Chapter Twenty-Six

After telling Anne that LIFU was on the floor again (and not because of anything I did!), I sent a quick text to Jace. I found my father! He’s on a cruise.

While Anne and I waited for Keven to come rescue our fallen metal librarian, I called the ship’s number Emma had given me and followed her instructions. It took a few tries, but I finally was able to hear my father’s voice. Daddy apologized once he heard how worried we all were. He had indeed opted not to pay the ship’s Wi-Fi fee and had been without cell reception for most of the cruise. He promised to explain more when he got home, which would be in two days.

Tears of relief filled my eyes as I disconnected the call. I texted Jace again. Got off the phone with my daddy. He’s definitely on that cruise. With a date!

I still couldn’t believe that last part.

“Why do you hate technology, Tru?” Keven cried as he followed Anne to where the robotic librarian had fallen. He was dressed in a colorful Hawaiian shirt with a long-sleeved white T-shirt underneath, khaki pants, sandals, and that porkpie hat that seemed to be his signature look.

He happened to be at the library because he’d just set the newly repaired LIFU loose not twenty minutes before the robot came searching me out like a needy puppy.

“I don’t hate technology,” I said. “And actually, I was finding LIFU helpful until she glurped.”

“Glurped?” Anne asked.

“That’s the sound she made before she fell over,” I explained.

“She?” Keven asked.

“Oh, she’s definitely a girl robot,” I said.

Anne rolled her eyes.

“You Beckets are a thorn in my side,” Keven grumbled.

“Yeah, I heard that my father is working for you.”

“Working for me!” Keven made an ugly growling sound. “He and my secretary, a lovely woman who is the only one who knows where the papers are filed and if the bills have been paid, are both gone. They both came in last week and told me that they were taking their vacation time. Immediately.”

So that’s who he was secretly dating?

“Who is your secretary?”

“Lucinda Farley. The most competent secretary to have ever walked the earth.”

I’d never heard of her. “Is she new in town?”

“Yes. She came with me. And I need her back.”

“And they didn’t tell you where they went?”

“No! If they had, I’d be there right now, begging them to come back. What with LIFU glitching for no good reason and trying to figure out the filing system, I need them both here and working. None of this”—he gestured at the fallen LIFU—“would be happening if they were here. I’ve had to research robotics protocols—not my area of expertise—because your father is gone. Poof!”

Keven struggled to lift LIFU. “The second day they were gone, Lucinda finally answered my texts. She told me to stop texting her and blocked my number. Well, I’m going to have to take LIFU back to the barn to see if we can’t figure out what’s going on with her. When I test her out there, nothing goes wrong. It doesn’t make sense. Next time you talk with your father, tell him to get back to work.”

Anne and Keven started to push the heavy robot toward the elevator.

“Wait,” I called out to them.

They paused and turned to me.

“Mrs. Farnsworth said you’d installed safeguards on LIFU so the robot couldn’t harm anyone. She had recited the three laws of robotics. Are those laws part of the programming?” I asked, thinking back on Keven’s run-in with Marigold, and Marigold’s technological background.

Plus, Charlie had recommended that I needed to follow the books, which I was trying to do.

“I’m a computer programmer,” Keven admitted, “not a robotics expert. That’s why I hired your father. He was supposed to be helping with the robotics side of things.”

“He’s an engineer.” Surely Keven knew that. “He’s a fantastic tinkerer, but he’s not a robotics expert.”

“If he was here, he could help me figure out how to solve these problems,” Keven insisted, looking even more stressed than before.

“Is that why you were trying to buy Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot when you were at the bookshop earlier today?” I asked.

“Yes! I told Mrs. Farnsworth that LIFU had safeguards. And it does! Somewhat. But she assumed I knew all about the three laws of robotics. I didn’t, not until I Googled them. Then I wanted to read about them from the source. I ended up downloading the anthology in ebook form after my run-in with that unpleasant woman at the bookstore.”

“Why are you building robots if you’re not an expert?” I asked.

“I can program anything,” he said. “And robots are the future. I thought I’d hired a reliable engineer to help with the technical end of things. A CEO isn’t expected to know everything.” He huffed.

“Making a robot follow the three rules of robotics is a programming problem, not an engineering one,” Anne muttered.

Keven grimaced. “As I said, a CEO isn’t expected to know everything. And I need to get this back to the barn if I’m ever going to figure out how to make it work right.”

I stood there, sipping on my water for a few minutes after they left, thinking everything over. I sipped on my water a bit more while gathering up all my courage. Then I pulled out my cell phone and gave Mama Eddy a call.

She deserved to know what my daddy had been up to these past several days.

“I knew it!” Mama Eddy raged, after I’d told her everything. “That man never considers others. He left us without warning. Here we were worrying and worrying about him, needlessly.” She paused only a moment to catch her breath. “When is he getting back? I want to be there on his doorstep to give him an earful.”

“Um, perhaps don’t do that right away,” I said.

“Why? Because he’ll be tired from his vacation?” She laughed. “That man never gets tired. That’s why he gets himself into all kinds of mischief. It’s that relentless energy of his.”

“Yes, I understand,” I said. I sank into the nearest chair, which happened to be a comfortable gamer’s chair set up in the hacker space. “But he, um, he didn’t go alone on the cruise. He went with a . . .” Courage, Tru. “With a woman.”

“Oh! So he’s dating?” Her voice grew louder.

I held my breath and moved the phone away from my ear, expecting her to explode with more drama than I could handle.

“Finally,” Mama Eddy said after a span of silence. “Good for him.” She actually sounded . . . happy. Seriously. She sounded happy. “Do you know her?”

“I don’t,” I admitted. “He didn’t tell me anything.”

“Silly man. I bet he didn’t want to upset you. But here we are. You’re upset.”

“I’m not upset.” But my heart felt like someone was squeezing it.

“Oh, honey,” she crooned softly. Knowingly. “Your father and I both love you. Even in the toughest of times, that’s the one thing we’ve always agreed on.”

“I know. I know.” I sniffled. “And I’ve got to get back to work. I simply wanted you to know as soon as I did that we found him. And that he’s okay.”

“Thank you, Tru. You’re a good daughter.”

I disconnected the call and stared at the phone. When I finally looked up, I noticed that Mrs. Farnsworth had come to the back of the library and was standing with her arms crossed, watching me.

“I’ll-I’ll get back to work,” I said, still feeling shaken by . . . well, by everything.

She shook her head. “Ms. Becket.” She cleared her throat. “Tru.” She’d softened her voice. “Go home.”

“They found my father. He wasn’t missing. He’d gone on a cruise.”

She gave a curt nod. “Go home,” she repeated. “I’ll cover for you. Go home and figure everything out. Figure out how to save Hazel. Figure out how to save the Arete Society.”

“But the police—”

“The police have already made up their minds, haven’t they?” she said.

I tilted my head. “What was going on with the book club?”

“What do you mean?”

“Everyone I talk to gives me a different story. Rebecca was looking to kick out the older members to make room for the younger ones. Hazel only had a provisional membership. If you were caught reading the wrong sort of books, Rebecca would make sure all the members would ostracize you. Rebecca only let Emma stay in the club because of her superior icebox cake. Rebecca had invited Joyce Fellows to come film the meeting because she planned to announce her return to television.” I drew a breath. “I don’t know which story to believe.”

She looked at me hard. “I think you do.”

As always, Mrs. Farnsworth was right. I did know.

I rose from the ultracomfortable chair and started toward the basement steps to go get Dewey.

“Oh, and Tru,” Mrs. Farnsworth said sternly as I passed her. “Be sure you don’t shatter the glass front doors when you leave.”

The last time that had happened was fourteen years ago. Fourteen years! I smiled at her. “No, ma’am. I won’t.”