Page 86 of The Me I Left Behind

Julia smiled. “Wait. Hold that thought.”

“What?”

She reached into the back floorboard and hoisted her leather bag up between the seats. “I found some old invoices from a couple of storage facilities in Rocky Mount. That definitely piqued my curiosity. I pulled that file and brought it with me and had planned to ask you about them today.”

She flipped through the papers and pulled out two tattered invoices. “They’re several years old, and I haven’t called to see if they are still in business, but I thought we could investigate.”

“Makes me wonder why Max needed two storage units?”

Julia agreed. “Absolutely. Here. You call one and I’ll call the other.”

“Right now?”

She shrugged. “Why not?”

Maggie took the top invoice. “Looks like this one is out off of I-95 near the intersection of Sandy Cross Road.”

She punched in the numbers.

A man answered. “Smart Self Storage. This is Ron Smart.”

“Hi. This is Maggie Oliver. My husband has a unit there, but he’s out of town right now and I can’t get in touch with him. Can you tell me the number of the unit, please?”

“Name again?”

“The account would be under Max Oliver.”

“Just a minute.”

Maggie waited, glancing at Julia, who had her phone to her ear.

“Did you say Oliver?”

“Yes.”

“We have no account under that name.”

Maggie frowned. “Oh, I’m sure it was there. I actually have an old invoice.”

“Maybe he had one here years ago, but not now. The business changed hands. Anything not accounted for after the sale, we sold at auction, especially if he stopped paying the bill. Sorry.”

“Thanks.” Maggie ended the call.Well, there goes my easel….

She looked at Julia, who was staring out the window. “Yes, ma’am,” she heard her say.

Maggie waited, listening.

“Yes, that’s it. Perfect,” Julia continued. “We’ll be there soon. Thanks so much.”

Grinning widely, she faced Maggie. “Bingo!”

“You found it?”

“Yep. Two Gals Storage on Sunset Drive. Pop it into your GPS.” Julia twisted the key in the ignition.

She was almost giddy inside. Hell, she was fucking giddy all over.

Twenty minutes later, they pulled up to the office of Two Gals and went inside. Maggie stepped up to the counter.

---