Ink and Shadows(Secret, Book, & Scone Society #4)(63)

She put her head on his shoulder. He smelled of Ivory soap and coffee. The heat from his body added to the blanket’s warmth, and Nora began to feel a little less at sea.

Deputy Andrews came into the room. When he saw Celeste, he let out a low moan of dismay. He looked at his boss, sitting on the floor with Nora, and asked, “What should I do?”

Instead of answering, McCabe turned to Nora. “Are you ready?”

Nora thought about it. Was she ready to leave Celeste? To tell McCabe what she’d seen and heard? To let him and his team get to work? To do what she could to help catch a killer?

After placing a hand on Celeste’s arm in a wordless pledge, Nora said, “Yes.”

*

Miracle Books always opened at ten in the morning. Monday through Saturday, Nora unlocked the door at ten o’clock on the dot. For over five years, she ran the business on her own without closing the shop for any reason. Not even sickness.

Of course, there were times she longed to take a two-day weekend, have a leisurely lunch at a restaurant, or spend the day at home, reading. But these times were rare. Nora loved her bookshop. And though her heart hurt, and she was still in shock over Celeste’s death, she needed to be in her shop. She needed to lose herself in the business of selling books. She needed soft conversations and the hiss of the espresso machine. She needed to tap register keys and stack credit card receipts. She needed to pull books from shelves and slide them into bags. Miracle Books was the only place she could bear to be, so that’s where she went.

Nora had called Sheldon before leaving McCabe’s office and was relieved to hear that all was well at Miracle Books.

“I really want to see the sidewalk display, but I should probably come in through the back,” she’d told Sheldon. “If one of the protestors insults Celeste, I’ll snap, and you’ll spend the rest of the day by yourself because I’ll be in jail.”

But when Deputy Fuentes announced that he’d be escorting her to Miracle Books, Nora decided to honor Sheldon’s request.

Now, as Deputy Fuentes drove down Main Street at a snail’s pace, Nora gazed out the passenger window and marveled over the number of people milling about on a Friday morning.

“I’m going to park here. We’ll get there faster walking.” Fuentes pulled into a spot right in front of Soothe, and he and Nora got out of the car.

Nora’s heart lurched when she saw a woman peering into the shop while a man and a little girl waited by the statue of Juliana. The girl, who was five or six, was clearly beguiled by the marble woman.

“What happened to her wing, Daddy?” Nora heard her ask.

“I don’t know, sweetheart.”

The girl threw her arms around the statue’s thighs, embracing the cold stone. “Can she still be an angel if she only has one wing?”

Her father said, “Absolutely. Her heart makes her an angel. Not her wings.”

I wish Celeste had seen this, Nora thought.

Celeste had been so proud of her familial legacy. All those women named Juliana. All those healers.

Healers. Not angels. Not witches. Women who healed.

Not spells.

Celeste’s words were repeating on a loop in Nora’s head. If the symbols on the Potion Page weren’t spells, then what were they?

He lies.

She had to be talking about the man with the tattoos on his arm. He’d torn Bren’s house and Celeste’s apartment apart in search of what? More pages like the one left under Nora’s mat. An entire book of old pages. Celeste had said “don’t let him” and “get book.” Who was him?

Wolf.

Was this a man’s name? Part of an avatar or online identity? Or was there something in Celeste’s apartment with a wolf on it? Something that would reveal the man’s identity. Nora didn’t remember seeing anything like that, but Celeste could have kept it well hidden.

These days, when Nora thought of wolves, she thought of Connie Knapp and her pack of female fearmongers. And now here they were, standing on the sidewalk in front of Miracle Books. They held signs with inflammatory slogans like, PROTECT OUR KIDS! MORAL FAMILIES DON’T SHOP HERE! I CHOOSE WHAT MY CHILD READS! BAN SATANIC BOOKS!

It hurt to see former customers waving these signs. The hurt was personal, but Nora also felt pain on behalf of the books she sold. Those incredible books. After what she’d been through that morning—after seeing Celeste die—the condemnation of her beloved books was too much for Nora.

She went lightheaded, stumbled, and nearly fell, but Fuentes’s hand shot out to steady her. Keeping hold of Nora’s arm, the deputy barreled his way through the knot of protestors.

“You can’t be in the street!” he bellowed. “I see your foot on asphalt, and you’ll spend the day in lockup. You know the rules. You’re only allowed on the sidewalk.”

“There isn’t enough room!” someone complained.

“No touching the bookstore’s display or the merchandise. No going inside the store!” Fuentes continued. “You have the right to a peaceful protest. On the sidewalk. If you prevent customers from entering the business, I will place you under arrest.”

The crowd was smaller than Nora expected. Clumped together, waving their signs and shouting, thirty people seemed more like fifty. Though they yelled louder as Nora passed, their words didn’t reach her. She was deaf and dumb to everything except what she saw in front of the bookshop.