The auctioneer became impatient.
“It's an old Deere. We know what it is.”
The father remained polite.
“The stamped number doesn't match the ordinary production references.”
“Then somebody probably changed the plate.”
“Possibly. But there are nonstandard components too.”
The auctioneer sighed.
“Look, we're selling an estate full of farm junk. We don't have time to write a history book about every machine.”
The father frowned.
“I'm only suggesting the description may be inaccurate.”
The auctioneer's voice hardened.
“The catalog says sold as-is. Buyers can inspect it themselves.”
Then he ended the call.
May's father stared at the receiver.
Something about the exchange bothered him.
He had worked with auctioneers before.
Most appreciated information that helped identify equipment accurately.
This man had seemed unusually determined to avoid the subject.
He told May what happened.
She looked disappointed.
“Maybe he doesn't believe us.”
Her father considered the possibility.
“Maybe.”
Then he looked at her notebook.
“Or maybe he already knows more than he's saying.”
May stared.
“What do you mean?”
“I don't know yet.”
He placed the catalog on the table.
“But your grandfather always said to pay attention when somebody gets angry at a simple question.”
May remembered the lesson.
She nodded.
Then she turned back to the tractor photograph.
There was something else about the catalog image that caught her attention.
A small metal plate near the steering housing had been covered by a strip of masking tape.
She enlarged the photograph under a magnifying glass.
The tape was faint, but visible.
May frowned.
When she had examined the tractor in the shed, no tape had covered the plate.
She showed her father.
He studied the photograph carefully.
“That is strange.”
“Why would somebody cover it?”
He shrugged.
“Could be accidental.”
May looked down.
But she did not believe it.
Neither did her father.
What they did not know was that the auctioneer had already received a private inquiry about the tractor.
Six weeks earlier, a machinery broker from another state had contacted him after seeing photographs from the estate inventory.
The broker specialized in rare agricultural equipment.
He had noticed the unusual steering housing immediately.