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Shoving it aside, she focused on their discussion. “Now, where was I?”
    “I believe you were telling me about your visitors,” he reminded her.
    “Oh, yes.” She smiled at him. “You are patiently waiting to hear about Mr. Gibson.”
    “Madam, I am waiting, yes. Patiently? I’m not quite so sure.” The rich baritone eased over Claudia like a warm blanket.
    Blushing, she hurried into the remainder of her tale. “When Laura arrived at my house the night of the senator’s murder, we went directly to the police. The officer in charge was a pompous man who dismissed Laura’s story without a thought to investigating it. However, a younger man, Officer Howard, met with us and suggested that Laura not go back to her boarding house, but remain safely with me.”
    “And you never heard from the officer again?”
    Claudia smiled at him. “I never said that, sir.”
    He lifted that damn brow again in silent question.
    “It was Officer Howard’s suggestion that Laura leave the city. He knew of her plans to travel to Baltimore to become a mail-order bride. Periodically, for a few months, he would stop by to be sure the boys and I were safe. On his last visit, he informed me Laura’s name had been added to a special file the police had started.”
    “What file?”
    “That is the same question I asked. He said the file with all the other young women missing from the area. When I asked him about that, he stated there had been a rash of young women reported missing in the past year and a half. Most were between the ages of sixteen and thirty. Laura was a little old for this list, but if there was no other lead to go on, she would be added to it.”
    “Sixteen to thirty-year-old women.”
    “May I ask how old your sister is?”
    A dark stillness settled on his features. He stood and paced before the parlor window like the caged panther Claudia had seen at the National Zoo. “Patrice celebrated her twenty-fifth birthday a month prior to her disappearance.”
    “I’m sorry to hear that, Micah.”
    He nodded to her words of sympathy and stopped his pacing right in front of her. Placing one hand on the arm of the settee, he leaned in. His intense gaze held her pinned to the spot. He was done being patient. “How does Gibson fit into this, Claudia?”
    Claudia’s heart jumped into her throat. She leaned backward. The seat back was the only thing keeping her from fleeing. “I had both Adam and Joey spying on Blackwood and Officer Howard after their visits. First Blackwood left town, then Officer Howard disappeared. I had no further clues or suspects to watch. So, dressed as Spinster Jones, the lady you saw this afternoon, I approached Mr. Goldberg about working in the library as Claudia did.”
    “Gibson.” he growled at her.
    “Really, sir. You’re making me quite nervous.”
    “ Claudia.”
    “Oh, for goodness’ sakes. He’s using the library as a place to leave messages for someone.”
     
    Micah released his grip on her chair and resumed pacing. His hand rubbed his forehead in frustration. What the hell was going on? He stopped, his back to the fireplace, his attention completely focused on Claudia. “How do you know he’s using the library for a message center?”
    “A woman always notices such a handsome man, sir.” She fanned herself with an open hand.
    “Claudia,” he warned, quelling her with a withering look. He wasn’t in the mood for the scatterbrain to return.
    “Because—” she rolled her eyes “—once I started working at the library, I noticed that Gibson came and went on a regular basis. However, he didn’t spend much time reading, never withdrew a book, never took home a newspaper as so many others did. So, one night I watched very carefully. He spent all his time in the section about China. After we closed for the night, I made a pretext to stay late. Then I searched every book until a note fell out of one.”
    “What did it say?”
    She toyed with the lace on the sleeve of her