“Fires leave fewer questions than banks,” she said.
“The bank still has the records from ninety-eight.”
“The bank manager is Dad’s cousin,” Clara said.
“He retired to Florida.”
“His son has the keys now.”
“His son plays golf on Tuesdays,” she said.
“You know his schedule too?”
“The golf course is behind the grocery loading dock,” Clara said.
“You can see the flags from the fence.”
“You spend a lot of time by that fence.”
“The fence has a loose board,” she said.
“You can crawl through without touching the wire.”
“I am not crawling through a fence to look at a golf course.”
“The manager’s son leaves his briefcase in the locker,” Clara said.
“The combination is his mother’s birthday.”
“You know her birthday?”
“It is written on the plaque by the water fountain,” she said.
“The fountain in the town square?”
“The one that doesn’t work,” Clara said.
“The brass plate has her name on it.”
“Why would her name be on a broken fountain?”
“Your father paid for the copper,” she said.
“Dad never gave money to the town.”
“He gave it to the park board,” Clara said.
“To keep them from paving the lane.”
“The lane where your car was found.”
“The car was pushed there by a tractor,” she said.
“Arthur’s tractor?”
“Arthur’s old red one with the rusted fender,” Clara said.
“The one he sold in two thousand.”
“He didn’t sell it,” she said.
“He painted it green and parked it in the back.”
“You saw it?”
“The paint is peeling near the seat,” she said.
“You can see the red underneath.”
“Arthur told me he sold it to a man from Iowa.”
“Arthur lies about tractors,” Clara said.
“Nobody from Iowa comes to this county.”
“People come here for the fishing.”
“The river dried up after the dam was built,” she said.
“The dam was built in the seventies.”
“The gates were opened last summer,” Clara said.
“The water came up to the lower bridge.”
“I didn’t see any water near the bridge.”
“They closed the gates again before morning,” she said.
“Who closed them?”
“The man with the gray truck,” she said.
“The one who delivers flour to the bakery.”
“That is Mr. Henderson.”
“Mr. Henderson is your father’s driver,” Clara said.
“Mr. Henderson drives a delivery truck.”
“The bakery closed five years ago,” she said.
“He still delivers flour.”
“To the empty building?”
“To the back room where the records are kept,” she said.
“What records?”
“The ones the lawyer asked for,” Clara said.
“The lawyer hasn’t asked for anything yet.”
“He will ask on Monday,” she said.
“How do you know what the lawyer will do?”
“He has lunch at the diner every Friday,” she said.
“He sits in the same booth.”
“The one by the cigarette machine.”
“The machine has been empty since the tax law changed,” Clara said.
“He keeps his briefcase on the empty seat.”
“What is inside it?”
“Copies of the property transfers,” she said.
“The ones signed in pencil.”
“The county doesn’t accept pencil.”
“They accept them if the notary is dead,” Clara said.
“Is the notary dead?”
“He died on Tuesday,” she said.
“Which notary?”
“Mr. Vance,” Clara said.
“Mr. Vance signed the papers for the timber?”
“He signed the papers for the house,” she said.
“Which house?”
“The one on the hill where we grew up,” she said.
“That house belongs to our parents.”
“The deed was transferred in ninety-seven,” Clara said.
“To who?”
“To a company in Delaware,” she said.
“The name on the door says grain storage.”
“There is no grain in that house.”
“There are boxes of paper stacked to the ceiling,” she said.
“How do you know what is in the house?”
“I went inside through the cellar window,” Clara said.
“When?”
“Last November,” she said.
“While they were at the dentist.”
“They go to the dentist on Thursdays,” I said.
“Only on the first Thursday of the month,” Clara said.
“You keep track of their teeth.”
“The stairs creak on the second step,” she said.
“Don’t step on the second step.”
“I am not going into that house.”
“The attic window is unlocked,” Clara said.
“I left the latch open with a wooden match.”
“Why did you leave it open?”
“Because you were going to need the papers,” she said.
“What papers?”
“The ones with the red seal in the metal box,” she said.
“The box under the floorboards?”
“The one behind the chimney,” she said.
“The chimney was sealed off after the fire.”
“The fire was in the basement,” Clara said.
“The bricks in the attic are cold.”
“How do you know the bricks are cold?”
“I put my hand against them,” she said.
“You touched the chimney?”
“The mortar is new,” she said.
“It doesn’t match the rest of the house.”
“Dad did the masonry himself.”
“Dad didn’t mix mortar after his hand was hurt,” I said.
“He used his left hand,” Clara said.
“The lines are crooked on the left side.”
“I didn’t look at the chimney.”
“Look at the corner where the beam meets the wall,” she said.
“The wood is darker there.”
“Because of the soot.”
“Because of the oil,” Clara said.
“What kind of oil?”
“The kind they use to preserve leather,” she said.
“The same oil that was on the steering column.”
“The steering column from the car in the ditch.”
“The car never went into the ditch,” Clara said.
“The police report had three signatures.”
“The signatures were signed by the same hand,” she said.
“How do you know whose hand signed them?”
“The loops on the letter m,” she said.
“They all stop three millimeters short of the line.”
“You measured them?”
“With a ruler from the hardware store,” Clara said.
“The brass one with the notch in the corner.”
“I gave that ruler to Arthur.”
“Arthur left it on the workbench,” she said.
“I saw it through the window.”
“You look through a lot of windows.”
“Windows are cleaner than doors,” Clara said.
“Nobody locks a window from the inside if they expect company.”
“I did not expect company today.”
“You expected Martha to call,” she said.
“Martha calls everyone whose chart hasn’t been updated.”
“My chart was updated this morning,” Clara said.
“By who?”
“By the girl with the silver glasses,” she said.
“The new receptionist?”
“Her name is Sarah,” Clara said.
“Sarah doesn’t know our family.”
“She knows the ones who pay in cash,” she said.
“Did she take your money?”
“She put it in the drawer under the ledger,” Clara said.
“Did she give you a receipt?”
“Receipts have numbers,” she said.
“This one had a name written on the back.”
“Whose name?”
