Lily put her bag in the passenger seat, and started back to town. She used her voice assist to ring Grace on the way.
"Hello, Lily," Grace picked up after one ring. " Any word yet?"
"Hi Grace," Lily winced at the anticipation carried on those three words. It would be a miracle if she had found much out already, but hearing the anxiety behind Grace's question reminded her of the toll Denning's behavior must be having on her friend.
"Not yet, but I might have some ideas to get started with," she replied. Continuing quickly before Grace could slip in another question, she said "Look, I know you were tied up this morning with the museum, but if you had some time later this afternoon - maybe around closing time? We'd love to stop by and go over them with you. I was in a bit of a frazzle this morning, and forgot to ask a few things that I should have. Do you think that could work?"
"We?," Grace replied.
Lily winced again. She should have started with telling Grace about Cassie helping her out. With her nerves already frayed, she didn't need surprises of any kind until they had a chance to talk in person.
Grace continued, "I do still have some paperwork to wrap up this afternoon. Any time after 4 should be fine though. I'll plan on working late then, and see you when you arrive."
The phone went dead. Lily looked at it with raised eyebrows. That was rather abrupt! Was Grace truly that swamped or had Lily's comment about 'we' upset her. Well, there wasn't much she could do until 4, so better to move on.
Cassie had gotten herself together while Lily was away, even tidying up her apartment. She was eager to get started when Lily arrived, but understood that Grace was working, so they needed to be patient.
"What do we do until then?" Cassie asked.
"Ordinarily, I just start searching the internet for anything I can find out about the person," Lily replied. "But I wasn't having a lot of luck doing that this morning at the library."
Cassie laughed at this and said, "I'm not surprised! I've tried a couple of searches there, without much luck. I think they're so worried about any kids finding 'inappropriate content' that they have their protocols set as ultra restrictive. Then again, book people and artists are odd people. They tend to only operate within their own spheres, and unless you're inside one of them, good luck!"
"What is that supposed to mean?" Lily asked. "You mean they run themselves like secret clubs, or something? Sounds very juvenile."
"Exactly!" Cassie replied. "Juvenile, medieval... very guild like mindset, even snubbing and dismissing anything that crosses over into their realm of expertise. Very insular lots!"
"So what do you suggest?" Lily threw into the conversation. "How do we get inside the circle?"
"YOU don't need to worry about that," Cassie said pointedly. "Just let ME know what you want to ask."
Cassie was proud of herself for her witty comments, but saw only confusion and misunderstanding on Lily's face. She shrugged, willing her friend to catch on, and seeing that it wasn't going to happen, spoke more plainly.
"I'm in some of those circles, Lily," she explained. "Let me know what you're looking for, and I'll see what I can find out from my contacts in the book world."
Lily's face erupted in a smile as she finally caught on, and she stepped over to give Cassie a big squeeze. She grabbed her bag and sat down on the sofa.
"Let's figure it out then!" She cried, and patted the seat next to her to summon Cassie to join her.
Four hours flew by and Lily suggested information that she felt might be relevant. Cassie sometimes waved her off and suggested better options, but they succeeded in fleshing out a basic overview of Carter Denning.
