I telephoned the credit union where she had her checking account to ask whether they had boxes.

They do not.

I called two other banks in the county and asked whether a Margaret R.

Henderson had ever rented a box with them and was told, correctly and in both cases politely, that they could not tell me that and that I would need a court order.

I spent an evening on the internet about the numbering conventions of safety deposit keys.

I went back through the notebook looking for the number thirty-two.