“The coast is clear!” someone bellows from the front, and I can’t help but close my eyes.
“Would you keep it down?” I shout back, because clearly I am not immune to the lunacy.
Steph, Tilly, Regina, and I meet near the checkout counter, and I can’t help but notice Tilly is cradling something pink in her arms.
“What is that?” I squint over at it. “A baby?”
“More like a box of baby donuts.” She opens it up, and each of us crashes a hand inside of it like a bunch of donut-hungry vultures.
Stephanie grunts as she takes a bite. “I can’t believe they were going to let all of this delicious food go to waste. That’s a sin no matter what religion you are.”
Regina moans through a bite. “My religion just so happens to be donuts.”
“I thought it was fried chicken.” I lift a brow her way. I’ve witnessed her ardent worship of the fried bird myself.
“Never mind what you think,” she snips. “What are you doing here? If I’m going to do the time, I may as well be apprised of the crime.”
“I’m heading off to Holly Wright’s office. The three of you stay put. And try not to break anything,” I say.
Stephanie scoffs. “This is a library, Bowie. What are we going to break? Books?”
I traipse my way to the foyer where it’s cooler and my feet clip-clop over the ceramic tiles, forcing me to tiptoe. But the forced clip-clop of designer boots running to catch up with me demands that I hold my breath in lieu of losing my temper.
Regina pops up next to me. “Where are you off to? I thought you said you were going to poke around in some office?”
“I am.” I sniff. “Besides, why do you care? You’re just anxious to turn me in, aren’t you?” I study her for a moment to see if she flinches, but she simply squints my way.
“Why would I turn you in? I’m right here with you.”
“You know, turn me in—you and Shep.” I probably shouldn’t have gone there, but I can’t help it. That vision I had all but ensured she’s chomping at the bit to turn me over to the feds. And I have no doubt it’s the feds. I mean, how would Regina turn me over to the mob? It’s not like she’s got mob ties in Starry Falls—
I suck in quick breath.
Those two goons!
Maybe they’re a part of Regina’s big plan to shove me into the flames? Why else would they be sniffing around Starry Falls of all places? It all makes perfect sense now. And boy, am I in bigger trouble than I thought. Maybe. I’m not often right, but that doesn’t seem to matter at the moment.
Regina swats me on the arm. “I’m not turning you in, but if you keep hyperventilating, we’ll be here all night. Now pull it together. Where’s this office?”
“This way.” I lead us to the left, and sure enough there’s a door marked head librarian.
Regina jiggles the doorknob, and it doesn’t budge.
“Locked,” she hisses.
“That’s what I’ve got this for.” I pull a bobby pin from my hair and wiggle and jiggle that lock until the door glides open, practically inviting us inside.
I pull out my phone and turn on the flashlight just as Regina flicks on the lights.
“Would you turn those off?” I motion for her to do just that as I give a quick glance around.
“How are we supposed to see?” She steps away from the light switch, proving to be just as ornery as ever.
“Never mind,” I say. “Stand in front of the window. That way they’ll know who to arrest when the cops show up.” I make myself at home behind the desk and pull on my gloves. Regina might have touched the doorknob, but that doesn’t mean I plan on leaving any fingerprints behind.
Unfortunately for me, the middle drawer yields nothing but pens and pencils and a few stray paperclips here and there. I pull the side drawer open to the right and am met with a few folders. Each one has an employee’s name on it. I spot Kaila Clark and pull it out.
Inside, I find a resume and a few letters of recommendation. I’m about to pull out one of those glowing reviews when a small pink piece of paper floats out from the folder and Regina snaps it up.
“I bet this is incriminating evidence.” She waggles her brows as she turns it over. “Canadian fox?” She hands it to me.
“What’s that?” I examine it a moment and there are only two words on it. “Canadian fox.” I shrug it off. “Okay, so maybe they needed to order books on Canadian foxes and it fell into the file?” I pilfer through the rest of the employee files, but nary another fox—or a clue for that matter, do I find. I quickly sweep through the rest of the office but come up with zippo. “Well, there you go,” I say. “I guess this was a bust.” I look over to find Regina crouching on the floor near the desk. She probably found an old pretzel to gnaw on. What can I say? The girl likes to snack while breaking and entering. “Come on, let’s go.” I head for the door, and she clasps onto my ankle, nearly tripping me in the endeavor.
“Hang on, I’m looking through all these old notes she threw away. You can find lots of valuable things in the trash. Didn’t they teach you that in detective school?” She shoots a snide grin my way. “Oh, wait, you didn’t go to detective school.”
“You’re a riot,” I say, kneeling next to her and pulling the wastebasket over. Regina and I riffle through each and every crumpled up piece of paper, and there’s not much more than a few crunched numbers Holly inputted manually on her calculator, and a few errant notes that don’t amount to much.
“Call Ford,” Regina reads as she waves the tiny note in front of
