“Tax maps aren’t surveys.”
He looked up.
Exactly what grandfather would say.
“Do you have older?”
“How old?”
“Before 1973.”
Mrs. Givens raised eyebrows.
“Why 1973?”
Everett pulled notebook.
Sarah sighed.
The boy opened to page.
April 1973 flood. East fence moved by Briggs while lower bank inaccessible.
Mrs. Givens read.
Her expression changed.
“Your father wrote this?”
Sarah nodded.
Mrs. Givens looked around office.
Then lowered voice as if the dead could hear.
“I remember that flood.”
“You were here?” Everett asked.
“I was nineteen.”
“Half the valley underwater.”
“County bridge washed out.”
“Several fences went.”
She looked toward back room.
“There might be old highway survey.”
“Not here.”
“County surveyor's office stores old project plats.”
“Is surveyor here?” Everett asked.
“Monday through Thursday usually.”
“It’s Saturday.”
“I know.”
She smiled.
Everett did not.
“Who is surveyor?”
“Mr. Dalton.”
“Can I call?”
“Monday.”
Sarah touched son’s shoulder.
“We’ll come back.”
Everett looked at tax map again.
“Did Briggs pay taxes on eighteen extra acres?”
Mrs. Givens looked at him sharply.
“Where did eighteen come from?”
He opened another notebook page.
A line:
Lower meadow, approximately 18.4 acres east of legal line but west of Briggs fence after flood.
Sarah had not noticed.
Her face drained.
“Eighteen?”
Everett nodded.
Mrs. Givens looked between them.
“That is not small discrepancy.”
Sarah whispered:
“No.”
Everett asked:
“Would taxes show?”
The recorder was careful.
“Tax acreage can be wrong.”
“Payment does not necessarily establish legal title.”
“Need deed and survey.”
“But assessment history may help understand.”
She pulled computer.
Briggs parcel listed 312 acres.
Cole: 67.
Everett’s grandfather’s 1959 purchase deed?
Mrs. Givens retrieved.
85.6 acres.
Sarah stared.
“Wait.”
Everett leaned.
“Granddad bought eighty-five?”
“Yes,” Mrs. Givens said.
Current tax roll sixty-seven.
Difference:
18.6.
Everett’s heart started pounding.
Sarah looked pale.
“When did that change?”
Mrs. Givens typed.
“Parcel adjustment in 1976.”
“Basis?”
She searched.
“Reference to boundary correction plat.”