Play dead

EIGHTY-TWO

3:42 AM

The Book Nook was a used-book store on Seventeenth street.

The grimy front window haphazardly displayed comic books, graphic novels, a section of recent best-selling fiction, some vintage board games. There was a single light on inside.

Byrne knocked hard, rocking the glass door. Jessica got on her cell phone. They would find the owner. They did not have that much time, but protocol Byrne threw a bench through the door. He threw Dylan Pierson in afterwards, then followed him.

— was clearly not going to be followed.

"What was the name of the book?" Byrne yelled, flipping the light switch, turning on the fluorescents overhead. His fellow detectives scrambled to keep up.

"I don't remember," Pierson replied, picking bits of glass out of his hair. "I think it was something about outer space."

"You think?"

Dylan Pierson began to pace. He had no shoes on, and he was hotfooting on the glass. "It… it had a red planet on the cover… it was something about-"

"Mars?" Bontrager asked.

He snapped his fingers. "Mars. That's it. Mars something. Guy named Hendrix wrote it. I remember the name because I'm really into old school stuff like Jimi-"

Byrne ran down the Science Fiction aisle, found the shelf for authors whose last name begins with H. Heinlein, Herbert, Huxley, Hoban, Hardin. And then he found it. Mars Eclectica. Edited by Raymond Hen- drix. He ran back to the main room. "Is this it?"

"That's it! That's the one! Dude. You are awesome."

Byrne handled the book by its edges. He riffled through the pages. Then a second time. There was nothing. No notes inside. Nothing highlighted.

"Are you sure this is the book?" Byrne asked.

"Positive. Although, I gotta say that one looks a lot newer than the book this guy gave me."

Byrne reached for Dylan Pierson's throat. Josh Bontrager was able to step between them. Byrne then flung the book across the store. His eyes roamed the walls, the shelves, the counters. Behind the front desk were a pair of push carts. One of them had a sticky note pasted to the side, with a handwritten New Books.

Byrne vaulted the counter. He tore the books off the top shelf of the cart. Nothing. He ripped the books from the bottom shelf. And saw it. Mars Eclectica. It was a well-worn copy.

He flipped through the book. It didn't take long. In the table of contents there were two places where something had been cut out with a razor blade. They were sections of author's names.

White, The Retreat to Mars.

Robert Williams, The Red Death of Mars.

Byrne turned the book to Dylan Pierson. "What's missing here?"

The kid looked. "I have no-I mean, I don't know. I don't read that much."

One by one Byrne showed the page to the other detectives. "Anybody know these people?"

No one knew.

"Fuck!"

"The other copy," Jessica said. "Get the other copy of the book."

In a flash Josh Bontrager was at the back of the store, rummaging through the strewn books. He found the book in seconds, and was back. He put it on the counter next to Byrne's copy. They looked at both versions of the table of contents. With the missing names, the entries read: Cecil B. White, The Retreat to Mars Robert Moore Williams, The Red Death of Mars "Cecil B. Moore," Byrne said. He looked at Jessica. "The baseball field," she replied. They'd found the diamond.