Totally a hypothetical question ;)

I went back and checked the various scenes of crimes but did not locate. My parts always end up in the front valance.

I was installing dash speakers this weekend and noticed the T-bolts from the dash were missing. While extricating my arm from the dash, one T-bolt fell out from somewhere. I banged on the bottom of the dash frame and the other one came out along with the corresponding nut. The dropped parts Gods take away and the dropped parts Gods giveth back.
HaHa, that's funny. Your right, that valance is a good catch all. It usually requires a weird arm bend to get things out.