“It’s been far too long.”

“I’m looking for old county road maintenance records from five years ago,” I told her directly.

Her warm smile faded into a look of quiet concern.

“Which area are you researching?”

“The north mountain pass near the old cabin trail,” I answered.

She studied my face for a moment, clearly sensing my intensity, but didn’t ask any prying questions.

“Those files should be in our digital county database, though older records sometimes need administrative clearance to pull up.”

“Please, I really need to see them if there’s any way you can help me,” I said.