The clerk nodded slowly.
"I can check the recorded instruments and correspondence available here. We'll need to distinguish the building's ownership from whatever lease or supply agreement the company claims."
Loretta held her breath.
For months, Pritchard had spoken as though the mining company owned the Copper Pot outright.
Now an independent clerk was questioning that assumption.
Samuel examined several papers.
Then he looked toward her.
"Miss Loretta, did the widow ever give you a written agreement?"
She nodded.
"Yes."
"Do you still have it?"
"At the cookhouse."
Samuel smiled.
"Bring it."
Loretta stared.
For the first time in months, the document she'd kept in a small tin beneath her bed seemed more important than she'd understood.
She looked toward Elias.
He smiled faintly.
Then the clerk said something that made her heart begin pounding.
"If the company doesn't own the building, it can't simply declare itself the owner because it believes you owe a supply debt."
Loretta closed her eyes.
For a moment, she felt an almost unbearable relief.
But Samuel wasn't finished.
"That doesn't mean the debt is invalid or that the estate can ignore its obligations," he explained. "It means we need to examine the actual agreements before anyone takes property."
Loretta nodded.
She understood.
Then she stood.
"I'll bring the papers."
Elias offered his arm.
She accepted it.
And together, they returned to the Copper Pot, where the company was preparing to claim everything she had worked to preserve.
The agreement was exactly where Loretta had left it.
She kept her important papers inside a small tin box beneath the narrow bed in the back room of the Copper Pot. The box contained the widow's original letter, a few receipts, old photographs, and the savings Loretta had managed to set aside during better months.
Her hands trembled as she opened it.
Elias remained near the doorway.
He didn't crowd her.
He watched as she removed a folded document tied with a length of cotton thread.
She carefully untied it.
Then spread the pages across the table.
At the top was the name of the former cookhouse owner, Abigail Mercer.
The agreement confirmed that Loretta had been hired to manage the kitchen and later granted a continuing operating arrangement. It also contained a provision allowing her to purchase the cookhouse equipment and business interest for an agreed amount, provided the estate approved the transfer and the existing obligations were properly settled.