The library’s fire alarm began screaming at 11:47 p.m., exactly seven minutes before Mara Vale’s shift was supposed to end.
She stood on a rolling ladder with a stack of returned books pressed against her ribs while the lights strobed red across the silent reading room. Somewhere below, a freshman was shouting that his laptop had been stolen. Someone else was coughing through the chemical fog from a burst extinguisher. Mara tightened her grip on the books and looked at the clock.
“Of course,” she muttered.