Dead To Me

“Right,” I said apologetically. I tentatively grabbed hold of one end of the bookcase and lifted it up the few inches that I could. “Sorry.”

The damn thing weighed a ton and was still thrashing around. Co

“It’s okay, kid. It’s my fault,” Co

“What the hell is it?” I asked as I nudged it with my foot. It gave a sudden helpless thrash and I raised my bat again.

“The Department’s still not quite sure,” said Co

“Because I didn’t ask nicely?!” I said. “How did…How did you…?”

“How did I stop it?” Co

It had stopped moving by this point, and I leaned closer. “Is it…dead?”

“Oh, heavens, no,” Co

I looked around.

“The place is a mess!” I said. “Should we go tell Cyrus?”

“And run the risk of him charging us for damages?” Co

Co

“What’s this?”

“It’s the book I sent you to look for,” Co

“That’s not very nice,” I said, kicking the bookcase once before stepping past it.

“It’s better than being crushed to death,” Co

I opened theDirectory of the Dearly Departed and flipped to the back, following Co

Without hesitation, I flipped to a section entitled “Death by Bookcase” to see what other unfortunates had met my (almost) fate. There was page after page of entries; the most recent listing read “Simon Canderous” and gave my address in SoHo below it. Before I could even call out to Co

Thanks to Inspectre Quimbley’s questioning earlier, we had a possible lead from Irene-a flash of yellow. Not much to go on, but this being Manhattan, I immediately flipped to “Death by Taxi.” It looked like half the book was dedicated to such instances and the most recent page was filling up with new names and addresses at the speed of a stock ticker. I flipped through eleven pages of listings just from this morning until I came across the first listing for an Irene-a Manhattan address on the Upper West Side. As I wrote it down, I noticed her full name.

IreneBlatt.

Her name left a little to be desired. She had been so striking when I met her, so full of life and class, that I was sure that her name would be something exotic. I felt both relief and disappointment as I stared at the page.

Irene Blatt.

I rolled it around my mind, seeing if it would fall into place, and realized that it wouldn’t. I double-checked the listing. There was a brief description of her, right down to the clothes she wore and the deep blue eyes of hers that I had fallen into. There was no doubt that this Central Park West resident was indeed our Irene.

“Irene…Blatt,” I said out loud.

Co

“I’m sorry, did you just burp? Blatt?” Co

“Does IreneBlatt seem like something I’d joke about?” I asked.

“Actually,” Co

I nodded. A heavy, clattering thump came from far back in the Stacks and I jumped at the sound. I caught the slightest twitch from Co

“Someone’s waking up,” I said.

“Yep,” Co

Another volley of noise came from behind us, and I looked up the aisle toward the gate. There was a lot of space for us to cover and a whole lot of side aisles for something to charge us. “Do you think it’s safe to leave?”

“I suppose,” answered Co

9

I desperately wanted to head straight to Irene’s address, but Co

“Look, kid,” he said. “I don’t know what to expect when we get to her place, but I’m pretty sure we’re go

I nodded. Even though I hated him for his clearheadedness, Co

We cabbed it from Tome, Sweet Tome down to the Twenties and over to Sixth Avenue before Co

“Sugar yourself up, kid. We’ve got some tests to run.”

If I was going to expend my powers during some field training, I was going to need as much sugar as I could take, and after scarfing down three Boston kremes in a row, I felt bouncy. Co

“You go

I shook my head. We continued across the street, paid the two-dollar admission, and entered the ramshackle warehouse that played host to the A

Bare bulb fluorescents hung high overhead, their unflattering light washing everything a little too brightly. The floor of the open warehouse space divided into row after row of sheetrock stalls that each vendor had stuffed full of their wares.

“It’s like that warehouse at the end ofRaiders,” I said as I looked down one of the never-ending aisles. “Think they have the Ark of the Covenant here?”