Chapter SixteenM
y next stop was Garland’s Town Hall. A photo client worked in the clerk’s office; I had taken her family’s Christmas card portrait the previous holiday season. Four rambunctious children under the age of seven, two frisky dogs under the age of three, and an iguana of undisclosed age made it a memorable shoot. Valerie was a chatty type who knew everything that went on in Town Hall. I hoped Kit’s fellow civil servant would be a better source of information than Brooke’s colleagues.
Valerie’s eyes lit up when I asked if we could talk away from the service counter, which was right inside the building’s main entrance. “Step around to the tax window.”
I went around the corner at the end of the counter and into another hallway. I ducked to my right into the private area where
