The Librarian's Last Chapter (3 page)

CHAPTER FOUR

“Supper was delicious, as always.” I carried mine
and Duane’s plates to the kitchen sink, Mom’s lasagna resting in my stomach.
Mom and Leroy may have moved to the guesthouse, letting Lindsey and I live in
the main house, but she still did most of the cooking. Of which I was grateful.
My tendencies to—experiment—in the kitchen, often led to a disastrous
meal.

“What are you two up to
tonight?” Duane came up behind me and nuzzled my neck. “Usually you’re in your
slippers by now.”

“Mom and I are trying out
a book club.” I closed my eyes and leaned into him.

He stiffened. “The one
Mrs. Grimes ran?” At my nod, he sighed. “You’re getting involved.”

I turned in his embrace
and stared up into his dark blue eyes. “I didn’t ask to be. Mr. Dean asked me
to continue the book fair and Ingrid Jennings invited Mom and I to come
tonight. What could it hurt? It’s a bunch of old ladies.”

“Have you forgotten you
were almost killed by an old lady a few months ago?”

He was talking about the
last murder I’d dabbled in. “She had help from her son.”

He cupped my face. “Don’t
get yourself killed before our wedding.”

“I won’t.” I stood on
tip-toe to kiss him.

“Let’s go. We don’t want
to be late.” Mom bustled into the kitchen. “Y’all can smooch later. Duane, are
you staying to keep Leroy
company
? I think there’s a
game on TV.”

“Sure. I never turn down
the opportunity to watch football on a big screen.” He hugged me. “Be careful.”

“Seriously, it’s just a
book club meeting.”

He didn’t look convinced,
but left me and Mom to our devices. “I’ll drive.” Mom drove her big Cadillac
like a torpedo. If Duane needed to worry about anything, it was me getting into
Mom’s car.

Five minutes later we
were headed to church where the meeting was held. Most people seemed to book
the fellowship hall for one event or another. I’d always thought book clubs
were held in people’s homes. How many members were there to warrant the big
hall?

I pulled into the parking
lot between the only two cars there. I glanced at Mom. “Big crowd.”

She shrugged and opened
her door. “Let’s get this over with. What book are they discussing?”

I had no idea. Ingrid
hadn’t said in her note. “I’m sure this is for us to get acquainted with the
other members.”

“Or to grill you for
information about Harriet.”

Mom was probably right.
When there was a new mystery in town, I suddenly became very popular. We exited
the Prius and headed up the walk.

Flowers lined the cement
path. Our shoes beat out a muffled rhythm. A mockingbird serenaded from a
nearby oak tree. A beautiful autumn night, and I was willingly going into a
lair of nosey women to spoil the evening. What I’d rather be doing was
snuggling with Duane on the couch.

“She’s here!” A shrill
voice called from the fellowship hall.

Mom and I stepped into
the brightly lit room. Ingrid and Norma Rae Jennings and Cheryl Wright, Mr.
Dean’s secretary, grinned at us. They sat around a round table, books in front
of them. What a crowd.

Ingrid stood and rushed
our way. “Have a seat, ladies. We’re discussing which book we’d like to read
next. October is horror month. We’re thinking about reading something that has
to do with zombies.”

My steps faltered. Who
were these women? I glanced at Mom. She cast me a wide-eyed glance.

“Zombies?” She mouthed.

I shook my head and sat
in one of the empty chairs. Lindsey had just read a story she raved about.
A zombie novella by a Spanish author.
At least I knew of one
title to recommend. Not that I’d read it of course. I preferred romantic
suspense.

“Cheryl, would you call
roll, please?” Ingrid took her seat.

Three present members and
they did a roll call? When Cheryl called Harriet’s name, they all bowed their
heads.

“Harriet was really
looking forward to horror month,” Norma Rae said. “It was her favorite genre.
That and mystery.”

I kept my mouth shut,
biting my tongue to keep from saying how she’d fallen into her own horror plot.
What was wrong with me? I tended to giggle or blurt out nonsense when I was
nervous. It was safer not to say anything.

“Next on our agenda…we’d
like to welcome our guests.” Ingrid clapped. “We’re always looking for new
blood.” She laughed. “We like to inject the spirit of whatever genre we’re
reading into our meetings.”

I glanced at my watch.
The meetings took two hours? We’d been there less than fifteen minutes.

“Now,” Ingrid leaned her
elbows on the table. “Before we get started…Marsha, tell us about Harriet’s
last moments. What did she say? What did she do?”

“I, uh, hmm.” I fiddled
with the silver studs on my purse. “She handed me a pile of book fair fliers
and asked me to put them in teacher’s boxes.”

“True,” Cheryl said. “I
witnessed her doing just that, along with a couple of the teachers. Go on.”

“She was…gone when I got
back.”

“Gone? Where?” Ingrid’s
brows rose. Her forehead wrinkled. “Oh!” She frowned. “Where were her
belongings? We know she was cataloguing a new shipment of antique books. She
told us.”

“I think those are still
in the library. Officer Barnett said I could return tomorrow. Was there
something in particular you were looking for?” Like a yellowed piece of paper,
maybe?

“We were going to discuss
reading Bram Stoker’s Frankenstein this month. Harriet said that book was in
the shipment.” She sighed. “I guess that’s out of the question now.”

“I think you mean
Dracula,” Mom stated.

“Oh, yes.” Ingrid’s lips
thinned. “How silly of me. I’m so distraught over this whole thing.”

“Did Mrs. Grimes have any
next of kin?” I sat my purse, now minus a stud from my picking at it, on the
floor. “I’m sure the books should go to them.”

Norma Rae shook her head.
“Not that she spoke of. At our last meeting, she spoke of a treasure. We
assumed she meant the books. I think the books should go to the members of this
club. After all, we were her dearest friends.”

“We’re getting off
track,” Cheryl said. She tapped a pencil on the papers in front of her. “We’re
supposed to be discussing our next read.”

I gave them the name of
the book Lindsey read. They agreed it would be perfect. Mom said they should go
ahead with Dracula, but the idea was shot down. Cheryl said it would be too
painful to read page-after-page of a book that would only remind her of
Harriet.

Thoroughly confused, I
chewed the inside of my lip, wishing for my M&Ms. The club members spoke of
mourning Harriet, but their actions showed anything but. The Jennings ladies
were more interested in Harriet’s antique books. Cheryl was absorbed by the
choosing of their next read. The fact that Harriet had supposedly mentioned a
treasure hadn’t escaped me, either. Money was always a big factor in murder. In
fact, it had been the motive for the first mystery I’d found myself immersed
in.

Did any of these three
women have need for a large sum of money? Of course, the treasure could
actually be one of the old books. Antiques were worth quite a lot in some
circles. Besides searching for a key, I’d be online tomorrow looking up the
worth of Harriet’s latest shipment. If I could find a motive for her murder, I
might be able to find the culprit, without putting myself in harm’s way.

After snacks of too tart
lemonade and stale cookies, Mom and I said our goodbyes and headed for the car.
Behind the wheel, I stared at the open door of the fellowship room. “That was
the strangest meeting.”

“What did you expect?”
Mom hooked her seatbelt. “They’re all a bunch of kooks more interested in books
than the fact one of their friends was murdered.”

“So you picked up on
that, too.”

“Of course. I’m not
blind.”

“What do the Jennings
women do?”

“They own a tea room on
Main Street.” Mom glanced at me. “Why?”

“I’m not sure. Something
about the books doesn’t ring true.” I turned on the ignition and backed from
the parking spot. “I’m probably paranoid, but any time the subject of money
comes up after someone died, I get suspicious.”

“Don’t be silly. It’s a
book club. Of course they’re interested in old books.”

“The first morning I
volunteered, I caught Mrs. Grimes locking up what appeared to be an old sheet
of paper. What if the treasure she found is exactly that? A treasure map.”

“They don’t exist.”

“Says who?” I pulled onto
the highway and headed toward home.

“Says anybody who’s ever
gone looking for one. I know you want to solve Harriet’s death, but no one at
that meeting seemed to have a motive. I’d look at the people who worked with
her.”

“The teachers?”

Mom nodded. “She had a
tendency to make people mad.”

True. I remembered when
I’d gotten in trouble for losing a library book my senior year, and Mrs. Grimes
threatened to keep me from walking at graduation until the book was found or
replaced. Mom had been livid.

Headlights appeared in my
rearview mirror. I tilted the mirror to get the glare out of my eyes. Why did
people insist on keeping their
brights
on when other cars were around.

Who would want to kill a
librarian on the verge of retirement? My suspect list was endless if I included
the teachers. I supposed I’d have to include at least half of the student body.
It wasn’t just parents she irritated.

A ram on the Prius’
bumper sent the car skidding. “What the heck?” I pressed the gas and glared at
the car behind us.

Mom turned to glance over
her shoulder. “They’re tailgating a little too close.”

“You think? They just
rear-ended us.” I readjusted my mirror and continued to increase our speed. The
car kept pace. “Can you make out who is behind the wheel?”

“I can’t even tell what
color the car is.” Mom tightened her seatbelt. “You’ve done it again, Marsha.
Gotten us into a fix.”

“I haven’t even started
investigating yet.”

“No, but folks around
here know you will. It’s only a matter of time.” She screamed as the next jolt
threw her forward.

The screech of metal on
metal set my teeth on edge. I gripped the wheel and did my best to keep us on
the road. “Now would be a good time to start praying.”

“I already have.” She
fumbled in her purse. “I’m calling Leroy.”

“You should probably call
the police.”

“I want to talk to my
husband before I die.”

I rolled my eyes. “We
aren’t going to die.” I bit my lip at the next jarring jolt and skid onto the
road’s shoulder. I wanted to talk to Duane. Feel his lips on mine, his arms
around me.

The next ram sent us
farther off the road. Mom yelped and dropped her phone. She fumbled with her
seatbelt.

“Do not take off your
seat belt.” I yanked the steering wheel in an attempt to keep us from sliding
into the ditch. If we stopped, we were at the mercy of the person behind us.

“I can’t reach it.” She
stretched for the phone.

“Hello? Gertie?” Leroy’s
voice came from the phone on the floor.

“Call the police!” Mom
bent to put her mouth as close to the phone as possible. “Someone is trying to
kill us.”

“Where are you?”

“The road from church.
Tell Duane that Marsha loves him.”

Oh, good grief. Another
yank of the wheel and we spewed gravel. The tires spun, finally gaining traction
and propelling us back onto the highway. I wanted to fist bump to our success.

The car behind us slowed,
then shot forward. My head snapped back from the impact. My hands released
their hold on the wheel. We spun. The massive trunk of an oak tree loomed in
front of us.

“Tree!” Mom covered her
eyes.

I closed my eyes and
crossed my arms in front of my face.

CHAPTER FIVE

I opened my eyes to the sound of sirens. “Mom?”

“I’m still here.” She
tugged at her seatbelt. “Barely. The belt cut off my breathing for a second.
Are you all right?”

“I think so.” All my
joints worked at least. A pain shot through my chest. We’d both sport bruises
by morning.

The front of my car sat
against my knees. The steering wheel twisted upward. I guessed it could’ve been
worse, but I loved this car. The insurance company would total it for sure. I
blinked back tears, thankful to be alive, and unhooked my seatbelt. I shoved
against the door. Stuck tight.

“Stay still, ma’am.” A
paramedic who didn’t look older than my daughter stuck his arm through the now
non-existent window and patted my shoulder. “We’ll have you out in a jiffy.”

“Free my mother first.”

“Oh, no, dear. You first.
I’m fine. I think I’ll take a nap while we wait.” Blood dripped from a cut on
her forehead.

“Don’t fall asleep,
ma’am,” handsome paramedic said. “You might have a concussion.”

“I did hit my head on
this window.” Her side window sported a round concave in the glass. A spider
web of cracks radiated from the center.

While the paramedics cut
us out of the car, I leaned back against the headrest. Where was the car that
ran us off the road? They could have killed us while we were unconscious. My
blood ran cold. I no longer wanted to know Mrs. Grimes’s secret. Mom and I
could have been killed.

“Gertie!”

“Marsha!”

I turned my head. Duane
and Leroy raced down the embankment. Now that my hero had arrived, I let the
tears flow. I didn’t have to be strong. Duane’s shoulders were big enough for
both of us.

He reached in the window
and cupped my face. “Are you all right?”

“I think so. My knees are
jammed against the front of the car, and the seat belt cut into me, but other
than that, I’ll live.”

“Thank, God.” He leaned
in and kissed me before the paramedics shoved him aside.

Mom was out and folded in
Leroy’s arms. He escorted her to a waiting ambulance. They’d most likely make
us stay overnight for observation. I sighed. I’d seen the inside of a hospital
too much over the last year. I really need to rethink this mystery solving
hobby of mine.

The emergency personnel
pulled me from the car and handed me over to Duane. My legs collapsed, and he
scooped me into his arms. “You should be a gurney,” he said.

“This is so much nicer.”
I cradled my head in the curve of his shoulder.

The news van pulled up
and I hid my face from Stacy and her stupid camera. She teetered after us on
yellow stilettos. “What happened? Can you give us a comment?”

Duane shouldered past
her. “Leave us alone, Stacy. Now is not the time.”

“But this is news.” She
jogged alongside us.

“Not today.” He carried
me to the waiting ambulance, and set me on a gurney next to the one Mom was on.
After one more kiss, he stepped back. “We’ll meet you at the hospital.”

I nodded and kept my gaze
on his until the doors closed.

*

Mom and I were assigned
to a joint room. Once the doctor’s checked us over, Mom with a concussion and
me with swollen knees, they allowed Duane and Leroy to join us. Both men stood
at the foot of our beds, crossed their arms, and glared.

“What have you two gotten
mixed up in now?” Leroy glanced from Mom to me. “I thought you went to a book
club meeting at the church.”

“We did,” I said. “The
car that ran us off the road appeared halfway home. We didn’t do anything to
warrant the attack.”

“Where have you been
nosing around?” Duane pulled up a mint green vinyl chair.

“No where. Really.” I
raised the bed to a sitting position. “The ladies at the club asked about the
antique books that Mrs. Grimes just got in, but that’s all. I haven’t spoken to
people at the school about anything other than the book fair.” Yet. “Obviously,
someone knows something I don’t, but they think I know.”

He shook his head. “That
doesn’t make sense.”

“Neither does someone
running us off the road.” Usually this type of danger came when I’d dug more
into the mystery. Had I inadvertently said something I shouldn’t? Stumbled
across a clue I couldn’t identify?

“Visiting hours
are
over.” A nurse in scrubs that matched the furniture in
the room bustled in. “You may return tomorrow at eight.”

Duane frowned before
leaning over to plant a kiss on my lips. “Get some rest. We’ll be here to pick
y’all up in the morning. Love you.”

“I love you, too.” Tears
welled. My entire body ached. I didn’t want him to go.
Stupid
hospital rules.

Once the men left, Mom
turned on the television. “Might as well watch the news. See if they captured
one of our most embarrassing moments.”

“Excuse me?” I turned my
head to glare. “I did my best to keep us on the road. I’m the one without a car
now.”

She grinned, the white
bandage on her head a striking contrast to her auburn hair. “I know, sweetie.
Just making sure you still have some fire left in you. So, what are we going to
do now? I know there’s a plan whirling in that brain of yours.”

“I’m going to find out
who did this. It’s got to be the same person that killed Mrs. Grimes.” I
switched to lying on my side so I could see her better. “Do you think my
reputation has preceded me?” After all, I’d barely scratched the surface of the
murder. Someone was running scared very early in the game.

“I’ve no doubt.” Mom
tapped her fingers on the bed rail. “Suspects number in the hundreds, you know.
The book club,” she counted off on her free hand. “The bunch of
looky
Lou’s in the store, the high school staff…the
students.”

“I think we can scratch
off the elderly ladies, don’t you? It would take some strength to choke
someone.”

Mom looked insulted. “I
could choke someone if I wanted to. All you do is tighten the scarf, then
tighten some more, then—”

“I get it.” The thought
of my mother killing someone disturbed me. I supposed anyone from the age of
fifty to seventy still had enough power to dig in their heels and hold on to a
silk scarf. Still, it was hard to digest. Maybe the pounding in my head kept me
from thinking clearly.

“We need to find out who
Harriet’s enemies are, and I don’t mean people who just dislike her. Someone
hated her enough to kill.”

“Or wanted something she
had.” My mind clung to the fact there was a clue in the locked drawer that
would answer some questions. I had to find that key or a way to jimmy the
drawer open. Tomorrow was Friday. I’d head to the school as soon as Duane
picked me up. “How much are antique books worth?”

“Some are worth hundreds
of dollars, why?”

“That’s the only thing of
value I know Mrs. Grimes had. You don’t think she has a fortune stashed
somewhere, do you? Maybe she let it slip to someone?”

“Maybe.” Mom shrugged.
“We need to narrow our suspect list down to a manageable few.”

“I have a PTO meeting tomorrow
night. I’ll ask around.”

“And put another target
on your back.”

“How else are we supposed
to find out anything? You can’t ask the group that rents the back room for
their crafts. They’ve never mentioned knowing Mrs. Grimes, and you know they
gossip about just about anyone.” A few months ago, Leroy had built on a back
room for us which we rented to crafty women. That little good deed almost got
me killed.

“True, but a couple of
them consider themselves sleuths. It doesn’t hurt to have other folks poking
their noses around.”

“No, but if someone else
is already nervous, it puts other people besides ourselves in danger.” I
couldn’t do that to the women. Most of them were old enough they lived in the
retirement homes.

I settled back on my bed
and stared at the ceiling while Mom immersed herself in channel surfing. Soon,
my eyelids grew heavy.

*

“No, I’m not taking you
to the library today.” Duane walked beside the intern pushing me in a
wheelchair out of the hospital.

“But, I’ve got work to
do.” I gave him my most pleading look.

“You are going to rest
until Monday if I have to tie you to a chair.” The thunderous look on his face
gave me little room for argument.

“Can I at least go to the
PTO meeting tonight?” I couldn’t get used to the new acronym. “I need to get
things moving on the book fair. I promise I’ll be sitting very nicely in a
chair.”

“You’ll be putting out
feelers.”

He knew me so well. “You
could always go with me.”

“No thanks.” He
shuddered. “Besides, I have to be at the football game.”

Who was the wise guy that
scheduled a meeting on a Varsity game night? I always went to the home games to
cheer on my favorite coach. I’d bring that up first thing. “Can I go?”

“Like I could really stop
you.” He tossed me a smile. “Just be careful, okay?”

“I will. I need a car.”

He sighed. “We’ll stop at
the rental place on the way home. I’m sure your insurance company will
reimburse you until you can purchase a new one.”

The thought of my pretty
powder blue Prius being totaled still stabbed at my heart. Before that, I drove
a Sonata. I’d loved that car, too. My solving mysteries sure kept the local car
dealership in business. “I want something sexy. Like a red Mustang
convertible.”

“Great. The killer can
spot you easier.”

The silent intern handed
me into Duane’s care. With his hand on my elbow, Duane helped me into his
truck. I felt fine except for the bruises across my chest and my swollen knees.
I waved at Mom and Leroy and almost fell backward when my knees refused to bend
the way they were meant to. My fiancé placed his hands on my ample rear and
hoisted me onto the seat. “Thanks. The knees weren’t working very well.”

“Yet, you want a car to
go gallivanting around town.” He loped to the driver’s side and slid behind the
wheel. He drove us across town to the only car rental place in town.

They didn’t have any
convertibles. Oh, well. The temperature was too chilly for driving with the top
down anyway. They gave me the keys to a Ford Fusion. Cute car. If I liked it,
maybe that would be the next car someone wrecked for me.

Duane followed as I drove
my new ride home. The exertion from driving, coupled with waiting on a very
slow service rep to get me the keys, left me trembling from exhaustion. I was
more than ready to camp out on the sofa for the rest of the day.

My sweetie fetched me a
tall glass of ice, a diet soda, and the remote to the television. “I’ve got to
get to work now. Will you be all right?”

I nodded. “Leroy is
bringing Mom here. We’ll recuperate together.” In fact, they should have beaten
us there. “I need my purse.”

He handed it to me,
kissed me goodbye, and rushed out the door. I punched in Mom’s number. “Where
are you?”

“In the guest house.” She
sounded breathless. “I’ll be there in a few.” She giggled. “Leroy is making me
feel better.”

Eew
!
I punched the off button. I’d rather focus on the sight of Mrs. Grimes’s
bloated face then picture what my stepfather was doing to make my mother feel
better.