I was very thankful for Dennis’ exact note taking. The file cabinets were labeled by the newspaper they were from, and then by year. I was looking for two different newspapers, so I started with the one that Dennis had used twice (“The Midwest Star”.) It took me about 10 minutes to track those down, and then rushed over to the section of references that was science papers.
Sydney came down the stairs as I pulled out a random (large) sheet and took it over to the table. “There you are. I thought you were going to look for more aquatics books?”
“Yeah, I wanted to see if there were any good suggestions down here. I’m not 100% sure where to start.”
“I’m sure one of the librarians would help you.” Sydney flipped a book she brought with her from hand to hand.
“You know I don’t like asking them for help.”
“T.J., it’s literally their job.”
“Well, I know. I just like to do it by myself.”
“Well, it’s too dark down here for me. I’m going to sit at the top of the stairs at that bench and start reading my book. Don’t be too long.” She bounced up the stairs.
It took me about 5 more minutes to track down the last reference from Dennis’s notes. I laid all three out on the table in front of me, with the scientific reference I’d grabbed nearby, just in case Sydney came back down, and started reading.
A lot of it was boring talk. The newspapers really liked to hype up the town and especially the Left family. Obviously I didn’t know enough about law to feel anything about the restructuring of the Left Family Endowments, but timing-wise it connected up with the new wing article. Together, the articles made a pretty clear picture of Mr. Left’s extreme interest in scientific developments and how hard he pushed to get the family’s money going into new projects. The endowment article listed two other scientific projects that were being considered, so I made a note of those.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
It was when I got to the vehicle heist article that things got really interesting. Actually, it wasn’t even in that article. The article talked about some Super (Superiore, telekinesis) who had come in to town following a string of high profile vehicle thefts that each somehow had been connected to Dalton City.
One had been re-upholstered in town, a few had been owned by folks with either primary or secondary properties in town, two had been used by the college at some point. At the bottom of the article, it said to check the crime blotter for more info. I flipped through the pages and looked till I found the right entry. And there it was. The only arrest in the case had been of a young woman (mugshot included), and I recognized her. Not only that, but the personal information for her listed was wrong.
Staring up at me from the page of a 7 year old newspaper was that blond haired girl from the basement of the Super place. The one with the cold hands and the staticky hair. A lot younger, basically a kid. Maybe Sydney's age, at most. B. Blue, her name was, from a town called Reckon, SD.
How the fellows had realized something stinky about this mugshot I couldn’t guess. Actually, it kind of blew my mind a little bit. How many little things had they suspected and followed up before hitting on this one?
Don’t get between a nerd and his research, I guess. I also could see an instance where one of the fellows was like “Hey, Chris, is this a cousin of yours” in a joking way, and it derailed from there. Anyway.
I took a few more notes, shuffled the papers together and placed them in the “return” bin, and took the scientific paper upstairs. I could have just backed out on the whole “aquatic research” thing, but with how closely Syd was keeping an eye on it, it would be nice to check out some books and therefore have a good excuse to leave the house at some future date.
After killing some time in the non-fiction section, I headed over to the comic books to do some actual research. I found a few books with telekinetic supers (research) and a few Batman books for fun. I liked Batman, because he was just a regular guy. They were weird to read now, though, after the whole “Mr. Left is just a regular guy and he could be a Super oh wait he’s the villain” debacle.
I checked out and found Sydney, and we caught the bus home. I wanted to telephone Donny, but I wasn’t sure how to do it without it looking weird for either of us. And my parents weren’t always thrilled with Sydney talking on the phone, so I could imagine how they’d react if I started talking up time.
I’d just have to wait till the next day I went to the Left house and try it from there.
