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LUNA’S EYES WIDENED. “Who?”
“Apparently, it’s the good doctor,” I said in a wry voice. Unfortunately, my wry voice trembled just a hair, destroying the effect I was shooting for.
Luna wasn’t fooled by my attempt at sangfroid. “How’d you figure that out?” she asked, hands on her hips.
At this point, a group of young teens came in the door, allegedly to study. Their joking voices created a nice background noise for our conversation to continue. I said, “Sadie Stewart just told me she saw him skulking around the library around the time I received a letter.”
Luna made a face. “Well, you know something’s wrong with him right there. Who skulks around libraries? That would have made him look suspicious right off the bat.”
“He’s probably not accustomed to acting that way,” I said with a shrug. Then I gave a shaky sigh. “It just really bothers me, that’s all. He’s in this position of public trust and everyone looks up to him. And then here he is leaving threatening letters. It doesn’t exactly fit in with his Hippocratic Oath.”
Luna snorted. “You can say that again. That would be more of a Hypocrite Oath. So, what are you going to do? Confront him over it?”
At this, I snorted. “You clearly have me confused with somebody else. I’m not the kind of person who confronts people who write threatening letters. I don’t think Nancy Drew would have done it, either. There’s a difference between keenly gathering clues and disseminating information and being foolhardy. But I know what I will do.”
“What’s that?” asked Luna.
“I’ll let the police chief know,” I said. And I felt as if a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. “There isn’t any real evidence, and it’s all just hearsay, but at least he’ll know.” And, I decided, I could fill him in on everything else, too, even if some of it was simply speculation.
“Right. And then, if anything happens to you, Burton will know who to go after,” said Luna. Her eyes narrowed as if enjoying the prospect of vengeance being wreaked.
“The only problem with that scenario is it involves something happening to me,” I said. This time, my wry voice had no tremors in it whatsoever.
“And I know about it, too,” said Luna cheerfully. “Plus, I know I’m going to transfer my mom to another physician ASAP.”
“I can’t blame you, although it doesn’t change the fact that he’s an excellent doctor,” I said.
“Sounds like I’ll just be getting in the car and taking Mama on a little drive to the next town over for appointments,” said Luna with a shrug. “Problem solved.”
Wilson joined us. “Who’s closing up tonight?” he asked.
“I’m doing it,” I said. “And thanks for reminding me. I probably need to have another shot of caffeine.”
Wilson arched his brows. “Sleepy? That doesn’t sound like you, Ann.”
“It sure doesn’t. But I haven’t been sleeping well lately,” I said. “And I had a big lunch today.”
“Well, get that cup of coffee. And, if you don’t mind, do an especially good sweep tonight of the patrons. Last week I almost missed one who was sleeping in the quiet study area.” Wilson made a face. “That would have been awful if I hadn’t found him.”
“Waking up in the middle of the night in a silent library?” I asked. “Sounds like my dream come true.” I grinned at them as they laughed.
Later, I was glad I’d had the cup of coffee, and that it had been a large one. It was only 8:30, and the library was deserted. Usually that wasn’t the case at all—there’d be some high-achieving high school kids trying to finish up an assignment or someone looking for a job on the library computers after working at the job they were eager to leave. Or there’d be a night owl still reading magazines who’d be surprised it was 9:00.
Tonight, though, there was no one except for me and Fitz. Fitz was already in nighttime mode after a long day of snuggling with various patrons and being adorable. I was shelving a few books in the stacks and Fitz was on a nearby shelf, keeping a lazy eye on me.
Suddenly, I felt an icy tingling run up my spine and the hairs on the back of my neck rose. This time I didn’t dismiss my worries. I turned around. I was sure I wasn’t alone in the library anymore.
My second thought was: why was this a problem for me? It was still, technically, library hours. A patron might have been running by to pick up a book on hold before we closed. Or returning a book that was about to be overdue. But I couldn’t convince myself I was overreacting. I remembered Burton had stressed the fact during the self-defense class that it was important to listen to our bodies—to realize when we had a bad feeling about something and trust ourselves. He’d recommended a book to me and I’d put it on my list: The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker.
Plus, there was the fact that the fur raised on Fitz’s back.