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I grabbed , a jacket, and istrar of Voters is located in the baseht of wide red-tile steps with a handrailaround as a boa constrictor

I followed the signs down a short corridor to the right, pushing into the office through a glass door Two clerks orking behind the counter, but no one paid any attention to me There was a computer terminal on the counter and I typed in Lyda Case’s na up a se of bureaucracies If Lyda had registered to vote any time in the last six years, the revised form wouldn’t show her Social Security number That question had been deleted in 1976

The na out Lyda Case had first registered to vote Octo-ber 14, 1974 The nuinal affidavit was listed on the bottoave it to the clerk who had approached when she saw I needed help

She disappeared into a back corridor where the old files are kept She returned a few minutes later with the affidavit in hand Lyda Case’s Social Security number was neatly filled in As a bonus, I also picked up her date of birth I started laughing at the sight of it The clerk sed that she felt as I did about sos I love infor for facts, uncovering data withto ain and picked up the phone, redialing the Bartenders Local in Santa Teresa

"Local Four-Ninety-eight," the wo to, please?" "I’m the administrative assistant," she said primly "Perhaps you’ll identify yourself"

"Oh, sorry Of course This is Vicky with the Cha invitations for the annual

Board of Supervisors dinner and I need your name, if you’d be so kind"

There was a dainty silence "Rowena Feldstaff," she said, spelling it out for ain The phone on the other end rang four tihed about conditions in the Inky Void Someone picked up

"Hotel and Restaurant Employees Local Three-Five-Three This is Mary Jane Can I he’p you?" She had a soft voice and a mild Texas accent She sounded like she was about twenty

"You sure can, Mary Jane," I said "This is Rowena Feldstaff in Santa Teresa, California I’m the adht and I’ to do a status check on Lyda Case That’s C-A-S-E…"Then I rattled out her date of birth and her Social Security nuh from records of my own

"Can I have a number so I can call you back?" said the ever-cautious Mary Jane

"Sure," I said and gave her ain I answered as Bartenders Local 498, and Mary Jane very kindly gavewith the address and phone nues at the Dallas / Fort Worth airport

I called the bar and one of the waitresses told me Lyda would be there at 3:00 Dallas time, which was 1:00 where I was

At 1:00, I called back and lost another couple of deci-bels’ worth of hearing Whoo, that lady was quick I’d have to walk around with a horn sticking out ofoff an expense account, I’d have hied myself out to the Santa Teresa airport and jumped on a plane for Dallas I can be pretty cavalier with someone else’s money My own, I think about first, as I’m very cheap

I hopped in my car and drove over to the police sta-tion Jonah Robb, eant Schiff in for him, was not all that swift and didn’t really like to bend the rules, so I bypassed hiht to Emerald, the black clerk in Records and Identification Technically she’s not supposed to give out the kind of infor to help if no one’s around to catch her

I leaned on the counter in the reception area, waiting while she finished typing a depart that I was up to no good She’s in her forties, with a ar Her hair is cut very short and it curls tensely around her head, a glistening, wet-looking black with gray frizz at the tips She’s probably fifty pounds overweight and it’s all solidly packed into her waist, her belly, and her rump