“Cash closing.”
“No bank delays.”
“Why?”
He shrugged.
“Expansion.”
“For the slaughterhouse?”
“Maybe feedlots.”
“Storage.”
Ruth nodded slowly.
“I’ll think about it.”
Dale smiled.
“Don't think too long.”
“Why?”
“Market changes.”
He walked toward his truck.
Then stopped.
“You been messing around the pile?”
Ruth’s heart kicked.
“What?”
“Looks disturbed.”
She looked toward it.
“Coyotes.”
Dale stared at her.
Ruth stared back.
After several seconds, he smiled.
“Coyotes don't usually use shovels.”
The world went still.
Ruth forced a laugh.
“I do.”
“Couldn’t sleep.”
“Figured I’d start moving it.”
Dale watched her.
“What'd you find?”
There.
Direct.
Too direct.
Ruth shrugged.
“Bad smell.”
He kept looking.
Then nodded.
“You find anything else, call me.”
“Why?”
“Could be old farm junk.”
“I know this property.”
“Not as well as Glenn did.”
The statement sounded harmless.
The warning underneath was not.
Dale climbed into his truck.
Ruth watched him leave.
Then immediately called Malcolm.
“I need a lawyer.”
He went silent.
“You have a lawyer.”
“I need one who knows environmental law.”
“What happened?”
Ruth looked toward the field.
“My grandfather left me more than debt.”
By afternoon, Malcolm had connected Ruth with an environmental attorney in Louisville named Sharon Pike.
No relation to anyone in Grayson County, which Ruth considered an advantage.
Sharon listened without interrupting while Ruth described the journal, photographs, soil sample, Dale’s offer, and the buried crate.
When Ruth finished, Sharon asked one question.
“Have you touched the suspected burial area beyond retrieving the crate?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“What do I do?”
“Nothing.”
“That can't be right.”
“It is.”
Ruth paced her kitchen.
“There could be chemicals under my farm.”
“Exactly.”
“You do not excavate unknown buried containers yourself.”
Ruth stopped.
That sounded obvious after hearing it aloud.
Sharon continued.
“Photograph every document.”
“Digitize everything.”
“Do not give originals to local officials yet.”
“Why?”
“Your grandfather believed someone warned Pressler before.”
“That was twenty years ago.”
“People remain employed a long time.”
Ruth looked toward the county road.
“What about testing?”
“We use an accredited lab and a licensed environmental consultant.”
“Cost?”
“Several thousand dollars initially.”
Ruth laughed.
“I have eleven hundred dollars.”
Sharon was quiet.
Then:
“Your grandfather’s evidence may support state involvement if we present it correctly.”
“How long?”
“Not tomorrow.”
Ruth closed her eyes.