Cody

He took a long drag.

''When I talked to Wendell last night on the sat phone, I asked him about the homestead.

I told him we'd move the cut line back but weird stuff was happening.

I told him about the jacket and the bones.

I asked him what was up with his family's land.

What did he say?

He said his grandfather built that house in 1891, lived in it for two years and then moved out.''

Family doesn't talk about why.

But there's a rule on the Mullen land that's been passed down for four generations.

You don't cut within a thousand feet of the old place.

You don't hunt within a thousand feet of it.

You don't go in after dark ever.

You respect it.

Respect what?

He didn't say, but he said that when he gave me the contract he should have been clearer about the distance.

He said he figured 300 feet was enough.

He said he was wrong.

Jesus.

He said his grandfather's brother disappeared near the old place in 1893.

They never found him, just found his boots in the yard of the house and a piece of his jacket on the chimney.