Page 35 of September’s Cowboy Travis

“I'm starting to hear you say that in my sleep.”

“You're welcome.”

Morgan smiled as I moved to the final page.

Most of the remaining notes dealt with later filings and administrative changes. One notation referred to the parcel being absorbed into a broader legal description. Another mentioned continuation of the account despite the change in land records.

Then I found the name again: Margaret Whitaker. Several lines lower, in a different hand and dated years later, she appeared as Margaret Hale. I read it twice.

“Morgan.”

“I saw it.”

“Margaret Whitaker became Margaret Hale.”

“That's what it looks like.”

“Do you think it was through marriage?”

“Probably, but I haven't found the marriage record.”

I pointed my pen at her. “It probably isn't evidence.”

Morgan laughed. “You've definitely been here too long.”

The name change itself was enough. Margaret hadn't disappeared from the records after 1912. She had continued under another name, which meant the line Boone Whitaker had written about might be traceable after all.

Hale. I copied the notation into my notes, then looked back at the sentence naming Margaret and her lawful descendants. The financial question was answered, but the historical one had just gotten bigger.

“Who are her descendants?” I asked.

Morgan looked at the documents spread between us. “That's what I'd like to know.”

I capped my pen. “That's officially outside the scope of my audit.”

“You don't sound relieved.”

“I like problems with answers.”

“You found your answer. You just opened up a new set of problems for the rest of us while looking,” Morgan teased.

Travis's part of it really was that simple now. The rest of it wasn't. Who Margaret Whitaker had been, why someone had gone to this much trouble to protect assets for her, and what happened to the descendants named in the document belonged to a different investigation and it fell well outside the scope of my responsibility.

I gathered the copies.

“You're finished,” she said.

“With Travis’s part, yes. I have enough to complete the report and explain the deposit.”

“That sounds like good news.”

“It is.”

Morgan waited. I recognized the tactic.

“You know Ruby does that too.”

“Does what?”