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chocolate Ex-Lax …”
    Marcie licked her teeth and slid off the table. As she sashayed off, Vee stuck her finger in her mouth and made gagging gestures at Marcie’s back.
    “She’s lucky we’re at the library,” Vee told me. “She’s lucky we didn’t cross paths in a dark alley. Last chance—any chips?”
    “Pass.”
    Vee wandered off to discard the chips. A few minutes later she returned with a romance novel. She took the seat next to me and, displaying the novel’s cover, said, “Someday this is going to be us. Ravished by half-dressed cowboys. I wonder what it’s like to kiss a pair of sunbaked, mud-crusted lips?”
    “Dirty,” I murmured, typing away.
    “Speaking of dirty.” There was an unexpected rise in her voice. “There’s our guy.”
    I stopped typing long enough to peer over my laptop, and my heart skipped a beat. Patch stood across the room in the checkout line. As if he sensed me watching, he turned. Our eyes locked for one, two, three counts. I broke away first, but not before receiving a slow grin.
    My heartbeat turned erratic, and I told myself to pull it together. I was not going down this path. Not with Patch. Not unless I was out of my mind.
    “Let’s go,” I told Vee. Shutting my laptop, I zipped it inside its carrying case. I pushed my books inside my backpack, dropping a few on the floor as I did.

    48
    Vee said, “I’m trying to read the title he’s holding … hang on … How to Be a Stalker .”
    “He is not checking out a book with that title.” But I wasn’t sure.
    “It’s either that or How to Radiate Sexy Without Trying .”
    “ Shh! ” I hissed.
    “Calm down, he can’t hear. He’s talking to the librarian. He’s checking out.”
    Confirming this with a quick glance over, I realized that if we left now, we’d probably meet him at the exit doors. And then I would be expected to say something to him. I ordered myself back into my chair and searched diligently through my pockets for nothing whatsoever while he finished checking out.
    “Do you think it’s creepy he’s here at the same time we are?” Vee asked.
    “Do you?”
    “I think he’s following you.”
    “I think it’s a coincidence.” This wasn’t entirely true. If I had to make a list of the top ten places I would expect to find Patch on any given night, the public library wouldn’t make it. The library wouldn’t make the top hundred places. So what was he doing here?
    The question was particularly disturbing after what had happened last night. I hadn’t mentioned it to Vee because I was hoping it would shrink and shrivel in my memory until it ceased to have happened. Period.

    49
    “ Patch! ” Vee stage-whispered. “Are you stalking Nora?”
    I clamped my hand over her mouth. “Stop it. I mean it.” I put on a severe face.
    “I bet he is following you,” said Vee, prying my hand away. “I bet he has a history of it too. I bet he has restraining orders. We should sneak into the front office. It would all be in his student file.”
    “We are not sneaking into the front office.”
    “I could create a diversion. I’m good at diversions. No one would see you go in. We could be like spies.”
    “We are not spies.”
    “Do you know his last name?” Vee asked.
    “No.”
    “Do you know anything about him?”
    “No. And I’d like to keep it that way.”
    “Oh, come on. You love a good mystery, and it doesn’t get better than this.”
    “The best mysteries involve a dead body. We don’t have a dead body.”
    Vee squealed. “Not yet!”
    Shaking two iron pills from the bottle in my backpack, I swallowed them together.

    50
    Vee bounced the Neon into her driveway just after nine thirty. She killed the engine and dangled the keys in front of me.
    “You’re not going to drive me home?” I asked. A waste of breath, since I knew her answer.
    “There’s fog.”
    “Patchy fog.”
    Vee grinned. “Oh, boy. He is so on your mind. Not that I blame you.
    Personally, I’m hoping I