8
He hung around until the prof had been wheeled away. When everyone else followed the stretcher down the hall, Jack stayed behind and searched the office, opening every drawer and checking all the shelves. A book that size would be hard to hide and, with its metallic cover, even harder to miss. But he came up empty. No Compendium ofSrem.
Out in the hall he drew one of the secretaries aside. She was young with black-dyed hair, dark mascara, and pale makeup.
"I brought in a book for Doctor Buhmann earlier. He was going to look it over and then, um, give me his opinion on it."
"I'm afraid I can't let you take anything from his office."
Jack had seen that coming, but it was a moot point at the moment.
"I can understand that, but the problem is, I don't see the book anywhere."
"What did it look like?"
"Not like any other book you've ever seen. You'd remember if you saw it."
She shook her head. "I did see him bring a book to the copier, but I didn't get a look at it. And I know he didn't leave it there because I used the copier right after him. I saw him go straight back to his office. So it has to be there."
"It's not. Trust me."
She frowned. "Are you saying it was stolen?"
"I left him reading it at his desk. I come back and find him out cold and the book gone. What would you think?"
She made no reply, but something in her eyes…
He said, "Have you had other things go missing lately?"
"Maybe you'd better talk to Security."
Just about the last thing Jack wanted to do, but he didn't see that he had much choice.