One Book in the Grave: A Bibliophile Mystery

didn’t have time to think about that right now, but I would ask him later.
     
    “Max grew up in Dharma,” Mom explained. “He was great friends with Austin and the other kids, and after high school he went on to become a talented artist and papermaker. Eventually he met a lovely woman and they got engaged. A month after their engagement party, he was killed in a car accident.”
     
    “I’m sorry,” Derek said to Mom. “It must’ve been difficult for you all.”
     
    “It was,” Mom said, sitting on the arm of Dad’s chair.
     
    “Yes, it was, indeed,” Guru Bob said, “but now Brooklyn has introduced a new wrinkle to the saga.” He was standing now, and began strolling slowly around the room as he related an abbreviated version of the story I’d told him a few minutes earlier.
     
    “Oh, Brooklyn, sweetie,” Mom said. “I’m so sorry about Mr. Taylor. I wish we could’ve been there for you.”
     
    “Thanks, Mom.”
     
    Dad shook his head. “Honey, you should’ve called us.”
     
    “Thanks, Dad. Derek was close by, so he came over.” Staring at our joined hands, I murmured to no one in particular, “There was a lot of blood.”
     
    Derek squeezed my hand.
     
    Gabriel had been watching us, but now he folded his arms across his chest and lifted his chin toward Guru Bob. “What’s this all about, Robson? Has someone else died?”
     
    “No.” Guru Bob looked around the room, meeting each person’s gaze in order. “But I have kept something from you for far too long. The time has come to reveal the truth.”
     
    This really was beginning to feel like an Agatha Christie novel. But Robson’s eyes were grave as he turned them on me, and I gripped Derek’s hand a little tighter.
     
    “Max Adams is very much alive.”
     

Chapter 7
     
    “What?” I might have shrieked the word, but nobody would have blamed me right at that moment. “That’s impossible! Max has been dead for three years.”
    “No, gracious, he has not,” Guru Bob demurred.
     
    “You’re wrong.” I jumped up from the couch and looked around the room in desperation.
     
    “Robson’s never wrong, sweetie,” Mom said, but she was just as shocked as I was.
     
    I stared at her for a moment. “Okay, maybe not. But this can’t be true.”
     
    “I don’t understand,” Mom said. “Are you sure, Robson?”
     
    “You said he’s never wrong,” I protested.
     
    She blinked. “I know, but we all went to his funeral. There must be a mistake. Robson?”
     
    “There is no mistake, Rebecca,” Guru Bob said, kindly ignoring my outburst. “I saw Max with my own eyes the day after his death was declared. I arranged for his safe departure. Believe me, he is very much alive and living in a safe place under an assumed name.”
     
    Now I knew what people meant when they said it felt like the floor had opened up beneath them. Max?
Alive?
Why didn’t he tell me? Why did he let all of us think he was dead? I
sobbed
through his funeral! I’d missed him for so long after that. I still missed him.
     
    “Where is he?” I asked.
     
    Guru Bob glanced around the room. He seemed unsure of himself. And that was just one more oddity in a day filled with them. Guru Bob had never been unsure of anything as long as I’d known him.
     
    I happened to catch Dad giving a minuscule nod to Guru Bob.
     
    “Wait!” I said, wondering whether my eyes could possibly bulge out of my head more than they already had. “Dad? You knew about this?”
     
    “Jimmy?” Mom whispered, betrayal clear in her hushed tone.
     
    “But…why?” I stammered. “How?”
     
    “Yes, why, Robson?” Mom demanded, turning her back on my father, who winced as if in preparation for what would no doubt be an unpleasant evening later. “It’s not as if Max were some sort of master spy or something.”
     
    “Becky—” Dad started.
     
    Mom whipped around. “Don’t you ‘Becky’ me, mister. How could you keep something like this from me? I loved that boy. His family was devastated. How could you—”
     
    “His life was being threatened,” Guru Bob said flatly. “When the people after him began to direct their threats toward his family and his fiancée, Emily, Max made the decision to stage his own death to protect them all.”
     
    “But that…that’s crazy,” I muttered lamely. “Where were the police?”
     
    “It was an unusual situation,” Dad said. “The police weren’t helpful.”
     
    “So you stepped in and