Page 8 of Lost Without You
“These are twelve first edition novels, the most valuable in his collection of over two hundred books. He loved mysteries and spy novels. Anything that had a puzzle to it. Much like the books you write,” Tina said with a smile as she touched the books, picking one up and holding it to herself tightly.
“We have that in common. I’ve always been intensely curious.”
He didn’t touch the books, but waited until Tina offered him the box.
“I’m going to grab another cup of coffee. Can I get you anything?” she offered.
“I’m good, Tina. Thank you.”
She nodded and left him alone again.
He carefully examined each book, checking through the pages even though Tina had probably done so many times. There was no letter or note stuck in between the pages or anything written in them, not that he expected that with a first edition—a collector wouldn’t mark them. They were all hard cover and heavy, with similar bindings.
Except, one book had a thicker binding than the others. Interesting.
Ethan examined it closely. The publication date indicated 1962. The covers of each book had the same embossed design, but this book’s cover felt softer than the others. Odd. He withdrew his reading glasses from his pocket to get a better look.
Front side, back side, same. Top, bottom … bottom…
Wait.
The back bottom edge of the binding looked almost the same, save for a slighter shorter paper liner on the interior. He walked out to the living room to find Rachel and Tina having coffee.
“This is a very valuable book, but with your permission, I’d like to take apart the cover.”
Tina looked at him with a frown on her face, but slowly nodded. “Why?”
“A hunch. Do you have a pen knife or something sharp I could use?”
Rachel grabbed her purse, rifled through it, and withdrew a Swiss army knife.
“You’re prepared for everything,” he chuckled as he opened the knife. “I can’t believe I’m going to do this to a rare book,” he murmured to himself.
Slicing the binding open at the bottom, he pulled the seam apart and had a look inside, then reached in.
“I’ll be damned.”
Chapter Five
Rachel
Rachel leapt out of her chair and ran over to Ethan, her heart pounding out a rapid rhythm.
“What is it? What did you find?”
Ethan pulled his hand out and with it, a thin black square of plastic with a metal disk in the center.
“A floppy disk? That’s a relic of 80s computers,” Rachel exclaimed. “That was in there the whole time?”
Ethan shook his head, looking stunned about the discovery.
“How did you know to look there?” Rachel asked.
“I didn’t, but as I was going through the collection, I noticed there was a slight difference in the embossment on this one and the paper liner, so I took my chances. And it makes total sense. Your father was a fan of spy novels. And his prized collection was the one place he felt he could safely hide this item. He knew your mother would never part with it.”
“I can’t believe it! We need to find out what’s on this disk. Fuck, we need a really old computer, right? When was the last time floppy disks were used?”
Ethan nodded and placed the disk and the book in his briefcase. “The early nineties. I have a contact from the FBI, he’s retired, but he was an analyst and a computer science specialist. I’m going to reach out to him right now and see if he can help us figure out what’s on this thing.”