“Where do you think we will find the documents related to this case?” Susan asked, while they cleaned up their cups and other litter.

“We should be able to find the birth, death and marriage certificates in the same room as the ledger. We may even be able to find some articles upstairs in the newspaper archives from that time period. Maybe we can find some record of the gardener. I don’t know if there was a child, but we may be able to locate something in the old county adoption records. I think that after 100 years, the confidentiality should have lapsed.” She walked out the door, hugging the old ledger to her chest.

The ladies found the birth, death, and marriage documents for both Archibald Brackleburn and Emma Rothfield-Brackleburn and made copies for Susan to take with her, before riding the elevator to the second floor newspaper archives. After an hour in the archives, the ladies located an article covering the wedding, an obituary for both Emma and Archibald, and a small piece concerning the disappearance of a young man, Jebediah Smith, whose family had not heard from him for months. Susan reread the short article wondering ‘Where do I know that name from?’

After they had made copies of the articles, Susan and Gretchen returned to the registers office to search for the adoption records. “I think if we look for infants taken to the county orphanage around the date of Emma’s death we may have a better chance of locating her child,” Gretchen said, as she opened the top drawer of a wooden filing cabinet.

“Well, we know she died on September 23^rd, 1905 and my previous research showed that she had a child within a week prior to her death. So, if we look for an infant born the week of September 16^th we should get lucky,” Susan said before glancing over at Gretchen. “Thank you for all your help this morning.”

She glanced up at the younger woman. “No problem, dearie, it’s been fun.” Looking back down to the files, she said, “I wonder if this is it? Infant girl, born on September 19^th, taken to Sister Augustine’s Orphanage for Girls on September 19^th, adopted on September 22^nd by Samuel and Judith Huntsbacker. On the special notes section, it lists Archibald Brackleburn included a check for $5,000 when he put the girl up for adoption.” Gretchen closed the drawer, turned to Susan and handed her the document. “Let’s make a copy of this for you to take with you.”

With photocopies of everything they had found that day safely tucked away in her briefcase, she thanked Gretchen for all of her help and left the basement. Stepping into the hallway, Susan felt a cold breeze brush past her, but thinking it was nothing more than a chilly draft in the old building, she continued on her way. As she walked down the main corridor toward the exit, Susan stopped when a photograph caught her attention.

Staring eternally out into the hall was the same elderly lady, dressed in the same wool skirt that Susan had talked to earlier that morning. The photograph had been black and white when new, but had faded with the passage of time. A plaque next to the photograph read, ‘Mrs. Emily Elizabeth Hoggins, first librarian of the Brackleburn Town Library, Born: 1863 Died: 1943’. No longer able to breathe within the old building, Susan rushed out through the heavy oak doors and sat down on the steps, with her head resting on her knees.