Proof of Murder (Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery #4) - Lauren Elliott Page 0,5
not only his company’s good name you’ve placed in jeopardy, but also mine. And I won’t let you take it down!” He spat out his last words standing tall and formidable. “Since it appears you’ll have a long night of work ahead of you appraising the books in the barrister’s case, I’ll leave you to get started. Just make certain that all of the inventory found in it is accounted for.” He pushed past Addie, without even a glance in her direction, and strode out of the room.
Addie jumped as he slammed the doors behind him.
Chapter 3
The tension in the room was stifling. Addie tilted her head toward the red-faced Charlotte, who appeared on the verge of bursting into tears. Addie couldn’t really blame her. Obviously, everyone’s nerves here were on edge as the auction loomed closer but based on what Addie had just witnessed between Charlotte and Blake, she sensed their conflict ran deeper than pre-auction jitters. Her Curious George ears had perked up with a few things that had been said, but meddling in Blake’s private business affairs wasn’t something she could allow herself to get mixed up with. However, ensuring the success of the auction for her old family friend was something she could involve herself in.
She glanced over at the barrister’s case. All her instincts told her that she should help Blake’s auction house retain its sterling reputation, but something gnawed at her and she couldn’t say the words she needed to. She looked back at Charlotte, who was known to be crusty on the outside. However, judging by the dampness on her cheeks now, Addie could see that inside she was really a soft dough ball.
Addie’s gaze drifted around the room, drinking in the magnificence of her dream library—a place she never wanted to leave. Her mind raced. With her new life here in Greyborne Harbor, such as it was in her little bookstore, would she ever again have the opportunity to explore a room like this, or the chance to work with one of the East Coast’s most highly acclaimed appraisers? Oh, what the heck!
Addie drew in a deep breath and mentally crossed her fingers, hoping that Charlotte’s softer side would still prevail and that Addie’s next words wouldn’t come back and bite her. “Maybe I could help out. I mean, if this is the last room to audit before tomorrow.”
“You?” Charlotte swatted at her dewy cheek as if to displace a fly. “What would you know about rare and vintage books?”
“Because that’s what she handled for years at the Boston Library and the British Museum,” squeaked Kalea from over Addie’s shoulder.
Addie spun around and quirked an eyebrow at her cousin, who flashed a sheepish smile.
“I might not have kept in touch with you, but I did stay up-to-date with what you were doing and where you were,” said Kalea.
A twang of guilt plucked at Addie’s conscience. She hadn’t kept up with her cousin’s latest life events at all, now she felt horrible about it.
“You said the Boston Library and the British Museum?” Charlotte snapped, her bird eyes narrowing on Addie’s. “Where did you study?”
Addie accepted the hawkish woman’s challenge and braced herself. “My degrees in Literature and Ancient History were from Columbia. I also completed course work at the Smithsonian, and then I worked at the Boston Library and the British Museum, researching and cataloguing old and rare books.”
“What did Blake say your name was again?”
“It’s Addie . . . Addie Greyborne.”
“Yes . . .” Charlotte stroked her chin, slowly nodding. “I’ve heard about you.”
“You have?” Addie could barely contain her excitement over the fact that this woman, who was in the top of their field, actually knew about her.
“You might prove useful to me after all. What about you?” She pinned Kalea with a steely gaze.
“I’m a paralegal and just have Addie’s interest in old stuff, but I don’t know much about appraising it.”
“Pfffft.” Charlotte waved her hand. “Then, Miss Greyborne, you may start with that bookcase and its contents that Mr. Edwards so eagerly dumped on me this week with, as you no doubt heard, clear instructions to have it catalogued by tomorrow’s ten a.m. auction start.” She opened the top drawer to the desk, pulled out a box of cotton gloves, and shoved it and a key ring toward Addie. “But before you start appraising, you two can move all these boxes of other books out of the way and line them up in order according to the lot sale