Page 35 of The Librarians
Chapter Eleven
Sophie does not have an outright fear-and-loathing relationship with the police. Still, they unnerve her—her mother’s car was stopped at least three times a year, leaving the tony private school in Chicago where she taught and Sophie attended.
And that was under the best of circumstances, when she had absolutely nothing to hide.
It is not the case here.
Detective Hagerty makes the hair on the back of her neck stand. As he contemplates her, his silence heavy and broody, he seems to already know everything.
Her toes tremble in her heels.
But her interlaced fingers at the edge of her desk still look steady enough. Her Halloween manicure of slime-green half-moons on deep matte black is five days old yet just might pass muster if no one looks too closely.
People only see what you show them. Right now she needs to show the police Ms. Claremont, library administrator. Ms. Claremont may be unsettled by the situation, even a little vexed—why are there two unnatural deaths associated with her library all of a sudden?—but she is not guilty of anything.
Why, she was barely involved.
The code-switching that has served her well all these years kicks intogear. She receives every question with grave attentiveness. She gives considered answers. She cooperates.
The expression on Detective Hagerty’s face, as he rises to leave, is one of disappointment, but only a mild variety—he did not anticipate game-changing information from Sophie after all!
They exchange parting pleasantries. The detective asks about a good time to speak to Elise. Elise has a prom committee meeting after school. Sophie informs Hagerty of it, having no idea whether he will let Elise attend the meeting in peace—and let Sophie have the rest of the evening to prepare the girl for her first police interview.
She closes the door behind him and collapses against it, her mind a blazing blank.
Knocks come, heavy strikes that thud against her spine.
It’s Detective Hagerty again. He appears excited. Her heart is the stock market in 1929, dropping straight down.
“Sorry to take up more of your time, Ms. Claremont. But while we were speaking earlier, Detective Gonzalez had a look around the library and came across Ayesha and Ahmed Khan, who sat at the same table with Jeannette Obermann. Would it be all right if we borrowed your meeting room to interview them? Jonathan said that the English conversation group is done and there is nothing else scheduled in the meeting room the rest of the day.”
Sophie has no reason to refuse him, so she takes the initiative and walks the cops and the Khans, who look reverent, nervous, and more than a little curious, into the meeting room.
She offers a silent prayer for the couple—May they not be innocent bystanders caught up in this country’s justice system. Then she stops by Hazel, on duty at the checkout station, and asks if she’s all right.
Hazel nods with all gravity. “Thank you, I’m fine.”
And then she asks, “And you, Sophie? How are you?”
There is real concern in her eyes and Sophie comes precariously close to blurting out,Oh, God, I’m so scared my face is numb.
She pastes on her most librarian-ish expression. “I’m all right. Except now I’m behind on my emails.”
The cops interview not only the Khans but Jonathan and Astrid,neither of whom spent much time in the meeting room during Game Night. Jonathan at least came in to take some photographs; Astrid didn’t even have that much contact with the attendees.
When the detectives are done at last, Sophie walks them out of the library. Then she catches up with Astrid in the children’s area. Thankfully this police interview does not appear to bother Astrid as much as the previous one. At least when Sophie asks about it, Astrid replies with no small relief that she can feel these cops are just being thorough, that they are not really interested in her.
Sophie wishes she could say the same: Even though she canreasonthat they haven’t zeroed in on her, she feels her peril.
On her way back to her office, she sees Ayesha Khan at the checkout station, speaking to Hazel.
“I hope this won’t prevent you from coming to other library events in the future,” says Hazel.
“I don’t think so, but it’s spooky, isn’t it?” Ayesha Khan’s features scrunch together in distress. “What a horrible thing to happen. Everything was so nice and normal at Game Night. Now to think that we might have been among the last people to see her alive…”
Hazel nods in sympathy. “It is a very great shock.”
“Will this affect the library? It won’t be closed or anything like that, will it?”
