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Back The Silence of the Library
Chapters (50)
  1. COVER
  2. PRAISE FOR TITLES BY MIRANDA JAMES
  3. ALSO BY MIRANDA JAMES
  4. TITLE PAGE
  5. COPYRIGHT
  6. DEDICATION
  7. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  8. ONE
  9. TWO
  10. THREE
  11. FOUR
  12. FIVE
  13. SIX
  14. SEVEN
  15. EIGHT
  16. NINE
  17. TEN
  18. ELEVEN
  19. TWELVE
  20. THIRTEEN
  21. FOURTEEN
  22. FIFTEEN
  23. SIXTEEN
  24. SEVENTEEN
  25. EIGHTEEN
  26. NINETEEN
  27. TWENTY
  28. TWENTY-ONE
  29. TWENTY-TWO
  30. TWENTY-THREE
  31. TWENTY-FOUR
  32. TWENTY-FIVE
  33. TWENTY-SIX
  34. TWENTY-SEVEN
  35. TWENTY-EIGHT
  36. TWENTY-NINE
  37. THIRTY
  38. THIRTY-ONE
  39. THIRTY-TWO
  40. THIRTY-THREE
  41. THIRTY-FOUR
  42. THIRTY-FIVE
  43. THIRTY-SIX
  44. THIRTY-SEVEN
  45. THIRTY-EIGHT
  46. THIRTY-NINE
  47. FORTY
  48. AFTERWORD
  49. LETTER TO THE READER
  50. SPECIAL EXCERPT FROM BLESS HER DEAD LITTLE HEART

“I think Yancy Thigpen is there, too. Alive, I hope, like Mrs. Cartwright.” I shuddered. “If they’re not, what will you do?”

Kanesha’s answered chilled me further, though it wasn’t unexpected. “Start looking for evidence of digging on their property.”

“If only there were a way to unmask Eugene in public. That would do it, wouldn’t it?”

“It would certainly get the ball rolling,” Kanesha said. “But I’m not going to go up to Mrs. Cartwright and accuse her of being Eugene in drag. Too risky.”

An idea had occurred to me, but I wasn’t sure whether Kanesha would go for it. It was corny and clichéd, but it had worked in the past. “How about this? We get Eugene, as Mrs. Cartwright, to come to the library tomorrow with Marcella. Maybe I can ask Teresa to call them and say that we want to discuss further the idea of paying Mrs. Cartwright to appear at the library. I could ask them questions, see if Eugene squirms, and if all else fails, I could try to get the wig off.”

Kanesha almost smiled. “Would you really go through with it?”

I nodded.

“You realize you could be laying yourself open to a lawsuit if by some chance you’re wrong. Even if you’re right, Eugene might try to sue you or charge you with assault.”

“I’m willing to take the chance.” My heart thumped harder than usual in my chest, but I would do as I promised.

Kanesha regarded me in silence for a long moment. “Why not? It’s unorthodox, but I don’t have any better options at the moment. Do you think Teresa Farmer will go along?”

“I’m sure she will. I don’t have to tell her everything if you don’t want me to, just that we need to get Eugene, or rather Mrs. Cartwright, and Marcella to the library as soon as possible.”

“If you can get her to do it without telling her completely why, that would be better. That way she can’t give anything away.”

Teresa was shrewd and no doubt would realize that I was hatching some kind of plot, but I thought she would trust me enough to go along without asking any inconvenient questions.

“I’ll call her right now.” I took out my cell phone. She answered almost immediately. After we got the preliminaries out of the way, I said, “I can’t tell you why, but I really need to get Mrs. Cartwright and Marcella to the library tomorrow.” I explained what I wanted her to do. I could tell by her tone that she was burning with curiosity, but she obviously trusted me enough to agree without pressing me for more information. “Call me back as soon as you’ve made the arrangements with them.”