Chapter 391: Tree Hill Public Library
Tuesday, February 7th, Afternoon
As places go for research, there were a few you could always rely on, the local church parish, city/town hall records office, and surprisingly the public library. This building is the main branch. The library system also has a small satellite branch by the senior center and a bookmobile. The Main Branch was an old neo-classical building built in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century and was a famous Carnegie Library. In fact, it carried Andrew Carnegie's name on it, as it was called the Tree Hill Carnegie Public Library.
Elizabeth "Ellie" Scott stood in front of the building admired the weathered and still somewhat impressive façade. The name was carved into the transom stones; it's carved in the classic style with the letter V replacing the letter U in the word public. Ellie rubbed her hands together and headed inside the building. Ellie was surprised at how much information was held in the public records walking through the front door.
Without much fanfare, Ellie walked past the information desk to the research department. Ellie signed in on a sign-up sheet and went to a research computer. Ellie's fingers flew over the keyboard, and she started her search for information.
The search engine strained against the typical municipal-owned outdated desktop computer. Eventually, a list of articles appeared on the screen. Ellie looked down the list and made a list of all the articles that weren't digitalized yet. She slowly and carefully wrote down each catalog number.
Next, Ellie started to access the digitalized articles. Eventually, after skimming over the first one, and once pleased, she printed out the article. Flipping back to the list of articles and did the same.
Once finished, Ellie got up and headed over to the research desk. Ellie looked at the research librarian and smiled.
"How may I help you?" The research librarian asked.
"Yes, thank you," Ellie said and handed over her list, "I need these articles."
The research librarian took the list and looked it over, then nodded. "I'll see what I can do," they said.
"Thank you," Ellie said, "I have some printouts as well."
The research librarian nodded, "Let me check," they said.
"Thank you again," Ellie said.
The research librarian returned with a stack of paper. Ellie looked at it and went through the pile, sorting out the articles she printed out, handing back the sheets that weren't hers. Ellie nodded and paid the paper fee.
Ellie collected all of her stuff and headed to a nearby table. Laying out the articles, Ellie pulled out a highlighter and started citing things in the article. Eventually, once she finished the article, she collated her notes into separate categories in her notebook.
Finally, she looked over another article. This one was a bit odd; it was about a super-secret two-set pop-up show that happened at Club Absolution.
Ellie smirked as she looked over the article and shook her head. It was one of Brian's many side projects; he was touring with Anya Wolfle. This was on the back of her single, the one Brian collaborated on. The article stated that one set was built around Anya's music, while the other focused on Brian's music. There were songs where both would play together; in some older songs, Anya would sing Kat's old parts.
Nodding her head, Ellie reflected Brian chose Absolution to stick it to his aunt and mom. It's a competing club, and Brian must still sting from his separation from the family business.
Ellie shrugged and looked down at the article. They reviewed Anya relatively high and commented that she was wasted when she sang harmonies with Brian. On the other hand, Brian was panned as his voice wasn't up to its usual strength.
Ellie shrugged and looked at the date on the article. This show took place before Kat took pity on Brian. When Kat, against better advice, put together a tour with her, Arne, and Brian.
"Why does Brian always seem not to have things worked out?" Ellie asked.
Ellie shook her head and moved onto the following article. This one was about a police raid on the club during the day. A few employees were arrested, and records were seized. The owner wasn't present when the raid happened. The owner later turned herself in but lawyered up.
Paget Melanthios, why is that name so familiar? Ellie thought, her lady balls must clank when she walked. Ellie shrugged and kept reading.
"Hmm," Ellie said and highlighted the name Ash Dreyer.
"So, when you surrender yourself, you bring one of the best defense attorneys with you. Who or what are you?" Ellie asked and made a note of it in her notebook.
Shaking her head, Ellie turned back to the article. Reading on, Ellie shook her head and moved onto the following article.
"Nothing came of the charges?" Ellie asked, shook her head, and wrote that down. "Removed all charges, returned all records, what the hell? Even with an apology."
The research librarian arrived with the items Ellie requested. "Here are your articles," they said.
"Thank you," Ellie said.
"You're welcome, would there be anything else?" the research library asked.
"Yes, could you tell me who recently asked for this information?" Ellie asked.
The research library shook their head. "No one recently, I do remember a few years back someone, a small guy named Noah Dwerryhouse," they said.
"How do you remember that?" Ellie asked.
"He was a regular here, and his name was unique," The research library said.
Ellie nodded.
"He disappeared soon after his visit here to look up this information," The research library said.
"I see," Ellie said and started to write down that information.
The research librarian nodded and left Ellie alone. Shaking her head, Ellie returned to reading the articles. Packing all the stuff she printed, Ellie went to the copier and made copies of the other articles. Once finished copying them, Ellie returned the articles to the research librarian.
With all her information, Ellie left the library. Walking down the street, Ellie looked over the building, thinking about what she's found. Ellie stopped and looked at the building and sighed.
"Nothing new, Ellie," she said, "It's the same stuff in Noah's notes. But again, these are the source documents."
Ellie shook her head and kept walking towards the parking lot where she parked. After walking past a few more buildings, Ellie stopped, pulled out her notepad, and flipped to her note on the police raid.
Looking them over again, she didn't remember Noah mentioning this in the article, but it was in the notes. Ellie dug into her pocket for something to write with it and scribbled a few more notes.
Why the raid, and why were the records confiscated?
Why arrest the staff?
Why was the case dropped?"
None of this makes sense. Contact Declan; maybe he has some inside information.
Ellie put the pen back in her pocket, closed up her notepad, nodded, and went back to walking to her car. There was something there, but what?
