annoyed.
âI know itâs hereâ¦I just canât seem to findâ¦usually Amber is so careful.â
âYou canât find when Mrs. Kennedy returned theâ¦her necklace?â Stephanie shook her head. Dan bent over the log running a finger down the entries for August eighteenth and nineteenth. There was a total of six names in the two-day periodâthree so precise and carefully crafted that the owners had evidently studied the Palmer method of penmanship. Which also indicated they were of Gertieâs vintage. And then three were just a smear. He made a note of the ones he could read. A Peter (Buster) Jenkins PhDâDan paused and reread the entry. Buster actually put his degree behind his name when signing a log to open his safe deposit box? Somehow that said something about him. Dan looked at the two other signatures that were legibleâJesus Garcia and Antonio Romero. Maybe one of them remembered seeing Gertie at the bank that day. He made a note.
âIâll call AmberâIâm sure itâs just an oversight.â
âIn the meantime Iâll continue the tour.â Again that tight smile as Lawrence motioned Dan to follow then stopped a few steps beyond Stephanieâs desk. âThis is it.â He turned to dial the combination and apply the key that opened the safe deposit box vault. Actually a ten by ten room, windowless, cheerlessâits own kind of prison, Dan thought. But it was the slight musty smell mixed with the unmistakable ethyl benzene odor of new carpet backing that almost made him gag. What a mix.
âRepairs have been made?â Dan also noted what looked like new steel shelving on the north wall.
âYes, and no.â Lawrence walked to the far corner and pulled back the carpet and lifted a piece of plywood to reveal a ragged opening in the floor about two feet from the wall. Dan leaned in and took a couple snaps of what looked like blackened edgesâblowtorch? The thick metal flooring had been cut in the rough shape of a circle. Maybe high-tech laser equipment? Looked like it. Certainly made less noise than trying to blow up a steel plate like that.
âWe have to have new flooring put down as you can seeâ¦this is basically cosmetic for the time being, and safety. Weâve made room in the bank vault for everyoneâs valuables. We still havenât been released to begin repairs.â
Dan assumed he meant by the Feds. Things could move pretty slowly being somewhat off the beaten path as they were.
âWell, there you have it, not much to see. There are fifteen boxes in this vaultâtwelve were in use. One wall model safe thatâs temperature and humidity controlled for larger objects or those needing a special environment.â
âWhat kinds of things were kept in there?â Dan stood in front of the two-foot by four-foot enameled door marked Irwin, the combination lock neatly cut out allowing entry.
âOh, family Bible for the Garcias, a great-grandfatherâs love letters to his sweetheart from the early 1800s for another family. Some pieces of Indian potteryâ¦Anything that could be contaminated by plain air.â
âAnd none of these things were taken?â
âOnly one claim to dateâ¦olâ Doc Jenkins but Iâm not sure itâs legitimate. Odd claimâ¦may not come to anything.â
Dan waited for an explanation of what an odd claim might entail but nothing more was offered. Dan made a note to get the phone number or address of Doc Jenkins.
âStill doesnât seem like many boxes for a town of three to four hundred people.â
âIn my community youâll find more riches between the mattress and box springs than right here.â
âIn retrospect that seems like the smart thing to do.â Mattresses or Barbasol cans Dan added to himself.
Lawrence didnât seem to see any humor in his remark.
âWere all the boxes vandalized?â Dan stood