Stovall did not look pleased with this turn of events, but given that the inspector had already slid the book under his arm, the book dealer didn’t have much choice but to nod and follow the inspector up the street, presumably to the station.
Ms. MacDonald lingered a few moments more as if she was still waiting for some sort of vindication, but then she moped off down the street in the opposite direction, leaving Beattie, Adaire, and me alone at the table.
“What was that?” I said to Adaire as soon as everyone else was out of earshot. “That value on the book is absurd.” I sounded much more certain than I felt, given that this was my first purchasing trip, but I knew that Uncle Fitz wouldn’t mislead me by $35,000 dollars.
“I agree,” Adaire said without even a single ruffled and metaphoric
