Page 18

“I’ve seen my share of people doing what they shouldn’t. Like coming to work in the middle of the night with no warning.”

Paige chuckled nervously and grinned at him. “Sorry, I was just going to look around. Tomorrow’s officially my first day, but I like to get a jump on things.”

The man eyed her suspiciously. “Uh-huh,” he murmured. “Did they go over everything with you today? Tell you all the particulars of what an archivist does?”

Paige sucked in a breath. “Uh, not exactly. It’s just that my new neighbor was really making a racket, and I couldn’t relax at home. So, I thought maybe I’d pop in and take a look around.”

Otis narrowed his eyes at her. “You may want to wait until tomorrow before you mess around with anything. Wouldn’t want you getting hurt or anything.”

Hurt? Paige wondered why he would say that.

“Come on. I’ll walk you up,” Otis said before she could question him.

“Oh, okay. Just let me gather my stuff.” Paige swiped the tote bag from the floor and stuffed her ID badge and keycard inside. She righted the keys in the lock and tugged them out, then she tossed them into her bag.

Otis motioned to the stairs, and Paige preceded him. “So, you’re the new librarian, huh?”

“Yep. Hired this morning.”

“Well, congratulations. You beat out a lot of good candidates,” he said, his white teeth gleaming in the darkened hall as they proceeded past the portraits. “You’ll be joining a long line of a very special group of people.”

He waved his hand to the walls.

“Are these portraits of the previous librarians?”

Otis clasped his hands behind his back and nodded. “Mmm-hmm, yep. I reckon they’ll be doing your portrait soon. After the trial period, of course.”

“Oh, right. Well, I guess that’s sort of what drove me here tonight.”

Otis held the door into the main library open and motioned for Paige to step through. “Thought you said it was your noisy neighbor?”

“Oh, well, it was. I was all prepared to have a quiet evening of celebration,” Paige said, adjusting her glasses. “I had a movie picked out and everything. And then my neighbor started moving furniture, and when he finished, he started blasting music. My cat ran into my bedroom, and I followed him, wondering if it would be any quieter. It wasn’t much, but I saw my bag and thought maybe I’d get out for a bit and get a jump start on my new job. I really, really want to shine.”

Otis smiled and nodded at her as they reached the hallway leading to the back door. “You will. I have no doubt about it. But you don’t need to get into anything tonight. Head on home, get a good night’s sleep, and Ronnie’ll get you all squared away in the morning.”

“Right. You’re probably right. I’m sure they have a specific system of archiving, and they’ll explain it all to me. I wouldn’t want to mess anything up before I even start.”

“Oh, I’m pretty sure they do, yeah. Like I said, best to wait until they explain everything to you.”

Paige smiled and nodded as she clutched the straps of her tote. “Well, thank you, Otis. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around.”

“Every night,” he said with a chuckle and a finger gun.

“Sorry I scared you. I’ll try not to do it again.”

“Nothing to worry about,” Otis assured her. “I hope you have an…informative first day. And you like everything you hear.”

Paige crinkled her brow at the statement but offered another smile and a wave before she spun on her heel.

She twisted back before she disappeared into the hallway. “Hey, Otis,” she began.

“Yeah?”

“Did you hear anything before you found me? Like an odd screeching noise?”

Otis’s lips turned down as he shook his head. “No.”

“I could have sworn I heard–“