Work related

"Work-related," Ethan answers.

"Hm," Sam glances up, "I suppose you want to know what we're doing down here, yes?"

Ethan nods, shrugging his shoulders.

Dropping her eyes to the file, Sam sighs, "I'm trying to track property exchanges."

Raising a brow, Ethan feels like that begs another question. "Why?"

Sam glances up again, "I'll give you the short version: Because they need to be checked." She looks back down, diving back into the file.

Ethan frowns, "Why?"

"Because this town has issues," Sam doesn't look up, "I'm attempting, to do everything I can to solve those issues."

For a moment it looks like she's finished speaking, but before Ethan can ask another question, she looks up again her blue eyes having some fire in them.

"About one hundred years ago, a local man thought dead in the war returned home. He'd been gone years without word, and in his absence, his wife remarried, his home was sold, and his dog was given away to a local boy named 'Moe'."

Ethan blinks.

"Now, the man was properly upset, and demanded back his wife, home, and dog," Sam shrugs, "Among other things."

"Did he get them back?"

Sam shrugs. "He was legally declared dead, so no. But the records," she nods towards the laptop, "Tell a more complicated story. Turns out the house was never his, or his wife's, to begin with. His return sparked a record pull which showed the home, on paper, belonged to the man's brother, bequeathed to him by their father in a will that was misplaced by a lawyer or clerk in some shuffle or another. So when his wife sold their house-"

"She sold something she didn't really own..." Ethan scratches his head, "How does that work? Isn't this stuff lawyers are supposed to handle?

Snorting, Sam rolls her eyes. "Yes, but this town hasn't produced a decent lawyer in, well..." she clucks her tongue, "Seems like a hundred years at least."

"So, all of this is to investigate one house that didn't get transferred properly?"

"Oh no," Sam smiles, "I'm investigating every single property in the whole town to make sure nothing else is a fowl."

Ethan feels his jaw slack, "Ah... To what end?"

Sam shrugs, "Wouldn't you want to know if the house you're living in is really yours?"

The question rocks Ethan for a second. "I guess... but if you didn't look into it, would it even matter?"

For a second, Sam smiles, only to lick her lips and break it up. "Secrets in this town never stay buried forever, Ethan." She looks back down at the file. "Everything comes out eventually. Everything."

Ethan sits there, chewing on that.