Kate Carlisle - If Books Could Kill

That line always got a laugh.

Finally, I brought out what I hoped would be the pièce de résistance, the Robert Burns poetry book. For a brief moment, I recalled the excitement in Kyle’s eyes when he’d first shown me the book. Maybe I shouldn’t have included it in my talk this afternoon, but I had a feeling Kyle would’ve approved and enjoyed it. Then I smiled for the audience and explained that this was the type of book that might create quite a stir in the bookselling community. The book itself was exceptional, and the story behind it was sensational.

“Now, it’s undoubtedly an original Cathcart binding and very rare,” I said. “But here’s how a criminal-oh, let’s call him an overenthusiastic businessman-might boost his income. First of all, Love Poems to a Flaxen’d Quean is thought to contain poems written by Robert Burns, but never before seen anywhere in Great Britain.”

A murmur rumbled through the crowd and I knew I had them.

“So you might be willing to spend more to get your hands on this book, right?” I asked.

Several in the crowd nodded eagerly.

“And what better way to pull a fast one on a Scottish book lover than to combine never-before-seen poems from a beloved poet with a compelling legend that includes star-crossed lovers, a secret baby and a powerful monarchy bent on destroying the evidence of their love? And by evidence, I mean this very book.”

The murmuring grew to comments and gasps and a few laughs as people got into the story. I looked over the crowd and spotted a frown on the detective inspector’s face while Derek was giving me his piercing, narrow-eyed look.

Was he reacting to the crowd or to my story? I hesitated, but then plunged ahead. “The question is, is the story true? Or did the seller, looking for a way to jack up the price, spin an alluring tale of a king’s daughter giving birth to a child of the Scottish-”

“Stop!”

The crowd turned to see who had yelled, but Perry McDougall was already stalking toward me, his fisted hand raised up in angry protest.

Before anyone could stop him, before I even had a chance to react, he grabbed the book from me and shouted, “You’ll not besmirch the monarchy, ye Yankee bitch!”

Without a thought to my personal safety, I snatched the book back from Perry and ran for the door-and crashed straight into the substantial chest of Angus MacLeod. He threw his arms around me instinctively, a protective gesture against Perry, who lurched to a stop right behind me.

“Give me the book,” Perry demanded.

“No,” I shouted back, my fervor muffled somewhat by MacLeod’s wool jacket.

“You haven’t the right to-”

“Enough!” MacLeod bellowed, and the entire room fell silent. The man had a way of controlling a crowd; I’ll give him that. With a snap of his fingers, he gestured to one of his men to take hold of Perry, who struggled briefly but then walked away, all dignified and huffy, with the cops following close behind him. Only then did MacLeod let me loose. But not for long.

“You’ll come with me now, Miss Wainwright.”

“When do we get to see the fake book?” a lady piped up in the front row.

I tried to shake off the adrenaline rush as I composed myself and turned to the audience. “I’ll try to post information on the bulletin board with the time and place I’ll be showing the books I discussed today. Thank you all for coming.”

The room burst into enthusiastic applause and I wanted to take my bows, but MacLeod had other ideas. His meaty hand clutched my arm as he led me out of the room.

“I’ll be here all week,” I cried, waving to my people.

“You sound like a stand-up comic in Vegas,” Robin said heatedly as she sidled up beside me. “‘I’ll be here all week?’ What was that all about?”

“Hey, I was a hit.”

“You almost were hit,” Robin hissed. “Your parents are going bananas.”

I whirled around and saw Mom beaming at Derek, who seemed to be distracting both Mom and Dad with a story of his own. I would thank him later. “Mom looks fine. Everything’s fine. I’ve got the book. That’s all that matters.”

“I’ll be the judge of what matters, Ms. Wainwright,” MacLeod grumbled.

“Hey,” Robin defended, “she’s the one who was attacked.”

The detective beamed at Robin, but didn’t let go of my elbow.

“Where are we going, anyway?” I asked, but MacLeod didn’t seem inclined to answer.

So I went along quietly, studying the Burns book as we walked. It looked so small and defenseless for having caused so many problems.

“That’s all that matters to you,” Robin said, shaking her head in resignation. “You really are mental.”

“I had to save the book,” I said as I tucked it inside my jacket pocket. That was what my mentor taught me: Books were sacred.

“I know,” she said, conceding the point. She was well aware of my philosophy. I’d been binding books since I was eight years old, and she’d been my best friend the whole time.

“I thought the workshop went well,” I said as MacLeod continued down the hall with all of us in his wake.

Robin laughed. “The audience won’t forget it anytime soon.”

“That’s a good thing, right?”

“Depends on your definition of good.”

“Memorable?”

“Most definitely.”

“We’ll go in here,” MacLeod said gruffly, after checking that the conference room was empty.

“We’re right behind you, honey,” Dad said staunchly. A child of the sixties, Dad still had issues with “the Man” and wasn’t about to let his little pumpkin be led off to some airless interrogation room to be brutalized by the police. Not if he had anything to say about it.

“Thanks, Dad.” I waved to him over my shoulder, noting that Mom and Derek were right behind Dad. Two policemen followed in their wake. Oh, boy, the gang was all here.

“We’re staying with her,” Robin said to MacLeod. A look passed between them. He considered her for a long moment, then nodded.

I raised an eyebrow at Robin and she gave me a minute nod. Something was definitely going on between those two. Fascinating. I itched to know what had happened but knew I’d have to wait to hear the whole story later. If I wasn’t carted off to jail first, that is.

I hadn’t had much of a chance to tell Robin anything about the murder, but she seemed to have some awareness that I was in trouble. Yes, we were close, but I didn’t think she could read my mind. Had MacLeod told her anything? That seemed like a breach of something, not that I cared if Robin knew. But still, didn’t he have a code of ethics to follow?

The small room was set up with a podium up front and about fifty chairs arranged in rows. MacLeod suggested I take an aisle seat and he turned a chair around to face me. Then he pulled a small notebook and pen from his jacket pocket.

Dad, Mom and Robin sat two rows back, within listening range. The two officers stood near the door and Derek prowled the perimeter of the small room, making me more nervous than I already was.

“So, were you besmirching the monarchy, Miss Wainwright?” Angus MacLeod asked right off the bat. His tone was light, but I wasn’t fooled. That question put an end to any thought of presumed innocence.

“Absolutely not,” I said stoutly. “I was giving a book-fraud workshop. This book provided a perfect example of a mythology that could be built up in order to swindle a potential buyer. It had nothing to do with the monarchy, for goodness’ sake.”

“Do you know Perry McDougall, the man who attacked you?”

“Yes.”

He waited, but I didn’t say anything more. Hey, I watched Law & Order. I knew how to play the game.