"I know."
"How vertical are you thinking?"
"One hundred feet."
Buford nodded slowly.
"Galvanized steel?"
"Sukup Manufacturing out of Sheffield, Iowa."
"When are you ordering it?"
"Wednesday."
Sheriff Buford Petrasic, who had served Waupaca County for 17 years, looked at me for about six full seconds.
Then he said quietly, "I'd appreciate it if you'd tell me when they pour the foundation."
"Why?"
"I'd like to come watch."
"I'll save you a folding chair."
Buford drove away.
I called my attorney, Tessa Brundidge, in Stevens Point.
She listened to my summary for ten minutes without interrupting.
When I finished, she said, "Toby, order the silo."
The next morning, Brittlyn came to my house carrying a clipboard.
Three HOA board members followed her.
A thin woman wearing a navy windbreaker named Adela Pickford.
A heavy-set retired insurance executive named Cornelius Trask.
And a teenage HOA volunteer Brittlyn had brought to document the conversation.
None of them looked like they had slept well.
Brittlyn came up my porch steps without being invited.
"Mr. Halverson."
"Mrs. Yarwood Chesterfield."
"I've come to clarify a misunderstanding that I believe has arisen between our communities."
Greta stood behind the kitchen window.
Wyatt was beside me.
My father had walked over from his farmhouse at seven that morning and was sitting silently on the porch swing.
He had been watching Brittlyn for nearly a minute and a half without blinking.
"What misunderstanding?" I asked.
Brittlyn straightened the papers on her clipboard.
"I understand that the sheriff visited my home yesterday evening. I would like to make clear that the timber harvest yesterday morning was conducted under the legal authority of an aesthetic easement granted to Lakeshore Hills Estates HOA in 2010."
She pulled out two cream-colored pages.
"I have a recorded copy of that easement here."
The document had been recorded with the Waupaca County Register of Deeds in March 2010.
At the bottom was what purported to be Henrik Halverson's signature.
My father leaned forward slightly from the porch swing.
He looked at the paper.
Then he looked at me.
And slowly shook his head from side to side.
"Mrs. Yarwood Chesterfield, my father did not sign that document."
Brittlyn pointed toward the signature.
"That is his signature on the bottom line."
"My father is sitting six feet away from you."
I gestured toward Henrik.
"Would you like to ask him directly?"
Brittlyn looked at my father.
My father looked back.
He said nothing.
His eyes never moved.
She did not ask him.
Instead, she smiled brightly.
"Well, we can clarify the signature through handwriting experts if necessary. In the meantime, the recorded document on file with the county is presumed valid unless successfully challenged."
I took a sip of coffee.
"Your remedy, if you dispute the easement, would be a civil action to quiet title," she continued. "Those proceedings can take a considerable amount of time and may involve substantial legal expense. I am, of course, very sorry if there has been a misunderstanding."
Then she smiled again.
It was the smile of a woman who had probably spent the entire night being advised to insist that the document was legitimate and force us to prove otherwise.
I took another sip.
"Mrs. Yarwood Chesterfield, please leave my porch."
"Mr. Halverson, I came here in good faith."
"Mrs. Yarwood Chesterfield, the sheriff will be returning shortly as part of the investigation. A state-licensed handwriting examiner has been requested to evaluate the original filing."
The smile disappeared.
I continued.
"The original 2010 recording will also be reviewed at the Waupaca County Register of Deeds."
She tightened her grip on the folder.
"And investigators are looking into the financial relationship between Lakeshore Hills Estates HOA and Cedar Hills Land Services LLC."
Her face changed.
She had not known I knew that name.
Tessa Brundidge had spent most of the previous evening making calls and reviewing public business filings.
By six that morning, she had basic registration information for Cedar Hills Land Services LLC.
Sole member: Stuart Yarwood Chesterfield.
Registered as an HOA vendor.
Listed repeatedly in financial statements going back years.
Brittlyn opened her mouth.
Then closed it.
Her hand tightened around the folder until her knuckles turned white.
Eventually, she started explaining that the HOA's vendor relationships were internal community business and could not be discussed without appropriate process.
I let her finish.
I did not respond.
There are moments, after nearly four decades of farming, when the most useful thing a man can do is wait for somebody to stop digging.
Brittlyn kept digging.
She mentioned that her husband had professional relationships with people in state government.
She mentioned that her family had supported influential officials who took allegations of agricultural fraud very seriously.
Finally, she told me that I was making a very serious mistake.
Then she ran out of sentences.
Brittlyn turned and walked back toward the Cadillac Escalade with the three HOA representatives following her.
The teenage volunteer made eye contact with Wyatt while walking down the steps.
He gave Wyatt a tiny nod and a grimace that clearly meant something close to, I'm very sorry I'm here.
Wyatt nodded back.
The Escalade reversed out of our driveway and climbed the slope toward Lakeshore Hills.
My father rose from the porch swing.
He crossed the porch and placed one hand on my shoulder.
"Son."
"Yes, Pa?"
"Build the silo."
"Yes, Pa."
The investigation moved faster than even Tessa expected.
By Wednesday morning, the handwriting examiner had compared the signature on the recorded 2010 document against several authenticated examples of my father's signature.
The conclusion was straightforward.
The easement signature was not Henrik Halverson's.
According to the written analysis, it appeared to be a moderately competent imitation produced by somebody working from a limited sample.
By Wednesday afternoon, Tessa had obtained information from the original recording file held by the Waupaca County Register of Deeds.
The original document had been brought to the register's office in March 2010 by Stuart Yarwood Chesterfield himself.
The intake clerk at the time, now retired, was a woman named Hildegard Flueg.
Tessa located her in two phone calls.
Hildegard remembered the filing because Stuart had insisted on completing it late on a Friday afternoon while the elected register was away from the counter.
By Wednesday evening, Tessa had pulled the business registration history for Cedar Hills Land Services LLC.
Stuart formed the company in 2011.
Over the following years, it received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Lakeshore Hills Estates HOA under the line item vegetation management services.