Chapter Twenty-Nine

Kate and Bonnie left Dot with good wishes on resolving the cat issue, and they headed to the library.

This time, when they went inside, Bonnie used the cane, knowing she’d be on her feet for a while. It was an aluminum quad-cane they had rented at the hospital. Kate knew Bonnie didn’t like the cane, but it did help steady her—and it protected her from further injuring her ankle, which she asserted with confidence would be “ready for those cartwheels” by Saturday.

Kate held the door and waited as her friend took a step, placed the cane, and took another step, an endeavor prolonged by Bonnie’s reaction to the quaint, amiable library. “Isn’t this just beautiful?”

“I love this place. I come here so often, Paul’s joked that one day they’ll hang a plaque upstairs that reads: Kate Hanlon Research Department Headquarters.”

Bonnie moved on, and Kate let the door fall shut. As it did, fresh autumn air whistled through the closing door and swirled around them, making them snuggle more deeply into their sweaters and jackets.

“Go. Poke around and explore. Have fun. I want to talk to Livvy for a minute and then do a little research.” Kate pointed toward the door behind the counter with the name Olivia Jenner on it. “I’ll be on the computers upstairs. When you’ve looked everything over, come back. I’m sure Livvy would love to chat with you again and I’ll meet you here.”

As Kate passed the counter on the way to the librarian’s office, she spotted the metal cart she had seen Livvy put the manhandled bird book onto on Monday. The book was no longer there.

Kate took a minute to make a quick sweep of the books set on top of shelves and in a small table display. She saw the picture books and guides she’d seen before, plus she recognized some of the books she had returned for Paul, but the small collection of folklore was nowhere in sight.

She wondered if Livvy had deemed it too damaged to save. She hoped not; she couldn’t help thinking she’d find some answers in those pages. She hurried to take the last few steps to get to the office, then raised her hand to knock. Before her knuckles met the wood, the door swung open.

“Well, hello there.” Livvy’s face lit with a warm smile. “I was wondering if you were going to drop back by before the big weekend. How is Bonnie doing?”

“Terrific. She’s stalking knowledge among the stacks even as we speak.” Kate angled one shoulder back to give Livvy a view.

Bonnie walked reverently, something made more pronounced by her cane and slight limp, along the length of a bookshelf, her nose close to the spines. She seemed completely unaware of the two of them, content to be off in her own little world.

Kate moved to put her head close to her friend’s as she whispered, “Which gives me a few minutes to talk to you in private.”

“Do we need to go into my office?”

“No. Actually what I need is out here. At least that’s where I, and you, left it when I was here on Monday.”

“Kate, I know you love to sink your teeth into a good mystery, but that goes a little far when you start speaking in riddles.” Livvy gave her a nudge with her shoulder.

“Okay, then, I’ll get right to the point.” She turned and walked to the now-empty metal cart. “Tell me that you didn’t discard the book on bird folklore that was dog-eared and smudged.”

“Discard? Oh, Kate, when you run a small town library with an aim to maintain a first-rate collection, you don’t discard a book for a crease in a page and some dirt on the jacket.”

“It’s checked out, then?” Kate glanced toward the circulation desk, where patrons checked out or returned the books.

“Nope. We’ve got it right here under the counter.” She turned and motioned for Kate to follow her. “We couldn’t get those grayish smudges off the back for anything. I was contemplating just covering the worst of it up with a little of the binding tape we usually use to reinforce book spines.”

“That might work.” The biggest smudge, under the protective plastic dust jacket, hadn’t obscured any of the back cover copy.

“You think so?” Livvy paused and cocked her head. “I thought it might look just as tacky as the smudges.”

“I suppose, but only to you because you’d know what it was hiding. Other people would just assume the paper dust jacket had gotten torn and been patched up.”

“Hmm. You may have a point.” She reached under the counter and withdrew the book. “Anyway, I held the book under the counter to let the staff and volunteers offer suggestions before I resorted to the tape. Here you go.”

“You didn’t do anything to fix the creased page, did you?” Kate accepted the plain volume and examined the edges of the pages with the book still closed.

“I unfolded it. But I didn’t bring my iron in from home and try to press the crease out, if that’s what you mean.”

Kate laughed. “I know I sound a bit extreme, but I have a feeling that whatever was on that marked page might give me some insight into a whole slew of events that have happened this past week. Most importantly, what has happened to the birds.”

“Why would you think that?”

“Because I remembered the drawing on that page was of a man with a big whistle in his mouth. The title referred to football, but I wonder now if it was a chapter on how to scare birds off.” She opened the book and began to fan through the pages, looking for either the illustration or the folded-over corner. “Here it is!”

She showed the drawing to Livvy, then turned her attention to the short story that didn’t even fill two pages.

“Well, I’ll be,” Kate murmured as she turned the page to read the conclusion. “Who’d have ever thought of that?”