The Cartographers

by Peng Shepherd

It

had been unexpected. When he’d grabbed his phone yesterday to see who had texted him, the last person he ever would have imagined it to be was Nell.

“Felix, before you do, I want you to set the Haberson Map to search for the NYPL burglars.”

Felix is still in love with nell. He doesn't want to admit it yet But I feel like he's in love with her and I think it will come to the surface at some point

William

said. “I don’t want us to waste any time. Mark it as top priority.” He turned to make for the elevators, and Naomi and Priya set off after him. They would go down to the auditorium, but William would go up, back to his private office, where he would watch Ainsley make the public announcement through his tablet screen, like always.

In the silence, his gaze drifted over to his messenger bag. Inside the outer pocket was the USB drive Nell had given him the night before. Seven years.

This was just a favor for Swann. That was all. But then why had he paced the sidewalk outside her building for ten minutes before heading upstairs?

So nervous that the only thing he could do was immediately start an argument, because bickering over the past was so much easier than having to have a real, mature conversation?

It was definitely not because—since he wasn’t going to accept Nell’s invitation to the funeral of the man who had ruined his life—being able to find something on the tape would give him an excuse to talk to her again. Who was he kidding?

It was true. Whatever he was looking for wasn’t there. Because Nell had it on her coffee table.

“Wait,” Felix muttered, hitting pause. How was that possible? The cameras needed motion or sound to continue recording, and since the guard was now out cold on the floor, unconscious or worse, he wouldn’t trigger the sensors in the Map Division—but the burglar still should have been caught by the main lobby cameras upon his exit. Except he wasn’t.

But nothing was there. It stayed black the whole time.

The only explanation was that the burglar hadn’t gone out that way—but there wasn’t any other way to get out. Felix remembered the Map Division well. There wasn’t even a separate entrance for employees.

The burglar tripped only the camera inside the Map Division, and no others.

The only explanation he could come up with was that somehow, the burglar hadn’t gone into the lobby at all. But then how had they gotten into an exhibit room

whose only entrance and exit was a single door directly off the lobby hallway?

Ramona Wu’s shop sat on the edge of Chinatown, at the border where the neighborhood blended into Little Italy.

“You should stop looking into it,” he murmured. “Ramona said that, too. Practically kicked me out of her shop,” she said. “Why? I don’t understand.”

“Two visits to the NYPL in two days. Research into General Drafting Corporation. The false interinstitution catalog entry you made. And that trip to Ramona’s.” Nell stared at him, stunned. The bright, busy

“Only to warn you,” Francis said.

At the end of our meeting, just before he walked out, he told me that if something strange ever happened to him, I should suspect foul play. He refused to explain himself further, and after that, everything was fine. He worked here for decades without incident, and never brought it up again. I had forgotten about it, until the break-in.” She leaned closer. “Lieutenant Cabe told me that his investigators finished going over your father’s phone log for the last few months, to see if there might be anything there.

last time they’d spoken was the day she was fired. “Are you sure? I would definitely have noticed a missed call from his number.”

“At night, the new phone system shuts down, and all calls in and out are automatically routed through the front guard desk. Your father’s went that far, but it seems he hung up before Henry went back to the desk from his rounds and was able to put it through.” She looked at Nell. “So, he didn’t try to reach out in any other way?”

“I’m sorry. All of this is so strange. If only we knew what he’d wanted to tell you.”

“You still have a very loyal friend there,

you know. He’s stormed my office every morning and afternoon with impassioned speech after speech about how brilliant you are, and what a mistake it was for us to lose you.”

Assistant director of conservation?”

“I promise I’ll figure out what my father was working on,” Nell finally said, fists clenched in determination.

“That’s just two days from now,”

“I’m afraid if we wait any longer, we could look suspicious, which is the last thing we want for the library, after everything that’s already happened.”

There was nowhere Francis could have gone. And yet, the study was empty aside from her. He’d vanished into thin air.

Some places you didn’t need a map for, he sighed wistfully.

He hadn’t known how much he’d loved this place until he saw it again. Taking a table alone seemed rude, even though there were plenty to spare. As he neared the bar counter, still half-immersed in his thoughts—they had stools now, not chairs, when had they changed that?—his eyes passed over a woman sitting midway down the row. She was short, with a crop of unruly brown hair, and her cardigan draped around her like an oversized blanket, nearly swallowing her small frame—

“Tonight got to you too, did it?” Nell asked. “I’m sorry,” he said, his hands up, already backing away. “I can go.” “No. It’s okay.” She patted the stool beside her guardedly, as if unsure what she wanted either. “Sit.”

“Oh, I did.” She smiled. “He wishes you could have been there tonight.” “Yeah, sorry.” Felix grimaced. “I just thought it would be best if I didn’t go.” Nell picked up her glass. “No apology needed. I get it. Better than anyone.”

“I went over everything three times. Cross-referenced every camera and speaker, and went through every line of data.” He sighed uneasily. “The police are right. It’s inconclusive.” She frowned. “What does it show?” Felix pulled his phone out. “Better if you just watch.”

“I don’t get it,” she said. “I can’t see how the burglar got in or out of the Map Division. But the only way there is through the lobby.”

“But after having seen this and considering those prices we found—whatever’s going on, it’s sophisticated. This could be very dangerous, Nell. I really think you should tell the police sooner rather than later.”

“Actually, the day the library was burgled, Irene Pérez Montilla told me she thought Dr. Young was secretly working on a big project just before he passed away.

“Nell, if you just show her the prices we found, and tell her about the strange disappearances of all the other copies from the interinstitutional database, that would at least be enough to convince her the map is important, and worth protecting. She might even—” “She did,” Nell said. “Practically offered it to me at the funeral, if I can deliver.” “Your old job?” Nell nodded. “Nell, that’s great . . .” Felix started to say,

“I know it is. And I want it. More than anything. But I also wish I could figure more out before I have to turn it all over to her and the police, and let them take over,” she replied. “He was my father, you know? I just want to know why.”

“Well, I still have two days until I have to meet Irene,” she finally said. “I can at least keep working on it until then.”

“It was the strangest thing,” she said. “She recognized me immediately when I came in. She said—she said that she’d known my father since his college days. And my mother, too.” “What?” Felix cried. “Ramona Wu and your father, and mother, were old friends?” “And a couple others, all from their university days. There were seven of them in total,” Nell answered. “I couldn’t believe it either.” “Did she tell you anything useful about the map?”

tried to talk to him, but he was just as afraid as Ramona. When I pressed him, he practically ran away. I chased him down the hall toward Swann’s study.”

“You look spooked.” “I just . . .” She paused. “This is going to sound silly, but it’s almost like that car is . . . following me.” Felix glanced at the slowly accelerating vehicles, his eyes jumping between them. The car that had been parked was moving now, halfway into the intersection, having pulled quickly into the right lane as soon as the light had turned green. “Which one? The black one?” “I’ve

seen it a couple times this week. Outside the library, near Ramona’s, and now here, at the bar.” “You’re sure it’s the same one?” He could see the tension in her shoulders as they inched up closer to her ears, as if she was about to let go of something she had wanted to tell him but had been holding back. She hesitated. “Nell . . .” Somewhere in the traffic, someone honked, startling them both. “No,” she said. The black car turned and disappeared down the street. “It’s the break-in. I’m just jumpy.” “No, you’re not! If you really think you’re being followed, after everything we just talked about—” “Let it go, Felix,” she insisted. “Seriously.” “But . . .”

“Historical preservationists from Pennsylvania State

“One of the other friends in Ramona’s story—along with her and Francis—was named Eve.”

envelope. As she did so, her eyes passed over the little compass rose sketch on the back of the cardboard—and lingered.

“It’s a symbol for a group called the Cartographers.” The Cartographers.