Free The Murders in the Reed Moore Library by Ryan M. Welch Page B

crouched down and flattened his
ears.
    Why had she screamed? She was standing just
out of the work area, behind the circulation desk. She had her
hands pressed to her face now. Dupin rose slightly and opened his
mouth. He breathed deep and picked up a faint sticky scent of
decay, but mingled with it a floral smell. That wasn't the smell of
the man in the book drop.
    Dupin padded up beside Penny. There, in the
wood book drop beneath the counter he saw dark red curls, the top
of some woman's head. Another dead person in a book drop? What was
going on? He smelled salt and looked up to see tears falling from
Penny's eyes. She sniffed and wiped her hand against her eyes. She
took a deep breath and turned and headed back towards her office,
nearly stepping on Dupin. Not that he'd be so slow as to let that
happen.
    He heard Penny in her office picking up the
phone again. More calls to the police. Dupin walked closer to the
drop and breathed deep. He didn't smell any blood. The woman didn't
die the same way as the man in the outside book drop. Dead people
in book drops, that wasn't right. His fur rose up and he growled
deep in his throat. Not right at all. Who hid their kills in a book
drop? There had to be better places. Whoever did this put the
bodies there for a reason. They wanted the bodies found. Why?
    Penny sounded upset, almost yelling into the
phone. Dupin walked closer to the drop but he couldn't see inside.
Just the dark red curls sticking up out of the drop. In the office
he heard Penny put down the phone. He went over to the drop and
rose up, putting his front paws against the wood. He opened his
mouth and breathed in deep.
    Death smells, he knew those from killing mice
and birds. Stronger from the much larger human. It made him
sneeze.
    "Dupin!"
    He tried to turn but he had been so focused
that Penny was right behind him. She grabbed him before he could
twist away and lifted him up into the air. Human thumbs! He didn't
fight. He just went limp. She marched across the work area, turned
right and then held him just with one hand. She opened the metal
door in the back corner and set him outside on the concrete
ramp!
    Dupin shook himself and started to turn and
dart back inside but at that moment Penny pulled the door closed.
Dupin stared at the gray metal in shock.
    She put him out! Without his tuna?!
    Dupin reached out one paw and drew his claws
along the metal. He waited a second, then did it again. Nothing.
Twice more and no response. Annoyed Dupin sat down in front of the
door and used both paws, alternating. Scratch, scratch, scratch,
scratch!
    Penny didn't come!
    Dupin gave out a frustrated yowl and swiped
at the door again. She actually put him out without his tuna
because of dead bodies? Clearly she didn't have her priorities in
order. Which meant she was going to need his help to put things
right. Dupin gave the door a final swipe.
    First things, first. How was he going to get
back inside?

    #
     
    Sirens screeched through the morning air.
Dupin flattened his ears and looked towards the road. Police. He
bounded off the concrete path into the dark space beneath the
rhododendron bushes. Dried leaves crunched beneath his feet. He
padded quickly away from the back door, slipping from one bush to
the next. He caught a whiff of squirrel but didn't stop. Out on the
street the police sirens rang out again and again.
    Dupin reached the corner of the building and
broke into a trot as the police cars pulled into the parking lot.
Uniformed bodies poured out of the cars. Vans pulled behind the
cars and more people got out. So many people! He picked up the pace
and made it to the front doors before any of the police or other
humans even got close to the building. Dupin crouched beneath the
bench along the left side of the walkway, near the black metal bike
racks. It smelled of burnt tobacco beneath the bench and one stale
bag of chips.
    The library's front door swung open. Penny's
shoes shuffled on the concrete as she edged away