19. Nick #2
“Ward doesn’t hide his miniature obsession in the office, so it would make sense that Pommer and Galliano could learn of his Instagram account and figure out the posts,” Maddie says.
“But how can Ward be sure that nobody else will check out the book and find the cash? It doesn’t seem like a foolproof plan. ”
We stare at each other. It does seem like a risky maneuver.
“Could the book be on reserve?” Maddie asks. “Now that I think about Ward’s trips to the library, he often went to the reserve section to pick up a book.”
Maddie texts Lily, asking if Caper Crush is on reserve.
Lily: I can check the system in a minute. We keep the reserved books on the bookshelf by the checkout counter, so you can look there. I need to finish up with these last few children.
Iris and Bella help clean up the crafting area as we wait for Lily to finish. Finally, Lily takes over the front desk and checks the computer.
We all stand on the other side.
“It’s not on reserve,” Lily says.
“Okay,” Maddie says, accepting this far more gracefully than I would have. “Let’s all look in the reserve section. This has to be the mechanism.”
We each take a shelf in the reserve section.
“ Caper Crush !” Iris whispers loudly.
A rubber band is wrapped around it with a hold slip indicating the intended recipient. Maddie removes the paper, handing it to Lily, pulls off the rubber band, flips open the book, and an envelope falls out. A thin envelope, and it’s sealed shut.
“Wow,” Lily breathes.
“Patron coming up!” Bella whispers.
We take the book and the envelope and retreat to the back of the library, Lily muttering after us, “You need to put the book back though.”
“I have another white envelope in my bag in the back, so I can replace this envelope,” Maddie says.
That bag really does have everything.
She carefully opens the envelope. We all stare at the thousand-dollar bill inside. Wow!
Maddie takes a photo.
She takes an envelope out of her bag, inserts the thousand-dollar bill into it, seals the envelope shut, and puts it back in the book.
Lily is staring at the piece of paper identifying the recipient. “This isn’t an official library hold slip, even though it looks similar. They’ve clearly copied it to make it look like ours so it will fit in, but that’s why there was no record of Caper Crush being on reserve.”
“That makes sense,” Maddie says. “They have more control over the book, then, and there’s no chance the book will get reshelved. It’s also missing any library markings.” Maddie takes a photo of the reserve slip.
We put the hold slip back on the book and then return it to the shelf. We still have the rest of the afternoon to see if Ward shows up to claim the book, unless that was Ward who entered and he’s now been scared off.
“Do you have him now?” I ask.
Maddie shakes her head. “This is still not enough. Maybe if Caper Crush had been in the Instagram post. The fact that a Caper Crush bookmark slipped out of the book gifted by Beatrice is close, but I need something more. And I still don’t know if the other deputy commissioners are investigating him or involved in the scheme. ”
My shoulders sag. I thought we had him.
“But this is a huge step forward. We’re so close.” She hugs me. “We can celebrate at your concert on Friday! You guys are coming, right?”
Iris and Bella agree to come. Maddie tells them that she and I can keep watch over the book on the reserve shelf to see if Ward returns to pick it up, and they can go home, adding that she’s grateful for the time they’ve spent here.
Maddie and I take up posts across from the reserve bookshelf. Next to us are two teenage girls discussing their boy band crushes and fantasizing about how they could meet a real rock star.
I whisper to Maddie, “You do realize that with these costumes and our connection to Uncle Tony, we can always go out in public. This opens up so much freedom.”
She stares at me, her head tilted, as if she’s envisioning a future with the two of us in disguise. I can see it, because I’m sure we’ll still be friends.
She gives me a devilish smile. “I can’t wait to see what costume he comes up with next.”
“At some point, we’re definitely going to be clothed in those rags,” I say.
She chuckles.
I turn back to doing the accounting spreadsheets, and Maddie types on her laptop, nibbling at her lip as she does.
Ward doesn’t return, nor do any of the other suspects show up. This is frustrating. But Maddie is pleased with our progress, even though she has to work tomorrow.
“We figured out part of the scheme,” she says. “He posts a miniature scene that tells Beatrice where the drop-off is and in which book. She hides the money in the book, and he picks it up.”
“Why not get the money in person?”
“Then somebody could catch them in the hand-off,” she says.
“Plus, he’s so obsessed with miniatures, I bet he likes signaling via his mini scenes.
But now he might realize that Galliano is onto him, and that’s why they’ve stopped including the specific books in the post. Galliano clearly didn’t know the book because Beatrice provided that signal last time by giving Ward a Caper Crush bookmark.
Ward and Beatrice are now signaling the book by exchanging bookmarks.
But they’ll need to figure out another way to signal the book because they won’t always have an excuse to meet in person. ”
Lily walks us out the door at closing time. “I’ll try to keep an eye on the book and let you know if I see anything. But I can’t watch it exclusively.”
“Thanks so much,” Maddie says, giving her a hug goodbye. “You’re coming to Nick’s concert on Friday, right?”
Lily smiles and says, “Promise.”