And the way he'd described the offer as a favor.
Now she understood why he'd approached so quickly.
Her father's death created an opportunity.
A young farmer with debt might sell before recognizing what the property controlled.
The young woman's hands tightened.
For months, the older man had told her the land was nearly worthless.
But he'd been trying to acquire something important enough to protect his own expansion plans.
She looked toward the attorney.
"Can we prove he knew about the easement?"
The attorney nodded toward the records.
"That's the next question."
The quiet farmer's documents helped answer it.
Among the construction notices he'd preserved was an early project drawing that clearly identified the historical drainage corridor.
The drawing included a reference to existing downstream rights requiring further review.
A later version omitted that reference.
Investigators examined how the plans changed.
The engineering consultant who prepared the preliminary drawing said the old route had been identified during an initial records search.
The consultant recommended additional assessment before any work affected it.
But the project was later revised by others, and the final permit submission treated the location as a simple service-road improvement.
The consultant hadn't certified that the old relief function could be removed safely.
That distinction mattered.
Further correspondence showed that the largest grower had been informed of the easement concern during project planning.
He didn't necessarily know every technical detail of the risk.
But he knew the old corridor was subject to questions that hadn't been resolved.
And he continued pressing for the work to proceed.
The quiet farmer agreed to give a formal statement describing what he remembered from the meetings.
The man in the olive-green shirt initially refused.
He insisted he was merely another farmer who happened to be present during discussions.
Then investigators showed him the meeting records.
His name appeared beside several decisions concerning access and drainage.
He'd signed attendance sheets.
Received copies of the project documents.
And exchanged messages about the proposed expansion.
For several weeks, he remained defensive.
Then he consulted an attorney.
Eventually, he provided information concerning the meetings and the pressure he'd felt to support the larger grower's plans.
His explanation didn't remove his responsibility for what he'd actually done.