Smoke in Mirrors

Her initial nervousness had turned to outright alarm when Leonora had confronted her with the information that she had been seen sneaking out of the library office. Panic had set in immediately. After a weak stab at denial, she had plunged straight into mitigating circumstances.

Leonora had been right. Julie wasn’t what anyone would call a hardened criminal.

“I realize you didn’t take anything.” Leonora sat in the chair at the desk. “But I want to know why you searched my satchel. I’m sure you can understand my concern.”

“I was just curious, that’s all,” Julie said sullenly.

“About what?” Leonora asked.

Julie twisted restlessly on her chair. “I dunno.”

Thomas decided it was time for him to play his part. He had been standing silently at the window, letting Leonora handle the interrogation, waiting for his cue.

He faced the girl. “What did you tell Alex Rhodes about the results of your search?”

Julie froze, a terrified rabbit confronting a predator. Being the bad cop wasn’t as much fun as the television shows made it appear, Thomas thought. Especially when the victim was only nineteen years old.

But her reaction told him that he had hit the nail on the head. He had to keep going forward or risk giving her time to recover and think up a story.

“I saw you at Rhodes’s place yesterday afternoon,” he said. “That would have been after you went through Miss Hutton’s things. You were obviously reporting back to him.”

“I didn’t . . . I didn’t—” Julie’s face crumpled. Tears slid down her cheeks. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Look,” Thomas said. “We don’t give a damn if you’re sleeping with him. Speaking as an official adult, I’ve got to tell you that I think it’s a mistake, but—”

Julie clamped both hands into fists and shot to her feet. Her face flushed with outrage. “I’m not sleeping with Mr. Rhodes. Who told you I was? It’s a lie.”

“Rhodes has a thing for attractive students. But that’s your problem, not ours.”

“I am not sleeping with him, damn it,” Julie stormed. “He’s old. Why would I want to go to bed with a guy who’s almost forty? I love Travis. We’re going to get married as soon as we graduate.”

“Sure,” Thomas said.

It occurred to him that he was damn close to forty himself and getting older by the minute. He wondered if he looked old to Leonora.

“It’s the truth!” Julie was shouting now.

“That’s enough, Thomas.” Leonora rose from her chair, plucked some tissues from the box on the desk and crossed the small space to where Julie stood trembling. “I think Julie is telling us the truth.”

She put the tissues in Julie’s hand and gently eased her back down into the cushion.

“It is the truth,” Julie sobbed into the tissue. “I swear I’m not letting that old dude screw me. Jeez. I can’t even imagine getting into bed with someone his age. It’s disgusting.”

“Take it easy,” Leonora said gently. “We know you’ve been to see Alex Rhodes and we know you searched my satchel. We think there’s a link between those two facts and we’re trying to figure out what it is, that’s all. We’re a little worried, you see.”

“I’m not sleeping with Mr. Rhodes,” Julie mumbled dejectedly into the tissue. “I’m working for him.”

Thomas stilled. Leonora must have sensed that he was about to pounce. She shook her head silently in warning. He hesitated and then reluctantly subsided.

Annoyed at having his prey snatched out from under his paw, he turned back to the window.

“It’s all right, Julie,” Leonora murmured behind him. “We understand. It was a job. That’s different.”

Thomas kept quiet. He turned around again, in time to watch Leonora pat Julie in a comforting, almost maternal manner. Not just playing good cop, he realized. There was genuine empathy in her stance and the way she touched the younger woman.

“We need the money,” Julie whispered in a broken voice.

“You and Travis?” Leonora pressed.

“Travis’s grades haven’t been so good lately. His dad’s threatening to cut off his tuition and expenses. Travis can’t make enough with his part-time job as a gardener to cover his rent and fees and stuff.”

“So Rhodes offered you some extra cash for going through Miss Hutton’s things, is that it?” Thomas asked.

His voice must have been a little rougher than he had intended. Julie flinched visibly. Leonora gave him another repressive glare.

“He said he just wanted to know if Miss Hutton was a legitimate librarian.”

“There’s such a thing as an illegitimate librarian?” Thomas asked.

“He said he was concerned because at the last campus where he worked he remembered hearing about a phony librarian who used fake credentials to get into the rare book archives and steal some really valuable old books. He said the description fit Miss Hutton. But he told me that he didn’t want to get her in trouble unless she really was a phony.”

“He sent you to get a look at my identification?” Leonora asked.

Julie sniffed. “He just wanted to get your social security number or a credit card number so he could check it out on his computer to make sure you were who you said you were.”

“Just doing his civic duty, is that it?” Thomas said.

“I told you,” Julie muttered. “He didn’t want to get Miss Hutton in trouble unless she was a real phony.”

“A real phony.” Leonora handed Julie a fresh tissue. “An interesting turn of phrase.”

Thomas looked at Julie. “Did you give Miss Hutton’s social security number to Rhodes?”

“No. I couldn’t find it.” Julie blew her nose into the new tissue.

Thomas exhaled slowly. Maybe this wasn’t going to turn out so badly.

“So I gave him her driver’s license number instead,” Julie concluded.

“Shit,” Thomas said.

Leonora frowned.

Julie jerked violently.

“Anything else?” Thomas asked.

Julie swallowed. “Well, I also found a couple of credit cards, so I gave him those numbers, too.”

“Shit,” Thomas said again. “Little Miss Helpful.”

“I thought I was helping Mr. Rhodes catch a book thief,” Julie added. “I thought I was doing the right thing.”