The Murders in the Reed Moore Library Read Online Free PDF Page B

in all
the time." Penny blew out her breath. "And she's always checking
out those serial killer books, from the 364s. This letter is
addressed to them. They must have dropped it! What if they're
serial killers, working together? They could have dropped the
letter when they —"
    Penny slid the letter into her pocket and
started walking towards the door. "Come on, Dupin. We're going to
go talk to them!"
    Dupin didn't move. Somehow the idea of
talking to a pair of potential killers didn't have much appeal.
Plus he'd just eaten all of that tuna and it sat like a lump in his
belly. A nap was the order of the moment. A long nap to allow the
tuna time to digest.
    "Dupin?" Penny stopped in the doorway. "Here,
kitty. Come on. There's nothing to worry about. We'll just be
helping David out, see what they say when I ask if they saw
anything. Maybe they'll let something slip."
    Dupin yawned.
    Penny marched towards him. He thought of
dashing away, but he hated running on a full stomach. Penny scooped
him up and held him close. She pressed her face to his back and he
smelled the apples in her hair.
    "I need you with me," she said. "Come
on."
     
    #
     
    Dupin rolled on his back in the seat beside
Penny and tried to bat at the phone again. She moved it away.
    "We're almost there now," Penny said.
    David was on the phone. "Wait for me. My
people can look at the letter. We found hair on the inside drop and
I have people checking the fingerprints on the books against the
book drop key. We'll get them."
    Penny didn't answer as she turned the
steering wheel and slowed. Dupin rolled over and stood up. "I'm on
the street now. I need to know why they did it."
    "Damn it! Wait! I'll be there soon and I'll
handle it."
    The car slowed. "Too late."
    "Don't hang up," David said. "At least stay
on the line."
    Penny slipped the phone in her pocket without
saying anything.
    The house sat back from the road with fir
trees and bird feeders along the fence line. Penny stopped the car.
Small brown birds flitted around the tree branches. Dupin perked up
his ears. The house itself looked like a lot of human dwellings,
yellow and white, mostly uninteresting. The old couple was out
front in the yard, the woman pruning rose bushes with a pair of
snips and her husband digging in another flower bed with a trowel,
when Penny lifted Dupin out of the front seat and carried him up
the cracked concrete walk.
    "Sully?" The old woman called. "Look who it
is?"
    The old man looked back and squinted so much
that only one pale blue eye stayed open. Against his side Dupin
felt Penny's heart thumping away like a mouse caught beneath his
paws. She was scared but she marched straight up the drive towards
them. She stopped across the chain-link fence from the woman.
    "Mrs. Winters?"
    "Call me Maddy, dear. Don't mind my Sully,
he's grumpy as usual." The old woman looked at Dupin and smiled
broadly. "You'd better keep a good grip on that cat. Wouldn't want
him to go after a bird or something and get squashed by a car!"
    Penny's arms tightened. "No. I'm helping the
police with the murders at the library, and I thought maybe you
could tell me something?"
    "Murders." Maddy pressed her hands together
and her smile widened to show bright teeth. Dupin didn't like the
way she looked at him. "Why would you think we know anything about
those poor people?"
    "Books you returned were on the body." Dupin
felt Penny take a deep breath. "The police took a fingerprint from
the books and matched it to the one on the book drop key. They've
also found your hair in the inside book drop where you stuffed
Camille."
    Dupin blinked. That wasn't exactly what David
had said. He tensed. If the old woman tried anything she'd find out
how sharp his claws were.
    Penny pulled out the letter. "And if that's
not enough, you dropped this when you murdered Camille!"
    Maddy stared at Penny for several seconds
then chuckled. "Sully? You'd better come here. We've got a bit of a
problem."
    Penny took a step back. "Why? Why