Page 72 of The Bookshop of Forbidden Books

“How did I not see it before?” he went on, muttering to himself.

“Mitch? What key?” she pressed again.

“What?”

“You okay? Back among the living?”

“We need to go back upstairs,” he said feverishly, seizing her hand.

She followed him up the stairs to the storeroom, almost regretting pushing him to go down there in the first place. Before moving that damned carpet aside, he’d seemed more or less normal, but now…

Mitch pointed at a pile of books stacked on top of a cardboard box, his eyes as wild as if he’d just unearthed the tip of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

“Mitch, say something!” Anna pleaded.

“I thought it was a rat,” he whispered.

“Something that makes sense! Please!”

“It wasn’t The Handmaid’s Tale!”

“What are you talking about?”

Suddenly animated, Mitch took Anna in his arms and kissed her – which failed to reassure her.

“Someone had been in the back room, I was almost sure of it,” he explained. “But I couldn’t figure out why. There was nothing valuable back there – at least, nothing any thief would want – and nothing seemed to be missing. It was just that The Red and the Black wasn’t how I’d left it – it was like the intruder had picked it up and put it back down, but not exactly where he’d found it. It bugged me, because I thought I’d left The Handmaid’s Tale on the top of the pile. But I was wrong – it was Fahrenheit 451!”

“The book Salinas had in court?”

“One and the same,” Mitch confirmed, his voice shaking. “The locks on the doors were intact, the rug hadn’t been moved, the alarm hadn’t been set off. I figured it had been a rat. But it wasn’t that. Someone took it.”

“Okay. Let’s try to calm down – you especially – and start over,” Anna said. “If someone robbed you, how do you explain the door not being forced and the alarm not going off? Did anyone have a key?”

Mitch sank heavily onto a box and buried his face in his hands.

Chapter 26

The Mystery of the Walk-In Fridge

The emptiness in Mitch’s stare suggested something deeper than shock, a betrayal that was both obvious and impossible to accept. Anna had managed to convince him that some fresh air and a proper meal would do him some good. She’d coaxed him all the way to the restaurant and cooked him a bowl of orzo with wild asparagus she’d bought at the market that morning, originally meant for a new tofu-based spring soup she was experimenting with. But now, sitting across from her in the dining room, Mitch looked even more downcast than before.

“Mitch,” she began carefully, “you look like the weight of the world’s just fallen on your shoulders.”

“I don’t even know where I stand anymore. I feel like my whole past has turned into some kind of illusion.”

“Are you worried you’ll end up forgetting it completely?”

“I don’t know. It’s seeming less and less real.”

“Well, I know exactly what will cheer you up.”

She pulled a small notebook from her apron pocket, flipped through the pages and handed it to him. “You’ll find everything I need in the walk-in fridge. Just get everything on that list and bring it to me in the kitchen. Can you do that for me?”

Mitch nodded and set off for the back of the restaurant.

“Remember to close the door behind you!” she called out. “The temperature has to remain constant!”

When he’d gone, she let out a sigh of relief. She needed a moment to herself.