Page 74 of The Librarians

She pulls one sleeve of her argyle sweater straight, then folds it up an inch. “You remember last night I left my dessert container behind in Conrad’s house and had to go back and get it?”

He nods.

She stills, then starts on her other sleeve. “I left it by design. I wanted an excuse to see Conrad again, even if it was a flimsy excuse.”

His heart aches for her, for all those hopes withering on the vine.

“But when I saw Ryan’s car,” she continues, her words as considered as her motions, “I decided to question him alone.”

So that Jonathan wouldn’t be thrown into this potentially seismic knowledge about—at that time—Ryan?

“Unfortunately, as a result of that, now I no longer have anything I can retrieve from their house. Did you, by any chance, also leave some items behind?”

Jonathan shakes his head. No such idea had occurred to him. Then again, he had not been outright refused by Ryan. He still had hopes of being invited back.

She tilts her head and smiles at him. “Can you pretend, then, to have left something behind?”

Her idea ignites a flare of excitement. But—“Wouldn’t Ryan have already seen it by now, if I’d left anything behind?”

“Tell him it’s a really small item. A flash drive. A location tracker from your wallet. Something that can fall into nooks and crannies.”

She is not throwing ideas at the wall to see what sticks. The woman is as committed as a kamikaze pilot.

“So we go back to Conrad’s house.” And then what?

“But only you will go through the front door. When you get in, ask to use the bathroom. You used the guest bathroom when we were there last time, right?”

He nods, already tense.

“It has a casement window—you know, the kind that opens out, instead of a sash that moves up and down?”

He didn’t really notice. The only time he was in that bathroom, he was in a hurry to finish, wash his hands, and get back to Ryan.

“There is no screen. Last night I opened it out of curiosity and didn’t hear any alarm going off. If you can unlock the window and leave it open a crack, I’ll be able to get in from there.”

“So you’re going to search Conrad’s house, like they do in movies?”

Her jaw moves. “I don’t want to, and I don’t think it’ll be useful. Conrad isn’t going to leave a printout of his guilt lying around and I’m neither a hacker nor a safebreaker. But if I don’t at least try, then I’ll have to ask him outright at some point, which—”

She takes a breath. “Which could be even more unsafe.”

It becomes Jonathan’s turn to take a deep breath—and whip out his phone. “Okay, might as well get it done now. Tell me what exactly I should have left behind at Conrad’s place.”

Hey Ryan, sorry to bother you. My wallet tracker might have fallen out at your house. At least that’s what my app says.

Ryan’s response comes twenty minutes later, well after Hazel and Jonathan have returned to work. Jonathan finds Hazel, who is at the drive-through checkout station, handing a stack of books to a patron on a Harley, and shows her Ryan’s reply.You want to come and look for it yourself? I’ll be home tonight.

“Does that work?”

Hazel hesitates only a moment. “It should. Thank you, Jonathan.”

“Hey, we’re all in this together.”

“You actually don’t need to be involved at all.” She takes his hand, her fingers cool yet strong. “In case it’s not yet clear, I am supremely grateful.”

Elise is delighted that Sophie brought Astrid home. After a few questions about the “foundation fumigation” that forced Astrid from her condo, she quickly ropes Astrid in for an afternoon of board games. Or rather, one game in particular, Elise’s current obsession, calledTrails to Table, which combines foraging with gourmet menu planning.

At first Sophie worries that Elise has taken Astrid hostage. But Astrid gets into the game before too long. By the time Sophie reminds Elise to finish her homework, it’s Astrid who stands up more reluctantly, still hankering for another round.