Peril in Paperback: A Bibliophile Mystery

was acceptable again.
    So maybe Marko wasn’t as drunk as they thought he was.
    I couldn’t figure him out. The slacker routine was real, but he could also be devious. He hadn’t laughed as much since Bella died, but every so often, his irritating giggle filled the room. And he did snicker and snort once in a while when he and the other men gathered at the bar.
    I hated to say it, but watching Marko made me recall an article I’d read recently that talked about sociopaths and how they were much more prevalent in our society than people thought. The article had a checklist of personality traits that seemed to coincide with some of Marko’s. The fact that I couldn’t pin him down on any particular topic, couldn’t decipher any true emotions emanating from him, made me wonder if he had some of those sociopathic tendencies. For one thing, I didn’t think he was mourning Bella at all. Had they truly been a couple? Or had Bella simply been an easy port in a storm, so to speak?
    And the way he had maneuvered the conversation to include him again a minute ago was suspiciously manipulative.
    And yet, I wondered if maybe I wasn’t being fair to him. Maybe in the quiet of his lonely room, Marko suffered greatly from the loss of Bella. But out here with histhree amigos at the bar, he had to put on a show, get all tanked up and party hearty. Show that he was ready to do whatever it took to be part of the gang.
    The four men scoffed and guffawed as they tested each other’s knowledge of trivial football statistics—Nathan excelled at the statistics game—and compared their favorite rock-concert performances. And now they were moving on to the subject of single-malt scotches.
    I had brothers; I knew where this was going. Sure enough, the bartender brought out more glasses and lined them up on the bar. A single-malt taste test was about to be conducted, sure to be accompanied by plenty of laughing and drunken back slaps.
    Nathan’s gloomy mood seemed to have evaporated. So maybe it was just me, after all. It didn’t matter. For the time being, I’d lost interest in trying to figure any of these people out.
    At the other side of the room, Gabriel huddled with Grace at the tarot table. They were deep in conversation and she wasn’t dealing the cards, so I wondered if he was regaling her with the story of our adventure through the trapdoor earlier.
    “Oh, there’s the baby,” Merrilee cooed, drawn to Vinnie and Suzie, who sat with Lily in a quiet corner.
    I pulled a side chair over and joined them.
    “Wanna hold the kidlet, Brooklyn?” Suzie asked.
    “Absolutely,” I said, and took the little darling into my arms. I inhaled the sweet scent of baby powder and wondered if anything could be softer than her pale pink cheeks and tiny baby fingers. After a few minutes of hugging and rocking the baby, I looked at my friends. “This could get addictive.”
    They both smiled in agreement. Even though Suzie and Vinnie had suffered through grief and tears and sadness and doubt that day, their faces now showed nothing but joy. They were clearly enchanted by the baby.
    Everyone was happy about Lily. Over the next hour, most of us, the women as well as the men, found ourselvestaking turns paying visits to the baby and her new moms. There were comments and questions about everything from her tiny toes to her pretty face, her appetite and her attitude, her diaper preferences and her college prospects.
    Some of us already had nicknames for her. She was barely six weeks old and already a beauty. I found it sweet and so amazing that my friends had fallen so deeply and eternally in love with the little bean.
    “Grace took us up to the attic, where we found the most fabulous crib and bassinet,” Vinnie said. “It’s vintage, more than a hundred years old, but it’s perfect for Lily.”
    “I’m having it sanded and refinished,” Grace said. “It’ll go in the new nursery.” She went on to describe the construction plans for a full nursery in one of the third-floor suites. She reminded Merrilee that they had to schedule their contractor to come out next week. Then the two of them discussed the best ways to childproof the house. Grace couldn’t wait for Lily’s visits and suggested a two-weeks-a-month schedule from now on.
    I shot Vinnie a look, thinking this wouldn’t sit well with her, but she smiled serenely. The fact was, she couldn’t seem to stop smiling. Her entire attitude toward Grace seemed to have changed over