“Yes, Chief,” I grumbled.
“And I wanna know if you get any other anonymous mail. Duncan Hugo is behind bars and Tate Dilton is in the ground, but that doesn’t mean we should let our guard down.”
“Fine. But can we at least agree not to say anything to anyone else? I don’t want Naomi and Lina worrying about nothing.”
“Nope.”
“Seriously?” Nash had a habit of dropping truth bombs.
“You’ve got twenty-four hours to tell them your own way. You don’t, then I will. It’s better for everyone to be in the know. I don’t want anyone taking any chances.”
“Okay. Now you’re starting to freak me out. It’s been months since Lina got abducted. You caught all the bad guys.”
“Not all of them,” he said evenly.
“Why would Anthony Hugo march into Knockemout to finish what his son started? And why focus on me? I had nothing to do with any of that. It doesn’t make any sense.” A creepy-crawly sensation prickled in my intestines as library life cheerfully bustled on around us.
“Until Anthony Hugo is behind bars, we can’t afford to rest easy.”
“Great. I’m definitely going to sleep like a baby tonight,” I said dryly.
“I’m just saying, I want you to be careful. Be vigilant. If anything strikes you as off, I want to know about it.”
“Fine. But that goes both ways. If something doesn’t smell right to you, I want to know.”
He studied me for a beat, then gave me a curt nod.
“Someone has a secret admirer,” Naomi announced. She marched up to us, lugging a case of sports drinks with a gigantic red bow.
I snatched the card out of her hand, my cheeks warming.
For later.
“Who’s that from?” Nash asked nosily.
“The card wasn’t signed,” Naomi said.
My face was the temperature of the surface of the sun as I stuffed the note in my pocket and grabbed the case. “Between the two of you, I’m starting to worry about my right to privacy,” I complained.
“She’s tomato red and deflecting,” Nash observed.
Naomi eyed me shrewdly. “My guess is it’s an inside joke gift from her date last week that she’s been annoyingly tight-lipped about.”
“Don’t you both have work to do?” I asked them.
“What’s this guy’s name and home address? What kind of car does he drive?” Nash demanded.
“Oh my God. You’re the worst. We went out. We had a nice time. It’s nothing serious. Thank you and good day.” I tried to dismiss them by taking my drinks and leaving.
But Naomi and Nash followed me.
“Are you going to see him again?” Naomi asked as we passed the reference section.
“Could he be the one who sent you the threat?” Nash added.
Naomi yelped. “Threat? What threat?”
I spun around and glared at him. “You said I had twenty-four hours!”
Nash grinned. “No time like the present. And you better update Angelina ASAP or she’ll be pissed.”
“You’re the worst.”
“Someone better tell me what’s going on immediately,” Naomi said, using her mom voice.
“Just for that, you’re carrying these upstairs to my office,” I said, shoving the case at Nash.
While the chief of police hauled my electrosexolytes upstairs, I filled Naomi in on the completely innocuous note.
“I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about. I get complaints all the time, and there’s always weird stuff in the book drop. But Nash wants us to be on guard given everything that’s happened in the past few months,” I explained.
“If Nash says we should be careful, that’s exactly what we should do,” Naomi insisted dutifully.
I glanced over my shoulder to make sure Studly Do-Right wasn’t within earshot. “Him being worried makes me worry,” I confessed. “I’m concerned that he knows something he’s not sharing. Maybe something about Lucian and the FBI’s case.”
Naomi pursed her lips. “I’ll see what I can get out of Knox.”
“Good idea. I’ll talk to Lina and see if she can sexily wheedle anything out of Nash.”
Naomi cleared her throat pointedly.
“Fine! I’ll talk to her about sexy wheedling when I tell her about the dumb, not-very-threatening note,” I agreed. “Even though I’ve had more creative and specific threats from the lady behind the deli counter at Grover’s.”
“Isn’t it nice when we’re all on the same page?” Naomi asked brightly.
“Yeah, yeah.”
“Mith Thloane! Mith Thloane!” Ezra was back, still wearing my cardigan and now waving what looked like a scroll.
“Hey, buddy,” I greeted.
“I made thith for you.” He shoved the paper at me. It was tied in the middle with a red string.
Behind me, Naomi made an “aww” noise.
“For me? Wow, thanks, Ezra. That is so sweet of you,” I said, carefully untying the string before unrolling the parchment paper.
“Thath you and thath me. We’re piraths just like that book we read. And thath the library on our pirate thip. See all the bookth? And hereth the X for the treathure!” He pointed out each element of the three-foot-long crayon and marker drawing. Stick figure Ezra had one arm and four feet. My ponytail was green to match the hearts he’d sketched above and below the books.
“The. Cutest. I’m dying,” Naomi whisper squealed.
“Do you like it?” Ezra asked hopefully.
“I love it,” I said, unable to resist the urge to boop his nose. “It’s amazing and so are you.”
He flashed me a coy, tooth-deficient grin. “You could hang it up if you wanted.”
“I’m going to hang it up in my office so I can see it every day,” I promised.
“Awethome. Happy Valentineth Day!”
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Ezra.”
He launched himself into my arms for the kind of hard, sticky, heart-melting hug that only kids under the age of six gave, then made a beeline for the pillow fort again.
“My heart,” Naomi said. “He’s Gael and Isaac’s new foster son, isn’t he?”
“He is. I watched him here for half an hour when Gael had to leave for a pet store emergency the other day. We read two pirate books, and he drew pictures for his new big sister.”
“It looks like you made quite the impression,” Naomi said, tapping the drawing.
“Me or the pirates.”
“You’re going to be a great mom,” she said.
Her words punched me right in the heart. “Thanks,” I said. “You already are.”
She leaned in and caught me in the kind of soft, spontaneous hug sisters exchanged. “We’re going to raise our families together,” she whispered in my ear.
“I was gone three minutes. What the hell has you two ready to bawl your eyes out?” Nash demanded, looking around the first floor of the library for obvious threats.
“Girl stuff,” I insisted.
“Sloane’s a pirate,” Naomi said with a sniffle.
“I don’t want to know,” Nash decided.
Naomi released me with a watery smile. “I’m going to go do something library related.” She gave Nash a peck on the cheek and headed for the stairs.
Nash pulled out his phone.
“What are you doing?” I asked nosily.
“Telling my brother that whatever he’s buying Naomi, he’d better double it.”
I chuckled.
Nash stowed his phone. “I better get back to work.”
“Have a happy Valentine’s Day,” I told him.
His grin was a heartbreaker. “Will do.”
He made it all of four feet toward the door.
“Oops. I seem to have dropped my necklace,” announced Belinda, an elderly, busty patron who preferred her books steamy. She pointed at the huge crucifix that she’d just unfastened from her neck and tossed on the floor. “Be a dear and fetch it for me, Chief Morgan?”
Nash heaved a sigh and glanced my way.
I shrugged. “If you don’t pick it up, they’re just going to keep throwing things on the floor.”
“I’m ordering new uniforms with tunics,” he grumbled.
“The citizens who appreciate the male specimen would be devastated,” I warned.
He bent at the waist and hastily plucked the necklace off the floor.
“You just made this old lady’s day,” Belinda said, smugly returning the crucifix to her more than ample bosom.
“Might want to get that clasp checked, Ms. Belinda, seein’ as how it fell off in the grocery store last week and in the park the week before that.”