Page 88 of The Missing Pages
“What do you mean?” Violet was puzzled. “I’m only doing what you asked of me.”
“I know, but even the language you just used… ‘Harry’s flowers,’ or ‘what Mrs. Widener would have wanted.’ It feels like you’ve imagined a personal connection to them that isn’t grounded in reality.”
“I’m really not following why you’re upset with me.” Violet’s voice broke. “I haven’t done anything wrong, have I?”
Madeline looked painfully uncomfortable. “The thing is there’s been another act of vandalism in the library. A book was found with a page torn out of it and some words scribbled inside that are particularly upsetting.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that,” Violet said. “But it had nothing to do with me.”
“Here’s the issue,” Madeline began. “The book that was ruined was paged just last week, and it says in the records that you were the one who reported it missing from the shelves.”
“I’m not following,” Violet said. “Which book was vandalized?”
“A nineteenth-century copy ofA Book of Hours.”
“The French one with the illustrations? I remember. I couldn’t find it anywhere when it was paged last week.”
“Well, we found it on the carousel downstairs. And it was defaced.” Madeline swallowed hard. “The vandal wrote in thick black Sharpie on the title page: ‘Ghosts are everywhere.’”
“It made me think about how you and I have on occasion discussed whether Harry’s ghost might be in the library. I was joking, of course,” she said nervously. “But I wondered if you were?”
“What are you saying, you think I might be the book slasher?”
“I’m not accusing you, Violet. It’s just that… well… we have to consider every person who has access to the library, and you have more access than most.”
“Me and all the other pages… have you asked them, too?”
“Please don’t get upset. I’m only doing my job, Violet.”
“Are you firing me?”
“No,” Madeline clarified.
Violet was holding back tears.
“I think the police are probably going to want to interview you again, though. As a precaution.” She cleared her throat. “And there’s just one more thing. You’re definitely not being fired, but I think it’s best to have you take a break from working at the library until we sort all of this out. I’m going to suggest to the student employment office that you pick up some hours at the Visitor’s Center for the time being.”
“I don’t understand where this is all coming from,” Violet said. She felt a mixture of indignation and anger swelling inside her. Her voice cracked. “Haven’t I done everything right since I started working with you?
“Of course.” Madeline gave her a genuinely sympathetic look. “You’ve done an excellent job with the Rosenbach transcriptions and with your page work. But you have mentioned Harry’s ghost more than once…” She inhaled. “And others now seem to be picking up that you have become increasingly preoccupied with it lately.”
Violet’s face flushed red. She suspected Lara had started a rumor about her mental health and it had somehow reached the library’s administrators.
“I’m sure all of this will be resolved after the break. It’s really just the college wanting to be extra cautious until we get to the bottom of the vandalism.” Madeline softened her voice. “Really, please try not to worry about it too much.”
CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT
WITH EACH PASSING DAY,ADA’S WORRY INCREASED.
She was in a new country with no friends or family. She had convinced Quaritch and Rosenbach that she was capable of cultivating a new female, book-buying clientele, and yet she knew hardly a soul here. And even more distressing, she had now missed her second monthly, meaning her deep suspicion that she was with child was all but confirmed.
Weeks earlier, she had managed to rent out a room from an older woman who ran a boarding house in South Philadelphia. Her landlady, Mrs. McFay, had made it very clear that she maintained a strict code of conduct for all of the young women she permitted to stay with her.
“No gentleman callers. No returning home after eight o’clock at night. I lock the door at quarter past eight, and there are no second chances after the first offense,” she informed Ada. “You’ll have to look for lodgings elsewhere if you break the rules.”
“I won’t,” Ada promised, though she realized she had already broken the most scandalous one. Her landlady just couldn’t detect it yet.
She tried to push away the reality of her situation, but Ada knew even if she did everything possible to conceal her pregnancy, eventually it would be impossible to ignore.
