"First off, I'm not calling you Etzli."

--That's fine. I'm not calling you Etzli either.

"Fine with me."

--Good.

"Great."

She paced the empty library, itching at her hairline, all her research forgotten. She felt more anxious hearing her own resounding footsteps in the otherwise quiet library.

Thump-thump-thump-thump.

It wasn’t only that the thunderous echo of her boots highlighted how she was ...