Twelve Angry Librarians

“No, I’m fine,” I said. “Sore in places, and my hands hurt a bit, but nothing serious. Stewart took excellent care of me. I suppose I have him to thank for telling you about what happened last night.”

Sean nodded. “He told me about it right off this morning when I got here. He and Haskell were heading to the gym. Don’t get mad at him for telling me before you did, okay? He and Haskell were talking about it when they came out the door, and naturally I asked what had happened. He told me.”

“I wasn’t going to be angry with Stewart,” I said. “Would you like to hear my version?”

“Naturally.” Sean waved his fork at me again and then resumed eating.

In between mouthfuls of my breakfast and sips of coffee, I gave my son a quick rundown of yesterday’s events, from the afternoon encounter with Gavin Fong to the later attack by an unknown assailant.

“You’re pretty sure it was this guy Fong, even though you didn’t see the person who hit you?” Sean put his fork down, his plate now empty.

“I’m sure,” I said. “I can’t imagine anyone else who’d want to attack me like that. Can you?”

“Other than a few murderers that you’ve helped finger,” Sean said, “and they’re all accounted for, I can’t think of anyone else, besides possibly a friend or family member of one of them.”

“Even if I hadn’t seen Gavin outside Helen Louise’s place shortly before it happened, I’d still say he was the one.”

Sean nodded. “Reasonable, though it wouldn’t stand up in court.”

“I know,” I said. “And I’m not going to be foolish enough to press charges. I have other things to worry about, like this meeting with Forrest Wyatt at eight thirty.”

“It’s ten after eight now, Dad,” Sean said. “You’d better get going.”

“I lost track of the time.” I pushed back from the table. “Azalea, I can’t take Diesel with me today. Will you mind staying with him until I come home around two or two thirty?”

“Mr. Cat and me’ll be just fine. You go on and do what you need to do,” Azalea said.

I noticed that Diesel had been keeping a close watch on Azalea while I ate. I had no doubt she was slipping him bits of bacon when I wasn’t looking. When I first brought him home she wouldn’t have anything to do with him, but over time he managed to win her over.

“Thank you,” I said. “If I’m held up for any reason, I’ll let you know.”

“I need to get to the office myself,” Sean said. “Can I drive you to campus?”

“Thanks, but I need my car. I have to get over to the Farrington House for the conference after the meeting.” I gave Diesel a couple of good-bye rubs and admonished him to be a good boy for Azalea. He gave me a couple sad meows in return because he realized he wasn’t coming with me.

During the short drive to campus, I allowed myself to think about the upcoming meeting. I had kept it resolutely at the back of my mind. The whole situation embarrassed me, and I didn’t look forward to having to stand in the president’s office and hear about the effect on the good name of the school, and how disappointed Forrest was, and so on. I was disappointed in myself, and I decided the best thing I could do would be to resign as interim and go back to being the part-time rare book cataloger and archivist if I was allowed.

I found a parking spot close to the administration building, and I presented myself to the president’s administrative assistant at eight twenty-seven. Moments later, I was shown into the small conference room nearby. I had expected to find the president and the college general counsel, because of course the lawyers would have to be involved. Instead, I found the members of the search committee for the library director job seated around the table.

Forrest rose from his seat at the head of the table. “Good morning, Charlie. I’m glad you could join us at such short notice. Please, take a seat.”

I nodded and found an empty spot near the other end of the table. This is going to be worse than I imagined, I thought. The whole committee is here, and I’ve got to explain myself to all of them. I suppressed a sigh, rested my hands in my lap, and waited for the unpleasantness to start.

Forrest remained standing at the head of the table. “Charlie, the rest of the committee and I met this morning without you. I know that’s unusual, but I’m sure you will understand why in a moment.”

I know why, I thought dismally. I wanted to climb under the table.

“Frankly, I think we are all disappointed in the caliber of the persons applying for the position of library director,” Forrest said.

I wanted to cringe even more when I heard the first few words of that sentence. I was so focused on them, in fact, that I hardly heard the rest of it.