He closed the file and tucked it under his arm, shutting the file room door behind him. As he walked down the same hall where he’d danced with Lara the other night, Ben realized that if some miracle happened and Todd Sutton returned to Kerrigan Falls, he would take his chances and fight for Lara. He glanced down at the file in his hand; Desmond Bennett’s case was still open, which meant that Bennett had not returned as of 1965 when the file was sent to archives. Given the history, it was unlikely that Todd would come back, either.

He returned the keys to Esther. Something was bothering him. He thought he knew everything about this town, but obviously that wasn’t so. “Do you know where Duvall Road is? I’ve never heard of it.”

She snorted. “You mean was.” Her knotted hands were busy stapling papers together with a fury that made Ben glad he was neither the paper nor the stapler.

“Was?”

“It was the road that ran over the old Shumholdt Bridge. It was a terrible one-lane thing. You’d have to honk your horn and listen to hear if someone else was coming over the bridge in the opposite direction, especially at the bend before they widened it. You’d pray that you wouldn’t meet another car. If you did, one of you would have to back up on a horrible narrow bridge.”

“Wait!” Ben leaned over the desk. “You’re saying that Duvall Road was renamed?”

“Yes, when the new bridge went up they renamed it Wickelow Bend Road. I thought everyone knew that.” As she spoke, the metal stapler vibrated like an instrument every time her hand came down. “Young people today just don’t know their history.”

“Thank you.” Ben turned and leaned against the doorframe. “Hey, you don’t remember a man named Desmond Bennett, do you? Went missing in 1944.”

She looked at him, and her face lit up. “The derby driver? Oh yes, I remember him. He was quite handsome. All of us girls would line up for tickets when the derby came to town. He’d come back from the war… injured I believe… then he got on the racing circuit. Famous around these parts as well as North Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee. A heartbreaker if I don’t say so myself. Saw him once.” She raised her eyebrows at the memory.

“Thanks, Esther.” He turned the knob on the door.

“Oh,” said Esther, catching Ben just before he left. “Funny thing about Dez Bennett. He was the boyfriend… well, rumored love interest, really… of Margot Cabot. You know, the blonde from all the circus posters around here. Legs like Betty Grable.”

“No,” said Ben, suddenly frozen in the doorway. “I didn’t know that.”

Ben stepped out of the records office and into the hallway. Not only did he have three missing men, but they all seemed connected to Lara’s family.