Booked to die

“We had to, else the books be gone. You know how it is when you get a crack at this kinda stuff. You gotta move now.”

“How’d you know the stuff was good?”

“Sometimes you can just tell, Dr. J. What do we have to lose driving up there? The lady seemed to know her books. I mean, she knew ‘em inside, outside, six ways from Sunday. None of this chickenshit ’what’ll you give me‘ stuff. She reads off the titles and says what she wants, and she gives us plenty of room to make out on the deal. She knew exactly what she was doing. When you get somebody who talks to you like that, you’ve got to assume she’s got what she says. If she don’t, you bring your money back home.”

“So you had the deal done by when?”

“We had the money together by, oh… two o’clock.”

“Then what happened? Did you call her back?”

“She wouldn’t give us a number: said she’d already turned off her phone and she’d have to call us.”

“Which she did.”

“Yeah, just a few minutes after we got the dough together. She calls up and says she’ll meet us in Broomfield at three.”

“That’s when she talked to you?”

“Yeah, just for a minute. I answered the phone. But most of her dealing was with Neff.”

“When you answered the phone, she asked to speak to him?”

“Yeah.”

“And they agreed to meet… and Neff went right after that.”

“That’s right.”

“He left around what… two-thirty?”

“I guess it was around then.”

“And got back around five.”

“Yeah. The deal took no time at all. The woman had just what she said, and it was all top-grade primo stuff. All Neff had to do was look at the stuff and hand her the dough, then drive back here.”

“Then he went to the can and you started going through the books.”

“Yeah. What’s all this about, Dr. J?”

“This woman you talked to. You sure you never heard her voice before?”

“Hell, that’s a tough question, Dr. J. I only talked to her a couple of seconds.”

I picked up his telephone and dialed Rita’s number. When her recording came on, I held it to Ruby’s ear.

“I guess that could be her. Come to think of it, she did sound like somebody…” He squinted, listening. “Who the hell is that—Rita McKinley?”

I didn’t say anything.

“That could be her, I guess,” Ruby said.

“Did Neff and Rita McKinley ever meet before that day?”

“Well, I told you she’s been in our store a couple of times. He might’ve seen her. I do remember when she was in last year, Neff wasn’t here. He had taken off and gone back east, if I remember right. Bookscouting trip. I do remember that the whole time McKinley was in the store there was nobody else but her and me. I felt funny, like a kid just getting started. Nobody’s been able to make me feel like that in a long time.”

“But Neff wasn’t there then.”

He shook his head. “What’re you gettin‘ at, Dr. J?”

“I don’t know, Ruby.” I looked at my watch: it was eight forty-two. “Tell me about the books again. I only saw a couple of titles when I peeked in the box.”

Now he came to life. He was fully awake, his motor running on something much stronger than coffee.

“Best batch of stuff we’ve gotten in years. You sometimes get these kinda books onesy-twosy, never fifty at once. Never three boxes and every one an absolute cherry. Let me see, there was a fine run of Tony I Hillerman stuff. All the early ones. Blessing Way. Dance Hall of the Dead. Fly on the Wall. All in the two, three-hundred range. It’s like pickin‘ hundred-dollar bills out of the box when those babies come up. You just sit there and add it up, like money in the bank. Hell, it’s better than money in the bank, ’cause this stuff just keeps gettin‘ better and better. Hillerman’s the hottest writer going, especially in these parts. There were a couple of Rex Stouts from the forties, just so salable, so damn good. And Ellery Queen’s first book…1 know you hear me say this all the time, Dr. J, but this was truly the world’s best copy by far. Bunch of early Micheners that you don’t see much anymore. Bridges at Toko Ri, and his first book, South Pacific. And some other stuff…uh…”

“Clockwork Orange” I prompted. “I saw that one myself.”

“Yeah, and that lovely Eastlake thing, Go in Beauty. What a goddamn book, Dr. J, what a total and complete killer. You ever read that?”