Page 66 of The Librarians
“Really?” Astrid finally sets down the napkin in her hand. She pulls her chair slightly closer to the table. “I don’t remember seeing a car like that.”
“Me neither,” says Jonathan slowly.
“I do.” Sophie’s voice sounds raspy in her own ears, as if she hasn’tspoken in days. “It was parked one over from mine. Elise pointed out the bumper stickers to me. They were creepy.”
“They were, as it turned out, forensic pathologist humor,” says Hazel, her tone still devoid of inflection. “I left my dessert container in the house. Ryan and I went back to get it. I used the opportunity to question him and learned that on Game Night, Ryan took Conrad’s car and Conrad, who returned unexpectedly from out of town, used Ryan’s car instead.”
“You didn’t say anything about it on the drive back.” Jonathan’s voice is quiet.
The words he does not say echo in Sophie’s head.Are you okay, Hazel?
“I needed some time to process the information,” answers Hazel softly, in a tone that also says,I don’t know if I am but thank you for asking.
Astrid scoops up the big fat mug in front of her, looking both alarmed and befuddled. “But why was Conrad hanging out at the library on Game Night?”
Sophie is only confused.
Hazel pushes off the door, takes a few of the empty foil wrappers on the table to the sink, and rinses them. “The question bothered me last night. I woke up this morning and it still bothered me. So I did some digging on the internet and now I can say, with ninety-five percent certainty, that Conrad is Valerian de Villiers.”
The name means nothing to Sophie. Jonathan looks as lost as Sophie. But Astrid shoots out of her chair, nearly upsetting the table. “What? Are you sure?”
“At this point, if he turns outnotto be Valerian de Villiers, I would be very surprised.” Hazel shakes the water from her hands, turns around, and explains to Jonathan and Sophie, “Astrid looked up Perry Bathurst and found that he was in partnership with someone named Valerian de Villiers.”
So Hazel’s long-lost ex used to know Astrid’s recently dead ex well enough for them to have a business together.
Sophie’s next thought isn’t about Perry Bathurst or Valerian de Villiers, but that there is enough trust and camaraderie between Astrid and Hazel for Hazel to know what Astrid knows. This is…encouraging. For Sophie,that is. Hazel now bears Astrid’s stamp of approval, a peer-reviewed confidante.
“I always wondered what Perry was doing in Austin,” says Astrid, sinking back down, looking dazed. “I guess he really did have business here.”
“My God,” murmurs Jonathan.
They all turn toward him.
“No, it’s just that when Hazel and Conrad met yesterday, I was there at Peng’s Noodles, too. Conrad walked in first. We said hi. He said he heard that Ryan and I had drinks. We talked about Astrid’s troubles for a bit and—and he never once mentioned that he knew Perry.”
All attention swivels to Hazel. Apparently, this is news even to her. She looks down and adjusts the strap of her watch. “I don’t have anything to add to that. Conrad and I didn’t talk about anything having to do with the cases.”
Jonathan now looks desperate to remove his foot from his mouth. “You know what, I overreacted—it’s not so strange that Conrad didn’t mention Perry to me. He and I met exactly once. He’d be crazy to discuss the ins and outs of his business partner’s death with me.”
That is a reasonable thing to say, but it is also a gallant attempt to make something questionable sound less so.
“Thanks,” says Hazel. “But this makes me wonder even more whether Conrad might have had something to do with the break-in at Astrid’s place.”
They all stare at her.
“Let’s suppose he is in some way responsible for Perry’s death—”
The Den of Calories isn’t large. The sink is right next to Astrid’s chair. Astrid puts a hand on Hazel’s arm. “We don’t have to suppose that.”
Hazel smiles slightly, a meaningless yet proficient expression, as if she’s trained for it the way a CrossFitter deadlifts. “I’m not saying I believe he is Perry’s killer—I fervently hope he isn’t. But can we confidently declare that Conrad being here on Game Night had nothing to do with Perry being in the area on that same night?”
No one can say that.
But Astrid bites down hard on her slightly chapped lower lip, giving away her continued reluctance to regard Conrad as a culpable party—and she’s never met the guy.
“Maybe he was looking for Perry,” suggests Jonathan. Another romantic.
“If he was,” answers Hazel, her tone soft yet implacable, “then shouldn’t he have been talking to his roommate? After all, if your business partner goes missing, and your roommate works for the county medical examiner’s office, wouldn’t you ask him to keep an eye on John Does arriving in the meanwhile? And if Ryan knew that Conrad was looking for Perry, and he already learned from Jonathan that Perry was in touch with Astrid right before he died—”
