“Why are you bringing them to me now?” I asked.
“Because he told me they were lost.” She clasped her hands tightly. “And because I know the letter he gave the court isn’t Luke’s.”
I thought about the address mistake, but Arlene wasn’t finished. She had seen Dale practicing Luke’s signature at her kitchen table. She had watched him fill page after page and allowed him to call it paperwork she didn’t need to understand.
“I should have stopped him,” she said.
I didn’t tell her it was all right. Luke had been buried while Dale kept the final documents he had tried to deliver, and Arlene had known enough to question her son before he submitted that letter to the court.
“Will you tell Walt what you saw?” I asked.
“Yes. I’ll put it in a statement.”
We sat in silence as I carefully put the original easement papers back in order. Arlene told me Dale’s dealership was heavily in debt. A resort developer had discussed paying him for land near our creek, although Dale couldn’t provide property he didn’t own. Luke had discovered the survey stakes before his accident and had told Dale he intended to protect the meadow.
