“Good.” I darted ahead and turned around, walking backward. “How boring would it be if everyone was the same?”
“Fair point.” He took the stairs two at a time, catching up with me.
Mouse sniffed the entire flower bed that was still full of ice and winter detritus.
Dutch whistled and Mouse hurried after us and through the doors. The Haven Public Library looked like a simple brick building on the outside, but inside was a beautiful bit of architectural trickery. The ceiling was vaulted with a bevel of skylights that lit the entire space in natural light instead of eye searing fluorescent bulbs. In the center was a lovely stained glass panel in white, purple, and green geometric shapes.
Directly under it was the help desk where Edie was organizing a stack of return books, movies, and periodicals.
“That dog best be no trouble, Phoebe Jean.”
Dutch arched a brow. “Jean?”
“Be quiet,” I said out of the corner of my mouth. “Hi Edie. Mouse is a perfect gentleman and would never hurt anything in here.”
“It’ll come out of your pocket if he does.”
“Understood.” I waved the dog over who sat right in front of Edie’s circulation desk.
Edie came around. “Who am I kidding? As if I can resist such a sweet baby.” She knelt in front of the dog, striped tights showing from the slit in her heavy denim skirt. “Hello there.” She put her nose right into Mouse’s fur and he reacted by leaning so hard on her that she nearly toppled over. “Such a big guy.”
“Careful, he thinks he’s a lap dog.”
Edie ruffled the thick fur around his neck. “What brings you in, Phoebe? And who’s your friend?”
I felt Dutch stiffen beside me. I brushed his pinkie with mine and he brushed the tips of my fingers before focusing on Edie. “My friends call me Dutch.”
Edie stood and Mouse instantly leaned on her, putting on his most adorable show of puppy dog eyes. He was incorrigible. “Just you hold on, I’ll get you a treat.”
Dutch hid a smile behind his fist as he cleared his throat. “I was doing some research on Providence Lake.”
Edie went back to the desk and rummaged for a moment before setting a glass jar on the desk. She tossed Mouse a Milk-Bone. He snatched it out of the air and sat down to demolish it.“You doing one of those podcasts?”
“No ma’am.”
I elbowed him. “She’s going to figure it out, just spit it out.”
Edie frowned and pulled her glasses down from on top of her head, narrowing her gaze.
“I’m an author.”
“Do you know how many authors I get in here? Near everyone with a laptop thinks they can write a book.”
I glanced around at the display case and found a hardcover version ofThe Red Suitcaseand set it on the desk, backside facing up.
Edie’s eyes widened as she lifted the book to look at the spine, then looked at the jacket again. “Atticus Dutch. My goodness. Your bookAdaptationkept me up for a week.”
He blushed. “I appreciate that.”
“He’s staying at the old Henderson house next door to me.”
“Oh, wow.”
“He’s researching for a new book and was interested when I told him about the missing kids on the lake.”
“That’s a terrible story. Though I suppose that kind of thing is your bread and butter.”
“I researched the news articles I could find on line, but when I looked at Haven library, it said there might be some microfiche or old newspapers available.”
