Page 67 of The Last Library of Paris

Now she gave me an exasperated glance.

‘It’s fine,’ she said. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’

‘I’ll come with you, Sylvie,’ said Guy, who also worried about her. He looked at me. ‘If it’s all right for me to go now, too?’

‘Of course,’ I said. ‘I’ll lock up.’

Guy was already winding a scarf round his neck.

‘À bientôt,’ he said.

‘À bientôt.’

I pulled the heavy doors shut behind them and dropped the lock with a satisfying clang. Then I turned and went to the back door.

‘Hello?’ I whispered into the gloomy evening.

Marcus emerged from a shadow, his hat under his arm. ‘Hello.’

‘Come in, quickly.’

He slipped in through the door, like he was a shadow himself, and I closed it behind him.

Without talking we made our way upstairs and into my office, and I closed that door too. Just like the first time, Marcus checked for listening devices, looking into corners, under the desk, on the telephone and all sorts. But this time it was far less frightening, and I watched him with interest.

Finally, he nodded, and sat down in the chair opposite mine.

‘All clear,’ he said.

‘No one comes in here without me,’ I pointed out. ‘I’m hardly likely to listen to my own conversations.’

‘You’d be surprised,’ he said, and once again his English accent jarred with his uniform.

I smiled at him. ‘Would you like a drink? Coffee?’

‘How about something a little stronger?’ He reached into his jacket and pulled out a large hip flask, which he waggled in my direction. ‘I owe you a brandy.’

‘I’ll get the glasses.’

I went to the shelf and took down two glasses and Marcus sloshed the brandy into them.

‘Did you bring the books?’ I asked. I took a large gulp and felt the liquid warming my insides.

‘I brought one of them.’

‘Only one?’

‘I couldn’t decide if it was riskier to bring them all at once or individually,’ Marcus said, scratching his head. ‘Thought this way was best.’

I nodded. ‘That makes sense.’

He had a bag with him. Now he put it on the desk and opened the buckles. Inside was a leather-bound book.

‘Here.’ He passed it to me.

‘Flora und Fauna des Schwarzwaldes,’ I read.

‘Flora and Fauna of the Black Forest,’ he translated.