“Roy's dead.”
“I know.”
“You don't have to obey him anymore.”
Maggie looked at the map.
“He wasn't always wrong.”
Frank softened.
“Maybe not.”
She folded the map.
“There is something else.”
“What?”
“Roy left a locked metal box.”
“Where?”
“Under the garage floor.”
Frank stared.
“What's inside?”
“I don't know.”
“Have you opened it?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because he told me to open it only if someone tried to take the property.”
Frank was silent.
“Maybe now is the time.”
Maggie shook her head.
“I don't know where the key is.”
Frank smiled.
“Then we'll find it.”
They searched for hours.
Nothing.
Finally, Maggie remembered an old toolbox Roy had given her on their twentieth anniversary.
Inside was a photograph.
Roy stood beside a younger Maggie, both covered in grease.
On the back he had written:
For the day you finally stop doing everything alone.
Maggie sat down.
She cried.
Frank pretended not to notice.
Then something fell from the photograph.
A tiny brass key.
They returned to the garage.
Near midnight, they lifted an old section of flooring.
There it was.
The metal box.
Maggie's hands shook as she opened it.
Inside were property documents, survey records, photographs, and a sealed envelope.
She opened the envelope.
Roy's handwriting filled the page.
Maggie, if you're reading this, then somebody finally figured out what this land is worth. Don't let them scare you. Don't let them buy you cheaply. And don't fight alone. You were never meant to.
Maggie pressed the letter against her chest.
Frank looked away.
Then Maggie found one final document.
It was an old survey bearing a county seal.
The water rights were real.
And the property extended farther than Silver Basin's foreclosure papers suggested.
Frank stared at the document.
“They may not own the whole thing.”
Maggie looked at him.
“Then we may have a chance.”
For the first time, hope entered the room.
But outside, a truck stopped at the edge of the property.
Someone was watching.
The next morning, Maggie took the documents to an attorney in Ely.
His name was Samuel Ortiz.
He had known Roy.
After studying the papers for nearly an hour, he removed his glasses.
“This is significant.”
Maggie leaned forward.
“How significant?”
“Potentially enough to challenge the foreclosure.”
Frank smiled.
Maggie did not.
“Potentially?”
Samuel nodded.
“Property law is complicated. The bank owns the mortgage. But if their foreclosure description is incorrect, that matters.”
“And the water rights?”
“Those may be even more important.”
Maggie looked at Frank.
Samuel continued.
“You need an independent survey immediately.”
“How much?”
“Several thousand dollars.”
Maggie laughed bitterly.
“Of course.”
Frank reached for his wallet.
Maggie glared at him.
“No.”
“I didn't say anything.”
“You were thinking it.”
Samuel smiled.
“I'll tell you something Roy once told me.”
Maggie looked at him.
“He said you were the most stubborn person he had ever met.”
“That sounds right.”
“He also said your stubbornness was the reason he loved you.”
Maggie smiled.
Samuel leaned forward.
“Let your friends help.”
Maggie looked at Frank.
“I hate owing people.”
“You won't owe us,” Frank said.
“How do you know?”
“Because we aren't lending you money.”
“What are you doing?”
“Buying repairs.”
He placed a thick envelope on the desk.
Maggie stared at it.
“That's too much.”