“Or he did, until the Friday after the memorial service.”

“Who paid off those balances?” I asked.

“Zane walked up to the county clerk’s counter with an envelope stuffed with crisp hundred-dollar bills,” Frank said.

“He cleared every debt tied to his hardware supply store in twelve minutes.”

He turned two heavy pages, and the smell of dry paper filled the little room.

“Fourteen thousand two hundred dollars,” Frank said, pointing at a stamped entry near the bottom of the page.

“All cash, all paid on September nineteenth.”