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rise and fall from his chest and the cold touch of his skin made it clear. The man was dead.

L indsey met Police Chief Emma Plewicki at the main doors to the library. She had called Emma directly and told her about the dead stranger. She did not tell anyone on staff. She didn’t want to cause a panic, plus if someone in the library had done the deed, she didn’t want them to slip away.
    She had no idea where Jack had gone or what he might know about the man in the room. The only thing she did know was that Jack was no murderer. She didn’t care how bad it looked; she wouldn’t believe it until she heard from Jack himself.
    Emma Plewicki was built solid with glossy black hair that framed her heart-shaped face and big velvet brown eyes that, surrounded by long curly eyelashes, had beguiled more than one felon into confessing his crimes.
    Emma stepped through the sliding doors and looked at Lindsey in question. Lindsey tipped her head to the side in a follow-me gesture. Emma turned to the two officers who had come with her.
    â€œCover the exits,” she said. “Close the library. No one enters or leaves without my say-so.”
    â€œWhat happened?” Emma asked Lindsey. She whispered so as not to alert the other patrons in the building.
    It was a wasted effort. Every head swiveled in their direction as they made their way to the back room. One officer checking out a book did not get noticed, but three officers with two blocking the exits were hard to miss.
    Lindsey didn’t want to lie to Emma, for not only did she like the chief in a professional capacity but she liked her personally as well. Still, she wasn’t ready to bring her brother into it, so she decided to stick with the facts, just the facts.
    â€œI opened the door to the room to check on the temperature,” she said. “It had been too cold to use earlier, so I was following up. It was even colder this time. When I went in to see why, I found a man lying on the floor in front of the fireplace. When I checked him, I could see he had been strangled.”
    Emma snapped her head in Lindsey’s direction. “You okay?”
    â€œYeah, I’m fine,” Lindsey lied. She knew that Emma knew she was lying, but Emma nodded, accepting the big fib, and they hurried down the hallway to the back room.
    Beth was standing outside the room. Lindsey had asked her to stay there until she returned with Emma. She didn’t tell Beth why she needed her to stand outside the locked room, and Beth didn’t ask. They had been friends long enough that Beth knew that whatever it was, it was important.
    â€œOkay, Beth,” Lindsey said. “Thanks for keeping an eye.”
    Beth looked from her to Emma and back. She had taken off her steampunk hat and goggles and regarded Lindsey with a pensive expression.
    â€œIs it a gas leak or something?” she asked.
    â€œNo, nothing like that,” Lindsey said. “I’ll explain later.”
    â€œWait out here, please,” Emma said as she pulled on a pair of blue latex gloves. Beth nodded.
    Lindsey took out her key and unlocked the door. She pushed it open. It was still bitterly cold, as the window was still open. The body was exactly where she had left it.
    Emma hurried to the victim’s side. She glanced up at Lindsey. “Was this where he was when you found him?”
    â€œRight here but facedown,” Lindsey said. “I flipped him over to see if he was all right.”
    Emma nodded and confirmed what Lindsey had already discovered. “He’s dead. I’m guessing strangled.”
    Her tone was dry, and Lindsey knew she was trying to sound as normal as possible, given the extraordinary circumstance. It just wasn’t every day that you found a man strangled to death in the library.
    Emma used her shoulder radio to call one of her officers, requesting he place a call into the medical examiner, then she continued examining the body. Lindsey