Page 19 of Secrets in the Stacks

“Don’t judge. I keep these for when I’m away from home. I had several sets when I went through treatment. They’re comfortable.” Rarity realized he was teasing her, trying to make her relax. “Anyway, yeah, I decided to take him out back, and that’s when I found the door open. I think they went back out through the gate, but it was closed.”

“And you didn’t touch anything?” Drew didn’t look up. “I mean after you realized there was a problem.”

“Okay, so I touched the gate. I touched the patio door when I locked and unlocked it and then again when I came inside and shut and locked it. Then I went through the house and opened all the doors if they were shut. I opened the study last, and then called you. Then I went upstairs and got Darby out of bed while we waited for you to come.” She was out of coffee too. She stood and refilled her cup. “Today’s going to be a long day.”

“So basically, you touched everything. Darby, who’s coming tonight to stay with you?” Drew asked Darby, who blinked and looked at Rarity.

“Why would you think someone is coming tonight?” Darby asked.

He took a breath in. “One, I’m dating one of the so-called book club, and she mentioned it last night when we talked. And two, why would your boss be here if they weren’t worried about you being in this big house alone?”

“Oh, yeah.” Darby shrugged as she opened her calendar on her phone. “Sometimes you just surprise me with what you know. It’s Thursday, so it’s Malia. Shirley took Friday and Saturday in case anyone had social plans. And then Sam’s coming Sunday and Monday.”

“Well, I think it’s a good idea to have someone here. I’ll increase patrols on your street, but it looks like he didn’t find what he was looking for. Maybe you should go stay with them rather than them coming here?” He looked at Rarity for support.

“She could come stay with me, but you know Shirley’s not going to let anyone in her house. She doesn’t want people to know that George is in the memory care unit,” Rarity pointed out.

“And besides, now that we know someone wants in, we’ll be more careful to keep the doors locked,” Darby added. “I don’t want to be couch surfing for months while someone’s in my house looking for who knows what.”

“Darby—” Drew started, but Rarity interrupted him.

“Drew, she’s right. She needs to get her life back. Her grandmother just died. Now she’s got someone breaking in to go through her books? If it was just a thief, they would have taken art or money or vases or something like that. Catherine had an amazing library, but you can buy most of those books at my store or online. They aren’t special.” Rarity tapped her finger on the table. “I could do an inventory of the books though. Maybe there’s a special one hiding in plain sight?”

“She would have told me.” Darby shook her head. “If she had a rare book, it wouldn’t have been on the shelves. She used to own a couple of first editions. She kept those in the safe.”

“Where are they now? Still in the safe?” Drew focused on Darby.

Darby shook her head. “She sold them to pay for my tuition. She said they were my college education fund. She sold both of them three years ago when I started college. I looked in the safe and got out the will when she died. There were a few coins and about a grand in cash, but nothing else.”

“Who is named in the will?” Drew was writing something. “Do you know?”

Darby nodded. “I read it a few days ago. Everything is in my name. All her accounts were set to go to me if she died. The house and belongings are mine. Nothing goes to my parents. It’s strange, but I still haven’t been able to reach my parents. The number they had in Alaska is out of order. I’m beginning to get worried about them.”

Drew put his notebook away. “Go get the last contact information you have, and I’ll try to reach them too. When’s the funeral?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t set up anything. I wanted to talk to Mom and Dad first. I have their last letter in my room. Grandma had been talking to them, but I was mad and hadn’t reached out for a while. Now I can’t reach them.” Darby excused herself to go get her folks’ information.

“This is weird,” Drew said after she left the room. “I can’t get my parents to leave me alone, and Darby hasn’t talked to hers in over a year?”

“She was mad. Sometimes it takes a while to get over something. She knew they’d be there when she needed them.” Rarity sipped her coffee.

“Except they aren’t.” Drew set his pen down on the table. “I need to get the crime scene guys back. Sorry, I heard from Alex you paid for the last cleaning.”

Rarity grimaced. “I guess I’ll pay for the next one too. Maybe I can advertise it as an employee benefit and write it off as a business expense.”

He chuckled. “You might want to talk to your accountant on that. It’s a good thing, what you guys are doing. The book club, I mean. It’s looking like Darby is all alone in the world, at least until we track down her parents.”

“Don’t you think that’s weird? About her parents? And it’s not the only weird thing going on. Why the books? What was he looking for?”

“So the killer is a male? And you’re assuming the person who broke in is also the killer.”

The dog looked up from the towel he was sleeping on and whined. Apparently, they’d said his name one too many times.

“Sorry, buddy.” Drew laughed and leaned back. “But you’re right, it’s weird.”

* * * *

Rarity waited for Darby to get ready for school before she left to go home. She needed to shower and get ready for work. Darby would meet her at the shop after classes, and Drew would let Rarity know when the crime scene techs were done so Alex could go in and clean again. Then Malia would pick Darby up, and they’d go get dinner before heading back to the house. If everything went as planned, Darby would be sleeping in her own bed again tonight. And hopefully, whoever had broken in would stay away. Drew had assured her that if Darby made sure to lock up, she should be fine. But to keep her phone close, just in case.

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