I think this may have been the strangest week I’ve had since I started working at Castle Bailey Library and given some of the weeks I’ve had there, that’s really saying something. I mean, we once found our library was a death trap waiting to happen when the Fire Inspector called, and Linda has provided me with more than one anecdote to share with my friends and family.

This time the oddness wasn’t to do with Linda, not directly anyhow, although she had a role to play and not one I would have expected.

It started with an email from Imelda. I haven’t heard from her that much lately. Her initial “Alex and Nina must marry and have babies” enthusiasm has mercifully eased, particularly since Alex went away for nearly five months to London. I guess it was never...

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