A Covert Affair by Susan Mann

Author:Susan Mann [Mann, Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-08-28T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

Quinn stared at the stamp on the title page and tried to keep from jumping to conclusions. No one could dispute the book belonged to the Sikh Reference Library, but which one? The one that had been carried off during Operation Blue Star, or the thriving library rebuilt from its ashes?

She closed the book and set it on the floor. Adrenaline flowing, she reached out, removed a second book, and opened it. The same ownership stamp graced the title page. It was the same for the third book. She thumbed through each again and found no markings to indicate the books had been weeded and discarded from the collection. Even if they had been purposefully purged, all three books had at some point been part of the Sikh Reference Library collection.

Quinn gathered the three books and stood. It took every ounce of self-control she had to keep from sprinting across the room and barreling through the door, waving the books and shouting, “Look what I found!” Instead, she willed her feet to move at a steady pace.

She returned to the lobby and found James and the manager talking on the couch. James’s gaze rose from his notebook and flicked to the books she carried. His eyes then locked on hers, as if silently asking, “What have you got there?” At the same time, his crooked smile said, “Of course you found something.”

The two men stood. James introduced her to Mr. Prasad, the hostel’s manager.

“Namaste,” Quinn began in a passable British accent. “I was just skimming the bookshelves in the recreation room and ran across these three books. I’m curious. Can you tell me where they came from?”

He rubbed his chin with the tips of his fingers. “Yes. As I was just explaining to your husband, the facility was renovated six months ago for the first time in many years. We removed the furniture in the recreation room and found those three books trapped between a couch and a wall. We put them with the others.”

“The others? There were other books with labels like these?” She turned the books so he could see the spines and tapped the labels with her finger.

“I am sorry. I was not clear. We only found those three. I meant we put them in the bookcases with the other books.”

“Oh, I understand,” Quinn said. “And you didn’t find any other books like this anywhere else in the hostel when you refurbished it?”

“No, we did not.” Mr. Prasad’s eyebrows pulled together. “Why do you ask?”

She glanced down at the book entitled Ranjit Singh. Thinking fast, she said, “I’m fascinated by Maharaja Ranjit Singh and the rise of Sikh Empire in the nineteenth century.” What she was about to do next pained her, but it had to be done. Setting the three library books on the couch, she opened her bag and lifted out Trip Wire. “Would it be okay if I left this novel here and took this biography with me?”

Mr. Prasad smiled and dipped his head.

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