Love’s Change of Heart novel Chapter 294
Zoe nodded in acknowledgment but still asked, "Where are you heading?"
"There's finally a lead for the pocket watch I'm looking into. I have a rendezvous with the person in charge of the factory."
"Is it legit?" Zoe asked.
"It should be. I asked a friend to help me look into it."
"Okay. I'll go with you. The studio isn't busy anyway, and I don't like the idea of you going alone. If something does happen, at least we have each other."
"Sure."
After leaving the studio to their staff, the young ladies headed to the rendezvous point, only to end up in an abandoned factory area. "Is this the place? This place looks deserted," Zoe doubted as she drove.
To that, Leanna checked the address again. "This should be it… We should arrive after making a right turn at that junction."
With that, Zoe turned the car in that direction and found a hoary old man standing in front of a locked factory after driving a few more yards ahead.
"This is it," Leanna announced.
"Hi, are you Mr. Muston?" she asked after getting out of the car.
The elder nodded with a smile. "You must be Miss McKinney."
"I am," Leanna answered, then introduced Zoe. "This is my friend. She's here to keep me company."
After a quick exchange of pleasantries, the elder went to the gates and pulled a large set of keys out with trembling hands from his pocket. He took a long while before he was able to unlock the gates.
Zoe whispered to Leanna, "You sure he can provide you with useful leads? He can't even put the key into the hole."
While keeping a smile on her face, Leanna nudged Zoe with her elbow and muttered, "Don't say that."
"But look at the set of keys in his hands. If he tries them one by one, we'll probably still be here tomorrow."
The next second, the elder's voice rang out. "Alright, come with me, ladies."
Leanna answered the elder, then followed after him at once.
As the metal doors were pushed open, a whiff of stale air and dust came at them, and Leanna couldn't help coughing while fanning the dust in front of her away.
Meanwhile, the elder went to the wall and felt for the light switch while revealing, "It's been ages since anyone was here. You girls can consider yourselves lucky. This entire area will be demolished in two weeks, and these documents will be sent for disposal. By then, it'll be nearly impossible for you to find anything."
Leanna looked at the massive warehouse and the documents placed on the rows of shelves. "Are all the documents here?"
"Yes. You might not believe me, but even though this pocket watch factory has gone down in its later years, we used to be one of the top manufacturers a couple of decades ago. We used to have retail stores all across the country, and because of that, we had a lot of customers." At that, the elder sighed. "To me, they're a sentiment. So even when the factory shut down, these documents remained."
Zoe, on the other hand, was flabbergasted. "There are so many documents here. If we look through them one by one, it'll be next year by the time we find what we're looking for!"
"You won't need that long," the elder reassured. "I remember the model of the pocket watch you sent over. That model's final product and craftsmanship were considered top-tiered at the time. Hence, there were only a few who could afford it. Even if it was sold in all of our retail stores, the information would still be sent to the headquarters, so you'll surely be able to find the purchase information of the watch if you look through the headquarter archives." While speaking, he brought the ladies to the innermost row of shelves. "This is it."
Leanna looked toward them in response. Looks like we'll still have a lot to look through, even when it has been narrowed down.
The elder handed Leanna the set of keys and said, "You guys can come over whenever you want if you don't manage to find what you're looking for today. Just remember to lock the gates when you leave."
"Thank you," Leanna thanked the elder as she took the keys from him. "I'll return them to you once I find what I'm looking for."
The elder smiled at that. "Don't worry about it. Just be sure to lock the gates when you leave. Someone will come and clear these documents when they're demolishing this place."
"Thank you. I really appreciate your help." Leanna nodded her thanks.
The elder waved his hand in response. "I didn't think I would still be able to see this pocket watch model again after two decades. I guess you can call it fate."
Later, when Leanna returned after seeing the elder away, Zoe had already started flipping through the documents.
Though the elder said this pocket watch model's purchase information would be sent to the headquarters, they evidently didn't just sell this model.
Apart from purchase records, there were records of factory employees, various data and reports, and whatnot.
Time gradually passed while the two ladies flipped through document after document, and before they knew it, it was already getting dark outside.
Just then, the sound of a phone vibrating broke the silence.
After pinching her nose, Leanna pulled her phone out of her pocket only to find Aidan calling. With that, she put the report in her hand down and answered it.
"Where are you?" he asked.
"I'm at…" Unsure of how to tell him her exact location, she just said, "I'm outside looking through some paperwork."
"How long more until you're done? I'll go and pick you up."
At that, Leanna looked at the dark sky. We should call it a day and continue tomorrow.
"I'm done. I'm with Zoe. We're leaving now."
"Send me your location," Aidan urged.
After ending the call, Leanna still sent her location over lest the b*stard nagged about this later.
"C'mon, Zoe. Let's go. We'll continue—"
"Nana, Nana!" Leanna had just finished sending Aidan her location and urged Zoe to leave while putting her phone back in her pocket when Zoe came running to her, gushing, "What's the model number of your pocket watch? I found the VIP customers' purchase information. See if it's the one you're looking for!"
With that, Leanna took her phone out at once and pulled up the picture of the pocket watch to compare the model number. It just so happened that Zoe found exactly what they were looking for.
"This is it!" Zoe gushed.
Then, they began looking through the details of one customer after another, hoping to find something useful, only to freeze when they saw a familiar name.
How can it be him?
It took a long while for Zoe to regain her senses. "Nana, are you certain the person who bought the pocket watch is… your birth father?"
"I…" Leanna answered while still reeling in bewilderment, "I don't know either. It's just that there's a photo in the pocket watch."
"This is crazy! It's probably just a coincidence. Let's see if there's anyone else!"
The purchase information page the pair paused at had a name clearly written in the first column—Lloyd Crossley.
The information, regardless of how one saw it, was somewhat horrifying.
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