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.”Caine chuckled.“I’m sure I have it somewhere.” He gestured to the file cabinets lining one wall of the office.“But you see what I inherited.I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface.I keep saying I’ll make time to go through it all, but not today.”Sam nodded.“There’s no rush, I suppose.Just document any damage you find because we can deduct the cost of any repairs we don’t submit to our insurance company.”“I’ll take my camera with me,” Caine said.“Caine?”“I’ll be right there,” Caine called back to Macklin.“Get the horses ready, and I’ll meet you outside.”Macklin made a sound of acknowledgment before the sound of footsteps signaled his departure.“One other thing before I go,” Caine said.“If I wanted to go about finding someone in Tumut, or who used to live in Tumut, how would I go about it?”“Do you have a name?” Sam asked.“Yes,” Caine said.“Sarah Armstrong.”Sam raised his eyebrows.“I take it this is a secret?”“Yes,” Caine said.“If what I find is bad news, it’s better if Macklin doesn’t know.”“He’s waiting for you,” Sam said.“I’ll think about what your options might be and let you know.”“Thanks, Sam, and feel free to dig through those files if you’re so inclined.If not, we’ll go through them together another day.”Sam waited until Caine left before eyeing the file cabinets suspiciously.He had a feeling he wasn’t going to like what he found when he opened them.Caine’s records from the past year and a half were meticulous, but there was a distinct lack of information for a lot of things from before that.From what everyone had said about Michael Lang since Sam’s arrival, Sam was sure the information was there, just not in the most accessible form.With a sigh, he pulled open the first drawer and went to work.He’d sorted the contents of the first drawer into three piles (too old to bother with, relevant, and to deal with immediately) when the sound of someone clearing his throat drew Sam’s attention.He couldn’t stop the smile that crossed his face at the sight of Jeremy standing in the doorway, hat in hand and in sock feet, even with all the uncomfortable thoughts from the previous night.“Hi.”“Hi,” Jeremy said.“You look busy.”“Just sorting through stuff,” Sam said.“Mr.Lang might have been a good stockman, but his organizational skills left something to be desired.”Jeremy laughed.“I told you we stockman preferred animals to numbers.I was coming to see if I could tempt you outside for your first riding lesson, but maybe I’ll just stand here and watch you instead.”“I’m not doing anything interesting,” Sam said with a puzzled laugh.“Watching someone else sort papers is about as exciting as watching paint dry.”“Maybe, but watching you make sense of all those papers has potential,” Jeremy said with an exaggerated leer.“I told you the thought of you being all competent got me hot and bothered.”Sam flushed all the way to the roots of his hair.His receding hair.“You didn’t say anything of the sort yesterday.You said I was interesting.”“Interesting and attractive,” Jeremy said.“And I also said the fact that you could make sense out of all the business stuff when I couldn’t was seriously impressive.When I said it, I didn’t realize you were gay, so I left off the turn-on part.I didn’t want to freak you out, but now that I know I have a chance, I’m going to mention it every time I can.”“Please don’t make fun of me,” Sam said, unable to hold Jeremy’s gaze.“I’m not making fun of you,” Jeremy said as he came into the room and sat down on the floor next to Sam.“I wouldn’t do that.”No, Sam had to admit to himself, Jeremy was a lot of things, but the schoolyard bully was not one of them.He wouldn’t make fun of someone else for being smart instead of athletic.“Sorry, old habits.”“We’re going to work on that,” Jeremy said.“So, explain to me what you’re doing and tell me how I can help.”Sam considered the piles of paper he’d already sorted through.The classifications made sense to him, but they wouldn’t to Jeremy, not if he was really as clueless where business was concerned as he claimed to be.“Open the next drawer,” he said.“You can start sorting things by date.Anything over ten years old in one pile
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