Page 7 of The Librarians

On Saturday, three days ago, Astrid led a Halloween-themed scavenger hunt.

Sophie, coming back from a volunteer park cleanup outing with Elise, stopped by to see how that was going.

As she was about to leave, two other staffers had a question about swapping hour blocks.

Sophie stepped into her office for the master schedule.

Just inside the door, one of the props from the scavenger hunt stared up at her, a small gray card that declared, in a swooshy scarlet font, A great secret lies here .

Sophie chuckled, tossed the card that must have been accidentally kicked under her door into the recycle bin, and sorted out the schedule. Then she and Elise went home, made spaghetti, and watched The Great British Bake Off together in the evening.

When the library hosts events, especially events involving kids, things tend to end up in unexpected places. But this new note…

I know you’re keeping a secret.

Sophie’s fingertips shake. The note drifts free of her hand. She doesn’t want to believe it. She can’t even bear to think the thought. But—is this about Elise?

She whips around and yanks open her door. Her office is next to the Den of Calories, separated from the circulation area by five feet of carpet.

Inez, at the nearest checkout station, turns her head and smiles at Sophie.

Sophie smiles back woodenly.

Inez resumes helping the patron in front of her.

Sophie tries to imagine herself as Annalise Keating from How to Get Away with Murder .

But her mind spins like a tire in mud. All she can recall is Annalise’s resolute face and those fantastic sheath dresses, and not a shred of the law professor’s devious, ruthless tactics.

Okay, first she needs to have an idea of the note writer’s identity.

She is sure the note—written on a slip of paper from the box next to the catalogue terminals—wasn’t there before she left at lunch to get her car inspected in the shopping center next door.

When she came back, she’d investigated the secondary storage room, which is also completely full and not going to be of much use for holding donated books.

After that she’d gone to the Den of Calories to talk to Jonathan. Then the brawl happened, followed by the sippy cup incident.

During all that time she’d rushed in and out of her office a few times and might not have immediately noticed a tiny origami love knot on the floor. But it’s a virtual certainty the note writer was in the library between twelve thirty and two o’clock.

It could have been any of fifty people, but if that person also slid the A great secret lies here card under her door on Saturday, the number of suspects would reduce sharply, since weekday patrons tend not to come in on the weekend, and vice versa.

In fact, the most likely individuals to have been around on both occasions are the librarians on duty.

Can it be one of Sophie’s subordinates?

She walks around. Inez and Raj are at the front of the circulation area, handling the public. Jonathan, stationed at the book return/drive-through pickup, answers phone inquiries via a headset as he empties out a bin of returned books onto different rolling carts.

On the other side of Sophie’s office is a passage that leads to the meeting room and the by-appointment passport office. The double doors of the meeting room are open: Astrid’s program is finished and she is talking to a pair of younger teens who have stayed behind.

Hazel appears at Sophie’s elbow, holding a box of movie posters that are to be the decorations for the evening’s program. “Do you have any preferences, Sophie, as to how they should be arranged?”

Sophie is prone to micromanaging if she isn’t careful. But today she only waves her hand. “Your judgment will be fine.”

Hazel didn’t even start working at this branch until yesterday and can probably be eliminated from suspicion. But the other librarians too look perfectly normal and innocent.

Okay, Astrid is acting strange, but that is inwardly directed. And if anyone is planning to remove Sophie from her position, only Jonathan is senior enough to occupy the vacancy.

But Jonathan, really? Jonathan?

It’s difficult to predict what people might do; it’s easier, sometimes, to take a stab at what they won’t do. Sophie doesn’t believe Jonathan capable of blackmail. And he doesn’t seem in a great big hurry to helm his own library, either, though he is more than capable of it.

Then who can it be? A patron? A patron who wants to shake down a librarian for money?

What would Annalise Keating do, if she had a child to protect? Is it time for Sophie to give How to Get Away with Murder a rewatch?

An in-depth study?