***~~~~***
They had little difficulty finding the building. It was probably the tallest one in the downtown area with a handy parking lot underground.
They announced their identities to the receptionist and she ushered them back to the correct office.
“Captain Bronson? The Keefers are here” she announced
The well-dressed man in a silk shirt and expensive looking tie rose from behind the massive desk and held out his hand “Glad you could make it. I am Captain Bronson.” Introductions and seating ensued.
Joining them was an older man, a bit scruffy by comparison. Jack Hudson was the name. He and Wheeler took seats away from the desk. Both of them held back grins or any back slapping as they silently acknowledged their secret meeting a few days ago.
Bronson began “As you may be aware, there has been some amount of suspected criminal activity in Eaton and a Mr. Wix and a Mr. Davies have been arrested.”
Bob and Alice confirmed what they read in the newspaper but didn't provide more.
“Related to that arrest” Bronson continued “is a complication has arisen concerning the Watonaka Indian Casino. Specifically, the owner of record was a Mr. Walt Carter. Do you know him, by the way?”
“Yes we do” Alice replied. “He is our nearest neighbor.”
“Of course, Eaton is a small town” Bronson acknowledged. “Anyway, Mr. Carter seems to have no traceable connection to Indians, the tribe or anything related. In fact, the Watonaka tribe is neither registered nor listed with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.” 'Ohs’ and somber looks around the room responded to that bit of news.
“So what this means is that another tribe or someone with a verifiable connection to one must be found to legally keep the casino open” Captain Bronson concluded.
It was Bob that responded “There are folks in Eaton that think the casino should be closed. They are concerned that the unsavory patrons mixed into the quiet of our small town will ruin the place.”
“Is that impression shared by you and your sister Mr. Keefer?” Bronson asked.
Alice and Bob exchanged looks and both shook their heads. Alice answered the question “Not really Captain. If anything, the town has gotten quieter. The rowdy types go to the casino for entertainment and leave us alone. It's really quite pleasant.”
“That's good to know, because the opinions shared in Sacramento here do not want the casino to close. In fact it provides significant employment and no small contribution to the state tax roles.”
Captain Bronson turned to Jack and said “May I have the folder Jack?”
“Sure Captain, it's right here” Jack replied formally and handed it over.
“We here in the White Collar Unit have applied our resources” Bronson said proudly “to find a suitable solution to this problem which is why I called you here today.” He opened the folder and spooled out the story, referring to documents the rest of them could not see.
“Mr. Antonio Keefer landed in New York in 1834, immigrating to the United States from Ireland. He stayed in New York until 1837, when he went west, settling in the Kansas territory and started a potato farm and a family of two sons. When the stories of gold swept the country, he moved to California with the gold rush in 1850. Both of his sons got sick on the trip and died somewhere in the Nevada territory.” The Captain was flopping pages while delivering the narrative. Bob and Alice leaned in without a clue where this was going.
“The next entry we have is a land dispute in 1869 between a Mr. Charles Johanssen and a Mr. Luis Keefer in what was to later become Placerville, north of Sacramento. The substance of the complaint was land rights, but noted in the court record is a comment about Mr. Keefer being too dark skinned to be a legal land owner, due to his obvious native appearance. The court did not respond. The inference we draw today is that this was the case, he was an indian and he was a descendant of sorts from Antonio.”
Bob responded “How is that possible if Antonio had no heirs and if Luis was a new son, he would have been too young.”
“We researched that too” said the Captain. “As it turns out, Indians of that period had no surnames, so they often took the names of the employer. In order to fit in to society they often took American first names as well. We are guessing that Antonio moved south and tried his hand again at potato farming and made a better go of it. He must have needed help so he hired locals that needed work, gave them lodging on the farm and ran it like a collective. Luis may have broken out on his own and become a potato farmer.”
Captain Bronson went back to the narrative. “We can go back to the record. Luis had two sons and a daughter, Emile, Roberto and Mary. The records are scarce, but Emile shows up in 1879 as father to a son named Lazlo but no other siblings were found.” Bronson looked up from the pages and said “There must have been some but we didn't find anything.”
Bob and Alice were getting antsy but Bronson had his pace. Wheeler and Jack both knew because Jack had done some of the research and Wheeler just knew what was coming when Bronson started in on the family tree.
“Lazlo Keefer married in 1902 to a woman named Riva Turchaninov and had three children, Ivan, Anna, and Roberto.” Bronson looked up from the folder with a twinkle in his eye. “You may recognize the name Ivan as your great grandfather, born in 1904.”
Both Alice and Bob were speechless. They knew the name but knew nothing of the man or the history. Their grandfather Arthur Keefer had mentioned him and did say there were potato farmers in the family way back when but he had only heard the stories and didn't know much.
“The rest as they say is history” the Captain concluded. “I'm sure you know Arthur, your grandfather and of course Ernie, your father. This establishes you two as descendants of Indian blood and is verified by my department. Exactly which tribe, we don't know, but that isn't the real issue. We have made a request to the Bureau of Indian Affairs to research the exact tribes active in that part of California to name the tribes so we can nail down the details. Do you have questions?”
Both Bob and Alice were in a swirling fog of confusion, surprise, awe and wonder. This was more information than they thought was possible to retrieve, even if they were looking for it.
It was Bob that came out of it first “Does this mean that Alice and I are the Indians you're looking for to take over the casino.”
“It does Mr. Keefer. We would like to first find out if you are amenable to some sort of arrangement concerning the Casino. Today if possible.”
“Today?” Bob blurted out with astonished panic. “We have no experience running anything of that size, we have no idea how a casino works and we don't have anywhere near the resources to buy the thing.” Bob was breathing pretty hard after his delivery and sat back in his chair to calm down.
“Easy Mr. Keefer. I know this is a lot to take in and I apologize for being so abrupt. We are not here to dump a problem on you two and say goodbye. We are only here to find out if you are willing to participate in solving our problem and stake a claim to your heritage.”
Alice picked up on the shift before Bob did. “What exactly do you mean by participate in your solution” Alice said, warily “and what heritage do you mean?” In these circumstances, Alice became the hardliner. She was better at probing for answers than was Bob.
“Very good, Ms. Keefer. I would be disappointed if you didn't ask. You know the problem is one of ownership, the casino can only be owned by someone or a group having provable Indian heritage. That is you and Bob. If you do choose to claim the right, we will oversee the legal takeover of the casino with you and Bob as owners, provide you with a list of respectable and knowledgeable companies to manage the daily operations and we will recommend a few legitimate Law Offices from which you may choose legal and tax advice. What you will get in return is the not inconsiderable profits from the casino.”
Alice and Bob were speechless. Again. The room was silent as everybody in the room stared at something inanimate to mull over
what was just said. Bob was incredulous, Alice was looking for a flaw, Jack was smug, Bronson was hopeful and Wheeler was pleased beyond all measure.
“Would you two like a moment alone to confer? Possibly with your assistant?” Bronson said the word assistant with a sneer but nobody noticed.
“Sure, thanks” Bob said, still in a fog. The others filed out but Wheeler did stay.
Alice spoke first “Bob, we just won the lottery. I think.”
“Maybe we just got sentenced to 40 years hard casino labor. Do they realize they will be giving that thing to a couple of shopkeepers? What do you think Wheeler?”
“Why not? With all the legal, accounting and management help what's the risk? Are either of you doing something better? Really better?” He did want to help them but slapping them might not help.
Alice and Bob looked at each other for a long moment. Alice said “Why not?”
Bob said “I'm in.”
CHAPTER 25
FINAL TALLY
They returned from Sacramento all talking at once, all the way back to Eaton. They were excited like school kids on the way to Disneyland and the trip seemed to only take a few moments. They decided to return to Eaton to enjoy some degree of normalcy while they could, because the upcoming days would be anything but normal.
Alice finished cooking the meatloaf that was planned and they enjoyed the cozy atmosphere of the kitchen table.
“The way the Captain was talking” Bob said “he wants to get us into the operation fast. He seemed to turn into a used car salesman and the closer all in one.”
Wheeler responded “He or his department is in the middle of a commercial operation and I'm not sure that's completely legal. The longer he's in that position the less likely it is he will be able to claim it's just a transfer job. He wants out.”
Alice chimed in “He sure is doing it. After he made all the phone calls introducing us to the management company, the law firm and all, I didn't think we were ever going to get out of there. I was afraid he was going to call a moving company for us to empty the farm house here into a suite at the casino.”
“That does bring up a valid point” said Bob, looking toward Alice. “Do you want to live at the casino? He said there is an owner's suite.”
“We don't even know if it's got more than one bedroom” she glanced to Wheeler. “How would you like to spend some wild times with the owner of a casino?”
Wheeler did not respond nor could he look at them. He paused for a long moment trying to speak but nothing happened. “You are going to stay with us for a while to get this all settled, aren't you?” she said to Wheeler. “Aren't you?” she said with concern in her voice.
Wheeler couldn't say anything through the tangle of emotions. The pull of his next adventure and his affinity for Alice were making rips in his ability to think clearly. His mental ping-pong was starting to get uncomfortable so he just said it.
“It is time for me to go” he said softly, finally looking at Alice. “You and Bob have a lot to do and I am just not suited for desk duty.”
There was an even longer pause that got all three of them into the mental ping-pong. They had become a very tight team over a short time and breaking it up was disturbing.
A cloud of sadness fell over them as the realizations became clear: this phase was over. The purpose of Wheeler's visit to the small town of Eaton was satisfied. The future that the Keefers faced could now be embraced with optimism and joy. They all had a new sense of security and confidence that would serve them well in the coming days.
“I know” Alice said with tears streaming down her cheeks.
~~***~~
About Eric Hodges
Eric Hodges was born and raised in Santa Monica California, and has spent his career as an Electronic Engineer working for various commercial and government employers. His desire to expand into the non-technical world has finally surfaced into a writing avocation that has been both satisfying and enjoyable to him and he wished his new readers will enjoy the experience as well.
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