Spine-Tingling

Chapter One I poked my head into Grayson’s office, holding up a bag of doughnuts and some coffee. “Knock-knock.” He grinned at me, standing up to take the coffees. “Well, hi there. This is a nice surprise.” “Is it? I figured you might be trying to get stuff done before anyone else showed up at work. But I thought that bringing in doughnuts and coffee might be the tickets to get me in.” “As if you need tickets,” said Grayson, giving me a light kiss. “Besides, I’ve got all day to edit these stories. I don’t have all day to see you, though.” I sat across from him at his desk. “It’s definitely one of those days. I’ll be closing down the library tonight, so it’s going to be a late one. Plus, I have some errands to run this morning, so I figured I’d better run by while I could.” I glanced around the newspaper office. “Nice place you have here.” Grayson chuckled. “Well, I don’t know about that. I spend so much time here that I think I’ve lost perspective on the place.” It was the kind of office a word person could appreciate. Grayson had the built-in bookshelves fairly bursting with books on every topic—mostly nonfiction, but also some novels crammed in. He had a whiteboard on the wall with scribbles of ideas for stories. There were a couple of stacks of papers on his modest desk, but they seemed organized by clips and binders and had colorful sticky notes scattered throughout. “It’s a lot more organized than I would have thought,” I said, slowly. “I mean, your house is organized of course, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a photo of an editorial office that didn’t look like total chaos.” “I’ve seen exactly the same pictures you have and I totally agree. But if I start to get a little messy in here, I feel like I can’t even think? Do you know what I’m talking about?” I did. I wasn’t a neat freak by a long shot, but I did need to have a sense of order both at work and at home. “I’m guessing if you didn’t have things organized in here, it would take you twice as long to get anything done. You’d always be looking for that ad somebody dropped off or a photo that had been printed.” Grayson nodded. “It would take me three times longer to get anything done. But I do have a little bit of fun in here, too. It’s just not clutter.” He pointed to the wall behind us and I chuckled. “Star Wars posters. Nice.” “Sometimes it’s nice to just think about something besides work.” “Like saving the galaxy?” I asked with a smile. “Exactly.” He took out a glazed chocolate doughnut from the box and took a bite, closing his eyes briefly. “Oh my gosh, these are good. I haven’t had doughnuts in forever.” “Me either. For some reason, they were calling out to me this morning. I just need to learn out to ignore them if they start calling too frequently.” Grayson said, “I was just thinking today that it had been a couple of days since I’d exercised. I really need to get on it.” “Maybe we can exercise together tomorrow morning? Unless you can leave here and join me before I head into work.” Grayson reluctantly shook his head. “I better not. I have someone coming in for an interview in a little while.” I raised my eyebrows. “New employee?” “Different kind of interview—a profile I’m writing for the paper.” “Oh, right. Well, let’s do tomorrow morning then. If I work out at night, I’ll be all keyed up and won’t be able to fall asleep.” Grayson took another bite of his doughnut. “I don’t think falling asleep is going to be a problem for me at any point today. Just eating this doughnut is making me feel sleepy.” “It’s the carbs,” I said with a laugh. “Have some of that coffee I brought to counteract it.” Grayson did, after doctoring it with a lot of cream and sugar. “I like my coffee to taste like hot chocolate.” He grinned at me. His phone started ringing and he groaned. I quickly said, “Let me let you go. We’ll talk more later.” He waved as I set out with a couple of doughnuts and my coffee. I did want to exercise and figured it needed to be done after I ate in order to burn off the calories I was about to consume. I ran a couple of quick errands and then headed back over to the park and sat there for a few minutes while I enjoyed my doughnuts and coffee. Then I headed into the park for a fast-paced walk. Although I did a lot of walking around my neighborhood, I really enjoyed my walks at the park. I was rewarded for the short drive by a beautiful vista of mountains behind a small lake. There were plenty of trails to explore, too, with different skill levels. After exercising, I headed back home to get ready for work. I greeted Fitz, my orange and white cat, who’d been looking out the window and waiting for me. Well, he was probably waiting and looking at the birds congregating on my new bird feeders. I decided it was like kitty TV for Fitz—he’d watch the cardinals, chickadees, and wrens with great interest, his tail twitching as he did. Sometimes he’d make little chirping noises as he looked at them as if telling them how much he’d love to be able to eat them if he could only escape outside and subdue nature. “Sorry, bud—your excitement today will have to be contained to the library,” I said wryly. Fitz doubled as the library cat when he was there. Patrons loved him because he was, in essence, a lap cat. I was sure that he lowered the blood pressure of half the library in a day’s time. I pulled out his carrier and he immediately bounded into it, looking pleased. I was glad Fitz liked going to the library as much as I did. When I walked in, the library was bustling. Library storytime had just wrapped up and children and their mothers swarmed the circulation desk to check out picture books. It was a sight that always made me smile. I loved seeing what they’d picked out and how they clutched the books to their chests as if they’d gotten a prize. Which, to me, they definitely had. I spotted some of my favorites when I helped them check out: The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Corduroy, and The Snowy Day. I chatted with a couple of the moms about the books and found that they were their favorites, too. “It makes reading a story over and over again a little bit easier when it’s one of the books I loved as a kid,” said one of the moms with a grin. I spotted my favorite patron, Linus, wearing his customary suit and frowning at a chess board on a table near the periodicals. He was sitting with a new friend of his, an elderly man with a bushy white beard that made him look reminiscent of Santa. Unfortunately, I didn’t see volunteer Zelda Smith until she nearly ran over me with a book cart when I was on my way to make sure the computers were running as they should. She gave a sniff. “It’s important to pay attention to where you’re going.” Zelda was both an excellent volunteer and a rather scary one. She was intensely focused on shelving books and did it both swiftly and accurately. However, she was so single-minded that she tended to snarl whenever patrons came up to ask her questions. She didn’t even like them to ask me questions because Zelda was convinced that I had more important things to do. I spotted Greta Bowers coming into the library, set to do her own volunteer shift. I gave her a wave and she gave me a small one back. She noticed that I was speaking with Zelda and I hid a smile as Greta carefully avoided us, heading right over to shelve books from a cart full of them. Zelda gave another sniff. “Greta isn’t much help.” “Well, not everyone can be a powerhouse like you, Zelda. Plus, the library appreciates any help we can get.” Zelda grumbled, “She’s very slow. And takes lots of breaks.” “She’s a volunteer, after all,” I pointed out mildly. “Idle hands are the devil’s handiwork.” I raised my eyebrows at this. Not only did Zelda strike me as decidedly impious, but I had the feeling that her feelings of dissatisfaction with Greta somehow went deeper than her irritation over slow shelving. Zelda trundled off with the cart after her intoned quotation, apparently not wanting to possess the idle hands she just denigrated. I settled behind the reference desk and did some research for a patron who was trying to figure out which hospitals in the southeast had nursing residency programs. For some reason, it wasn’t as easy to figure out as one might think. I finally ended up successfully finding information with the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. Time passed by quickly between the research and some work on an upcoming library program I was helping sponsor. I was so absorbed in what I was doing that I didn’t notice Greta standing directly in front of me until she gave a polite cough. “Greta,” I said quickly. “Sorry. I think I got sucked into some work I was doing. What can I help you with?” Greta, actually, did look as if she needed some sort of help. She was standing in front of me and shifting from foot to foot restlessly. “Is everything okay?” I asked, slowly. I had the feeling there was something very much on Greta’s mind but that she wasn’t sure how to say it. Greta was about seventy years old and had recently retired from nursing, herself. She had bright, intelligent blue eyes, which currently looked worried, and blond hair with gray strands in it that fell in soft ringlets on either side of her head. She hesitated as if she were trying to find the right words. “What would you do if you saw something strange?” I was used to getting a lot of rather unusual questions at the library. It was actually one of the fun things about the job—never really knowing what you might hear next. But Greta looked so concerned. I said slowly, “Something strange? Like something you saw when you were out?” Greta nodded. “I saw something odd the other morning when I was walking the dog. Maybe it was nothing, but it could also have tied in with something else. Would you risk looking silly and go to the police?” “Absolutely. Burton is very easy to talk to and I’m sure he wouldn’t think you were silly. Especially if it’s something you’re really concerned about.” Greta nodded again and said, almost to herself, “I’m not even exactly sure of what I saw.” “He’d be grateful that you were being a good citizen and reporting it.” Greta smiled at me, looking a bit relieved. “Thank you, Ann. That’s good to know. I’ll speak with him later on today.” As she walked away, I could hear her say softly, “I just don’t know if it was a push or a fall.” I didn’t have time to speak with her again because suddenly the library became very busy. The next couple of hours I spent fixing the copier which was on the blink for the millionth time, showing someone how to use the ancient microfiche machine in the research room, and showing someone how to synch their e-reader to get their library materials to show up. At some point near the end of the craziness, I saw Greta leave the library, giving me a distracted wave as she went. The rest of the day flew by equally quickly. I hosted a book club for moms of young kids, which was a new thing we were trying. I’d certainly hosted adult book clubs and I’d hosted storytimes for kids when I was substituting for Luna, so I tried to merge the two together. We’d had a survey on the library website asking what kinds of programs patrons might be interested in, and a book club for moms came up several times. I pulled board books and toys into the community room and scattered some mats and pillows on the floor for the moms, figuring they might want to be on the floor with their kids. I’d picked a fairly short read for our first meeting, We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. There were ten moms with kids ranging from an infant to a three-year-old, which I thought was a great start. At the beginning, I said that we all understood if kids cried or fussed or if it took a while to gather thoughts. Surprisingly, though, the kids were mostly just great. They were happy to explore since their mothers were still in the room and they flipped through books and played with toys while we discussed what happened to the Blackwood family. At the end of it, one of the moms came up to me. “Thanks so much for this. I feel like I haven’t used my brain for weeks.” “The book was the perfect length, too,” another mom said. “Can you find more like that?” “I’ve got a whole list of them,” I said with a smile. “Thanks so much for coming.” I cleaned up the community room and then headed over to the circulation desk before the onslaught of moms and kids with their book selections. A few hours later, Luna came over to see me. Usually, there was just one of us closing up each night, but the youth and children’s section had been so busy lately, Luna had been working longer hours in the evening. “How did your new book club go today?” she asked curiously. Because I knew Luna, I could tell that she was totally wiped out from a very long day at the library. But anyone who didn’t know her well would never be able to tell—she still radiated energy. And her eclectic clothing choices, with wildly unmatching vibrant colors contrasting with her currently-green hair, served to broadcast it. “It went really well. I wasn’t sure at first if the meeting was going to totally go off the rails or not . . . you just never know when little kids are involved. But it genuinely seemed like a real break for the moms—a chance to be with other grownups and talk about a book for a change. The kids seemed entertained by the toys and books. Plus, I got some good feedback.” “Oh, that couldn’t have gone any better. I was thinking about your club last night when I was trying to fall asleep. I have a new idea I want to pitch to Wilson.” I knew she was likely reticent about bringing up her program ideas to Wilson. Not only was he our director, but he was also dating Luna’s mom, Mona. Plus, he had something of a history of turning down Luna’s ideas. “What is it?” I asked, giving Luna an encouraging look. She beamed at me. “Yoga and book discussions for teens. I keep reading about all the stress that teens are under these days. A little yoga might help.” The idea definitely had merit. Plus, it didn’t sound like the kind of thing Wilson would turn down. “That’s a great idea, Luna.” She brightened. “Think so? As a bonus, it will also help me out by allowing me to wear yoga pants to work.” I laughed at that. “I can’t wait to see your yoga outfit.” All the yoga pants I’d seen were dark colors. Luna was really going to have to search to find something in hot pink or electric blue. “You’ll love it. Anyway, I guess I’ll visit Wilson’s office before he leaves for the day and see what kind of mood he’s in. You have quite a good track record for getting your programs on the calendar. What’s your secret?” I shrugged. “Nothing amazing. I just write up a proposal and email it over.” Luna gawped at her. “Really? No verbal pitch? You don’t go over and present it?” I considered this. “No, I don’t think I’ve ever done that. Maybe once I’ve mentioned an idea I had for a program but didn’t fully outline it until I emailed it over.” “Do you mind letting me take a look at what you’ve done? I’m not sure I know exactly what a proposal looks like.” So I pulled up the files from the last couple of programs, printed them off, and handed them over to her. Luna scanned one of them and made a face. “You have data on here.” “Not major data. Just information from other libraries about the kind of engagement they received with similar programs. Wilson is kind of nerdy that way and eats up data.” “Yeah, I guess you’re right. You’re definitely right about Wilson’s nerdiness, anyway. I’ll revisit it after I come up with some more information. And data.” She made the face again. “It won’t take as much time as you’re thinking. Plus, as a bonus, sometimes when I’m looking for information on program data, I find ideas for other programs in the future.” Luna brightened. “Good to hear there might be an upside to it all. I could use an upside right now.” I frowned. “Is everything okay? Your mom is doing all right?” “Oh, she’s doing fine. She and Wilson are spending a lot of time together, which makes her happy . . . which makes me happy. I think she wishes Wilson were a bit more warm and cuddly, but you know—Wilson. Anyway, they’re doing fine.” “And everything is going all right with you and Burton?” Luna sighed. “What can I say? He’s a great guy. Everyone looks up to Burton. He’s solid, funny, and smart. But we’re really different people, you know. He’s Mr. Law and Order and I’m Miss Zany.” “Opposites can attract, I guess.” Although the way Luna was talking, it didn’t seem as though she was finding their differences particularly rewarding. “Yeah, but they also say that birds of a feather flock together.” Luna blew out a big sigh. “Sorry. I’m not trying to be such a downer. I haven’t even wanted to tell my mom about this because she loves Burton so much.” “But your mom isn’t the one dating him,” I said. “Exactly. I keep thinking that Burton deserves better than me.” I frowned. “Now you’re being down on yourself.” “No, no. You know I have outrageously healthy self-esteem. I mean that Burton deserves someone who cares about him just as much as he cares about her. I mean, I love going out and doing things with Burton—we have fun going to see movies or going out to eat. But I don’t like feeling like I’m being halfhearted or going through the motions with him. Like I said, he deserves better than that.” I was about to respond when suddenly Luna murmured, “His ears must have been burning.” I turned to see Burton walking through the door. He was a heavyset man with kind eyes that often twinkled with humor. He looked serious now, though, as he walked over to us. “Gosh, he looks grim. I hope he didn’t overhear me,” said Luna in a whisper. I shook my head. “There’s no way he could have.” When Burton joined them, Luna slid her hand into his and gave it a squeeze. “Everything okay? You look pretty serious.” It was obvious to me that Luna did really care for Burton—although it might resemble more of a friendship type of caring. Burton gave Luna’s hand a squeeze and a quick, distracted kiss on the cheek. “Actually, I’m at the library for business.” “Needing to head back in the research room again to look up some records?” asked Luna. He shook his head. “I was wondering more about a woman who might be a volunteer here.” Luna’s eyes opened big. “Something happened to Zelda?” I stifled a sigh. We would get information a lot faster if Burton could get words out. Burton patiently shook his head. “I wanted to ask about Greta. A neighbor mentioned that she volunteered here.” Luna’s eyes somehow managed to open even larger. “Past tense? She’s dead?”