The Book of Death (Bourbon Kid 4)

your list of people to
question?’
    Sanchez pondered what he’d said
for a moment before answering. ‘It’s okay. That’s not why I’m here. Although if
she has been murdered I would imagine you’ll be the prime suspect in any
investigation, so don’t go leaving town any time soon.’
    ‘Yes sir. So what can I do for
you now?’
    Sanchez headed to a staircase on
the left-hand wall that led to the first floor and the Reference section. ‘I’m
fine thanks. Shouldn’t need any help,’ he said. ‘Just got to relieve you of a
book to help with an investigation.’
    ‘What book is it?’
    ‘Never you mind.’
    He walked briskly up the stairs
and left Josh behind to stick the OPEN sign up in the front window by the
entrance.
    The upstairs section of the
library looked as daunting as ever. There were countless aisles full of books
and plenty of tables and chairs in which students could sit and read for free.
On Sanchez’s last visit he had smuggled The Book of Death out by tucking it
into the back of his pants so Ulrika Price wouldn’t see it. There would be no
need to do that this time. He was now an officer of the law, and Ulrika Price
wasn’t on duty.
    The Reference section was full
of shelves that carried on all the way up to the ceiling, filled with hardback
books about all kinds of boring subjects. It was a blessing that the books were
sorted alphabetically by author name, well, more or less. He headed straight to
the first row of shelves and began scouring the spines of the books written by
authors whose surnames began with A. It seemed that the Reference section was
the graveyard for all the unclassifiable books that were dumped by Josh when he
didn’t know where to put them. Aside from not being in particularly good
alphabetical order there were also all kinds of non-referential books in sight.
Sanchez flicked through the titles until he came to one by Anonymous. It was
called Primary Colors. Scouring along the shelf to the right he saw several
more books, some with the name Anonymous along the spine and others with no
name at all. It baffled him how anyone could be so stupid as to go to the
trouble of writing a book and then forget to put his or her name on it.
    There were varying titles, some
of which were further reference books in the “Gay Man’s Guide To…” series.
During his last visit to the library Sanchez had mistakenly picked up a copy of
The Gay Man’s Guide to Anal Sex and ended up borrowing it to prevent Ulrika
Price from noticing he was stealing The Book of Death at the same time. The
guide wasn’t due back for another week so he had left it back at the Tapioca.
In fact he wasn’t sure how he was ever going to get around to returning that
book, simply because of the embarrassment of being seen with it in public.
    After scouring over a hundred
books, he finally spotted the familiar black binding on The Book of Death. The
title was written in a white font, which had faded quite badly. He felt his
heart race in his chest. This was it, the ticket to fifty thousand dollars in
reward money and a place in Jessica’s heart. If this didn’t impress her,
nothing would.
    He pulled the book out from
where it had been wedged in by Rick the day before. Resting it on the edge of
one of the shelves he flicked it open at about halfway. It was definitely the
right book. It was full of names, just as he remembered. He flicked through the
pages until eventually he came to the one where he had written Jessica’s name
along with two others. Checking both ways along the aisle to see if anyone was
watching, he grabbed a firm hold of the page and tore it out of the book as
quietly as he could. He crumpled the paper up and stuck it into one of the
front pockets on his pants. Everything seemed to have worked out perfectly. He
breathed a sigh of relief and tucked the book under his arm, then he strolled
confidently back out of the aisle and out into the open area near the reception
desk. Josh was now sitting behind the reception desk. He nodded at Sanchez when
he saw him.
    ‘Find what you were looking for,
Detective?’ he asked.
    ‘Yes I did, thanks.’
    ‘Can I ask what it is, please?’
    Sanchez thought about it. He had
nothing to hide this time. He wanted the world to know he had been the one to
locate the book. If by some chance anyone else tried to take the credit for
discovering it, he would have Josh as a witness. In fact, he decided, it would
be worth checking the book out in his own