Keeper: Chapter 7

Short chapter because I'm on the road.  Much longer chapter tuesday v

Chapter 7

Jamie made a trip back downstairs to retrieve the inventory then returned to the study. He pushed his closed laptop to the side of the desk and flipped through the large stack of papers to the section marked study. He checked off the large scale items like the desk and chairs but skipped over the contents of the drawers to start on the listed books. While Albe, or whoever had cataloged the collection, had been thorough in listing all of the books and authors they were not in the same order on the shelves as they were on the paper. While the paper list was alphabetical by authors’ last names, the shelves had the books grouped by subject. The only way he would find out what books were missing would be by process of elimination. Jamie sighed heavily, then rolled up his sleeves and took the inventory to one of the shelves.



Several hours later, Jamie was a bit dustier than when he started and only a little closer to figuring out what books were missing. He had managed to work his way through one set of shelves.



“Only one?” he thought to himself. “Should have been more.” He looked up at the shelves. The room had what Jamie estimated as a sixteen foot ceiling and the shelves went all the way up. Some of the books were standard sized and some very thin folios wedged between stouter volumes. So each four foot shelf held a varying amount of books. His stomach rumbled before he could estimate how many books he had gone through and a chuckle came from the doorway.



“Looks like my timing was right,” Del said. “Dinner is ready if you are.”



“Let me just wash up and I’ll be down,” Jamie told him. Del headed back to the kitchen and Jamie went back to his room and its connected bathroom. He washed his hands and realized his shirt had picked up a fair amount of dust as well so he changed it before going down.



The smell from the kitchen was marvelous. The sight was even better. Jamie seated himself at the table and was handed a bowl full of thick stew. A freshly baked loaf of bread was also sliced and ready to eat.



“While there was no more ready made I did find some flour and what no in the pantry,” Del told him as he took his own seat.



“This is really good,” Jamie said. “I’m glad House was offended by me living off processed frozen foods.” Del laughed and for a little while they ate in silence. Outside in the gathering dark rain began to fall. Jamie smiled knowing he would sleep well in the rain. He looked at Del.



“You wouldn’t by any chance know where someone like Albe would have bought books do you?” he asked Del. The small man looked a little surprised by the question but thought about it. “Some of the books don’t exactly look like they would be easily available at normal book stores. “ Jamie clarified. “I know some of them are quite old but others looked fairly new.”



“Ah well I can’t say for certain where he got his books but I do know the majority of certain works are ordered by catalog. You have to be a certain someone to get on their mailing list of course.” Del told him. Jamie nodded and continued to eat. It meant that when he had finished going through the book list and found the titles he couldn’t just walk into one of the large chain bookstores and pick up a replacement copy. Considering some of the titles, he wasn’t very surprised. Somehow he didn’t think the large dissertation like book entitled “Clans of the Drashen” would be a best seller.



“If you happen to come across any book catalogs would you let me know?” Jamie asked.



“Sure,” Del told him. “After dinner Jamie was disinclined to leave the warm kitchen. As they had eaten the rain had increased and the outside temperatures had dropped noticeable. As the house cooled it seemed larger and more empty. Jamie pulled a notebook and pencil from the drawer Albe always used for odds and ends and began to make a list. He knew books were missing from the library and he needed to find out what books were missing, who might have taken them and why. He added a note to speak with House in the morning about who had been here before Albe had gone. He tapped the pencil on the note pad and then added ‘search for books on House’ to the list. Since House had been so offended by the thought of a person being allowed in while the keeper was out it might not want to admit that someone could enter without permission.



‘Now I’m worrying about a house’s feelings,’ he thought to himself. ‘Crazy day.’ Jamie added Mozy to the list of things to look into. ‘What would Albe have used for a pass word?’ he asked himself. ‘Knowing Albe it would be something completely nonsensical so it couldn’t be guessed. Of course if Albe had known I would be looking for it he might have put something I would know.’ Jamie started making a list of random words that had been jokes and sayings of Albe’s things they had shared. While the memories were fun none of the words felt quite right. After a time he started yawning and realized his early morning was catching up to him. Del had long since finished in the kitchen and disappeared to his quarters. There was bread dough left to rise overnight in a towel covered bowl on the counter, otherwise there was no indication of anyone else in the house. Jamie decided an earl bedtime would not be a bad idea.



Jamie climbed the stairs and turned into his room. As always there was a stack of wood next to the fireplace. Jamie shivered a little and decided a fire would be a good thing. He lay the logs and kindling as Albe had taught him and soon had a warm blaze in the fireplace. He placed the grate in front of the fire to prevent a spark from burning the house down and turned out the overhead light. Jamie quickly stripped and climbed into bed between the cool sheets. He shivered at the cotton against his skin but figured his body heat would soon warm them up. Jamie snuggled down into the bed and watched the shadows from the firelight dance on the ceiling. The steady sound of rain drumming on the room soon lulled him into sleep.



Jamie was awoken sometime later by a loud crash. The fire had died to ash and the room was black. Only familiarity with the room kept him from bumping into anything as he reached to the door. He turned on the light as he went and when he opened the door light spilled into the hallway. Jamie could hear foot steps approaching and a light growing brighter fast at the entrance to the stairs. Del soon appeared holding a small oil lamp.



“Are you all right?” he asked Jamie. Jamie nodded.



“I think the sound came from Albe’s room.” Del frowned for a second and then his face cleared.



“The master suite hasn’t been cleared out yet,” he confirmed. Personally Jamie didn’t think he would ever really want to take Albe’s room but let the thought slide. Jamie reached for the door knob and swung open the door to Albe’s suite. The four poster bed was broken and splintered on the floor. A giant boulder lay on top. If Jamie had been sleeping in the bed at the time of its arrival he would have been killed. He swallowed hard and stared.



“It looks like someone wants to kill the Keeper,” Del said.