“But the floor plan. The exhibit.”
“Sorry, Sadie. It hurts me to do this, but we must.”
She didn’t speak to Nick until they were walking down the hallway toward the Berg Collection. “I know the way it looks, but we’re so close to figuring this out. There’s something we’re missing.”
“You’ll have to stay out of the building until the board of trustees can be informed and I can do more investigating.”
She stopped and made him face her. “You think it might be me, don’t you?”
He didn’t answer right away, but the way he avoided her eyes said it all. “You’ve been under a lot of pressure lately. Your mother’s death, this exhibit. Maybe you need some time to rest.”
“Exactly what I don’t need is rest. What I need is to figure out what’s going on.” Her heart thudded in her chest.
She reached out and touched the sleeve of his shirt.
“Sadie, no.”
He pulled away, and she let her hand hang there, in midair.
He didn’t trust her anymore. She’d lost him. But it was worse than that. “I know what you’re thinking, Nick. And you’re wrong.”
“What’s that?”
“That maybe I manufactured this thing between us, our friendship, whatever it is, so I could get away with stealing books. Is that what you believe?”
“I don’t know. I’ve gotten confused, too close, and that’s not good. I have to keep a clear head.”
She’d brought the whole world crashing down around her.
Sadie wiped her tears away before they entered the Berg, where Claude looked up, victorious, from his desk. A couple of scholars were there, which made any further discussion impossible and for which she was grateful.
She collected her things and let Nick escort her downstairs.
She was on her own.
* * *
“So are you fired? Or is it a leave of absence?”
Lonnie poured out two glasses of wine and set one in front of Sadie. Valentina and Robin were doing homework together in the other room—LuAnn was off on another business trip—and Sadie wished she could escape her brother’s questions and just sit there, listening to the singsong cadences of Valentina reading out loud.
“I really don’t know,” said Sadie. “I’m not allowed back until they’ve done their investigation.” The exhibit was due to open in three weeks, and Claude was now in charge. All of her hard work and she had nothing to show for it. She was an outcast, a pariah.
“We should get a lawyer for you, someone who can defend you.”
“From what? There aren’t any charges against me.”
“A lawyer might help you clear your name.”
“The only way that’s going to happen is if the thief shows up and confesses, which isn’t likely.”
Lonnie swirled the wine in his glass, his eyes on Sadie. Usually, talking things through with Lonnie made her feel better, but this wasn’t solvable. “I thought the missing books had been found,” he said.
“They had. But someone got into the cage and stole another one, and I chased him, but then Dr. Hooper and the security consultant showed up and there I was, holding the book he’d dropped, with no thief in sight.”
“So they think it might be you?”
“Yes, they figure it was me. Plus, only the director and I had keys.”
“Do you think the director did it?”
She considered it and shook her head. “No. I don’t think so. There’s something we’re missing, or else this thief is some kind of a ghost.” It certainly seemed as if a ghost was slipping in and out of the cage, the angry ghost of her grandfather coming back to seek vengeance on whatever it was that went wrong way back then.
“Maybe one of our ancestors?” He was teasing her, but gently.
“I’ll be honest, I do think there might be a connection. If only I could figure out what.”
She wished she’d dug further when her mother was alive, hadn’t allowed her to skirt her questions about life in the library way back when, though she could see why Pearl might have wanted to avoid talking about those years. Until recently, Sadie hadn’t really considered what it must have been like for Pearl, as a young girl, to lose both her brother and her father. Then, later, her husband. But now it was too late.
Lonnie set down his glass. “Are you okay?” He’d slipped into doctor mode, his delivery steady and reassuring.
“No, I’m not.” Her voice came out raspy. “I can’t seem to do anything right.”
“Now, Sadie.”
“Mom was so resilient, and I don’t think I ever appreciated it. She suffered so much loss, and still carried on, baking her fancy cakes, living her life.”
“Maybe it’s time for you to bake some cakes yourself.”
“Are you serious?” She burst out laughing. “That’s quite the euphemism. What on earth are you talking about?”
He gave a sheepish grin. “Explore your options. You’ve been through a lot, and maybe it’s time to take a break.”
“There’s nothing to take a break from.”
“Your job. Mom’s death. Which I’m sure reminds you of Dad’s.”
“You lost Dad as well, and you haven’t taken a break.”
“I was eighteen and off to college when Dad died. You were just eight, and you were there.” He swallowed. “You found him.”
Valentina burst into the room, holding something pearly in her hand. “Look! I lost a tooth.”
Robin followed behind her. “First one. She’ll be all grown up before you know it.”
Sadie glanced over at Lonnie, whose face was brimming with fatherly pride, as if Valentina had just won a gold medal at the Olympics. “Let’s see it, my love.” Lonnie held out his hand and cupped the tooth gently, as Valentina smiled up at him with a gap-toothed grin.
After her divorce, Sadie had thrown herself into her work at the library, embraced her new life as best she could. She’d distracted herself with facts, convinced that knowledge and logic could solve all the world’s problems, and cut a part of herself off in the process. Now she had a choice: she could continue doing so, waiting patiently for Nick and Dr. Hooper’s determination of her guilt or innocence, knowing that she’d done nothing wrong, or she could take action. The thrill she got from investigating the book thefts and her family’s history made her want to keep on moving forward, following the clues, despite her banishment from the library, and no matter what she discovered.