Coming of Age by Timothy Zahn

patiently. “But all I know is that we’re starting with the birth records and probably going on from there.”
    â€œWhat year? I’ll get them for you, and you can tell me then what else you want.”
    â€œJust let us in,” Tirrell sighed, waving his authorization papers gently.
    The keeper glanced once at Tonio, as if considering whether or not to forbid the preteen’s participation, but apparently decided further resistance would be a waste of time. Muttering something under his breath, he turned and fiddled with the combination lock. A moment later the door swung open, revealing a large, dim room with thick binders stacked in floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. Flipping on the overhead lights, the keeper stalked off without a word—probably, Tirrell thought, to watch them on the vault’s interior monitor system. Stepping inside, the detective studied the floor plan taped to the nearest shelf and headed off to the left.
    Tonio followed a bit more slowly, looking around in wonderment. “Are all the records for Tigris in here?” he asked.
    â€œOh, no—not by a long shot,” Tirrell said over his shoulder, his eyes searching the shelf labels. “Not even for the whole continent—you’d have to go to the university archives in Barona for that. No, these cover only Ridge Harbor, and only since the Lost Generation. Before that everything was kept in a kind of machine called a computer. I’ve heard that one of those computers could have stored Ridge Harbor’s whole history in a single one of these books,” He found the proper aisle and ducked into it.
    â€œYou’re kidding.”
    â€œWell, that’s what they say.” Tirrell pointed to the top shelf. “That’s the one—third from the left. Teek it down here, would you?”
    The heavy book drifted off its shelf and into Tirrell’s waiting hands. Tucking it securely under his arm, the detective led the way to a small table in one of the room’s back corners. “Okay, let’s see,” he muttered as they sat down and opened the binder. “We want June seventeenth … June seventeenth … here it is. Baby boy, adopted by Thom and Elita Brimmer for the city of Ridge Harbor … mother’s name was Miribel Oriana. …Hmm. Says she was twenty-six, unmarried, and originally from Barona. I wonder why she came here to have her baby.”
    â€œDidn’t want any of her friends to know about it?” Tonio suggested.
    â€œMaybe. I would have thought Barona was more liberal about such things, though.” He read further. “Strange. I’d assumed Colin was adopted because his parents died soon after he was born, but I guess not—his mother simply walked out the day afterward and disappeared.”
    â€œSounds like a real winner,” Tonio said, a touch of disgust creeping into his voice.
    â€œYeah. Seems odd, though,” Tirrell said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “If her partner cut out on her when he found out she was pregnant and she didn’t want to raise the baby alone, why didn’t she simply arrange beforehand for the baby to be adopted? It would have saved everyone a lot of trouble and given her a little money during the pregnancy, besides.”
    â€œMaybe her partner was married and she didn’t want to have to name him.”
    â€œMaybe.” Tirrell sighed and fished out his note pad. “Let’s put our supposers on ice for the moment—we may get the chance to simply ask her. Let’s see. The obstetrician knew Colin’s birth date, of course, and so did the assisting nurses. Any of the staff on that floor would have been able to look at the records for the next month, before they were sealed away. Then there’s the Brimmers’ neighbors and close friends, and Colin’s biological mother if we can find her. Who else?” He stared at the list, pondering.
    â€œDid the Brimmers