There, all the way at the bottom, I find what I’m looking for. And so for the second time today I plop myself on the floor in search of vintage goodness. Dust motes kick up as the drawer shuttles forward and a sea of age-spotted cream folders stretch before me, some labeled better than others. There’s a cliché that says cops hate paperwork, and you can see the variation in how meticulous the various officers were in record keeping. Some tabs boast simply a surname or keyword; others have names and dates to help. Not that it’s too difficult to find Quinn. The file is thicker than the rest, almost smack-dab in the middle. I wrangle it out and set it down.

The contents spill at my feet: police reports, interview transcripts, case notes. Faded, though, so to save my eyes, I pull out my phone so I can use the flashlight. A lot of the file is technical, scribbled in longhand by the reporting officer. Caroline Quinn, body discovered at approximately 9 p.m., signs of strangulation. Nothing I don’t know or couldn’t guess. But then I realize there are photos. Black-and-white. The whites are bleached by time, giving everything a washed-out quality, but there she is. Caroline’s body. A shudder passes through me.

My grandmother’s initial interview is recorded in a tight, juvenile script, the transcriber haphazard with capitalization and punctuation, but I get the gist.

asked miss Ellis if victim had enemies after hesitating she disclosed a name. Joseph Bedecki the school janitor “she flirted with him but we all did. joe’s an attractive man. we were flattered by his attention”

I wonder at the accuracy of the officer’s transcription. “Joe’s an attractive man” doesn’t really sound like a teenage girl, even in 1970. But Maura’s interview is clear-cut. I thumb through the rest of the file, looking for Grace, but she’s not in here. Guess they saw no reason to interview the prime suspect’s fifteen-year-old sister. I do, however, find the answer to my other question: Joe wasn’t the only suspect.

Paul Rogers, Caroline’s ex-boyfriend, has an interview file, and the name jumps right out—Rogers, like Elaine. Then I remember how she said she finally inherited Hotel Seaview when her brothers died, so I’m guessing Paul’s no longer with us. He was a sound suspect, though: Overheard getting into a screaming match with Caroline at the dance. Punched her date in the same altercation, a boy named Clark Sawyer. I grab my phone, Google on a hunch. Yep. Caroline’s date was the future Mr. Grace Sawyer. This town is far too small for my liking. It’s the closest I come to finding Grace in these files.