Even though traffic bats right along on Interstate 70 across Kansas, it was a slow trip for Gerald and Leah, at least partly because the old minivan didn’t seem very happy to be pushed as hard as the traffic usually went. Besides that, Leah was pretty squirmy, without the patience to just sit and let the miles roll by, so he tried to make a long stop every couple of hours so she could get out and run around a little to stretch her legs. A couple of times at rest stops they played with a big ball just to let her work off a little more pent-up energy. Considering that it was nearly noon by the time they got under way on Friday, they were still well shy of the Colorado state line when he figured that she’d had about all he could put up with for one day.

Gerald’s wallet was on the thin side. He had the money from cashing his two paychecks, one rather small, and a few dollars he’d been saving in hopes of catching the rent up a little. He knew he’d left with the rent unpaid, but he had promised himself that he’d get the money to his former landlord when he could; in spite of everything, he was not a man who liked to walk away leaving his bills unpaid.

At least he had enough money for a motel room, though it was a cheap motel, and a stop at a fast-food hamburger place on the way there seemed like a treat to Leah. After a little more playing with her on a swing set behind the motel, she seemed tired, so they went into the room and he put her to bed.

He wasn’t really sleepy yet, but he stayed quiet, hoping she would fall asleep quickly. That gave him some time to worry. He had no idea what he was getting into, other than the hope that his grandfather’s estate would give him the chance to get his feet under him and maybe make things a little better for his beloved daughter. If this didn’t work out, he had no idea of what he was going to do. He was going to a place he didn’t know, and where he knew nobody, but there was at least a chance things might be better there than they’d been in Kansas City.

They weren’t on the road as early on Saturday as he had hoped, but a quick, cheap fast-food meal put him behind the wheel again. The wheat fields of eastern Kansas were behind them now; though there were still fields of wheat and other crops here and there, there was a lot more grazing land, and cows were often seen. Here and there he could see an old-fashioned steel windmill servicing watering troughs. He vaguely remembered this kind of open prairie from when he’d been to his grandfather’s place when had still been a boy, not a lot older than Leah was now.

It was late in the morning on Saturday when he pulled into Tyler. He had no memory of the place; he and his father hadn’t gone there on that trip long ago. One thing seemed clear, that the first thing he needed to do was to talk to the sheriff, who had seemed helpful when they’d talked on the phone earlier in the week.

Tyler seemed like a very small town, and hardly a prosperous one. He could see empty houses, some clearly abandoned. Right from the beginning it did not seem as if it was a good place to make a new start, but the choice hadn’t been his, after all. At least in a small town the sheriff’s office was not hard to find; it was right on Main Street, in a small cinder-block building that could have been in better shape, and with a sign pointing to it. He wondered if the sheriff would even be around as he got Leah out of her car seat again.

Sure enough, the place was locked up – but in the unlocked foyer of the building there was a telephone with no dial on the face and a sign, “Call if you need assistance.” Gerald picked up the phone, and could hear a ring tone. After two or three rings, a woman’s voice answered, “Walke County Sheriff’s Office. Can I help you?”

“Yes, my name is Gerald Pepper. The sheriff called me the other day about my grandfather, Elmer Pepper.”

“Oh, yeah, he was saying you might show up. He’s out west of town but not too far out. I’ll give him a call. It’ll probably be ten or fifteen minutes before he gets there.”

“That’s no problem. I’ll wait, and thank you.”

There was nothing much to do but wait it out. Gerald dug the ball out again, and he and Leah played with it for a few minutes. When her interest in that began to fade, he suggested they get back in the minivan so they would have a place to sit while he read her a story from one of her books. Reading to her was one of the joys of his life, and she was learning to read pretty well herself. He often had the thought that it wouldn’t be long before he wouldn’t have to read to her any longer, and he would miss it when the time came.

Eventually – and it was longer than ten or fifteen minutes, though he wasn’t watching the clock – a dirty sport-utility vehicle lettered as a patrol car pulled in next to them. “The sheriff is here, so we’ll have to finish this later,” he told his daughter.

“It’s all right, Daddy,” she smiled as he got out of the minivan.

As he got out, the sheriff was getting out of his vehicle, too. He could see the sheriff was a solid but not exceptionally large man, going gray, wearing a khaki uniform, a badge and a cowboy hat. He was also wearing a shoulder holster with a small automatic pistol, but none of the other heavy-looking equipment on his belt that the Kansas City cop had been wearing a couple of days before. “Hi, Sheriff,” he said. “I’m Gerald Pepper.”

“Bert Shoemaker,” the older man replied, glancing at the loaded minivan. “Welcome to Walke County. Looks like you plan on staying a while.”

“Could be. There wasn’t much reason to stay in Kansas City, so my daughter and I brought our stuff with us.”

“And the missus?”

Gerald shook his head ruefully. “There hasn’t been a Mrs. Pepper for a while.”

“I see,” the sheriff nodded with understanding.

By this time Leah had climbed back out of her car seat and came to join them. “This is my daughter Leah,” Gerald said by way of introduction.

“Well, hello Leah,” the sheriff smiled. “Let’s go inside and I’ll fill you in on what I know.”

The three of them went into the office, which was small; there were only a couple of desks in the front room, and there didn’t seem to be much other space in the building. The room and the desks were fairly neat, though there were things scattered around on them. The walls had framed certificates, wanted posters, and other such things. Interestingly, Gerald noticed there was no sign of a jail.

The sheriff offered the Peppers bottles of water, which they accepted. “You might as well sit down,” he said as he took a seat behind one of the desks. After they were seated, the sheriff went on. “Honestly, there isn’t a great deal more I can tell you beyond what I told you the other day. Mr. Pepper left a note on his kitchen table that said you were the only heir he knew about and he didn’t know how to find you. My guess is that the note constitutes a will, as well as an … uh …” he glanced a Leah, not wanting to say what he meant in front of the little girl.

“I get the picture,” Gerald said.

“Good,” the sheriff smiled with a degree of relief, and went on. “I guess what I have to say is that while he left that note, I’m afraid it doesn’t give you the legal control of the ranch, at least just yet. Now I’m not a lawyer. In a small county like this one we sometimes have to cut some corners, but getting legal title to the land isn’t one that can be cut. You’d have to have that title if you were going to sell or lease the land, or anything else of the estate. In order to do that, you have to make arrangements to pay any debts that might be outstanding, among other things.”

Gerald let out a sigh. “Unless it was a very small debt, I don’t have the money to pay it,” he said flatly.

“Well, like I said, arrangements can be made. I’m sure the bank here would be willing to work with you on something like that, but that’s a step or two up the road. Frankly, you’re going to have to make contact with a lawyer to hold your hand through the process. If there is no competing will, and at this point I don’t know of any, the title will eventually wind up in your hands, but it’s not a quick process. Usually around here it takes a hundred and twenty days after the probate notice is filed, which it hasn’t been yet, of course. There are things that will have to be done even before probate is filed, so it’s probably five or six months before you could get the title.”

The news was a crushing blow. “I don’t know what I can do about that. Like I said, I’m the next thing to broke. There’s no way I could hold out for five or six months until I could do something with the land. I don’t even know anyone around here I could stay with or anything. I’d hoped that at least I could stay at his place.”

“I’m not sure what I can tell you,” the sheriff replied. “Look, I can say that maybe this is one of those corners that can be cut a little bit. Like I said, I’m no lawyer and you’d want to talk to one to be sure, but it seems to me that the note also makes you the executor of his estate, and naming an executor is something that takes place immediately. As executor, you’re responsible for the care and maintenance of the estate. If there were animals there, which there aren’t, you’d be responsible for feeding them for example. You might be able to stay there to keep an eye on the place, but you might not want to.”

“I don’t see that I have any other choice.”

“Look, what I’m trying to say is that you might not want to. Mr. Pepper, I’ve only been there once, but the place is a mess. Elmer had been living there for a long time by himself in poor health, and there was only so much he could do to take care of the place and himself. It’s badly in need of a cleaning. Just on a quick look the buildings seem to be sound, but, well, it’s a mess, like I said. I didn’t dig through things at all since I didn’t figure there was any good reason to.”

“At least that’s something I could deal with.”

“You might think differently about it once you see the place, but let’s let that go for now. Again, you ought to talk to a lawyer before you make any decision about it, because I could be talking through my hat.”

“I don’t know any lawyers, and don’t know how I’d pay for one anyway.”

“I’m afraid we don’t have any lawyers in the county, at least no practicing ones. We haven’t had a court here for many years. The county has an agreement with Cooke County to the south of us to do all that, and they take care of a jail, as well. I can give you the name of a couple of lawyers down in Carondelet I think are all right. As far as paying for a lawyer, that probably can be put off until the estate is transferred. Most lawyers will work with you on things like that.”

“Well, that’s a relief, but today is Saturday and I probably can’t do anything about it until Monday. Is there anything else I need to work out?”

“Quite a bit,” the sheriff nodded. “The disposition of Elmer’s body is probably at the head of the list. I know he’s been at the funeral home down in Carondelet for days now and they probably want some answer of what to do.”

“I don’t have any idea of what I can do about that. Money is a problem again, of course.”

“Once again, that strikes me as something the estate ought to be paying for. I don’t know for sure, but the funeral home might be willing to carry a note on the deal until you get the money. Just in case, though, it might be a good idea to raise that issue with your lawyer before you go to the funeral home. They, uh, might be more willing to listen to a local lawyer than they would to a stranger. As far as the disposition of the body goes, a neighbor, Art Gamble, told me that Elmer’s wife is buried where he died out in the West Walke Cemetery, and I’d expect he would have wanted to be buried next to her. The funeral home ought to be able to arrange services and so forth although I doubt it would be a big funeral. Your lawyer and the funeral home ought to be able to handle those details.”

“That’s good to know,” Gerald replied thoughtfully. This was turning out to be a lot more complicated than he had ever imagined. “I’ve never had to deal with anything like this before. My mother handled things when my father died, and she already had everything pre-arranged when she died.”

“Too bad Elmer didn’t do it, but then, I’d guess that he wasn’t thinking that clearly anyway the last few months.” The Sheriff shook his head and went on. “I have to tell you that I didn’t know Elmer very well. Oh, I’d met him a few times over the years, you can’t avoid it in a county with this few people, but I was only in his house once and that was after he died. Art told me that he’d been pretty much a loner ever since his wife Gladys died. Art and his wife tried to take care of Elmer a little in the last few months, but there was only so much they could do.”

“I’m sure glad someone was able to do it. I ought to thank them for it. I would have done it if I’d known about it, but like I said it’s been years and years.”

“Art’s a nice guy and you’d probably be wise to talk to him anyway. He’d know a heck of a lot more about Elmer’s place than I do, that’s for sure.”

“I’ll have to talk to him if I can find him. You know, it’s a little embarrassing to say this, but I don’t even know where my grandfather’s place is. I was only there once, and that was years and years ago when I was a kid.”

“Oh, that’s no problem,” Sheriff Shoemaker said, reaching into a desk drawer and pulling out a small map. “I’ll mark both of the places for you. There really isn’t a whole lot out there, so you shouldn’t have any problems finding either place.”

“That’s a relief. That makes me think. Do you have any idea where the keys to my grandfather’s place are?”

“Afraid not,” the sheriff smiled. “I don’t know how much you know about people out here, but some people, especially older people, often don’t lock their places up, ever. Apparently, Elmer was one of them. I looked for some keys but didn’t find anything. I know the front door is locked but it looks like it’s been closed for years. I left the back door unlocked. I was thinking that if you didn’t show up in the next couple of days I ought to put a hasp and padlock on the place the next time I was out that way, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. That might be something you might want to consider doing, or maybe change the lock hardware.”

“I’ll certainly consider it. Boy, this sure isn’t Kansas City, is it? I mean, we lived in a part of town where there had to be bars on the windows.”

“No, it’s not Kansas City, and I’d have trouble living like that. You’re going to find a lot of things are different around here, Mr. Pepper. About all I can tell you is to go with the flow.”

“There’s not a lot of crime around here, I take it?”

“Really, nothing much major. Sometimes kids will get into something they shouldn’t, but that doesn’t happen very often. A place left alone like your grandfather’s, well, it’s been known that kids will get in and raise hell, but fortunately there’s not much of that. This is a small county with lots of open space, and we don’t have a lot of resources. To cover both the town and the county I have one full-time deputy and a couple of reserves who I usually don’t let go out by themselves since they’ve never been through a police academy. My wife and daughter take any calls if I’m not at the house or the office. At that, I sometimes think we’re a little overstaffed for what we actually do. We don’t even write very many tickets, but we are here if something comes up. The state patrol also covers the county, mainly just the major highways, so we really don’t even see them very often.”

“That will be a relief,” Gerald sighed. “I saw all too much bad stuff in Kansas City, at least in the part of town we were in. Sheriff, you’ve been very helpful. From what I’m hearing from you, the logical thing to do is to stick around and try to get all this straightened out, but I’m still worried about what we’re going to live on. If it works out that we’ll be able to stay at my grandfather’s place, that will help a lot, but it won’t solve anything. Do you have any idea if there could be some kind of a job I could do to keep going?”

“That’s not going to be as easy, since there aren’t a lot of those kinds of jobs around. If you wind up staying in town, well, I’ll try to keep my ear to the ground for you. There are always odd jobs, temporary part-time things where you can pick up a little money. You just have to hear about them. If you wind up staying out at the ranch, well, Art Gamble might know of something out in that area. Do you know anything about ranching?”

“Not a thing, other than a little that I’ve seen on TV.”

“Well, they might be kind of grunt work jobs, and I can’t tell you about that. I’ll think about it, though.”

Gerald could see that Leah had been getting squirmy. Finally, she spoke up, saying, “Mr. Sheriff, do you have a bathroom here?”

“Sure, down the hall and to your left. The door should be open.”

“Thank you, Mr. Sheriff.” She slid out of the chair where she had been sitting and headed for the hall.

“Nice, quiet, polite kid you have there,” Sheriff Shoemaker said. “I think you’ve done well with her.”

“I’m continually surprised,” Gerald replied. “My life would be a lot worse without her in it.”

They heard the bathroom door shut. “Good,” the sheriff said in a low voice. “There was something I needed to say that I thought she probably shouldn’t hear. Did I tell you how Elmer killed himself?”

“No, you didn’t.”

“Shotgun,” the sheriff replied. “He was sitting in his truck, and it made a hell of a mess inside. I don’t want to describe it more than that since I don’t want you getting sick on me. It was an old truck and not worth much, and I damn sure wouldn’t want to drive it even if it had been cleaned up and I don’t think you would, either. I didn’t want to leave it sitting out at West Walke Cemetery, so I had it towed to the junkyard out east of town, a mile east, a mile north, you can’t miss it. If there was insurance on it, which I doubt, I don’t think the insurance company would pay off on it. I suspect the guy out there would give you salvage value for it, but once again you couldn’t transfer the title until the estate gets out of probate. I don’t think it’s any big rush, but you probably ought to get that straightened out, too.”

“All right, it’s good to know that, and thank you for not saying it in front of Leah. Is there anything else?”

“Not that I can think of, but I’ll probably think of something sooner or later. Why don’t you drop back in sometime in the next few days and let me know how things are going?”

“Sure, I can do that. You’ve been a huge help, Sheriff. This isn’t anything like what I thought it might be, and it’s a lot more complicated.”

“I’ve had to learn the hard way that things like this often are.”

About that time Leah came back from the restroom. “Unless you have something else for me,” Gerald said as he got to his feet, “I think that’s about what can be done for today. Again, Sheriff, thanks very much for your assistance. It’s a lot more than I expected.”

“Like I said, sometimes there’s not a lot else to do out here. Good luck, and let me know if I can be of any help.”

They went back outside, including the sheriff, who got into his patrol vehicle and drove away, while Gerald helped Leah get buckled into her car seat again. “Is everything going to be all right, Daddy?” she asked.

“I think so,” he told her. “There are things I wasn’t expecting, but some things are a little easier, too. We’ll make do somehow, Leah. I know this isn’t where we were, and Mrs. Robinson isn’t going to be here, but maybe this will be better than what we had after everything gets worked out.”

“Am I going to be going to school here?”

“Maybe, but maybe not right away. That’s another thing we have to get worked out, and it may take a little time. I think that for right now we’d better go out and see what my grandfather’s place is like. That’ll tell us a little more about what we have to do next.”

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