Page 24 of The Lost Empress

“Oh, you’re just a miserable ghost who needs to move on,” Shannon fired, his face screwed up with tension.

“Not if he doesn’t want to,” Summer defended the ghost, stepping forward. “Bernard and Fran can stay here as long as they like. It is their shop after all.”

“I think it’s actually you, Mr. Postman, who will be leaving Spellbound Pages Bookshop,” King Rudolf stated, glancing sideways at the great detective. “Do you want to escort him to the police station for booking or shall I?”

“I’ll do it,” Sherlock said, striding over, pulling a pair of handcuffs from his pocket. “You stay until the coroner arrives for the body and to give a full statement of the investigation. The sooner that we can get all this cleaned up, the sooner that these good people can move on with their lives.”

Gen looked at the faces around the bookshop. Everyone was wearing different expressions of stress and shock. But Sherlock was right, they needed time to process and grieve and once they did that, they could turn the page and start a new chapter.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

BITTERSWEET BOOKENDS

Spellbound Pages Bookshop, Downtown Los Angeles, California, United States

“I see why Walter wanted to die,” King Rudolf said, leaning against a bookshelf and taking a drink from his nearly finished wine bottle.

Gen pulled her attention away from her search for her required moral philosophy books. Summer had told her to take any and all of the books that she required as a thank you for her and the detective’s help with Shannon, the postman, who had been carted away by Sherlock Holmes. “What are you talking about? Walter was murdered. I don’t think he wanted to die.”

“Of course he did,” the fae argued, sliding the bottle onto a partially open shelf. “He ate minestrone soup. The guy was trying to kill himself.” He motioned to the shelves. “And isn’t it obvious why? He was bored to death, being around all these books.”

Gen chuckled, studying the shelves for the books she was looking for. “Well, I think Walter must have liked books. I just wish he stocked more moral philosophy ones because I have quite a few that I’m missing from my list.”

“I can help you find the rest, but I’ll have to take you to a place even more boring than this one,” King Rudolf said, snapping his fingers, making another bottle appear, this one full.

“Thanks,” Gen said, looking out toward the front of the shop, checking on the others. She was still waiting on the coroner to pick up Walter’s body, which was now covered with a sheet.

Boon was comforting JoAnne and helping her to gather her cookbooks. Meanwhile, Bernard was giving Summer a rundown of how to manage the shop. And Fran was taking a much needed and deserved nap in the afternoon sunlight streaming through the window.

Gen smiled, grateful that things would work out even though a man had died. The usually bickering bookshop bunch had quickly come up with a plan in the aftermath of Walter’s death. It had been decided that Summer would buy and take over the shop, buying it from the bank. Bernard would continue to shelve books, helping her out. In exchange, she’d close the store one day a week, giving him the place all to himself.

Boon had also convinced Summer to allow him to create a small coffee corner where they’d sell organic products and locally sourced goods. They’d also add a vinyl records section. And also, the new bookshop owner had promised to be open to the hipster’s business ideas.

It was unclear if the school teacher would get a happier ending. However, JoAnne seemed to have a new fire in her, having seen how fleeting life can be. Apparently, she’d spent too many years in a safe job. Hopefully this was the kick she needed to take a risk and open up the restaurant that she wanted, selling soups and salads. And as it happened, there was apparently an open space next door to Spellbound Pages Bookshop, so that could become a safe option for the new business owner if she took the risk.

Emperor, as he often would be, was right. Something bad had happened, but the result wasn’t horrible. Actually, it sounded like even Walter got what he wanted, being reunited in the afterlife with his wife.

Gen watched as two men in uniforms strode into the bookshop. Summer greeted them at once, pointing them in the direction of the dead man’s body. Removing Walter from Spellbound Pages was the first step in a long healing process for those at the bookshop. However, in time, they would move on and hopefully all affected would be better for having gotten through the experience—all but Shannon, who had brought his own sentence upon himself.

Those who did good, got what they deserved, as did those who were evil.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

THE BOUNDLESS SHELVES OF TIMBUKTU

The Great Library, Timbuktu, Mali, Africa

When King Rudolf brought them through a portal to the place that he called, “the boringest,” Gen had fairly low expectations. She was absolutely floored when she stepped through to the most magical place she’d ever set foot in. The two-story library was so vast and seemed to go on for miles and miles. It was so beyond anything that Gen had ever thought possible and full of so much information and possibilities.

A long, loud yawn spilled from the fae’s mouth, echoing throughout the large space. The pair stood in the center aisle that seemed to go on forever. It was flanked on their side by high shelves, all brimming with thousands of books. On the second story, that overlooked the bottom one from arched balconies, there were more high shelves, all of them filled with volumes.

The library was elegant and timeless with marble statues and a colorful ceiling that reeked of magic. The whole building felt like it was overflowing with magical energy. Maybe it was the words seeping off the millions of pages filling the space. Or maybe it was the bright sunlight spilling through the floor-to-ceiling windows that covered every single wall in the huge place.

Through the glass, Gen got glimpses of a strange brown city that seemed to be built out of the desert. Much like the library, the area outside it appeared to go on forever, a sprawling mecca of richness and growth. King Rudolf had said that the “boringest place” was in Timbuktu, but Gen didn’t know where that was or even where they were. All she knew was that it was incredible and ironically beyond words.

“This is the Great Library,” King Rudolf said in a disinterested voice, taking a sip from his freshly opened wine bottle.

He offered it to Gen. She took the offer, thinking that there was much to celebrate. They’d solved a murder, followed by visiting the best place on Earth—if that’s even where they still were. The Great Library seemed otherworldly.

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