The clerk’s office is right across the street, so I walked.

I waited behind a man filing a death certificate for his brother, then gave the woman at the counter the parcel number from Diane’s tax bill.

She came back with a binder the size of a suitcase.

The deed was three pages past where my finger landed.

Quitclaim.

Three acres on the lake, lot nine.

Grantor, Diane Vance.

Grantee, Ray Whitfield.