The Geographer's Library

The Geographer’ s Library
alert, good-natured grin; he raised his eyebrows in interested greeting. Joe
stood and wiped his beery hands on the seat of his trousers.
“Is everything okay?” Hannah asked from behind me. I turned around:
her gray eyes were wide, her lips pressed tight and slightly turned up in a look
of bemused curiosity. It really was a wonderful face, all swooping highcheekboned
space, quick-change expressions, and watery calm.
“I’m very sorry, Paul, we had no idea you had company,” said Gomes.
“Yeah, you got a lovely lady waiting on the stairs, and you come in here
and break your kitchen furniture all over the place,” said Joe.
“Everything’s fine,” I said to Hannah. “These are two lock-picking
friends of mine, Joe Jadid and Sal Gomes. This is Hannah Rowe.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Rowe. You ought to know, by the way,
that Fat Person over here wrecked the kitchen chair, not Paul,” said Gomes.
Hannah said hesitantly, “Okayyy?” then turned to me and crisply asked,
“Paul, where do you want me to put the groceries? Should I run out and get
some more food if there are going to be four of us?”
The question had its intended effect, and Gomes stood up, saying,
“Thank you, but we need to be getting out of here. Really, it was rude of us to
break and enter like this.” He kissed Hannah’s hand, and she responded
instantly with a mock curtsy.
Joe settled for an awkward handshake that completely engulfed her avian
hand in his.
“That was the ‘Libera me’ from Fauré’s Requiem, wasn’t it?” she asked.
“Indeed it was,” said Gomes, turning around and bowing. “One of the
lasting benefits of a Catholic education.”
“I love the piece.”
“‘Free me, God, from eternal death.’ So do I.”
Gomes gave us both an inclusive wave, and Joe knocked me on the shoulder
and asked me to follow him outside to his car. I asked Hannah to lock up
behind me. She agreed, but a suspicious look floated across her face.
“so you guys decided you didn’t need to go back to Wickenden after
sneaking around outside your jurisdiction? Instead you wanted to come and
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