“Accurate,” Duke said.
“Duke!”
“Darling, we’re trying to solve a case. No time to be coy.”
“Fine,” I admitted. “An hour ago.”
“That means we’re about at the midpoint then. No wonder you came to me. Midpoints often involve a new setting, a new character, or a plot event that turns the story in a new direction. Ideally, all three.”
“You’re a new ‘character,’ ” I said. “And your house is a new setting. What’s our new plot event?”
“I’m no expert,” Medda said, “but I think I can guess. Can you hand me that book?”
I passed Medda the new copy ofThe Secret of the Old Clock.
She opened the front cover, turned one page, then the next, then smiled.
“Thought so,” she said and held the book up to display the title page.
Under the title in peacock blue ink was one word. One name.
—
“What on earth?”I said, practically leaping onto Medda’s desk to retrieve the book. “This is my mother’s! But it can’t be. It’s a new copy.” It was brand-new, in fact. Fresh new cover, crisp white pages, even had that new book smell.
“Can’t you Book Witches bedazzle an old book into a new book?” Medda asked, miming waving a magic wand over the cover.
“We don’t call it ‘bedazzling,’ but yes, we can. But how…”
Duke took the book from me.
“Rainy, darling, I swear I got this off the shelf in the children’s section. The spine wasn’t even cracked.”
“ ‘The Purloined Letter,’ ” Medda said.
“The Edgar Allan Poe short story?” I asked, hands still shaking with shock, joy, and more than a little confusion. “What about it?”
“In the story,” Medda began, “the detective Dupin is hired to find a letter that has been stolen from the queen. The man who stole it is blackmailing her with it. The police have searched the suspect’s home high and low, but the brilliant Dupin finds it sitting out in the open with the suspect’s other mail.”
“Hiding in plain sight,” Duke said.
“Exactly,” Medda said. “Someone wanted to hide this book but in such a way that you could find it and no one else,” Medda said.
“Fiendishly clever.” Duke nodded. “Who else would immediately buy this book except someone who’d just lost their copy?” He pointed at Medda. “You areverygood.”
She crossed her arms and smiled. “Three Edgar Awards can’t be wrong.”
“Thank you,” I said, tenderly holding the book to my chest. “If only finding Pops were that easy, but I’ll take what I can get. What do youthink this means? A Book Witch is behind all this? They stole my book? Then why get it back to me?”
“We know you have a secret enemy,” Medda said. “Maybe you also have a secret ally? But don’t ask me who.”
“I’ll ask you this, Lady Edgar,” Duke said, leaning in to meet Medda’s eyes. “Who is the March Hare?”
“Ah, well, you see, this is where you figure that out,” she said, tapping her pencil tip on the graph, distressingly far away from the midpoint. “You have to get closer to the climax for that.”
“What about Dr. Fanshawe? Could she be the March Hare? She did confiscate my umbrella.”
“I’d guess she is involved somehow, but I can’t see her as being the key to all of this. Can you?”
