"What does that mean?"
Eli asked.
"It means someone opened or modified this area once."
"Then sealed it?"
"Looks like."
"Why?"
Again:
"I don't know."
The answer made the safe more interesting.
They returned Sunday afternoon after church.
Ellis laid out rules.
"No torch."
Eli frowned.
"Why?"
"Heat."
"It's steel."
"What's behind steel?"
"We don't know."
"Exactly."
Ellis pointed toward the safe.
"Could be papers."
"Cloth."
"Film."
"Anything heat ruins."
He handed Eli an angle grinder.
"We go slow."
"How slow?"
"As slow as forty dollars deserves."
It took three evenings.
The steel fought them.
Cutting wheels shrank rapidly.
Sparks flew across concrete.
The smell of hot metal filled the barn.
Every few minutes Ellis stopped Eli.
Wet rags.
Cooling.
Inspection.
They cut only into the later welded section.
Monday produced a groove.
Tuesday reached insulation.
Wednesday night they reached another steel layer.
Eli's hands vibrated even after the grinder stopped.
"How thick is this thing?"
"Thick enough."
Ellis inspected with the flashlight.
"There."
A gap.
Tiny.
They widened it.
Eli expected a compartment.
Instead they found emptiness behind the steel.
He stared.
"Nothing."
Ellis said nothing.
Eli's stomach sank.
Forty dollars.
Three days.
Three cutting wheels.
Nothing.
Calvin's laugh returned to his mind.
Chicken feeder.
Eli leaned against the safe.
"Maybe that's it."
Ellis looked at him.
"Maybe."
Eli hated how calmly he said it.
Then he remembered the rule.
Certainty before evidence.
He picked up the small machinist hammer.
Tap.
Sharp ring.
Tap.
Sharp ring.
Tap.
Sharp.
Lower.
Tap.
The sound changed.
Eli stopped.
Ellis looked up.
"Again."
Tap.
Duller.
Shorter.
Eli moved two inches.
Tap.
Sharp.
Back.
Tap.
Dull.
Ellis took the chalk.
Marked a square.
"Something's behind that."
They cut again.
Smaller opening.
More slowly.
Behind the rear steel was a cavity less than eight inches deep.
Inside sat a rectangular black box wrapped in dark, oily cloth.
Neither spoke.
Eli reached in.
Ellis caught his wrist.
"Gloves."
Eli put them on.
He pulled the bundle free.
The oil cloth cracked as it unfolded.
The box beneath was metal but far lighter than the safe.
Its latch opened easily.