“Jesus bloody Christ,” Heathcliff skulled the rest of the wine bottle. “This place is already a bloody menagerie.”
I sighed. “It’s cool. It’s all bloody fine. I’m working for history’s greatest antihero and hanging out with the Napoleon of Crime and a bloody rhyming bird. And yet this still isn’t the worst thing that’s happened to me this week. I just stood over my best friend’sbody. Is there any chance Ashley’s death is related to this whole cursed bookshop thing?”
Morrie and Heathcliff exchanged a glance. “It’s crossed our minds, but we can’t figure how. Is your friend Ashley some kind of vindictive warlock hellbent on yanking fictional characters from their narrativesin medias res?”
“Not that I know of.” A horrid thought occurred to me. “You don’t think some evil character appeared in the shop right as she walked in, stabbed her, and ran away, did you? It could have been Jack the Ripper or Hannibal Lecter or—”
Heathcliff shook his head. “No. We’d know.”
“We get a strange feeling when it happens,” Morrie said. “Some invisible force rudely thrusts a hand inside your chest cavity and jiggles your organs around. Not one of us had that feeling last night—”
“Hey, is anyone in there?”
Morrie froze. My heart hammered. Someone was downstairs in the shop. “I told you to leave that bookshelf in place,” Heathcliff hissed to Moriarty.
“I did. The bastards must have moved it or come in the back way. Either way, they’re breaking in.”
Heathcliff leapt to his feet. Grimalkin howled as she was tipped rudely to the floor. “I’ll clap them around the ears!”
“No. I’ll deal with them.” I stood up. “They’re here to see me, anyway. I might as well give them a show.”
I headed for the stairs. The mood Heathcliff was in, he’d bite the customer’s head off. And I… I needed to not be in the room with the three of them anymore.
“No, Mina, don’t—” but I was already halfway down the stairs.
“Hi, my name is Mina and I’d be happy to help—” I stopped in my tracks as I peered over the balustrade into the entrance hall below and saw who our customer was. Jo, the medical examiner.
“Oh, hello,” she called up at me, flashing me a friendly smile that seemed out of place for a medical examiner to give a murder suspect. My heart leapt.Does that mean they cleared my name?“There’s quite a crowd outside trying to pry the front door open, so I went around back. One of the windows was loose so I just…” she mimed pushing the sash up and rolling into the shop.
“Heathcliff isn’t opening the shop today,” I said cautiously, aware that behind that smile was the woman who had the power to send me to jail for a long time. “I’m trying to convince him it might be better to brave the gawkers, lest we end up with a riot.”
“I say bring on the riot,” Jo said. “The last time anything exciting happened in ___field was when Danny Evans drove his lorry into the side of the pub.”
I laughed, remembering the incident well. Mum had been drinking in the pub that night, and she staggered across the green to where I was reading in the bookshop with glass sticking out of her leg just to tell me the story. “I was eight when that happened. Are you local, then? You look about my age, but I don’t remember you from school.”
“I’m a couple of years older,” Jo said. “My mum died when I was six and I moved around with Dad for awhile, went to uni, then found myself back here again. Guess the old place is hard to escape, eh?”
“It sure is. I’m sorry about your mum.”
“I’m sorry about the dead body in your shop,” Jo said. “If it’s any consolation, I finished my examination this morning, and I don’t believe you’re the murderer.”
“No?”
“No. The knife had been wielded with some considerable force, which would usually rule out a female assailant. But it’s not me you have to convince, and Chief Inspector Hayes is definitely looking at you.”
“Oh, goody. What are you doing here?”
“Oh, right. Yes. You probably think it’s totally insane that I just broke back into a crime scene, but the truth is, I left my sweater here last night, and I was hoping I could get it. It’s my favorite one. Also… I’m heading down to London for a vitreous and enucleation course and I need something to read on the train.” Jo turned on her heel, gesturing to the shelves crammed with books. “I actually didn’t know this place existed until last night, and now I don’t know where to start.”
“Awhatcourse?”
“Vitreous and enucleation. Vitreous is a clear fluid between the lens and retina in your eye. I’m teaching pathology technicians how to extract it with a syringe for toxicology testing. Enucleation is removing the whole eyeball—”
“That’s fine. I don’t need to know. Sounds like fun.” My stomach churned at the idea of it. I remembered the stack of books beside Quoth’s bed.I bet he and Jo have similar tastes.“I saw something you’d like, but I’ll have to ask where to find it. Feel free to have a look for your sweater while I run up and speak to Heathcliff.”
I dashed back upstairs, where Heathcliff had already buried his nose in a book and Morrie was trying to convince a now human Quoth to try on a tailored vest. “It’s Jo. She climbed in a window. She’s on her way to an eyeball convention and wants to buy a book. I wondered if any of those books Quoth was reading was available for sale?”
Quoth pulled on his second sock and straightened up. “I’ll get them for you. I’ve read them all.”
