31906844db5c02010017a90f3f2ca805

“You know, Marge,” I said as I accompanied her to the counter, where she booted up her computer. “I once heard about a nursing home where the staff keeps all kinds of pets. Piglets, chickens, puppies, cats—you name it. The pets just wander around, and it makes the old folks so happy, lowerstheir blood pressure, and creates a very pleasant atmosphere.”

“That’s exactly what I’m trying to accomplish here,” she said. “Only I try to make it fun for everyone, not just the elderly.”

“Like a petting zoo—but at the library. A library zoo.”

She laughed.“Something like that.”

I jumped up on her desk.“Do you really think the murder case is closed now?”

“I guess so,” she said. “They caught Jeb, didn’t they? Such a shame, though, right? I really liked him. Of course, you never know what people are really like. Some actors that you think are nice turn out to be horrible people in real life. I guess you just never know.”

The kittens were having a great time over in the pirate ship, where Marge had dropped them, and were sinking their tiny claws into the pillows. The library opened in half an hour, and then the fun would begin. Dooley and Brutus and Harriet, meanwhile, had gone off to the kitchen, to see if Marge had filled up their bowls with the right amount of food and drink. There were also plenty of litter boxes and climbing poles and even toys.

As Marge sat typing something on her computer, I allowed my gaze to drift idly to the book cart loaded with plenty of tomes she still needed to put back on the shelves.

I was struck by the title of one of the books:When You Left Me.

“Hey, that’s funny,” I said. “That’s the book Fae Pott is reading.”

“Mh?” said Marge, without looking up.

“When You Left Me.Young adult, probably?”

“What?” said Marge, looking up and taking off her reading glasses.

I pointed to the book.“It was lying next to Fae’s bed. I read the blurb. Something about a girl whose daddy starts a second family. Sounds like appropriate reading for Fae.”

Marge took out the book, and I noticed how her hands were shaking.

“Oh, no,” she whispered.

“Oh, yes,” I assured her. “She must have read it a lot. It was well-thumbed.”

She looked up at me, and I could tell she was distressed.

“I have to call Odelia at once,” she said softly.

“Great,” I said, for lack of anything better to say.

Humans. You think you finally got them figured out, and then you realize you’ve only skimmed the surface.

Chapter 36

Odelia listened carefully. She frowned as the realization hit her.

“Are you sure about this, Mom?”

“Of course I’m sure. Max told me so himself.”

Odelia sank down on the couch. She’d been getting ready to go to work, but this changed everything. “It’s hard to believe,” she said.

“I know!”

“Look, I need to make a few phone calls. I’ll call you back as soon as I know more.”

“That’s fine—do what you have to do, but honey?”

“Yes?”

“Please be careful, all right?”

“Of course. I’m perfectly safe here.” Her mother disconnected and Odelia sat staring before her for a few beats. Then she took a deep breath and dialed her uncle’s number.

“Odelia?” he said, picking up on the first ring.

“There’s something I need you to check for me,” she began.

“Sure. Anything.”

In a few words, she told him what her mother had discovered.

He sounded as shocked as she was when Mom told her about the book.

“I’ll get back to you,” said Uncle Alec. “Have you told Chase yet?”

“Not yet. You know how he is about mystery witnesses and phantom sources.”

“You can always tell him you saw the book but only realized its significance when you picked up a copy at the library.”

It seemed like a good solution.“You better tell him,” she said. “I’m such a terrible liar I’ll probably make some mistake and then he’ll become all suspicious again.”

“And I’m a better liar than you, is that what you’re saying?”

“You’re a cop. You have to be the better liar.”

“Fair point,” he conceded, then hung up.

She waited with bated breath, thinking things through once more. The whiteboard still sat in the middle of her salon, right next to the television. She’d switched on the TV to watch the news, and now saw an item about Jeb Pott. She walked over and turned up the sound. Jeb was about to be arraigned and appear before a judge. Bail would probably be an exorbitant sum, that he almost certainly couldn’t afford. He was going away for a long time.

She turned off the TV and stared at the whiteboard. Amazing. A long list of suspects, and the only person she’d never seriously considered even for a single second…

Her phone rang and she picked up.“Uncle Alec?”

“You were right. There were marks on his back. And we found the pictures.”

“Then it’s true,” she said, and felt her heart constrict.

“Oh, yes, it’s true. No doubt about it. The pictures tell the whole story.”

“Oh, God,” she said and felt tears spring to her eyes. She wiped them away.

“You did good, Odelia.”

“My cats did good,” she said.

“But it’s you that figured it out.”

Just then, her front doorbell rang. She said,“I have to go. Keep me informed.”