The Librarian's Last Chapter

The Librarian’s Last Chapter

A River Valley
Mystery, Book Three

By Cynthia Hickey

Copyright
2013

Spyglass
Lane Mysteries

Discover
other Spyglass Lane titles at
SpyglassLaneMysteries.com
.

Published
in association with MacGregor Literary Inc., Portland, Oregon.

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Acknowledgements

To God for yet
another fun book to write,

To my husband for his
never-ending encouragement,

And to my agent for
the opportunity to continue writing mysteries.

Thank you all!

CHAPTER ONE

“Don’t be so dramatic, Marsha Calloway Steele.
It’s not like you’re facing a firing squad.”

It might as well be.
Volunteering in the high school library isn’t my idea of a good time. How did I
let my best friend, Lynn Marshall, talk me into such a thing? Wasn’t the PTO or
Parent Teacher Organization enough
torture ?

I scooted farther against
my bed pillows, cradling the cordless phone to my ear. “Couldn’t I do something
behind the scenes where I didn’t have to deal with other parents?”

Lynn laughed. “The
librarian wants to do a big book donation rally with a book fair, snacks,
everything. It’s a really big deal, and she needs your help. I volunteered you,
not thinking it would be such a big inconvenience. You’re nothing but a big
scaredy-cat.”

“Yep, and proud of it.” I
grabbed several dark-chocolate M&Ms and popped them in my mouth. “You know
I don’t have a lot of time to volunteer. Not with the store.” Being a co-owner
of Country Gifts from Heaven kept me very busy. That and the occasional dead
body I tended to stumble across every few months. I’d resigned myself to
accepting the gift of finding trouble.

“Besides, Mrs. Grimes is
very, um, not nice.”

“You can manage for a
week or two. We need you. Bye.” She hung up on me.

Mrs. Grimes still had the
same way of looking over her glasses and staring a person into submission as
she had when I was in high school. The woman scared me, plain and simple, and
now my best friend wanted me to work with the woman for two weeks?

I should never have
filled out the volunteer paperwork and been fingerprinted. All it brought me
was more work.

I crawled from bed and
into the shower. If I was going to work at the library, there was no time to
start like the present. Mom wouldn’t mind holding down the fort at the store
for an hour or two while I found out exactly what Mrs. Grimes had in store for
me.

The hot water helped to
wash away some of the apprehension, and by the time I had my hair fixed and a
five-minute makeup job done, I felt confident I could handle one old librarian
well past retirement age.

Grabbing my purse off the
foyer table, I headed to my blue Prius. After getting the okay from Mom to take
my time, I punched in Duane’s number and set the phone to speaker.

“Hey, sweetheart,” his
voice always made my inside quiver.

“I’m headed to the high
school for a meeting. Can I bring you a coffee?”

“Sure, and one of those
apple scones. I’ll be in the coach’s office for the next half hour before my
first class starts.”

“See you in fifteen. Love
you.”

“Ditto.”

I hung up, my face
hurting from the grin that stretched my cheeks. Since we’d set a wedding date for
three months’ time, I was almost afraid he might not be as excited to see me
all the time. I was wrong. If anything, setting the date made our time together
even more precious.

We weren’t planning
anything elaborate, just a small ceremony by the lake. River Valley had a
wonderful clubhouse that overlooked the water so we wouldn’t have to worry
about the weather. I actually hoped it would snow and was having Mom make me a
furred shawl, just in case.

A parking spot in front
of the coffee shot beckoned as if it were waiting for me. I pulled in and cut
the ignition, my taste buds eager for their first sip of a frozen mocha coffee.
Duane preferred his coffee black.
Blech
. Chocolate
made everything better.

I ordered my usual, Duane
his preference, and two scones, one apple and one cream cheese. Treats in hand,
I returned to my car and drove to the school. Parking was scarce, but I found a
vacant visitor spot. Hands full, I entered the front doors and signed in,
collecting my volunteer badge. Ugh. I hadn’t known they’d take the picture the
day I did my fingerprints and I’d had on my trusty overalls and my hair pulled
back into a ponytail. Sometimes, I was just too lazy to take the time to gussy
up. And, I always ended up regretting those times.

When I reached Duane’s
office, he rushed forward to keep me from dropping something. “Thanks. This
will hit the spot.”

“Crazy morning already?”
I sat in a plastic chair across from his desk.

He nodded. “School in
session only a week and I already have a first string player ineligible to play
the first game because of fighting.”

“But the first game is
weeks away.”

“That the best discipline
I could think of. After school detention doesn’t work for these guys. They sit
and text under their desk where the monitor can’t see them.”

I nodded and sipped my
drink, knowing from personal experience how ineffective detention was. Instead
of texting, we passed notes. “I’m meeting with Mrs. Grimes about helping with
the book fair.”

Duane winced. “My
condolences. She’s worse than ever, but seems to be in a good mood today.”

“I hope you’re right.” I
blew him a kiss and left his office. The library was positioned across from the
administration office so I retraced my steps.

“Good morning, Mrs.
Steele.” Principal Dean pushed his glasses up his nose. “Solved any murders
lately?” He laughed, the sound more of a guffaw then anything.

“Not today.” I’d never
liked the man. He should have retired years ago along with the librarian.
Wasn’t there an age limit to working with kids? What this school needed was an
up-to-date principal. Someone who knew the issues today’s students faced.
Someone other than the Barbie doll of a vice-principal, Sheri
Hopkins.
I watched as Mr. Dean’s gaze followed the VP across campus.

I knew her type. She was
more interested in being the kids’ friend rather than authority figure. There
were bound to be several teenage boys with a crush on her. Who could take her
seriously with her mound of blond hair and tight skirts?

I sighed and pushed open
the door to the library, immediately taking a deep breath, pulling in the wonderful
aroma of books. Large metal crates occupied the far section, book fair stuff
most likely. I thought book fairs didn’t go past elementary school.

“It’s about time you
showed up.” Mrs. Grimes stepped out of the back room, her arms full of
pamphlets. “I need these sorted into class amounts and distributed into
teachers’ mailboxes.

“Good morning to you,
too, Mrs. Grimes. It’s been a long time.”

She peered over the top
of her glasses. “You haven’t changed much, and your daughter is a chip off the
old block.”

“Me or her father’s?”

“Both.” She thrust the
papers into my arms, almost making me drop my drink. That would have been a
very bad thing. “You can sit anywhere. Put them in stacks of thirty.”

“I thought I was here to
help with the book fair.”

“Those are for the book
fair. Open house is next week, and we need to be prepared. Families will be
bringing their younger students, and they will want to buy books.” She sat at
her desk, hiding behind a stack of books that looked too old to belong to the
school library.

I shrugged. I’d heard she
collected antique books. Maybe she did some of her collecting while at work. It
was none of my business. I grinned. As if that ever stopped me from poking my
nose where it didn’t belong.

The jingle of keys drew
my attention back to Mrs. Grimes. She had a sly smile on her face as she placed
a yellowed piece of paper in a drawer and locked it. She turned in a circle,
the key in her hand. When she caught me looking, she ducked into the back room.

What was in the drawer? I
sipped my coffee, my attention riveted on what could be in her desk. What was
so important she felt it necessary to hide the key rather than keep it on the
lanyard around her neck?

We pretty much ignored
each other for the time it took me to count out the rest of the papers. When
I’d finished, I told her I’d be back, and she grunted that she’d heard me.
Whatever. I wouldn’t let her mood spoil my day. One more hour of volunteer
time, and I’d be back at Country Gifts from Heaven.
My home
away from home.

“Mom?” Lindsey stopped so
fast, the boy in back of her almost fell. “What are you doing here?”

“Volunteering in the
library, didn’t I tell you?”

“You did not. Please
pretend we don’t know each other.” With a scowl, she continued on her way.

I didn’t let her attitude
bother me. She loved me, and I wasn’t about to embarrass her in front of her
classmates. I hoped.

Four teachers sat in the
teacher’s lounge, assorted beverages on the table in front of them. Lynn
glanced up. “How’s it going?”

“Fine. Why is the high
school having a book fair? Haven’t these kids outgrown this sort of thing?” I
began slipping the assorted piles into cubbies.

“Mrs. Grimes wants to
encourage the older students to read more. She said she’ll be carrying more age
appropriate books and activities.” Lynn sipped a diet soda. “As an English
teacher, I applaud her efforts.”

Another teacher, I
believe she taught history, laughed. “That old bat just wants to draw attention
to herself. I doubt it’ll do any good.”

“Marsha, this is Estelle
Willis, our resident pessimist and budding author.” Lynn tossed her can into a
recycling bin.

“You’ve heard what she’d
involved herself in lately, haven’t you?” Estelle crossed her arms over her
more than ample chest and glanced around the table.

“I haven’t heard
anything. But then, I’m stuck in the band room most of my days.” A male teacher
shrugged.

“She’s going around
informing people that she’s uncovered a treasure. At our book club last night,
she told us all that she found a map in one of the old books she bought. Seriously?
A treasure map?” She stood and speared me with a glance. “Why don’t you see if
you can get to the bottom of that, Ms. Super Sleuth?” With those words, she lumbered
out of the lounge.

“What did I do?” I set
the last of the fliers in the boxes. “I’m just minding my own business.”

“Don’t worry,” Lynn said.
“Grimes and Estelle have been feuding for years.” She winked. “I think it’s
over Mr. Dean.”

“
Eeew
.”
My few hours a week at the school promised to either be disgusting or
entertaining. I’d reserve judgment for now.

Not in a hurry to return
to the library, I headed for the staff restroom. One can only stall for so long
between taking care of business, washing hands, and fluffing hair. There was
nothing left to do but head back to the library.

“Marsha?” Janet Snyder,
PTO president, halted me in the hall. “What can I do to convince you to join
the organization?”

“Absolutely nothing.” I
continued on my way as fast as my legs would carry me.

She scampered after me in
ridiculously high heels. “Think of the benefit to the school, to your
daughter.”

“I’m volunteering time,
that’s all River Valley High needs from me.” I paused with my hand on the door.
“Are you seriously here to pester me?”

“Not just you.” She shook
her head. “But our numbers are shrinking.”

I sighed and ducked into
the library. Mrs. Grimes wasn’t at her desk. Good. I’d have a few minutes of
peace before she gave me something else to do.

When thirty minutes
passed and there was no sign of her, I decided to check the back room. After
all, the woman had to be pushing seventy years of age. Maybe she fell asleep.

Sure enough, she sat at a
battered old desk, her face resting on the wood. “Mrs. Grimes?”

Her head lolled to the
side. She’d been strangled with her floral scarf.