Overdue

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

A few minutes later, there was a flurry of activity at the library. Luna and I were sitting in the breakroom, drinking strong coffee and being attended to by Wilson, who’d quickly returned from his meeting. Fitz jumped into my lap and was quiet and alert as if sensing something was wrong. Luna reached over every minute or so to rub Fitz and soothe herself. Emergency services sent everything they had to the library: fire trucks, ambulances, and the police, but ultimately there was nothing more to be done for poor Carmen.

After about twenty minutes, Burton Edison, the police chief for the small town of Whitby, joined Luna and me in the breakroom as Wilson stepped out to speak with the staff. Burton was a big middle-aged man with a kind smile. Somehow, his mere presence served to calm me down. He greeted us solemnly and said, “How are you both holding up?”

I glanced at Luna, who seemed to have gotten some of her color back.

Luna said, “Better now.” She gave a shaky chuckle. “But then, this coffee is strong enough to eat with a fork.”

Burton smiled at her, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “I’m glad you’re better. That must have been quite a horrible shock.”

“Especially for Ann,” said Luna, gesturing at me. “She’s the one who really found Carmen. I was just there at the tail-end of the discovery.” She gave a croaking laugh. “At first, I didn’t even notice because I was distracted by a book Carmen dropped on the stairs. I love reading about those free solo climber guys and all I was thinking was I wanted to get to the book sale first so I could buy it. It was a signed copy even, made out to one of the trustees. Then I saw Carmen.”

Burton asked, “What’s your interpretation of what happened?”

Luna said, “Well, she fell down the stairs, didn’t she? I mean, that’s how it looked, anyway. Those steps are so steep and poorly-lit that it’s a wonder nobody’s pitched down them before.” She paused and knit her brows. “She did just fall down the stairs, didn’t she?”

Burton looked at me with his steady, thoughtful gaze. As if he knew the answer to Luna’s question, but wanted to hear what I had to say. “What was your impression of what happened, Ann?”

I blew out a sigh, thinking back. “At first, that’s what I thought. Luna’s right—the stairs are a problem. We really need to add more lighting down there, but it’s just such an old building, the electrical wiring here is complicated. Now, of course, after this? Wilson will have the stairs and basement outfitted with all sorts of safety equipment. He’s probably out there making phone calls right now to line that work up. There was one thing I had a question about, though. When I was checking to see if she was all right, I got the impression she didn’t look as though she’d simply fallen down the stairs.”

Fitz looked intently at me with his intelligent green eyes as if hanging on my every word.

“You think she was pushed?” asked Luna, eyes huge as she looked incredulously at me. “Why do you say that?”

I hesitated. “Maybe she wasn’t pushed. Maybe she was struck over the head with something heavy and then tumbled down the stairs. There was some sort of a gash on the back of her head. I thought it was odd that it was on the back of her head when she fell on her front.”

Burton nodded. “Thanks for that, Ann. We’ve got the state forensics team here to check for exactly that kind of information. Now, you both know I’m new to Whitby and I only knew Carmen as a very slight acquaintance. What can you two tell me about her? Is there any sort of background information I should have?”

Luna winced. “Sadly, that would involve speaking ill of the dead.”

“I don’t think she’s listening,” said Burton gently.

Luna took a deep breath. “I’m not sure anyone here at the library really liked Carmen. She was a real mess. She could be condescending as anything. And she always liked things done her way. She was spoiled in that respect. I’m not sure anybody ever told her no.”

Burton said, “And Ann? Do you agree with that assessment?”

I said, “Well, I really respected Carmen. That’s probably the one positive thing I can say about her. When Carmen wanted to get something done, she could move mountains and make it happen. I’ve always felt very grateful she chose the library as her pet project because she managed to raise all sorts of money for us. Our programs have improved under her patronage. And we have more books and technology because of her enthusiasm and focus.”

“But personally?” pressed Burton. “How did you feel about her personally.”

I shrugged. “It wasn’t really my place to have a personal opinion about her.”

“Oh, come on,” said Luna. She gave me a small shove. “You can’t make me look like the only bad guy here.”

“You’re right; Carmen was a mess. Because she was so good at what she did, she discounted everyone else’s attempts to help,” I said.

“In what way?” asked Burton.

“She didn’t work well in groups. I mean, at all. In many ways, she was a born leader and able to tell everyone else what to do. But when it came down to it, she was actually horrible at leading because she didn’t trust anyone else to do as good a job as she did. Carmen was a perfectionist. So she’d take it all over herself,” I said.

Luna said, “And of course it was always done ahead of time and perfectly.”

“But Carmen would always be incredibly stressed out and irritable. She’d also be unjustly angry she’d had to do all of the work,” I said. “After all, she’d been the one who’d left everyone deliberately out of the loop.”

Burton said thoughtfully, “And how did the other folks feel? The ones who were supposed to be working on the fundraiser?”

Luna and I glanced at each other. “They were furious,” we chorused.

I added, “Especially Tanya James. She is something of a control freak and it would drive her nuts that Carmen wouldn’t include her. And I think it’s fair to say the other folks felt the same way.”

Burton nodded. “I can imagine that would be the case. So it sounds as if Carmen is really type-A, and difficult to work with.”

“There was one other positive thing about Carmen.” I felt the need to try to not seem as if I was somehow blaming the victim. “She was a good person to have on your side. A couple of weeks ago, I’d really dropped the ball at work and forgot to get the word out about a big library event. I felt terrible about it—the event had incredibly low turnout. I hadn’t mentioned it in the library newsletter or on social media or anything. Somehow it completely slipped my mind. From what Wilson mentioned to me later, the board members had been really harsh about my mistake at their meeting. Carmen stood up for me and told them I was overworked and trying to juggle too much.”

Luna looked at me with an inscrutable expression before looking down at her hands folded in her lap.

Burton nodded. “Is there anything else? Family, for instance?”

I frowned and looked back over at Luna. She shrugged. Finally, I said sheepishly, “Honestly, I don’t think I ever asked her about her personal life at all. I’d have been afraid she’d snap at me. We always kept everything on a business basis.”

“So when you were heading down into the basement a little while ago, she wouldn’t have chit-chatted with you at all about your life or hers?” asked Burton. “If she had any upcoming plans with friends or that kind of thing?”

“Far from it. I’d have asked her how many books she wanted to move upstairs for the Friends of the Library book sale and where she wanted them to go,” I said.

Luna said slowly, “I actually do know something about her family. I mean, I know you have someone to notify in town.”

Burton leaned in a little as Luna was speaking uncharacteristically softly.

Luna said, “She has a brother here. I admit it, I’m nosy. And it’s kind of boring to work a book fair with someone and not talk to them at all, so I asked her a bunch of questions. I’m sure Carmen was probably ready to run away from me by the end.”

I smiled. “Luna, you can get anyone to talk. I’m sure Carmen would never have told me about her family if I’d asked. She’d probably have told me to mind my own business in no uncertain terms.”

Luna smirked. “You just have to ask the right way, that’s all. I hung on Carmen’s every word and she liked that.”

“She was the kind of person who liked being the center of attention?” asked Burton, still jotting down little notes.

Luna nodded. “She sure was. But we all like to be in the spotlight sometimes, don’t we? Anyway, she has a brother here, but she didn’t tell me his name. I just thought Burton should know there was family locally who needed to be contacted.” She focused on Fitz, carefully scratching him under his chin as he purred loudly.

Burton made a note in his notebook. “Thanks. I’ll check on that right after I’m done here. The last thing we need is for him to find out about his sister through village gossip.”

He stood up and said, “I think this is enough for right now. Please let me know if there’s anything else you think of. I’ll give Wilson an update on everything. Naturally, the front entrance of the library is off-limits while the forensics guys are investigating, but you can leave by the back. I’m afraid we’re going to need to close the library down for the rest of the day.”

“I figured as much. I’ll make signs to put on the doors.” I walked over to a shelf that held supplies and pulled down a couple of sheets of printer paper and a Sharpie pen and quickly scrawled something out.

Luna said, “I can post the closing on social media, too.” She paused. “Do you think you’ll be able to find evidence here?”

Burton shook his head. “Unfortunately, we won’t be able to really count on picking up much. Everyone in town has been here and there are hundreds of fingerprints and bits of DNA left behind. But we’ll have to see if there’s anything we can find out. We’re also talking to everyone who’s been in the library today to see if they saw or heard anything.”

“Maybe someone saw something suspicious-looking,” I said, giving Fitz a final stroke. “Just a heads-up, but I’m going to take Fitz home with me. I don’t think it’s a great idea for him to be here with the library full of police and the doors open all the time.”

“Probably best not to tempt fate,” agreed Burton.

Luna said, “That’s all we need to make it an even more horrible day—if our library cat went missing.”

I put a cat treat into Fitz’s crate and he trotted happily in since he’d always had good experiences in the crate, going to my house where he was treated like a furry little king. Then I stood up with the cat carrier and my makeshift signs.

“Here, let me carry that for you,” said Burton chivalrously and I handed him the carrier.

Luna and I walked out of the breakroom, into the library, and out the back door, passing all sorts of officers from the state police, the SBI, on the way out. Burton walked with us as a sort of escort, seeming to have something on the tip of his tongue to say, but never actually saying it. There were patrons being interviewed by officers, although not many of them since it had been an unusually quiet day so far.

I stuck the sign explaining the library closure on the back door and then handed the other sign to Burton to put on the front door behind the police tape. “Do you think a patron could even get to the front door of the library to see a sign?”

“Maybe if they arrive an hour or so before closing. I’ll put the sign on the front door at some point,” he said, taking it from me.

He strode over briefly to speak with Wilson and then walked back in our direction.

He turned as an officer called out to him. “I’ll talk with you later,” he said quickly to us. He set Fitz gently down on the pavement next to me.

Wilson was pacing near our cars and looked at us sympathetically. “Are you okay?” he asked us. “I came straight over from the meeting as soon as I heard.”

“News traveled that fast?” I asked.

“One of the library techs texted me,” he said. “Although I’m sure that news is traveling fast.” And he made a face. If there’s one thing Wilson worries about, it’s bad publicity for the library.

“We’re okay,” I said, glancing over at Luna before confirming it was actually true. Luna had turned a sort of sickly white when she’d seen Carmen and I’d been worried that she was going to faint and possibly pitch down the stairs herself. I’d left Carmen, helped Luna to sit down, and called Burton.

Wilson said quietly, “Did they have any idea what happened? Was it some sort of accident? Why are the police shutting down the library?” He gave a fretful frown. “I knew I should have upgraded the lighting in that basement.”

“It doesn’t look like an accident,” I said. “I think the police are investigating to find out. It looked to me like Carmen had sustained some sort of head injury before she fell down the stairs.”

“Murder?” Wilson’s voice hissed out. He gave furtive glances around to make sure there weren’t any patrons around who could overhear. “I thought perhaps she took some sort of misstep on the stairs and simply fell. I know she ordinarily wears heels.”

He was right about Carmen’s footwear. She was inordinately fond of heels and I know if I wore those on the stairs, I would certainly have stumbled. But Carmen was a pro at wearing them . . . she wouldn’t have been clumsy on a staircase or anywhere else. “I’m afraid not. The police are closing us up for the day so they can look for evidence and speak with some of the patrons who were here and might have seen something.”

Wilson said, “Who could have done such a thing? And how brazen of them to do it—right in public where anyone could have seen it happen. And at the library.” His tone indicated this was the kind of sacrilege that would not be tolerated.

Luna said, “But it really wasn’t that brazen if somebody was looking for an opportunity. After all, the library was quiet. Maybe they looked around to make sure no one was about to walk in or out and then hit Carmen over the head.”

“How horrible,” said Wilson, looking grim. “Well, I’m sure that with Burton on the case, he’ll soon have some good leads.” He paused. “I’ll have to think of a distraction. Something to keep people from thinking about this crime when they think of the library. Something involving a certain orange and white cat.”

He gestured to the cat carrier at my feet and Fitz started loud purring on cue. Wilson stooped and stuck a couple of fingers through the carrier. Fitz bumped lovingly up against them.

“Whatever you decide, just let me know,” I said.

A truck barreled into the parking lot. The driver parked abruptly, thrust open his door and hopped out. A tall, tanned man with angry eyes and a tight expression marched toward the library entrance. He stopped, baffled, as he finally noticed the yellow police tape and the police cars. I recognized him as he turned around, peering in our direction. Blake Thompson. He and I had gone to high school together. What’s more, he helped out at the library as a handyman from time to time.

“Blake? Can I help you?” asked Wilson in his professional library director voice. “I don’t think we asked for any maintenance assistance for the building today, did we?”

“No, I was here for other reasons. What’s going on?” asked Blake, running an agitated hand through his dark hair. He gave me a look of recognition. “Is the library closed or something?”

“Unfortunately so, at least for today. We’re anticipating opening for our regular hours tomorrow,” said Wilson.

Blake scowled at the library as if it had personally offended him. He spoke to Wilson again, “What’s up? Gas leak or something?”

Wilson was always looking for a way to finesse a bad situation. There just really wasn’t a way to finesse a murder that was sure to come out in the local paper the next day. He said in a tight voice, “The police are investigating a . . . death . . . on the premises. Standard procedure.” He added quickly as if suspicious deaths happened at the library all the time.

Blake’s expression went from aggravated to concerned. “A death? Somebody died at the library?”

He swung his head around and his gaze combed over the parking lot. It settled on what I knew to be Carmen’s Mercedes convertible, which the police appeared to be carefully inspecting.

He paled. “Where’s Carmen? She’s here today. She told me she’d be here.”