Chapter 4
Hours later, Melanie still didn’t know why she’d said that. It had unnerved her enough that she hadn’t rejoined Perrin at the shop. Instead she’d gone down to Elliot Bay Books at the south end of Pioneer Square, a few blocks past the condo.
As promised, it was a magnificent store; a labyrinthine collection set in interconnected lofty, bright spaces. A little wooden ramp led up to Pacific Northwest history and women’s fiction. At the far end of the ramp, bookcases of age-worn wood were crammed to bursting with an excellent humor collection.
In the room beyond ranged a vast collection of science fiction, romances, mystery, and more, simply poised and awaiting their moment to leap from the shelf into a patron’s hands. She found new books by two of her favorite mystery authors, an
