“These four stands are worth nothing,” Gordon said.

“They’re four homemade accidents waiting for a ladder to break.”

I left Gordon at his truck and drove back into Menomonie for my three thirty appointment with Patricia Haugen.

Patricia had her legal pad ready on the desk, her fountain pen laid next to a thin blue folder.

I sat down and told her what Gordon had found on the ridge and how Kurt had paid Brad four thousand dollars in cash.

Patricia took off her reading glasses and folded them neatly on her case file.