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Luckily for him, the library was very quiet, despite it being a Saturday. It meant he could take his time and concentrate on what he was looking for.
Callum had a thought. ‘You wouldn’t happen to know if the archive holds local newspapers dating back to the Second World War – would you?’
‘I can certainly find out. Looking for anything in particular?’
Yes, thought Callum. He had a feeling that The Gossip Girls were keeping something from him about the bookshop. What were they not telling him?
He looked at Lexi and decided not to share his thoughts. ‘I’m not sure. I’m hoping I’ll know it when I see it.’
She grinned. ‘How intriguing.’
Callum turned in his seat to look at the large machine in front of him. That was when he heard Lexi exclaim, ‘Hey, what do you think you’re doing in here?’
Callum whirled around in his seat. He rolled his eyes when he caught sight of Dickens. He’d left the cat in the campervan eating breakfast that morning – or so he’d thought.Callum had driven to the local library in the campervan because it was pouring with rain. He’d parked in the small library car park but had made the mistake of leaving one of the windows open.
Dickens jumped up on the desk in front of Lexi and purred.
Oh, so you can lay on the charm when you want to, thought Callum. All he got was a demanding little fella at breakfast time and a loud meow in his face if he didn’t get up pronto and feed him.
Despite leaving the cat behind in the bookshop the previous night, fast asleep on the sofa, with a small window out back slightly ajar, a bowl of water, and cat biscuits ready for the morning, Dickens had still decided to wake Callum up in the campervan bright and early, like a furry alarm clock, jumping on his chest and letting out a shrill meow.
‘Hey, aren’t you a cutie?’
Callum sighed. He stood up and walked over. ‘Sorry, but this cutie is my cat.’
‘Really? For a moment there I thought we had another LC.’
Callum looked at her quizzically. ‘Pardon?’
‘I also work at the library in Southwold, and we have a cat that visits every day and spends time in the library. We call him LC. It’s short for—’
‘Library Cat, by any chance?’
‘How on earth did you guess?’ said Lexi straight-faced, showing off some good old British humour.
Callum smiled at her as he reached for the cat. ‘Ow!’
‘Oh, dear. I think your cat wants you to go away and leave him to make new friends.’
‘Y’think?’ said Callum sarcastically, nursing another battle scar courtesy of his dad’s temperamental old cat.
‘Do you need a plaster? We have a first aid kit.’
‘No, it’s not bleeding.’ The scratch stung like hell, but he tried not to let on. ‘He’s not really my cat, he’s my—’
Callum stopped short. The last thing he wanted to do was mention his dad. ‘Well, I think I’ll leave Dickens to make new friends, then.’
‘Dickens?’
‘Yes, that’s his name.’
‘Well, hello Dickens,’ said Lexi, stroking the cat.
Callum shook his head at the cat. ‘I’ll get back to my bit of research.’
‘Okay.’ Lexi sat down in front of the computer on her desk.
Callum was just heading back to the microfiche machine when Lexi called out, ‘Oh, by the way, we have got some local newspapers dating back to the Second World War, if you’re still interested.’
