Ellen, Travis, Jake, Avery, Ryan, and Lyla all sat in the kitchen; Ellen took the seat where she could also observe Sam, who was still unconscious on the dining-room table.
She began. “Brock and Rena were hired by Mitchell Robinson to steal the original sales or lease contracts for right-of-way that were signed last week. Coulter, Baldwin, two others. Brock said that there was a clause that shouldn’t have made it in, likely something related to what they could do with the land under the termsof the right-of-way. If the clause disallowed mineral rights, then that might explain why Robinson wanted to change the terms. But George Coulter would never have signed it with that clause, so either Robinson was trying to deceive him, or he let him sign the right contract, but planned a bait and switch.”
Jake got up and went to the kitchen desk. “I told you that Clive brought over a contract that they want you to sign by Sunday, so they can file it first thing Monday, a trade of eight hundred acres for the two hundred acres between their property and what they leased from the Coulters.”
He put the contract in front of Ellen. She hadn’t read it yet, and the words were swimming in front of her, she was so tired. The house shook in the wind, and she wondered if Brock and Rena were okay out there. Maybe she should have let Travis try to apprehend them… But they were desperate. Brock might have shot her brother-in-law. Hewouldhave. They had been in survival mode, and while he had also helped her by giving her information, he could have acted without thinking and killed Travis or one of her children.
Ellen couldn’t lose anyone else.
“Before he left, he told me there was a copy of everything in his truck that he left at the Coulters’ house. I want to go get it.”
“Now?” Travis said.
“Yes. What if Mitchell knows he had something? What if he’s going to try to cover everything up?”
“Or that criminal was lying to you,” Travis said. “While the rain’s letting up, the wind is a hazard in itself. When Jake and I were coming out here, a tree branch damn near broke the windshield.”
She didn’t want to wait, but they were right. She couldn’t put anyone else in danger.
“First thing in the morning,” she said. “Crack of dawn, I’m going.”
“I’ll go with you,” Jake said.
She almost said no, but just nodded. “Okay.”
Dawn was only hours away. Then she started thinking as she glanced at the impossibly generous contract—eight hundred prime acres of farmland for two hundred grazing acres. It made no sense.
“Whythisland?” Ellen said, holding up the contract.
“I’ve been thinking about it all day, ever since Clive came by. I might know,” Travis said. “Jake, go get the map of northern Cooke County. Your dad always had one in his desk.”
Jake nodded, left the room.
“What are you thinking?” Ellen asked him.
“They need your two hundred acres because—if I’m right—it gives them a straight path north. Or, rather, a straight path south.”
“You’re confusing me,” Ellen said, “but I’m exhausted.”
Jake came back with the map and Travis laid it on the table.
“First,” Travis said, “I’ve been reading about all of Verdacorp’s dealings ever since Mitchell started the company when his dad moved to Dallas. John had been skeptical, thinking they were going to disrupt farming in the area. He was more concerned about price manipulation or exclusive contracts that would force smaller farms out of business.”
Ellen nodded. “It’s why we started expanding into crops the Robinsons didn’t grow, and why we bought the Mendoza farm for the pecan orchard.” Though that hadn’t gone as well as they had hoped.
Travis nodded. “Then after what Verdacorp did in the Panhandle—acquiring a lot of land, then leasing it back to the farmers for farming but selling right-of-way to the utilities while retaining the mineral rights that they leased to the oil companies for pipelines, John was worried they were going to do the same here.”
“But our terrain is completely different than the Panhandle,” Jake said. “We’re wetter, we’ve got more diverse farming and a smaller region. Any pipeline is going to greatly disrupt dozens of farmers.”
“And there aren’t any big oil operations around here,” Ryan said. “Just the Sudduths with their four pumps, you can’t even see them from the road.”
“A couple farms have a pump or two going,” Travis said, “but you’re right, it’s small scale and they’re not getting rich off it. You know, Grandpa thought of doing it.”
“Really?” Ellen said. “I didn’t know that.”
“When John and I were little, he hired a surveyor and was going to put one right next to Whisper Creek, within sight of the barn, because there was potential. Grandma put her foot down because she didn’t want to see it when she was feeding the chickens. I think that was the only time we ever saw Grandpa Milton and Grandma Penny argue about anything.”
Ellen grinned. “And Grandma won.”
