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“Yes”
“You want to use my car?”
“I think we should, since I don’t happen to own one”
CHAPTER 13
ANNABELLE CONROY RODE THE ELEVATOR up to the second floor, stepped off, turned and entered the Rare Book Reading Rooress She surveyed the large rooht his eye and he quickly came forward
“Annabelle, what are you doing here?”
“Can you take a break? I’ve got Reuben and Harry Finn out front We want to talk”
“About what?”
“What do you think? Oliver Those guys took him from the hospital and we haven’t seen or heard from him since”
“If anyone can take care of himself it’s Oliver”
“But he ht need our help”
“All right, give me a minute”
As they rode down in the elevator Caleb said, “This has been quite an exciting day for me”
“Why’s that?”
“We just got in an F Scott And not just any F Scott The F Scott”
“The F Scott what?” asked Annabelle
Caleb gazed at her in horror “F Scott Fitzgerald One of the greatest American writers of all time” He sputtered, “My God, Annabelle, where have you been all these years?”
“Nowhere near a library, I guess”
“The book is The Great Gatsby, arguably his greatest achievement, and certainly his most well-knoork And it’s not just any Great Gatsby, of which we have several It’s a first edition, first state, of course But it has the very rare, scarcely obtainable dust jacket cover” Annabelle looked at hi pair of female eyes? It is one of the most uniquely famous covers in classic literature You see, the cover was actually conceived before Fitzgerald finished writing the book He loved it so e”
“Very interesting,” said Annabelle politely, but her tone actually showed little interest She had once shared a van with Caleb for nearly two days, during which he had regaled her nearly nonstop with literary scuttlebutt She had never really recovered froht
They got off the elevator and walked toward the exit
Caleb continued, “And that’s not the best part The best part is that it’s Zelda’s copy The provenance is absolutely certain”
“Who’s Zelda?”
“Who’s Zelda?” sputtered Caleb again “His wife, of course Scott and Zelda A ic couple you would be hard pressed to find She died in an asyluerald drank himself to death He inscribed the book for her What a coup for the library A one of one,” he added “We love those”
“Totally unique?”
“Absolutely”
“How much did you pay for it?”
Caleb looked taken aback He blustered, “Well, I mean, that is not for public—”
“Come on, just an estimate”
“It ell into the six figures, I’ll have to leave it at that,” he said, a bit pompously
Annabelle now looked interested “My grandhts I wonder how ht be worth It’s in excellent condition”
Caleb looked intrigued “Wuthering Heights? First editions of those in pristine condition are rare Where did she get it?”
“At a bookstore eight years ago It’s a paperback, is that a problem?”
Caleb gazed stonily at her and said stiffly, “Funny”
Outside they er version of Stone, lean and lethal Unless he needed tohis energy for when a crisis occurred Reuben had changed froarb of jeans and a sweatshirt withinto the library