She smiled faintly.
“You just contradicted yourself.”
“I do that when exhausted.”
A silence entered the room.
Not uncomfortable.
Almost.
Vincent noticed her hand resting on the blanket.
Small fingers.
Ink stain near one nail.
He thought about all the numbers those hands had saved him from misreading.
Khloe looked toward the manila folder.
The softness disappeared from her face.
Vincent noticed immediately.
“You said something.”
Her shoulders tightened.
“When?”
“In your sleep.”
She looked alarmed.
“What?”
“Don’t sign them.”
Silence.
Vincent turned toward the desk.
“The deeds?”
Khloe said nothing.
He looked back.
“Khloe.”
She pulled the blanket more closely around herself.
“I should get dressed.”
“No.”
Her eyes widened.
Vincent realized how that sounded.
“I mean, not yet.”
Worse.
He rubbed a hand over his face.
“Christ.”
Khloe’s mouth twitched.
Despite herself.
Vincent pointed toward the folder.
“You said don’t sign them.”
Her smile vanished.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Khloe looked toward the closed bedroom door.
Then toward the window.
As though someone might be listening.
Vincent noticed.
“Who are you afraid of?”
She whispered:
“Paulie.”
Something inside Vincent went cold.
“What about him?”
Khloe swallowed.
“He forged them.”
The exhaustion vanished completely.
Vincent stared at her.
“What?”
“The grazing deeds.”
“No.”
“I checked them three times.”
“Khloe.”
“I know his handwriting.”
“That proves nothing.”
“He copied your signature.”
Vincent walked toward the desk.
Opened the folder.
Three deeds.
Two transfer forms.
One county filing cover sheet.
His signature appeared at the bottom of one preliminary document.
Vincent stared.
He had not signed it.
He knew every version of his own signature.
Formal.
Quick.
Angry.
Half-drunk.
Horseback.
This one looked convincing.
But wrong.
Too careful.
The V leaned slightly farther right than his natural hand.
Khloe rose from the bed.
The nightgown fell around her ankles.
She kept the wool blanket over her shoulders.
Vincent barely noticed.
“Show me.”
Khloe approached.
She stopped beside him.
Not touching.
She pointed.
“You cross the T in Costa after completing the final A.”
Vincent glanced at her.
“What?”
“Your signature.”
“You know how I sign my name?”
“I process your contracts.”
“Right.”
Her finger hovered above the forged name.
“Here, the T was crossed first.”
Vincent stared.
“You can tell?”
“The ink overlap.”
He leaned closer.
She was right.
Khloe opened another paper.
“Also this parcel number.”
“What?”
“Wrong.”
“It matches the survey.”
“It matches the copy Paulie gave you.”
She pulled another folded document from beneath the folder.
“I checked against the county index.”
Vincent looked at her.
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
“Why?”
“I thought I had made an accounting error.”
“What error?”
Khloe’s lips pressed together.
Then she opened the ranch ledger.
Not the main account ledger.
A smaller one.
Winter cattle fund.