by Eric Hodges
CHAPTER 8
THE HALF TRUTH
Wheeler headed back to chat with his new buddy in short sleeves at the Land Commissioner office and take another look at the books. Whatever he was looking for had to be in those books.
“Do you have another file of smaller pages for the recordings?” Wheeler asked him, fishing for more documents. Sometimes they put normal sized documents separate than the oversize books he had seen that morning, to make sure they didn’t get lost in the two foot by three foot binder.
“Sure, mister, but nobody ever wants to see those, they are all fine print and legalese that I don’t think are actually in English” he chuckled, sharing his insider’s joke.
“That’s okay, maybe I’ll understand a word or two. May I have the file associated with this plot number?” Wheeler rattled off the plot number and the clerk went to the back. Wheeler carried both the file and the big book back to the table where he had spent most of the morning.
He carefully reviewed the few pages in the big book concerning the property, the loan documents and the lien that didn’t reveal anything more to add to his lunch time revelations. He opened the smaller file and started digging. It was the supporting documentation for the recent loan as well as old tax appraisals, permits for the odd upgrade and plans for the new barn built in 1946. The loan package drew his attention because he thought whatever he was being drawn to must be in the more recent documents. The recent appraisal showed 300 acres of useful land, a residence with three out-buildings and two wells capable of producing 4000 acre-feet of water between the two of them. He didn’t know much about farming but that seemed all in order, except his attention kept being drawn to the number 4000. He leaned back to rest his eyes, mulling over the number stuck in his head.
On a whim, Wheeler went back to visit shirt sleeves at the counter and asked “Can I have the small file for the properties to the south of the file you gave me?” That was the direction in which the Keefer farm was located relative to the Carter farm and that might give him some perspective.
The young fellow nodded, disappearing down a row of shelves and file cabinets and returned with a modest folder. “Not much action in this area” he told Wheeler as he handed over the thin file.
Wheeler found the corresponding tax appraisal for the Keefer farm and looked at its numbers. He found the well rating for Bob and Alice’ farm was only 3000 acre feet. He had no idea what the numbers meant but he was sure they didn’t match up very well. Either the Carter number was inflated or the Keefer number was deflated. The Keefer place was only 200 acres compared to the 300 acres indicated for the Carter place, so if the numbers were correct, the water availability would correlate. Unfortunately, the water stealing incident that Bob and Alice told him about from the 1960’s hinted that the Carter amount of water was wrong.
Wheeler absent mindedly thumbed through the files in front of him and chanced upon the old tax appraisal for the Carter farm that was done in the 1980’s. Page seven of the document was missing and that just happened to be the page that listed the water capabilities of the water wells on the property. With that page missing, there was no easy way to compare the latest loan documents with the historical record.
Someone had cooked the books, Wheeler realized, and the originals at the County Recorder’s office probably had that page missing too. Whoever had done it had access or at least contacts that could alter official documents and had the juice and the nerve to bend the records. Wheeler thought he knew but looked a bit closer at the documents to find the last piece of the puzzle he was trying to complete: the appraisal for the loan was submitted by Davies and Wix Accounting, LLC.
Altogether too tidy, Wheeler thought, as he walked back the VW in the middle of the afternoon. The connection was now complete, at least in Wheeler’s mind. Davies and Wix had worked some illegal magic to get a loan for Walter Carter that he probably could not have gotten otherwise, for some use, maybe the Indian Casino, and something was happening now that had him, or them, riled up. It must be something so significant that they were coming after Alice and Bob for some reason.
Wheeler had stopped in the middle of the parking lot thinking and had not noticed he was staring at a spot on the pavement. He thought the discoloration looked like a balloon with a cute tail and the top opened up in mid-burst. “A BALLOON!” he screamed out loud. He looked around embarrassed by his outburst but there was nobody around. He raced to the VW and took off as fast as its little sewing machine engine would take him.
Wheeler raced the little engine as much as he dared, darting around the sparse traffic on a sleepy workday afternoon, heading to the antique shop. He skidded to a stop at the back entrance and ran inside the open door. “Alice, Alice, where are you?” he said in a pant.
She peered around a tall hutch looking startled and said “What, I’m over here.”
“Come to the back” he said sharply in a booming voice. “We’ve got to get out of here. Quick, come with me.” He was relieved to see her but he was not any less anxious.
“What?” She said joining him at the back of the shop, “What is it?”
Wheeler grabbed her arm and led her out into the parking area where the VW was parked at an odd angle right in the middle. “Hop in, we have to go, now” he said ducking into the bus and starting it up in one fluid motion.
“Wait, I have to lock up” Alice protested weakly but she got into the bus anyway. Wheeler looked determined and she could tell there was something very wrong. He pulled the bus out just as she slammed the door and off they went toward Bob’s shop. Alice spoke quickly, alternating between protests and questions about what happened, what was happening, was Bob alright, her shop was open, what was going on?
Wheeler interrupted her “Wait for it.” That was all he said. Alice blinked stunned. Did he just tell her to shut up? She was deciding whether or not she should be getting angry with him when they heard a crashing boom back from where they had just departed. Alice ejected a startled yelp as they pulled up to Main Street and stopped, just able to see the billowing black smoke coming out of what used to be Old Glorys. They could see debris littering the street and very little sunlight getting through the smoke to the ground. Wheeler looked carefully to see if there was any evidence or indication of how this happened but there was nothing. Alice just whimpered in the passenger seat, looking past him toward the shop.
“That was close,” he said. “Let’s get over to Bob’s shop, there’s nothing we can do back there” he said pointing a thumb toward the smoke. He slowly made the right turn on Main and they could hear the sirens off in the distance. It was a quiet ride with both of them in their own private worlds. Wheeler went back into playing mental connect the dots and Alice was in a cold sweat, numb at the loss of her livelihood and her narrow escape. If Wheeler had been just a few seconds later, she would have been inside the blast instead of bouncing down a side street in his VW. She was a puddle in the seat and didn’t feel any of the bumps in the road.
Bob was alone and not very busy and Wheeler didn’t think they would see Jake again in the shop. They drove in the back and led Bob out to the front to see the fire truck pull up to the curb. Smoke was billowing out the hole in the roof and it was obvious that the small shop was fully engulfed and would be gutted. Alice drifted deeper into shock and Wheeler had to help her back inside to the break table. Bob brought waters for them knowing there was something wrong but wanting to get Alice settled. They, well mostly Wheeler, told Bob about the blast at Alice’ shop and her narrow escape as Alice slowly came to her senses.
She abruptly snapped out of her stupor and focused on Wheeler “You have averted a few of these near misses, or at least, you seem to know beforehand what is going to happen.” She was building momentum. “You come into town from nowhere just when all of these disasters start, too. Either you’re part of it or there is something strange going on with you. What is it?” She was squinting at him, forgetting about the blast for the moment.
/> “Oh no, I’m not part of anything here” he said. “When I drove into Eaton, I had no idea there was anything going on at all, and I’ve never met anybody in town either.” As a half truth, Wheeler thought, that was pretty good. He could not lie to these people.
Alice was not convinced but her face softened. Bob looked on intently. Alice continued “Well, okay” she said not sure where to go with this “how did you know when the bomb was going to go off so you could pull me out at exactly the last possible moment?”
“I didn’t exactly. I was leaving the Land Commissioner’s Office getting the last few pieces of information we need about Carter when I knew I had to get you out of the shop immediately. What I sensed in the land office was Walt's desperation about the balloon payment.” He paused to formulate the right wording. “I just knew” he emphasized the last word “you were in danger and I had to get you out. I didn’t know what the danger was but it was palpable.” Both Alice and Bob had ‘Hummm’ expressions and it was Bob that continued.
“Last night, when the truck got stuck in the mud puddle at the house, you were the one that made the puddle, weren’t you?”
“Yeah, afraid so.”
“I keep the water down to nothing because I don’t want to mow it. I was going to check it for leaks the first chance I got.” Bob was starting to look satisfied with the reasoning but uncomfortable with the implications. “Are you telling us you just ‘know’ stuff?”
“In a way, you are correct. I was drawn here, to Eaton, for the same reason. I just had to get here for something and I never know why until it unfolds. I have not been just been wandering, I am drawn to different places like a moth to a light.”
“When you left the house this morning, did you know what you were going out to research?” Alice was doing an admirable job of playing connect the dots herself. Wheeler was impressed. “Did you know what you were looking for?”
“I had no idea. I just went to the office trusting I would be led to the right book or person. I don’t even ask anymore, I just go and patiently let it unfold. It either comes to me or I go somewhere else.” Alice and Bob were getting more curious as the conversation progressed, allowing their adrenaline levels to subside.
“Oh” Alice said, remembering Wheeler’s afternoon trip back to the land office “What did you find out this afternoon? You must have been drawn back there for something.”
“Oh yes, that was worthwhile” Wheeler said “there were two things. The well capacity stated on Carter’s loan documents indicates there is sufficient water to operate a farm. I compared it to yours and it correlates.”
“But that’s not right, Carter has almost no water” Alice said, confirming Wheeler’s conclusions.
“That’s what I thought too. It sounded fishy, but the accounting firm of Davies and Wix seemed to think it was there and told the bank in their appraisal.”
“What?” Bob interjected “They don’t do appraisals, do they?” He looked at Alice.
“I don’t think so” she said slowly, looking confused. “Can they just make up an appraisal and submit it? If they can, that’s a pretty dumb bank.”
“That’s not the good part, listen to this” Wheeler interrupted because he wanted to get the whole story out so they could do the examination with all the facts. “There is a balloon payment due in a few weeks that is the entire loan amount. The fine print states that the loan can be re-negotiated at the time the balloon is due if a bank-appointed appraiser can verify the value of the property.”
“So that's why Walt is causing all the trouble!” Alice exclaimed. “He's trying to get us out so he can take over our farm and help himself to the water.” All four of the Keefer eyes went wide, understanding the implication. There are no wells to find so the appraisal will come in substantially under what a true, self-contained farm would be worth. They all thought together the pressure to replace the loan must be squeezing hard on Walt.
“But this is all crazy” Bob added. “There's nothing he can do in a few weeks, even if he does get us out. What's the point?”
“I don't know but he is associated with Davies and Wix, that is starting to look like a shifty legal team. We know now, or at least think we know, what this is about” Wheeler said. “Do you two trust me enough to help stop it?” Wheeler leveled his gaze at them, looking for signs of strength and sensing internally if he was on the right path with them.
“We have to” Bob replied.
“I think so” Alice said, hesitating.
“We will have to go on the offensive and bring the fight to them and it could get dangerous, are you sure?” Wheeler challenged them with the inevitable.
Wheeler could tell both Alice and Bob were reviewing the dangers and now the exploded antique shop while considering his proposal.
“I’m in” they both said in unison.
