“Now do you understand why we can’t ignore this.”
I did, but that didn’t mean I liked operating in the dark. “Why didn’t you tell me all this before you sent me on this crazy errand?”
“Wait.” Corbin frowned. “Are you talking about your trip to the library? What does that have to do with Carlotti?”
Remy sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I’m getting to that. I didn’t tell you because I’m not sure if the rumors are true. I was told there’s proof, but I need to see it first. That’s why the acquisition is urgent.”
“If you’d told me, I might have—”
“I wanted you to go in thinking it wasn’t that serious. I thought there’d be less chance of you making a scene.”
Corbin looked back and forth between the two of us. “Why didn’t you ask me? Lance always makes a scene.”
“You and Beau were busy.”
I huffed. “Very busy.”
His eyes went wide. “It was you?”
“What was me?”
“I heard something on the porch when we were at the house. Did you come back to the house and see us…”
I held up a hand. “Never speak of that again.”
Remington rolled his eyes. “Can we concentrate on what’s important here?”
“Certainly. You chose to withhold information, and I went in thinking—”
“That nothing matters but you and how you want to do things.” I narrowed my eyes and stared at him until he slumped back against his chair. “You screwed this up.”
“I didn’t work as quickly as you’d like, but I will get the information.”
Corbin gave an exasperated sigh. “Would one of you please tell me what the hell the library has to do with any of this?”
“I have a contact who says he has proof of Carlottis’ involvement, and he’s left the proof at the library.”
Corbin looked as confused as I’d been. “Why?”
Remington shook his head. “That’s not important. What matters is that we get our hands on the information, evaluate it, and determine our next move.”
“So Lance didn’t get the information because he took Tony with him into the library?”
“You know how he gets when I leave him in the car.”
“I warned you the guy was uptight, and I told you not to take that damn monkey with you.”
Tony scolded Remington and climbed up onto my shoulder.
I glared at my brother. “You’ve insulted him. You need to apologize.”
“Lancelot Theriot, you better tell me everything that happened right now.”
“Julian, Mr. Uptight Librarian, didn’t like Tony, and he was very rude. He also told me snacks weren’t permitted and ordered me to leave, but Gwen, a woman who works the front desk, gave Tony some peanuts and talked to me. She said Julian’s worried about the library. They might lose their funding and all be out of a job. She told me how to win him over, so I came back with flowers for him and an offer to help protect the library.”
“With Tony?” Corbin asked.
“No, I left him in the car, but he opened the window and came in anyway. The security guard was chasing him, Julian was furious, and I had to leave again.”
By the time I finished, Corbin was laughing so hard tears were running down his face. “I would’ve given anything to see all that.”
“Please understand, I sent him to Platt Historical Library,” Remington said.
“Oh my God. That makes it so much better.”
“There is nothing good about any of this,” Remington said. “Can you two quit acting like children and take things seriously? We do not want these men operating in our territory.”
His words sobered me. “I’ve got a plan.”
Remington gestured at Tony. “I hope to God this plan involves somebody babysitting this—”
“Wait,” Corbin interrupted. “Why is the info stashed at the Platt?”
“Andy used the library because it was a place where his presence wouldn’t be questioned by the staff or anyone who might be following him.”
At least that made some amount of sense, but Corbin still looked confused. He studied Remington for a moment. “Why didn’t you go get the information?”
I laughed. “Because Remington has already been banned from the library. I guess you’re next.”
“Damn. How did you get banned from the library? I’m sure you didn’t bring a monkey.”
Remington huffed. “I simply insisted I should be able to take some materials home to study over the weekend, but Julian told me no materials could leave the library. I tried to make him understand that I was going to treat them as well as any of the librarians did, but he didn’t want to listen, and neither did the director when he called her. I decided I had to get more persuasive.”
“Shit. Did you pull a gun on the guy?” Corbin asked.
“Weapons may have been involved.”
I snorted. “Talk about something I’d have paid to see.”
Remington blew out a long breath. “It was not my best day.”
“Does Henri know about this?”