Page 47 (1/2)

Zoe patted his hand reassuringly "You're doing just fine Now can you tell us if you keep old paperwork on file from people who've rented lockers in the past?"

"I'll tell you what I told the other guy He said it could have been rented as long as seventeen years ago, and that's too long a tiht have found in that locker"

The description along with the time fra questions about Saenda, just as Zoe had thought Disappointut, but he reminded himself that he didn't knohy his uncle had interest in the keys Maybe there was a plausible explanation

"What did the gentlery"

Now that sounded like his uncle when he didn't get his way, Ryan thought

Zoe shook her long hair so it fell onto the counter, an obvious attempt to keep the clerk's attention "Well I'm a little more patient and I'd like to know if you have any old records we reen eyes, which she fluttered ever so nicely, and reached down to his keyboard "We're cos aren't always accurate Let's see Nope We only go back five years, then ipe the files clean Of course there's a storage room with old records It's a dusty old place that nobody likes to go into"

"Yes!" Zoe said

Ryan felt the exciteh her

"And if I were to make it worth your while, would you please let us into that old storage room?" she asked "You see, our sister took that locker after she ran away all those years ago, and if there's any way of tracing her whereabouts, even frorateful"

The man looked from Ryan to Zoe, then down to the counter, where Ryan realized Zoe was slipping a twenty-dollar bill his way

The guy snatched the cash and gestured with a nod of his head "This way"

He led the the door, he let theo back to the archives because of the dust," he said laughing

"And you didn't tell the other uy shook his head "He didn't ask about it"

Ryan stifled a laugh because his uncle's teainst him, whereas Zoe's patience and sotten them one step farther

Zoe turned back to the other man "By the hat happens to the old contents of a locker?"

"We try to contact the owner and if nobody shows up for it, it goes into lost and found for a while Then we give the stuff away to shelters or due If you're lucky, somebody will have written info rmation down on the card that was filled out when the locker was paid for Good luck," he said and shut the door behind hi boxes piled one on top of the other all around and groaned "Well,toward the back of the roo near the door "What is it?"

She shrugged "I don't know I'm sorry, maybe? I know I said it before, but I aht I' that involved your sister and didn't tell you about it"

"Maybe he had his reasons" He could only hope

She nodded, obviously not wanting to pick a fight on this subject "What month and year did Faith run away?" she asked instead

"March 1988"