli opened a drawer beside the safe and removed a reproduction of the original 1928 survey.
The fragile original was no longer kept in the barn.
He unfolded the copy.
He showed the boy the spring.
Channel.
Seven farms.
Mercer property.
Harland mill.
Then he told the story.
Not quickly.
Because the details mattered.
The rain year.
The broken tractor.
The auction.
Calvin's laughter.
The forty dollars.
Moving the safe.