A/N: I don't own anything. All characters, dialogues, and plots that you recognize belong to the wonderfully talented Martha Williamson; I am just here for entertainment purposes. This is the third installment of my "Chronicles of the DLO" series that sort of fills in the blanks for us in each episode and film of Hallmark's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered". This story, "Brazenly Manipulative", chronicles the thoughts and off-scene happenings of the third episode in the series, "To Whom it May Concern", beginning a few weeks prior to that episode.

I have changed one small thing, however. On screen, when the POstables are at the college about to meet Samila, there is a board documenting events during graduation week that places the timeline of this episode in May 2014. However, since we know the Pilot takes place in June and this episode is only a few weeks or a month later (it is the first "last day of the month" Shane has had to work with the Impossibly Ripped and Mangled box, after all), I set the beginning of the episode at the end of July. Please, as always, read and review. Thanks and enjoy!

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July 5, 2014

5:30 PM

Shane unlocked the door to her home and stepped inside, allowing her co-workers to enter. Once Oliver had moved past her with the bags of Chinese food, she closed the door and followed him to the kitchen at the back of the house, where he had placed the bags on the counter and was beginning to unload them, setting her purse on the floor along the way. She set her own grocery bag on the counter and pulled out the beverages inside, handing a water to Rita, a Coke to Norman, a YooHoo to Oliver, and placing her Snapple Peach Tea in front of herself.

They ate and chatted about the different things Shane wanted done in the home. Once they had finished eating, Norman went to place their garbage bags at the front door to be taken with them when they left. He didn't pay attention, however, when returning to the kitchen.

"Oh, Norman!" Shane warned him. "Watch out for my—"

Too late, Norman stumbled over the strap of her purse, tipping it over and sending him hurling at the wall.

"—purse," she finished lamely as he hit the molding along the top edge of the paneling and fell backwards to the floor. A whoosh and a cracking sound caught the attention of Oliver, who looked up in time to see a portion of the paneling along the wall pop open.

"Ms. McInerney," he began, helping Norman up. "I believe our colleague has stumbled upon the entrance to your secret room."

"Literally," Shane murmured in agreement, picking up her purse and following Oliver to the hidden door.

"Oh, my goodness, Shane!" Oliver breathed as he gently pushed the door inwards and entered the room. "This is amazing!"

"What is it?" she asked, stepping in behind him. "Oh, wow!"

It was a library. Fully furnished, with floor-to-ceiling shelves crammed with books. A thick layer of dust covered every surface, indicating that the room had been forgotten about for some time.

"How long do you think this has been here, unused?" Rita asked, glancing around.

"It must have been at least since the previous owners moved in," Oliver informed her, heading to one of the shelves and selecting a volume. Wiping the dust off the spine with his pocket square, he observed, "I highly doubt they would have left this room here undisturbed as it is if they had known of it."

"The furniture is amazing," Shane commented, studying an intricately-carved settee sitting below a window. "1910s, maybe 1920s by the looks of this piece."

There was a fireplace in the center of the wall opposite the door that corresponded to the short chimney that Shane had seen outside earlier that day, and the walls were made of mahogany shiplap, that Shane figured probably shone beautifully when the room was properly cleaned.

"What's behind that door?" Norman asked, gesturing to a door between two bookshelves on one of the walls.

"That's a good question, Norman," Shane replied, heading over that way. "Isn't this wall right next to the half-bath?"

"I believe so, Ms. McInerney," Oliver affirmed, glancing at her.

Shane opened the door and gasped when she stepped inside. "Oliver, come here!" she called, laughing.

Oliver hurried over. "What is it?" he inquired, entering the room.

"It's a bathroom," she laughed. "Straight out of Downton Abbey!" There was a ceramic canopy shower/bath combo set into a mahogany frame inlaid with decorated metal squares, a ceramic pedestal sink under a mirrored medicine cabinet, and a toilet with a high level, chain-flush wooden cistern.

"I don't know what Downton Abbey is, Ms. McInerney," he admitted. "But this convenience is circa the First World War, at least."

The two exited the bathroom in time to see Rita stifling a yawn. "As much as I would like to stay and explore your newly-discovered library some more, Ms. McInerney," Oliver broached. "It has been a busy week and we have work tomorrow. Let's head to our homes and we will reconvene in the morning for breakfast?"

Once back in the main living area of the house, Shane went to the wall Norman had run into when he had tripped over her purse. She examined the molding carefully, finally noticing a decorated circle that was indented slightly. She ran her fingers over it, noticing that it felt like a spring-release button, so she pushed it. Sure enough, the circle popped back out, flush with the rest of the molding, and the hidden door swung shut, closing softly but securely.

The four left the home, Shane locking up behind them, and within thirty-five minutes, Oliver was pulling up outside his own ancestral home, having just dropped Shane off a few minutes before.

One thing is for certain, Lord, he thought idly. Life with Ms. McInerney around is anything but dull! Imagine finding a fully-stocked, fully-furnished library that nobody was aware existed!

As he entered his home, he heard his telephone ringing. Wondering who would possibly be calling him at 8:30 on a Sunday night, he hurried to pick up the handset in the kitchen.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Oliver, it's Shane," came the hesitant response.

"Ms. McInerney? Are you alright?" he demanded, suddenly afraid something had happened after he had dropped her off at her hotel.

"Oh, no, I'm fine, Oliver," she assured him. "I just…wanted to ask you a favor."

"Go on," he insisted. "What is it?"

"Would you be willing…to help me catalog the library?" she requested. "It's just, there are a lot of books there, and knick-knacks. I saw a ledger and a journal of some sort when I was examining the desk…" her voice trailed off.

"I would be very happy to help you, Ms. McInerney," he responded warmly. "We can begin, perhaps, after we tackle some of the harder projects in your home. And, despite the fact that I said we can do the repairs ourselves, you may want to call an electrician and a plumber just to ensure that everything in that library and convenience is working as it should."

After a few more minutes of chatting, he and Shane hung up and he noticed the little blinking light on the machine. Taking a few deep breaths, he hit the Play button.

"Oliver? Hi, it's Dale. I was just calling to check in on you since you weren't at church this morning. We missed you in the choir. Call me so I know you're OK, alright?"

Automatically he dialed her number, apologized for worrying her and letting her know that everything was fine, but that he had had some things to do that day with his colleagues before exchanging good-nights with the titian-haired cop and hanging up. At this point in the night it was after nine and Oliver was exhausted, so he locked up, turned out the lights, and headed up to his bed.

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A/N: Well, there it is! Short, I know, but I had intended it to be since I was just finishing out the last chapter of the previous story. Let me know what you think! This story will not follow my previous pattern of doing one chapter for each day of the episode, since we are beginning so far before the episode actually begins, so these first few chapters will sort of skip days at a time. In fact, the next chapter will take place the following weekend.