The Book Waitress (Book 1, The Book Waitress Series) by Deena Remiel Read Free Book Online Page A

Derek’s voice seemed so far away.
    “Where are you?” She looked around the room and a hand popped up , waving from the other end of the room. “Coming.” She jogged over to see what he’d discovered. He’d crouched down in front of a high, red leather ben ch one might find at a bar and held his black light. “Hey, nothi ng unusual so far on my end. So, w ha t did you find? ”
    He waved the wand over the seat.
    “Oh, oh , my God.” Her feet had a mind of their own as they stepped backward, away from the blaring evidence, and she bumped into a huge box of toilet paper , sending it toppling over, spilling its contents. But she didn’t care. On the settee wasn’ t just a little drop of blo od. A small droplet or two she figured she could handle. Instead, it appeared as though the entire seat had been bathed in the gore .
    Derek jumped up and raced over to her. “Whoa, are you okay?” He grabbed her gently by her shoulders. His strong hands steadied her as she tried to regroup .
    “ Not sure. S tartled a bit . I really hadn’t expected to find anything like that down here. I’ve never seen anything quite like th is in my life. What the hell happened and to whom I don’t even want to fathom.” She shook her head and breathed in deeply, but it did nothing to erase what she’d seen. “You know what, Derek, I thought I could use a little excitement in my life, but this , this is so not what I had in mind. I think I’m gonna leave this to the professional here, you, and go upstairs. I have plenty of work left to do, so take your time.”
    She ran back to the stairs and took them two at a time. Back to the safety of her stacks and books. With trembling hands, she shelved books that earlier had been entered into the system and barcoded. She walked away from the cart for a moment to put a book away, and on her return, all the books fell from the cart to the floor.
    “Are you kidding me?” She stomped her foot. “John Stalworthy , stop it this instant! I’ve had all I can handle today, so go bugger off! ”
    She picked up the books and replaced them , trying to gather some semblance of normalcy. Ghosts on their own were enough to handle. Now, satanic worshippers had been discovered doing unspeakable things in the library’s basement. She hadn’t bargain ed for this. Derek would connect all the dots and find those who needed to be brought to justice. He didn’t need her for that. And she would get off this evil island if it was the last thing she did. Schemes and plans took form then reconfigured into others. Over and over again, though, each plan led to her leaving this job and this town.
    “Camille.” A soft, tender voice broke through the tumultuous playground of her mind.
    “ What, Derek? ” She didn’t stop what she was doing, and she didn’t look at him. She couldn’t face him after her cowardly display downstairs. This budding friendship had just taken a turn for the failure zone.
    “I’m sorry. I’m sorry about everything. I feel horrible.”
    “Don’t be . I went down there willingly. I made my own choices. I just didn’t anticipate my spineless reaction. ” She slid a book into place on a shelf. “ Didn’t realize I would wither so easily at the sight of invisible blood . Did you know blood makes up ten percent of our bodies? It’s also twice as thick as water. ” She paused and took a breath. Damn these u seless facts worm ing their way into my mind at times like this! “ Are you finished down there already ?”
    “No, but I was worried about you. I wanted to make sure you were all right. Are you? All right, I mean. And you’re not a chicken . I didn’t expect to see that either, quite frankly. It’s rather gruesome, but I’ve seen much worse in my reporting over the years that I’ve become numb to it and forget others have not . ”
    She still refused to make eye contact , choosing to shelve another book instead . “Well, I can tell you that I’m totally freaked out righ