Page 37 of The Librarians
“Oh?”
“Sorry, can’t divulge.” She grins, looking a bit like the Cheshire Cat. “But to get back to your original question, Detective Hagerty and I agreed to exchange relevant information with each other, but I haven’t heard athing from him since. So I can only assume that whatever he’s found out doesn’t impact my investigation. Do you want me to ask him some questions?”
Jonathan sucks air through his teeth. If Maryam becomes too curious about Hagerty’s case, Hagerty might wonder why. And Sophie, Jonathan feels, would prefer to fly under Detective Hagerty’s radar. “Have the rest of your dinner. I’ll get back to you on that.”
As he is about to log off, however, Maryam asks abruptly, but with a sly look on her face, “Do you remember my cousin Davoud?”
Where did Jonathan hear that name recently? “Barely—we had one class together in high school. The only reason I remember him at all is because he’s your cousin. Why?”
Maryam grins again. “No reason. Let me know if you want me to speak to Hagerty.”
Chapter Twelve
Sophie finally gets rid of her Halloween manicure that should have been wiped off on the night of October 31 itself, after the last of the trick-or-treaters left. She has always made sure to use a base coat. Still, the keratin of her nails has become slightly yellowed and vulnerable-looking.
She picks up her phone. There’s a message from Jonathan, informing her that Detective Shariati doesn’t know much about Jeannette Obermann’s case, but does Sophie want her to ask?
Sophie deletes the text and rubs her faintly throbbing temple. Does she?
The front door bursts open, startling her, but it’s only Elise. “Mom, Ana Maria is here to help me with chemistry!”
Sophie shakes her head. “We do chemistry on Friday nights now?”
“What? It’s Friday night?” Elise laughs. “Did you hear that, Ana Maria? I refuse to study on Friday nights.”
“Hmm,” says Ana Maria, “guess I’ll have to stay until tomorrow to make sure you do your trig homework. Hi, Miss Sophie. Thanks for letting me sleep over.”
The sleepover has been in the works for several weeks. But Ana Maria, who is locked in an epic struggle for valedictorianship with three other kids at their ultracompetitive school, does not have the luxury of taking an entire Friday evening off—she has to get in an hour of APUSH reading so she doesn’t fall behind.
Sophie takes advantage of this window of time to talk to Elise. Elise,who pops a bag of kernels in the microwave to take upstairs to Ana Maria, ends up shoving popcorn into her own mouth as she listens, wide-eyed, to Sophie’s account of these wild days at the library.
What? Is Astrid okay? She’s such a nice person!
No, you can’t be serious. Jeannette? The woman with the third eye, the one who asked me about graphic novels the Saturday before—she’s dead too?
We’re not the last people to see her alive, are we, Mom? Didn’t she want to talk to you about volunteering at the library? My God, she even waved at me when we drove away from the library that night.
Sophie nearly breaks out in hives at Elise’s comments. “The police want to talk to everyone who was at Game Night—we are all considered to be among those who saw her last. They already interviewed the library staff. They will want to ask you questions too.”
Elise’s expression turns somber.
“I don’t think you’ll be in any danger for speaking to the police about Game Night. All the same, I want you to take it extremely seriously,” says Sophie. “No jokes. No glibness. Don’t draw their attention. Just give them all the facts they ask for and get out. Got it?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Sophie pats the girl on the arm and sighs. “Okay, pop a new bag of popcorn and take it to Ana Maria—and tell her that the police will want to talk to her too.”
Elise jumps up from the couch. “They won’t give her a hard time. She’s an A-plus-plus student.”
You could be an A-plus-plus student too, Sophie wants to say. But Elise’s chillness extends to her schoolwork and she cannot be bothered with AP classes or extra credit assignments.
Elise delivers a hot bag of popcorn to Ana Maria, then comes downstairs again, without being urged by Sophie, to prep for her upcoming police interview. She asks questions as if she were the cops, answers those questions as herself, and covers the entire timeline from the conception of Game Night to when they drove away from the library.
In the end it is Sophie, both proud and shaken, who shoos Elise upstairs.“Tell Ana Maria forty-five minutes of school reading is enough for any sixteen-year-old on a Friday night.”
Elise, who seems to have already brushed off the oppressiveness of a mock police interview, shouts up the steps. “Ana Maria Estevez, you are hereby commanded to live a little.”
“I’ll party when I’m in college.”
