Time in the Country 10

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Mrs. Jenkins shooed everyone out of the kitchen so she could prepare dinner. Lee, Amanda and Jess retired to the parlor to discuss what they had found out. The boys, though excited at the prospect of Jess', maybe, newfound wealth, found the rest of the discussion boring and asked permission to go outside and see the horses.

Amanda immediately said no but Jess convinced her that the boys would be safe enough as long as they stayed near the corral and didn't go anywhere, something they both enthusiastically agreed to. Reluctantly, Amanda allowed them go, when she realized this was supposed to be their vacation and so far it hadn't been one. Of course that didn't stop her from getting up every so often to go look out of the large kitchen window and reassure herself that they were still there and safe.

After her fourth trip, Lee reached out and took her hand. "Amanda. Will you quit worrying? The boys are fine."

"I know." She sighed. "But if I'm right, then Stone is going to be looking for any leverage he can find and I don't want my sons to be it."

Lee nodded and looked back down again at Jess' photos. While in town, Amanda had been present when Mrs. Jenkins ran into an old friend, whose family owned property just on the other side of Jess' place.

The friend, Mrs. Taylor, a small woman with pinched lips and a permanently sour expression complimented by blue hair, told Mrs. Jenkins that her husband had received a rather large offer on their land and that they were thinking of taking it. When asked for details, she supplied that a big corporation was buying it.

She didn't know specifically why they wanted it, but she suspected it had to do with the timber and minerals on his property as it was too hilly for much else.

That got Amanda to thinking and when she, Lee and Jess looked back over the maps and the studies of his property, it made perfect sense.

Since Jess owned the mineral rights to the land nothing could be done to it or taken from it, without his permission. Stone was beginning to pull out all of the stops to force his hand and make him sell.

"I don't know." Jess shook his head. "Sounds like he's a going all the way round the barn to milk the cow by the front gate."

Lee and Amanda both looked at him curiously. "Huh?" Lee asked.

"I said it looks like he's…. Aw, look." Jess said with some exasperation. "Why bother with all these tricks? Why not just kill me and buy the land? I ain't got no relatives and the state would probably take it and sell it after I died."

"True," Lee reasoned. "But a death investigation would take a lot of time, even if he made it look like an accident, as would the wait for the state to settle this place and sell it. For some reason, I get the impression Stone doesn't want to wait. He's in a hurry."

"Yeah? For what?" Jess got up and paced around the room, finally stopping at the fireplace. "What would he hope to gain with this place. Even if I gave it to him, it'd take him time to sell and from everything I heard, he's got plenty of money, so anything he'd get wouldn't make that much of a difference."

"Maybe he doesn't want to sell it." Amanda put in.

"Yeah and could be that needs this place sooner rather than later." Lee started to elaborate when the phone rang. "That could be Billy or TP." He said as he got up and crossed over to the phone. "Hello?"

Amanda stood by the door way watching while Lee was on the phone. By the expression on his face, she could tell he was getting some invaluable information.

"You sure about this, TP?" He finally asked. After a few more moments of silence, he nodded as though the caller could see him. "Alright, TP, and hey, thanks. I appreciate it." Hanging up the phone, Lee looked over at Amanda. "Did that neighbor say what the name of that big corporation was that was buying her place?"

Amanda thought back to the conversation and then nodded. "Kelson Industries, I believe it was."

Lee nodded with a smile. "Thought so. That's a dummy corporation that belongs to Stone. And TP heard that the government is looking into putting something in this area. He couldn't find out exactly what yet but he's still checking. Could be that Stone thinks to profit off of it somehow, so he's buying up land in hopes it's his land the government settles on. Land like yours, Jess."

Jess stared at Lee, shocked. "My land? Why? It ain't no better'n anybody else's."

Lee shrugged. "Maybe, but then again maybe it is. It is bigger than most of the other places around here, and since we don't know exactly what the government is planning on for this area, it may be more valuable than you know."

But Jess shook his head no. "I don't think so. I mean the whole thing together, even when things are at the best, don't amount to too much. Even in my best years, I don't do that good."

"Yeah, but you're looking at this land like a rancher would." Amanda spoke up. "But I don't think this Lou Stone is."

"What do you mean?" Jess asked.

"A rancher uses the land." Lee joined in, understanding what Amanda was getting at. "You use it for grazing and harvesting trees and some farming in order to make a living. Right?"

Jess nodded. "Yeah. Like I told ya, I use this land for all kinds of things."

"Uh, huh." Lee smiled over at Amanda before looking back at Jess. "But Stone has no intentions of using this land that way. Unless I miss my guess, there is either something on this land or in it or..."

"Or going to be." Amanda finished for him as another thought struck. "But Lee, if the government did want to put something here on this land or nearby how would that benefit Stone? He's not in the government, is he?"

"I don't know." Lee shook his head.

"Sounds to me like, you all have half a box." Mrs. Jenkins spoke up from the doorway. "Dinner's ready."

Amanda and Lee exchanged puzzled glances but apparently Jess understood as he rose with a nod. "Yep, think you're right. What'd you fix for dinner?"

As they moved towards the dining room, Lee suddenly stopped and went back over to the aerial photographs of Jess's land, staring at them intently.

"Lee?" Amanda asked coming over to look over shoulder. "You spot something?"

Lee shrugged, pointing at a spot on one of the photos. "Maybe. Jess?" He turned to his host. "What's this?"

Jess stopped just short of the door leading into the dining room and turned back, looking at the photo Lee held up. "Tallest place on this property." The rancher grunted. "I had some radio station offer to buy that section of land from me once, said it'd be the perfect place for their tower, but I turned them down same as I turned Stone down. Why?"

Lee gave him a thoughtful look. "Is it near your neighbor's property?"

"Yeah, why?" Jess asked again.

But still Lee wasn't ready to answer. "Could you take me up there?"

"Yeah," Jess repeated. "Not till tomorrow though. Too late today. But why? What's that got to do with nothing?"

"I may have an idea of what the government wants and Stone too." Lee smiled with a curious glint in his eye.

"Good." Jess nodded. "Then you can tell us over dinner. I'm gonna visit the little boy's room and I'll join you all in there in a minute."

Lee nodded and placed his hand in the small of Amanda's back to escort her into the dining room. Neither one saw Jess heading to his office instead of the rest room.

TBC

Author's note: Us Okies have all kinds of strange sayings. Jess' comment about going around the barn is one of them. Means simply that someone is making something long and complicated out of something simple. And half a box means half a box of puzzle pieces but not the whole picture.