I smiled. I’d had this question a time or two. “He’s a great boss and an interesting man.”
Dr. Eban nodded. “Right. Tell me about his secret room, the place where he keeps all his treasures.”
“That’s just a myth,” I lied easily. I’d had that question before too.
Dr. Eban inspected me. In fact, everyone did. Even Sophie’s wobbly attention was fixed on me.
“Come on, lass, you can tell us,” Dr. Eban said. “You know, I’ve heard he has a scalpel from Dr. Robert Knox. He was the doctor who paid Williams Burke and Hare for the bodies they acquired by murder.”
“I did know about Burke, Hare, and Knox, but no, there’s no secret room. No old scalpels,” I said, though I wondered if there were. Were there old scalpels in the warehouse, a place that most definitely did exist? I hadn’t seen any. Yet.
“Really?” Dr. Eban said.
“Really,” I said.
He watched me a long moment, but I kept my expression firmly neutral, as I’d done with many people over the last year. The secret of the secret room hadn’t become a burden; it had become part of my own secrets, and it was one that I protected fiercely.
“Interesting. I’d love tae meet Mr. MacAlister. Any chance you’d introduce us?”
“It would be a pleasure,” I said. “Give me a call at the shop, and we’ll coordinate a time. I’m sure he’d love to meet you too.”
“Aye?” Dr. Eban said.
“I’m sure.”
Mad Ferret strummed a few chords and then began their set with a tune lively enough that I began to tap my toes even as they were crowded together.
“That would be wonderful. Ta,” Dr. Eban said over the music and crowd noise.
I hadn’t heard much of an accent in his voice, but his informal Scottish “Thank you” suddenly, and admittedly strangely, made me like him. I smiled.
“You’re welcome. I look forward to your visit,” I said.
Dr. Eban scooted the chair back from the table, releasing all the knees underneath.
“I’ll ring you next week. A good evening, ladies. And, Sophie: I’m sure your exam will be fine.”
I looked at Sophie, thinking she would just smile and maybe say thank you, but I was surprised to see something else entirely.
The smile, though still somewhat booze-infused, was not just a friendly smile. I swung my attention back to Dr. Eban. He had the same sort of look on his face, something that rang of that sort of affection that’s supposed to be a secret but isn’t. I zipped my eyes to Rena, who, with big eyes and a frown in my direction, seemed to confirm what I thought I’d seen.
It appeared that maybe Sophie and Dr. Eban were much more than student and teacher.
That couldn’t be good.
THREE
“I don’t know what went on between them, if anything really. She shares everything with me, except this,” Rena said as she and I stood outside the pub, the cold and humid March night air nipping at the tip of my nose.
I hadn’t asked, but she must have read my expression. We’d put Sophie into Mallory’s car and sent them on their way. Rena had stayed behind with me.
“None of my business,” I said. “They’re grown-ups and can make those sorts of decisions themselves. I’m sorry if I looked surprised; I was … well, I guess I was just surprised.” I smiled weakly. The few streetlights around us were dim and cast a yellow glow, creating shiny spots in the small puddles left by an earlier rain.
“Aye, they’re grown-ups, but Sophie has gotten in over her head in some way. I’m helping her through it, at least as much as I can without knowing all the details. He’s an odd man, tae be sure.”
There it was again. Odd. However, what I thought was also odd was Rena’s tone. She was holding back something, or forcing something, I wasn’t sure which. But I was certain she wasn’t giving me a complete story.
“Is he married?” I asked.
“Aye.”
“That’s not good.”
“No, and his wife is … fierce.”
“How?”
“Wicked smart. Beautiful. She’s a professor at the medical school too.”
“So, fierce in a good way? Is she easier on the students?”
Rena laughed, the sound seeming too loud in the humid night air. She cleared her throat and said, “A wee bit easier on the students, but not so easy on her husband.”
I blinked. “Has she done something, said something to him publicly that would embarrass him?”
Rena bit at her thumbnail and looked down the road Mallory’s car had taken. She finally said, “She mocks him with her eyes. It’s difficult tae explain.”
“I think I get it,” I said, but there was still more; I could see her stress. “Are you nervous or scared for Sophie?”
She looked at me and smiled, but didn’t answer.
I was caught in that spot between none-of-my-business and the expected intrusion that comes with friendship. I cared for my new friends, but we didn’t have that bond that forms after many shared experiences and the passing of time. We’d known each other for three months and had met because of some books they had brought into the bookshop. We’d enjoyed a few coffees out, some lunches, and, before tonight, a smattering of sober evening get-togethers. They’d come into The Cracked Spine a couple of times as a break from their studies and perused the books on the shelves, but their lives were all about medical school. I had enjoyed getting to know them a little here and there, but we didn’t know each other well at all. I hoped we might remain friends for a long time, although we were still at the beginning of whatever our relationships would become. Rena didn’t owe me the whole truth just as much as I felt I didn’t owe them the whole truth about Edwin and his warehouse.
I finally said, “Let me know if I can do anything to help. I’m sorry Sophie is in over her head, but I do think she’ll be fine.”
“Because she’s not a child, or at least she’s
