Read The Keepers of the Library Online
Authors: Glenn Cooper
The Keepers of the Library (31 page)
Will put the journal down and wiped away his stinging tears.
Nancy was asleep by his side.
He nudged her awake as gently as he could.
And he told her. He
had
to tell her.
Into the night, they held each other and talked.
October 16, 2027. The Chinese. The Americans. The British. The seeds for what was coming must have been sown over those few days in the Yorkshire Dales.
“I think I’ll leave Washington,” she told him. “Phillip and I will come to Florida. We’ve got a year and a half before this happens. Let’s spend it together in the sun. You can teach me how to fish.”
He kissed her and tried to make her laugh. “It’s going to be bad, really bad, but at least it’s not the end of the world.”
“You still want to go public with what’s going to happen?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Let me sleep on it.”
They made love, talked some more, and made love again. And when the first light of dawn made their curtains glow, they finally fell asleep.
PILOGUE
Y
ou’ll be in here,” the matron said.
Prisoner #965876 stood in front of the cell and waited for the matron to unlock the door. New Hall Prison in West Yorkshire was built in the 1930s of red brick to resemble a fortress. It was overcrowded and noisy. Cells meant for one woman held two, and those meant for two held three.
The new prisoner held her bed linens, blanket and towels to her chest and stepped inside. The door slid closed behind her.
“Bloody ‘ell,” the other prisoner said. She was heavyset, with thick calves and ankles showing beneath a flimsy yellow prison dress. “I’ve had this to myself for just one bloody day, and they’ve filled it with fresh meat already.” She pointed to the top bunk. “That’s yours. My name’s Sheila. I’m from Manchester. What are you in for?”
“Accessory to murder and defeating the course of justice.”
“Oh yeah? Suppose you didn’t do none of it, right?”
“I pled guilty.”
Sheila thought that was hysterically funny. “You
needed a better lawyer! How much time’d they give you?”
“Two years.”
“That’s nothing. I got fifteen. They say I set my boyfriend on fire. I’m not daft like you. I pled not guilty, but they didn’t buy none of it, did they? Whoever done it, he deserved it, the wanker. What’s your name then?”
“Cacia.”
Sheila stared her up and down. “Here, didn’t I see you on the telly?”
“Can’t say,” Cacia said.
“Yeah, I did! You’re from Mallerstang. You had that Library.”
Cacia responded with an almost imperceptible nod and asked if she could stand on the lower bunk to make the upper. Sheila seemed to like the deference, and helped her with the sheets.
“What happened to your family then?”
Cacia answered with dry eyes. “I lost both of me sons. My husband’s in prison waiting trial. He’s charged with murder, and I expect he’ll be sent away for a long, long time. I pled guilty t’ get me time over with so I can get back t’ me daughter. She’s with me sister-in-law and her girls. They’re put up on an estate in Kendal. I lost others too.”
“How come you ain’t crying when you’re telling me all this?”
“I’ve had me fill o’ tears.”
The woman nodded. “Want some tea then?”
While Sheila waited for the kettle to boil, she launched into a pedestrian explanation that all the provisions on the shelf were hers and hers alone. Until Cacia received her first care package from the outside, she’d let her have some items on credit—with
interest, of course. One biscuit would be repaid with two, one tea bag with three …
Cacia sat on her bunk, gazing through the barred window. A sliver of blue sky was visible above the prison ramparts. She thoroughly tuned out her cellmate’s recitation of repayment rules.
“Here, haven’t you been listening to me? Do you or don’t you want a fig biscuit?” Sheila waved one in the air.
Suddenly, Cacia jumped off the bunk and made for the stainless-steel toilet. She fell to her knees in front of it and began retching violently.
“Bloody ‘ell! What’s the matter with you, anyway?” Sheila shouted. “You’d better not be contagious.”
Cacia looked up, wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and smiled.
“Don’t worry, I’m not contagious,” she said, caressing her belly. “It’s only a touch o’ morning sickness.”
GLENN COOPER
is the internationally bestselling author of the Library of the Dead trilogy, as well as The Tenth Chamber and The Devil Will Come. He graduated from Harvard with a degree in archaeology and received a medical degree from Tufts University. After practicing medicine, he was the chairman and CEO of a biotechnology company. He is also a screenwriter and film producer, and his novels have been published in 30 countries. Visit him online at glenncooperbooks.com.
Visit
www.AuthorTracker.com
for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.
FOR LIBRARY OF THE DEAD
“Both incandescent and explosive. A seamless blend of modern-day thriller and historical mystery with an ending that left me breathless.
A debut not to be missed.”
James Rollins,
New York Times–bestselling author of The Doomsday Key and The Devil Colony
“As Cooper builds the layers of intrigue it becomes clear that this is no ordinary crime thriller, but one that asks big questions.… Gripping.”
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
Author photo: Louis Fabian Bachrach
The Keepers of the Library
Copyright © 2013 by Glenn Cooper
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPUB Edition May 2014 ISBN 9781443409292
Published by Harper Weekend, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
First published in Canada by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd in an original trade paperback edition: 2013
This Harper Weekend trade paperback edition: 2014
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
2 Bloor Street East, 20th Floor
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M4W 1A8
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication information is available upon request
ISBN 978-1-44340-928-5
RRD 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street
Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
http://www.harpercollins.com.au
Canada
HarperCollins Canada
2 Bloor Street East - 20th Floor
Toronto, ON, M4W, 1A8, Canada
http://www.harpercollins.ca
New Zealand
HarperCollins Publishers New Zealand
Unit D, 63 Apollo Drive
Rosedale 0632
Auckland, New Zealand
http://www.harpercollins.co.nz
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
77-85 Fulham Palace Road
London, W6 8JB, UK
http://www.harpercollins.co.uk
United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
195 Broadway
New York, NY 10007
http://www.harpercollins.com