Touch-Me-Not Read Online Free PDF Page B

here.”
    LeRoy reached into his pocket for his handkerchief. Hell, his handkerchief was in the bottom drawer of the file cabinet, wrapped around Jerry Sparks’s cell phone. “You called the shop earlier this afternoon, didn’t you?”
    She nodded and the low lights in the parking area were reflected in her glasses, so he couldn’t see her eyes. “Maureen said he hadn’t come by, but when he left me around four-thirty, he said he was going directly to the shop.”
    “Maureen told me she hadn’t seen him,” said LeRoy.
    “I hoped maybe you had,” said Emily. “We had a date to go to the movie tonight. He was supposed to meet me here, and he never showed up. It’s our anniversary. We’ve been together three weeks.”
    “Congratulations,” said LeRoy. He hoped she’d go away before she scented the distinctive smell of Jerry Sparks in the back of the van.
    She sighed and turned away. “Yeah. Thanks.”
    “Want me to give him a message if I see him?”
    She looked over her shoulder at him. “Don’t bother, Mr. Watts. It’s not the first time he’s stood me up.”
    LeRoy kept the window open after Emily Cameron left, despite the cool night. Once the parking lot cleared, he waited a few minutes longer until the lights went out in the library, then went around to the back of his van. He’d better carry Jerry Sparks from here, rather than driving to the shed. If he drove, someone might remember seeing him there. He was just about to open the back door, when he heard footsteps crunching on the gravel surface of the parking lot.
    “Night, Mr. Watts.”
    He swiveled around. Lucinda Chandler, the librarian.
    “Good night, Lucinda.” He put his hand on his chest. “You had a busy evening.”
    “It’s not usually this busy, but it was a great movie, and the knitting group is working on their coral-reef quilt.”
    “A what?”
    “You should see it. It’s really amazing. It’s to raise awareness of global warming.”
    “Knitting?”
    “Mathematical knitting.” Lucinda examined the keys she had on a ribbon, then put the ribbon around her neck. “Projective planes and Klein bottles. That sort of thing. Non-orientable surfaces. Möbius strips.”
    “Global warming?” LeRoy, his mind on the corpse in the back of the van, was having trouble concentrating.
    “Global warming affects coral reefs all over the world.”
    “So I’ve heard,” murmured LeRoy.
    “Come on in and I’ll show you the quilt. It’s not finished, but you can see what it’s going to look like.” Lucinda pulled her key on its cord out of the neck of her fleece jacket.
    “I’d like to, but . . .” He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and looked at his watch.
    “Are you using the wireless?”
    “Wireless?” Was she referring to the Taser?
    “People park here all kinds of crazy hours to log onto the wireless. Used to be lovers. Now it’s computer geeks.”
    Lucinda seemed to require some response, so LeRoy laughed politely and thought fast. “Nope. Just wanted to check out the electric meter after you closed the building. See how much current you’re using at low load.”
    “Oh,” said Lucinda. “Thanks. You’re just wonderful. With electric rates what they are . . .”
    “Right,” said LeRoy.
    “Let me know what you find out, and when you’ve got time, I’ll show you the quilt.” She dropped the key on its cord back into the neck of her pink jacket, zipped it up, slipped her recumbent tricycle out of the bike rack, and pedaled off.
    So that’s what those characters are knitting, thought LeRoy. A coral reef.

C HAPTER 6

    Before he opened the back door of the van, LeRoy looked around once again, then tugged Jerry Sparks out feetfirst. The body had stiffened into a grotesque shape. He’d only read about rigor mortis. He slung the rigid body over his shoulder and made his way to the book shed behind the library. He laid Jerry Sparks facedown in a cleared space in the center of the shed and shut the