Page 19 of Bookworm
My eyes fall again on the security camera in the corner and I wince. “I guess there is video evidence.”
“That?” Adam asks. Pointing to the camera, he shakes his head. “It broke in the fire. The heat or the smoke was too much for it.”
“Okay.Okay. We can do this.” A glimmer of hope sparks in my chest. “Look, I’m here and I’m really good at my job. I can fix these within twenty-four hours and no one will know the difference. I’m already here. I won’t charge you for that extra work,obviously. So why risk both of our reputations for something that can be fixed quickly?”
“And what happens if someone comes in here to look at one of thosespecificbooks while you’re attempting to fix them?” He hissed as though someone might be listening to our every word.
Then again, I didn’t know for a fact that the room was soundproof. Maybe I needed to keep my voice down.
I drop my voice to a whisper that matches his. “If someone comes in for those books, I’ll be honest and say I accidentally dented them while I was in herealone. I can play dumb and pretend I didn’t know to fill out an incident report.”
“I don’t like it.” His mouth blanched as he pressed it to a thin, straight line, deep in thought. After another moment, he asked, “Twenty four hours is really all you need?” he asked.
I nodded. “I have tools and materials arriving to the apartment this afternoon. I can guard the room until they arrive, then come back in tonight, pull an all-nighter and fix these.”
His jaw ticked. “Fine. You have twenty-four hours. But if they’re not good as new by this time tomorrow, then I’m filing that incident report.”
Narrowing my eyes, I saluted him. “Aye, aye, Captain.”
“I’m serious, Harper. My job is on the line.”
I didn’t love the insinuation in his voice… that I wasn’t serious. “So is mine,Adam,” I snapped back, attempting to match his condescending tone.
He exhaled deeply. “Sorry. I’m just stressed. Ever since the fire…”
“Right. The fire that you were going to go into detail about.”
“Again,” he added. “But only after you promised to reveal something humiliating about yourself.”
I clicked my tongue and shook my head. “I didn’t say I’d reveal my humiliation first. Only that I would. So you spill those deets again. After that, I’ll tell you my embarrassing story.” The hard part will be narrowing downwhichembarrassing story to share. There were way too many to choose from.
“Fine,” he hissed and dropped into a seat in one of the hard backed wooden chairs. “I might not have been entirely honest with you on the phone.”
I snapped my fingers. “I knew it!”
I didn’t know it. I didn’t know shit. I could barely remember getting home and brushing my teeth that night.
Adam glared at me like he could see right through my bluff. “Yes, I was here when the fire started,” he admitted. “And in some ways, it was my fault. But I wasn’t the one who started it.I came in to take care of the coffee cup for Dr. O’Macklin and… someone else followed me in here.”
“Someone else…” I repeated.
He didn’t give any more info, just nodded slowly. “That’s right. She followed me in here and… and had a plan to seduce me. Which involved candles.”
I winced. “Candles. In a rare books room. No offense, Adam, but is she stupid?”
He gave a sad chuckle. “No one at Dartmouth is stupid. But… there might be a lack of common sense there.”
My mind immediately went to Jasmine. But nothing about her seemed to lack common sense. She seemed way too smart and put together to ever bring an open flame around valuable antique books.
“Was she the one who also dumped water on the books?”
He sighed. “Yes.”
“Why are you protecting her?”
“Because…” he paused to run a hand through his hair. “She’s one of my students.”
My brows lifted. “All the more the reason to tell someone, Adam. What if she comes forward first with a different account of the details?”
