Page 94 of The Librarians
“At the vet’s, I’d imagine,” says Conrad—he’s been looking at Hazel and glances around at the company only after she stops fidgeting. “My stepdad did a documentary on wildlife vets in various parts of Africa. But even then it’s only for the real heavyweights, like elephants and rhinos, that you’d use carfentanil in your tranquilizer darts.”
Ryan drains his cappuccino. “I’d answer the same. I imagine DetectiveHagerty has already inquired at large-animal vets around town to see if anyone is missing any Wildnil.”
Jonathan is flabbergasted. “Are there elephants and rhinos in Austin?”
The local zoo is hardly of that scale.
Ryan shrugs. “There’s a preserve outside Fredericksburg with a few elephants, last I heard.”
But Fredericksburg is ninety miles away. “What about for horses? Do they use carfentanil for horses?”
“Not that I know of. There are already perfectly good tranquilizers for horses—and of course people shoot it up too. It’s nasty what can happen. If you’ve never seen necrotic ulcers, ignorance is bliss.”
For a moment Jonathan feels relief for Sophie: Sophie has never burgled a large-animal vet’s office. But then again, if Detective Hagerty can’t find any direct evidence in the murder of Jeannette Obermann, he could put even more weight on circumstantial evidence.
“Any other carfentanil deaths at the medical examiner’s office lately?” asks Hazel, frowning.
“No—and of that I’m confident. There have been other fentanyl overdoses in recent weeks, but the deceased were habitual cocaine users and their deaths, while unfortunate, did not appear criminal.”
A longer, even heavier silence descends.
“I don’t know what we can find out on the carfentanil front—for sure I personally shouldn’t commit any more breaking and entering without a great deal of further training,” says Hazel with a self-deprecating pull of her lips. “But I do know of two people who were in enough contact with Perry on that day to have put a small patch on him. Actually—”
She turns to Ryan. “Ryan, can you pull up Facebook and do a search for Gus Anderson?”
The name sounds familiar to Jonathan. “Do you mean the patron who’s always trying to engage female librarians in a conversation aboutFifty Shades?”
Conrad casts yet another glance at Hazel.
Hazel smiles slightly at Jonathan. “That’s the one. Yesterday, before I went into Peng’s Noodles, I stopped by the Indian grocery place next door.Mr. Anderson was there—he’s a fan of their samosas—and he wanted to show me a recording of the altercation Perry was involved in.”
“Okay. I have a bunch of Gus Andersons,” declares Ryan. “Which is the one we’re looking for?”
It takes a little head tilt from Hazel for Jonathan to remember that he could assist with the effort at least as well as Hazel.
He approaches the island; Ryan slides over his laptop. Jonathan takes care not to stand too near Ryan, but a curious Ryan brings himself closer—and taps Jonathan, indicating that he should hunch down a little so Ryan can look over his shoulder.
Have they ever been so close to each other since that day at the pool party? Ryan braces a hand on the island. Jonathan restrains himself from letting his eyes travel up the flannel sleeve, which smells wonderfully clean, as if it were line dried in a summer breeze under concentrated sunlight.
He finds their quarry on the second page of Gus Andersons—the patron uses a headshot as his avatar. Thankfully his Facebook output isn’t too toxic—mostly he complains about his favorite businesses moving away or becoming too expensive—and Jonathan quickly locates the video of the library brawl.
After an obligatory caption ofLibraries used to be nice, quiet places, Gus Anderson lets the video speak for itself. The footage starts when the guy looking for trouble was pushing Perry into the public terminals. Perry unsuccessfully tried to get away, his expression one of complete bewilderment just before he was punched in the face.
Whoever took the video murmured, “Holy shit.” The attacker pivots and runs out of the library. The camera follows his progress until the sliding doors shut behind him and then swings back toward the interior of the library. Here the cinematographer rounds the bank of public terminals to get a better look at Perry on the carpet, and the army medic with two fingers on his neck, taking his pulse.
Ryan plays the video again, a scowl of concentration on his face. With regret Jonathan yields his place so Conrad can get a look. And then Ryan plays the video one more time.
Conrad casts him a sidelong look. “Caught something interesting?”
Ryan looks up from the screen. Jonathan cranes his neck and sees that he has paused the full-screened video on a shot of the attacker, who happens to be marching toward the camera on his way out of the library.
“Is this dude known at the library?” Ryan asks tightly.
More choreography takes place. Now it’s Hazel and Jonathan standing before the laptop.
“I’ve only ever seen this man on the occasion this video was taken,” Hazel states.
Jonathan looks the man over for a full minute. “Ihaveseen this man before, but not recently. Hazel wouldn’t have been here for it, but do you guys remember a few years ago, when tent cities popped up everywhere?”
