Page 120 of The Librarians
Six feet to his left, even Gonzalez’s permanent poker face betrays a trace of interest. At least neither cop looks outright incredulous.
“I’m sure you’re aware, from your investigation, that Ms. Obermann lived for some time in Albany, New York?”
“Yes?”
“My ex-girlfriend, right after we broke up, worked for a while in Albany and, according to Ms. Obermann, joined a hobby group in which Ms.Obermann was also a member. Also according to Ms. Obermann, my ex, still not over me, showed our pictures to everyone around her.
“Now, a little bit after nine p.m. on Game Night, in the library’s parking lot, Ms. Obermann told me this. She told me how beautiful she always thought I was, how envious of my ex she’d been, and how she would have given me the moon and the stars, if only I’d been hers.”
Sophie feels queasy—she’s twisted the truth into a Möbius strip. “I haven’t dated much in recent years. To have an attractive woman tell me that from a glimpse of my photos almost two decades ago she remembered me to this day and wanted nothing more than a chance to get to know me better—it was dizzying, frankly.
“But I had a slight problem—my daughter was still with me. I wanted Ms. Obermann to keep telling me how dazzling I was, but I also needed to get Elise home. And I, not being a woman who had a regular nightlife—or any kind of nightlife—had zero idea what places—other than McDonald’s—would be open after nine. So I asked Ms. Obermann if she could meet me back at the library after I dropped my kid home. The library is my turf. I know it’s safe. And if push came to shove, we could always go inside.
“She agreed. I rushed home and rushed back. We met again in front of the library—it was all extremely promising. Unfortunately, as she kept talking, I started to have a sinking feeling that it wasn’t me she was interested in. The one she couldn’t forget was my ex.”
Detective Hagerty, who has never jotted down a single word on the occasions he interviewed Sophie, now opens the notebook in front of him on the desk. It’s full of writing. But before Sophie can make out any of the upside-down words, he closes it again and looks back at her, expectantly and with great severity.
Sophie’s heart rattles, an overworked machine about to jolt apart. Under the desk she grips her fingers. Her words emerge slower, more cautious, as if they too are afraid. “I’ll grant you this. My ex was a remarkable woman—she was also impossible to live with, you know the sort. I was willing to leave the comfort of my home at what I considered a late hour to be adored and worshiped, but I wasn’t there so Ms. Obermann could feel closer to my late ex.”
“Excuse me, did you say ‘late’?” But Hagerty does not sound surprised.
“She died unexpectedly of a pulmonary embolism the year after we broke up. Everyone was shocked—but that’s life, I guess.” Sophie shrugs—her shoulders seem to weigh a thousand pounds each. “The point is, as much as I loved my ex, as much as it hurt to break up with her, I’d already mourned both her departure from my life and her departure from this earth. I’d moved on.
“I lost all interest in Ms. Obermann at that point. She, too, could probably tell. Before it got too awkward we went our separate ways.
“I went to get some cookies for my running group and didn’t see the location she texted me until I came out from the grocery store. It struck me as extremely odd. Was she inviting me to go over? With just that? Why would I want to?
“The whole evening was too much, one thing after another. I drove around for a while, thinking about my ex, about the different life I would have had if our relationship hadn’t fallen apart.”
Hagerty lifts a finger to stop her. “When I spoke to your daughter, she said that you told her you would discuss her father with her after she turned eighteen. She says she suspects that you might have used a sperm donor.”
Not her, but Jo-Ann.
“I have never in my life stepped into a sperm bank, Detective. My mother, may she rest in peace, would have killed me. No, my daughter, lovely and worthy an individual as she is, was conceived the old-fashioned way, in a drunken haze. Nothing so clean and clinical as a vial of disembodied sperm.”
Sophie absolutely cannot risk Hagerty demanding to know where she got the donated DNA and being unable to provide the name of the establishment.
Hagerty actually looks a bit discomfited.
“Librarians make mistakes too—as much as anyone else. My poor child will be disappointed when we have that actual conversation.” Sophie sighs—and takes advantage of the moment to make her thesis statement. “I got a text and a location sent to me by a woman with whom I had a disappointing conversation. Next thing I knew she was dead, and people arelooking for her murderer. It scared the living daylights out of me. I didn’t want to be mixed up in it. I had absolutely no idea why anyone wanted her dead and wouldn’t have been of any help to you even if I told you everything. So I kept my head down and hoped that without this red herring, you’d find the real killer. Or killers. And it looks like you have.”
Hagerty pulls his lips.
Sophie flexes her toes—can the arch of a foot get a charley horse? What is Hagerty going to say? What holes will he knock in her story?
“Is your ex’s name Jo-Ann Barnes?”
Can one shudder while being completely paralyzed? Sophie does. “Yes.”
So Jeannette Obermann did use her other devices to look up Jo-Ann.
“I mean,” Sophie adds, trying for a measure of insouciance she didn’t feel, “I’ve had other exes, but Jo-Ann was the one Ms. Obermann was obsessed with.”
“Jeannette Obermann ran a number of searches. Looks like she also spent some time on Ms. Barnes’s old Facebook account, and on accounts of Ms. Barnes’s family and friends.”
Dear God. Did that woman search for Jo-Ann Barnes’s child? If she input anything that would lead Hagerty to believe Jo-Ann might have a kid on the loose somewhere—
“I suspected as much. Ms. Obermann told me she obtained a copy of Jo-Ann’s will because she wanted to know if Jo-Ann ever got married—that’s when I said to myself, nope, Sophie, this woman isn’t interested in you, she’s still in love with Jo-Ann’s ghost.”
