“County records,” I said.
Rachel was already reaching for her phone.
The recorder’s office was closed.
So we searched the online index.
Mercer Farm.
My parcel number.
Dad’s name.
My name.
Easements.
Liens.
Right-of-way filings.
Nothing unusual appeared.
Then Rachel searched by book and page rather than my name.
She froze.
“What?”
“Someone cross-indexed an instrument incorrectly.”
“What instrument?”
She turned the laptop toward me.
An easement.
Recorded eight years earlier.
The same month as the forged access agreement.
But it wasn’t indexed under Mercer.
It was indexed under an LLC called North Valley Agricultural Services.
I had never heard of it.
Rachel clicked.
The scan took several seconds to load.
When it appeared, I felt every muscle in my back tighten.
Thirty-two acres.
North field.
Seasonal access.
The same language from Trish’s photocopy.
Except this version contained another page.
A page she hadn’t shown me.
