Lady gave Otsuya a small wave before following. She would have to step aside with her later and explain what had happened. Otsuya was still watching her from a distance. Lady could feel her eyes on her back as she headed toward the back room.

  The back room of the library was well-organized. There weren’t seats though. Dom pulled up a couple of crates for everyone to sit on. There were a lot of those around. The library didn’t get much foot traffic, but it seemed like they were always getting in or shipping out something for archival. Lady often wondered where they went. Was this some kind of magical tome hub for witches and wizards? The fact that such a thing was a distinct possibility felt pretty cool.

  Lady wondered what was in the wooden crate she was sitting on now and how mad Crispin would be if he came in and saw her using it as a chair. She doubted it would hurt anything. The box felt plenty sturdy beneath her.

  Agnes sat on the crate across from Dom and Lady, her small hands folded in her lap. Her feet barely touched the floor as she sat on the large crate. She really was a short girl. “Did you have a nice… lunch?” she asked, looking from one of them to the other while she waited.

  Dom didn’t bother to explain that they hadn’t been out to lunch. “Did you know Chad at all?” he asked, getting right to the heart of the matter.

  Agnes’ eyebrows shot up again. “Huh?” she looked to Lady, like the question had been vague and maybe she would explain what he was getting at.

  “Someone said you knew each other,” Lady lied without thinking. It wasn’t really a lie. It was more a half-truth… Okay, it was pretty much a lie. “It’s not a big deal or anything. We were just wondering.”

  “It won’t have any impact on you keeping your job here,” said Dom. “It’s just something we need to be aware of for the sake of the investigation.”

  “The investigation,” Agnes repeated, like the idea rattled her. She swallowed, wringing her hands together a bit more. “I guess, um… I didn’t mean to lie or anything. I really didn’t know him that well. I think we went to high school together. I mean, I’m sure we did. We were about the same age and there’s only the one school. It was a long time ago, though. I honestly didn’t think it counted.”

  Lady wasn’t sure that did count. She had been hoping for a connection a little more meaningful than that. Or was she hoping for a connection there? It wasn’t like she wanted Agnes involved. She just wanted answers.

  No one prompted her to keep talking, but Agnes did anyway. “We definitely had chemistry together. And a bunch of other classes, actually. We were both in some of the advanced classes. I think he made pretty good grades. I don’t remember. We didn’t talk much. I don’t think he really liked me. I didn’t make too many friends in high school, you know? I’ve never been super popular among my peers.” She laughed at her own expense there. She stopped as she gradually realized she was the only one laughing.

  “I know how that is,” Lady offered quickly, feeling for her. “I was terrible at making friends in high school too.” She didn’t bother mentioning that that was largely because she had always been moving. She definitely hadn’t been in any advanced classes growing up.

  The corner of Agnes’ mouth rose in the beginnings of a smile. She glanced around, like she was trying to make sure no one was listening in before she said anything else. She lowered her voice. “If I’m being honest, I didn’t really like him all that much.” She swallowed. “I know that’s horrible to say after everything that happened, but he was kind of mean to me. He copied my homework sometimes. I didn’t let him. I told him not to, but he’d do it anyway. He never, like, made fun of me to my face or anything, but… I don’t know. It was really frustrating and annoying.”

  “It sounds like it,” said Lady. She could absolutely picture a younger Chad doing that. Not that she had known the guy particularly well. She had just been super ready to hate him, apparently.

  “I went away to college after high school,” continued Agnes. “I just moved back not all that long ago. I kind of lost touch with everyone I went to school with here.”

  “Your family lives here though, right?” asked Dom.

  Agnes nodded. “Yeah. My dad and my bother both live here. I’m living with him right now. My dad I mean. My stepmother isn’t thrilled about it. My brother still lives at home too, so the place is kind of cramped. She says that Dad doesn’t make enough to support us all on his salary. She’s kind of right, but I don’t think she should say it, you know? It’s rude. I mean, I’m trying to get a job and support myself and stuff. I’m doing my best.”

  Lady tried not to visibly wince at how much Agnes was over-sharing. Dom was good at keeping a poker face. “What does your father do for a living?”

  “Hmm? Oh, he’s a cop.”

  Lady perked up at that. She remembered the police cruiser she had seen, the one with the door that had led her to the library. Had Dom seen this coming? “He’s a cop?” Lady wasn’t sure why she was repeating what Agnes had literally just said.

  “I hadn’t heard anything about Chad,” Agnes said quickly, like Lady was accusing her of something. “He’s not really involved in stuff like that. He’s mostly, you know, traffic violations and junk. He doesn’t tell me about anything either. This isn’t like… a conflict of interest, is it?”

  “You’re fine,” Dom said quickly. “Just trying to cover all our bases in case the cops ask.”

  “Okaaay,” Agnes said slowly. She was starting to get suspicious. She had every reason to be. They were really giving her the second degree over her family life. “Is there anything else you need to know, or should I get back out there?”

  Dom motioned her on. “You can go. You’re doing great.”

  The baseless praise put a smile back on Agnes’ face as she stood. “Thanks,” she said, heading back out into the library.

  Lady waited until the door shut behind her before turning to Dom. “So, her dad is a cop,” she said, slowly. Dom didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to. They’d both heard it. “That means something, right?”

  “I’d be shocked if it was completely unrelated.”

  “So, what do we do?” They couldn’t just keep grilling Agnes with questions. It already looked odd. “Do we talk to Conners?”

  “We could,” said Dom. “Or you could make friends with our newest employee, get invited to her house or something. She seems to like you.”

  “I think we should still talk to Conners.” Lady didn’t say no to trying to warm up to Agnes, though. Even if she wasn’t investigating a murder, she wasn’t totally against trying to be Agnes’ friend. She felt for the girl.

  The door opened again. It was Otsuya who stepped through. She still had Lion in her arms. She stopped just inside, her eyes narrowed and fixed on Lady.

  “Astral projection,” said Lady. “Sorry. Didn’t know I could do it.”

  Otsuya exhaled and her stiff posture relaxed. “Good,” she said, putting Lion down and closing some of the distance between them. “I thought maybe you were a ghost or something.”

  “Would you have been able to tell?” asked Lady.

  “Yeah, I mean, I thought I would. That’s why I was so confused.” Otsuya sat down on the crate Agnes had vacated. “So, what did you guys find out?”

  Dom didn’t stick around for Lady to recount the story. Wordlessly, he stood and headed out of the backroom. Lady rolled her eyes at his rudeness but didn’t let it trip her up. She told Otsuya everything that had happened.

  “So we want to make friends with Agnes?” Otsuya asked once Lady had finished her tale.

  “Dom seems to think so.”

  Otsuya nodded. “Sounds easy enough. She seems lonely.” She hopped to her feet. “Want me to go ahead and start on that now?”

  Lady motioned grandly toward the door. “Be my guest.”

  Otsuya headed toward the door with a spring in her step. She had to move to one side as Crispin came hurrying into the back room. They nearly ran into one another. “Excuse me,” Crispin blurted on his way past.

  Otsuya turned, watching him go with a raised eyebrow. She hesitated but continued out the door. Lady hesitated as well. In the end, she turned and followed Crispin. He had gone into the bathroom but hadn’t closed the door behind him. “You okay?” she asked, stopping beside the door.

  “Yeah,” Crispin seethed the words through gritted teeth in a way that made Lady doubt him. She poked her head around the door. He was on his knees at the sink, riffling around in the cabinet there.

  “Whatcha looking for?”

  Crispin looked up. He was only using one hand in his search, she noted. The other was held close to his body. “First aid kit,” he said with a sigh, like he was resigned to the fact that he had been caught. Why he was trying to hide in the first place was beyond Lady. “Don’t say anything to Dom.”

  “Sure. But why?”

  “My finger got caught in the ladder railing—track—whatever you call it. You know the piece of metal at the top it slides back and forth on. He’s always saying I’m going to get hurt going up and down those things.”

  “I think he’s more worried that you’re going to fall off one, but sure. Your secret is safe with me.” Lady knelt down beside him. “Move over. Let me see if I can find it.” She started searching around in the cabinet herself. She had two good hands after all. “How bad is it?”

  “I don’t need to go to a hospital or anything.” Crispin pulled his hand away from his body and glanced down at it. He winced and brought it back to his chest quickly. He looked pale. “I think I tore the nail off.”

  Lady cringed. “Ew.” She didn’t even like thinking about that. “Here it is.” She took the white box out from under the sink and opened it up. It was well stocked with gauze and medical tape and the like. Lady didn’t think they would need anything that serious. There was some alcohol and peroxide and bandages. That looked more like it. “You should be careful.”

  “I’m just tired. I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

  “All the more reason for you to be careful.” Lady didn’t want to see it, but she motioned for Crispin to show her his hand anyway. “I don’t mean to sound like Dom, but he’s sort of right. This is kind of the whole point of hiring someone on. Well, part of it. You have to give Agnes some responsibility. Let her do her job.”

  Crispin inclined his head with a sigh, like he wanted to humor her with a reassurance that he would do just that but couldn’t bring himself to lie. “She just started today. I had only just started trusting Chad. It’s hard to turn around and just start trusting this girl on the same day.”

  Lady supposed that was fair. Crispin reluctantly extended his hand so that Lady could inspect it. She tried not to recoil. The nail was definitely about to come off. That sort of thing made her nauseous. “We should wash this.” She stood and turned on the faucet.

  Crispin went along with everything Lady said. He seemed suddenly distant though, distracted despite the pain his hand must have been in. That might have been for the best. “I keep thinking about what happened to Chad.”

  That didn’t surprise Lady in the least. “I think everyone here is thinking about it. It just happened yesterday. Kind of hard not to, right?”

  “Yeah, but…” Crispin trailed off. There was clearly something more to it, something else that was weighing on him.

  “What?” prompted Lady, elbowing him gently in the arm.

  “You don’t think… Do you think he would have died if he hadn’t started working here?” Crispin asked the question like he already thought it was stupid. “Do you think he’d still be alive if he hadn’t taken the job? I mean, did me hiring him on have anything to do with it at all?”

  “Okay, well, I think you just rephrased the same question, like, three different times, but—” Lady considered it. “Does it matter? Whatever happened, you weren’t the one who killed him. If someone murdered him, this is on them. If someone didn’t murder him, this is on—I dunno. The universe and Chad’s own bad decisions. Either way, it’s not on you.”

  Crispin nodded, but he didn’t look convinced.

  “Things happen,” Lady said bluntly. “And they aren’t always good things. Obviously. You can’t help that.” She offered him a smile. “You’re a good guy, and this sucks. I’m sorry you have to deal with it.”

  He shook his head. “God, that sounds terrible. I don’t mean to be all ‘poor me’ when there’s all this going on.”

  “I know. I didn’t take it that way. You’re a good guy. We’ll figure out what happened, but—You know. However this turns out…”

  “Yeah.” Crispin winced as Lady finished doctoring his hand. “Thanks… Hey, is there anything I can do to help? I’m trying to do everything Conners needs me to do, but I know you and Dom have your own investigation going. Is there anything you need from me to help with that?”

  Lady considered the question. “I think maybe Dom’s sigils picked up something. We’re going to be checking that out tonight.”

  “All right. I’m not sure I can actually help with that, but I can be there for… moral support, I guess?”

  “Sure?” Lady could feel herself starting to smile. “I’d definitely prefer it if you were there. I like having you around.”

  Crispin had been pale before, but the blood was starting to rush to his face now. “You know… I’m sorry we haven’t really had a chance to follow up on the whole date thing.”

  Lady couldn’t help but laugh at that. “That isn’t your fault either. Recent events kind of derailed it. There’ll be time later, though.”

  “I’m a little worried that it’s giving you time to build up expectations. I don’t even know where we’re going to go. There aren’t that many date appropriate places in Dark Lake.”

  “How about the library?”

  “Huh?”

  “We get takeout and have an afterhours picnic in the library.” Lady hadn’t been building the date up in her head. That had been something that occurred to her on the spot. Now that she said it out loud it sounded like a nice idea, though.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to go out anywhere?”

  “Not unless you want to. Public places are overrated.”

  “Fair enough.” It was Crispin’s turn to smile. “All right… It’s, you know…”

  “A date?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Good.” Lady took a step backwards and out of the bathroom. “Well, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go solve a murder.”

  “You are excused. Thanks for the help by the way.” He raised his bandaged finger.

  “Happy to help. Any time you want to hide an injury from your best friend, you can count on me.” She paused at the door. “Seriously though, be more careful.”

  ***

  Otsuya was in an aisle with Agnes, chatting about books. Or trying to, rather. She seemed to be listing a bunch of titles that Agnes hadn’t actually read, searching for some sort of common ground between them. “I don’t really read a whole lot of new releases. I haven’t really kept up with them.”

  “They aren’t new, though.” Otsuya’s shelves were mostly full of older, obscure books. She was rather old and obscure herself.

  “Oh, well… I haven’t read any of those. Sorry.”

  “What’s your favorite genre?” Lady asked, coming to stand beside Otsuya. She looked up at Agnes. She was on a ladder shelving books. “Be careful up there, by the way. It’s easy to pinch your finger up at the top part.”

  “Huh?” Agnes looked up at the metal track. “Okay. I’ll, um, be careful.” She shelved her last book and started to climb down. “I don’t know. I like literary fiction, I guess.”

  Lady hadn’t read a lot of that. Honestly, most of the reading she had done lately had been folklore and town history. There was a lot of research that needed doing when you moved to Dark Lake. “That’s cool.” Lady decided to change gears. “Any favorite TV shows?”

  “Not really.” Agnes headed toward the front desk for more books. “I don’t really watch television.”

  Lady thought she had mentioned that already. It had been a stupid question. “Any hobbies?” God, she didn’t know why Dom had tasked her with making friends. She was apparently really bad at it.

  “Um.” Agnes glanced back at Lady and Otsuya as she started piling up books. “I don’t know. I spent a lot of time studying and stuff. I didn’t really have time for hobbies.”

  “Ah.” Lady stood there feeling stupid. She was out of things to ask.

  “I’ll be right back,” Otsuya said suddenly before bailing from the conversation completely. She headed around the counter and into the backroom, leaving Lady alone with Agnes.

  “What about you?” asked Agnes, walking toward the aisle with a brand new armful of books.

  “Huh?”

  “Hobbies.”

  “Oh, right.” Lady followed behind Agnes, not sure what to say. It wasn’t like she had too many hobbies worth mentioning. “I just learned to meditate.” Was that a hobby? Had she even learned to meditate? Lady wasn’t certain she hadn’t just been astrally projecting from the beginning.

  “That’s cool.” Agnes started up the ladder again. “I was never all that good at meditating. I tried it once. I had a therapist that said I should. I’m kind of high strung, you know? I get restless. I think I’m too restless for meditation, honestly.”

  “Me too.” Lady rocked back on her heels, feeling more awkward than ever hovering while Agnes worked. “Do you need any help with that?”

  ***

  For the next hour or so, Lady helped Agnes. It wasn’t how she had planned on spending her day. She didn’t even spend a lot of it around Agnes which probably defeated the purpose. It would have been a good time to warm up to her. No, Lady spent a lot of it on her own in some other corner of the library while Agnes worked elsewhere. She kept getting pulled aside by Dom or Crispin to learn something or another.

  Finally, it was time for her to head home. That meant the whole day had more or less been a wash. Otsuya hadn’t even come back to help her. Oh well. At least she still had tonight. Maybe they would learn something then. Lady realized with a groan that she still needed to go to the store for Ms. Poole. She would have to find a window of time between then and now to get that done.

 

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