Frictional Characters

Chapter One It was my day off from the library and I was blissfully sleeping in when my phone rang. Instantly awake, I fumbled frantically for my phone as Fitz, the orange and white cat I shared with the library, blinked at me with concern. He was wondering why I had been curled up and sleeping one second and a mess of energy the next. In my hurry to grab the phone, I knocked it clear off my bedside table. I scrabbled for it on the floor and then stared at it through sleep-blurred eyes. Wilson? Why was the library director calling me on my day off? Had I messed up? Was it not my day off? “Wilson?” I said gruffly as I answered the phone right before it went to voice mail. Wilson cleared his throat. “Sorry about calling you early on your day off. There’s been—an incident.” “An incident? What? Did something happen at the library?” My mind immediately flew to all kinds of horrible possibilities—a fire there. Tornado damage. A theft. Vandalism. I felt a little sick. “No, no,” he said quickly, seeming to understand my alarm. “I’m sorry, I’m not expressing myself very well this morning. I just found a body.” “What?” I croaked. “A body,” said Wilson stiffly. “Jonas Merchant . . . an acquaintance.” I stood up from the floor where I was still crouched with the phone. “You’ve called the police, though?” “Yes, Burton and some others are here. In fact, they recommended that I call for a ride. I didn’t want to alarm Mona.” Mona was the mother of my coworker, Luna, and the woman Wilson was dating. I said quickly, “I’ll be over there as soon as I can. Do you have an address?” Wilson said, “One second.” He was quiet for a few seconds and then gave it to me. “Thank you, Ann.” I quickly got dressed and put some food out for Fitz before leaving. His happy purr rumbled to a quick stop as he started digging in. I jumped into my old Subaru, plugged in the address into my phone, and headed off down the street. It only ended up taking me a minute or two to get there. It was one of the short connecting streets that I took to the library every day. I might never even have noticed the name of it, or had definitely forgotten it if I had. When I drove up to the modest ranch house, I parked on the opposite side of the street because of all the emergency vehicles around. Wilson was standing somberly on the sidewalk wearing his customary suit and tie, hands in his pockets. He’d gotten a bit more casual for a while, under Mona’s influence, but old habits were hard to break and I was seeing him in his dark suits more often. He stiffly raised a hand in greeting to me and I gave a quick one back. I saw that our police chief, Burton, a big, middle-aged man, was speaking with some other police that must be from the North Carolina state police force. He glanced my way and nodded his head in greeting. I walked up to Wilson. “Are you all right?” Wilson nodded, although he seemed exhausted, despite the early hour. “I’m fine. But I’m not positive I can leave yet. I’d rather have Burton come over and okay my departure before I make it.” “Sure. I don’t have anywhere I need to be. What happened?” Wilson looked pained. He appeared to be thinking through the exact phrasing of what he wanted to say. Then he shook his head. “I may as well tell you everything, Ann. I’ve been keeping secrets for too long and they’re making me miserable. But if you can, please keep this to yourself for a while. I do want to try to explain things to Mona and Luna, if I can.” “It sounds serious.” “It could very well be. You see, the man who lived here, Jonas Merchant, was blackmailing me.” I blinked at Wilson in disbelief. “Blackmailing you?” I couldn’t possibly imagine what Wilson could have done for anyone to blackmail him. Failed to return a phone call? Had an overdue library book at his home for several weeks? Wilson had always seemed a major rule-follower in every way. Wilson flushed a little and stared down at his carefully-clipped nails. “I’m afraid he did. You see, I was a different person years ago. You know that I’m a teetotaler now.” Actually, I didn’t, but that’s because I didn’t really socialize with my boss. I nodded, though. “Well, there was an incident several years ago that precipitated that decision. I’d had a few drinks at a restaurant and unwisely decided I could drive.” Wilson took a deep breath. “It was more than unwise. It was reckless and foolish. I was pulled over by Burton’s predecessor at the force and charged with a DUI. Then and there, I decided that alcohol and I weren’t a good fit for each other. I don’t like making poor decisions.” “That was smart of you,” I said. Wilson said dryly, “It was good that I finally made some sort of rational decision.” I wasn’t really making the connection to what this had to do with a dead Jonas Merchant, though. “So . . . you mentioned blackmail. Jonas somehow knew what had happened? Why would he wait so long to blackmail you, if he did? You don’t mean that he’s been extorting money from you for years?” “No. Jonas recently moved to town. Well, in the past year or so, I suppose. But his father had lived here prior to that . . . in this very house. When I was performing my sobriety test—apparently very poorly—Jonas’s father happened to be driving past. Apparently, Mr. Merchant told his son everything during their phone conversations. And Mr. Merchant was very partial to local gossip. He knew just about everything that happened in Whitby and passed it along.” I frowned. “He knew his son was planning on blackmailing people with the information?” “No. At least, not according to Jonas. Mr. Merchant was simply a garrulous old soul who liked to keep his finger on the pulse of the town and spread gossip. But Jonas had apparently arrived on hard times. When Mr. Merchant died a year ago, Jonas moved here and into his house. Not only that, he decided to take advantage of the gossip he’d gleaned from his father.” “It was a money-making opportunity for him,” I said. Wilson nodded. “Exactly.” “But he did have a regular job?” Wilson said, “He worked at some sort of office downtown. But either it wasn’t making him the money he thought he needed, or he doesn’t make very much at all. At any rate, he was clearly supplementing his income with blackmail.” “When did he first get in touch with you?” “It was a few months ago,” said Wilson with a sigh. “Maybe I shouldn’t have cared so much, but I did. I care about my position in town and what people who live here think of me.” “Of course you do,” I murmured. Encouraged by this, Wilson went on. “Maybe it’s silly or prideful, but it’s a small town and I’ve spent a good deal of time trying to create a decent reputation for myself. When Jonas got in touch with me, I felt completely sick. I worried about what the board of trustees at the library would think. I wondered if it might hurt my relationship with Mona because I’d been too ashamed to mention that I had a DUI in my past.” “So you paid him?” Wilson shook his head. “I knew that blackmail would never end. I’d be paying out to Jonas for years and years if I started down that particular road. I couldn’t stand the thought of being beholden to anyone else. Besides, I just don’t have that sort of money. I ended up calling him and trying to appeal to his better self.” “Did that work?” Wilson turned to watch as some people in forensics suits strode into the small house. “He didn’t seem to have a better self. Besides, he said he’d take great pleasure in taking me down. That I thought I was more respectable than anyone else and I should be proved wrong.” “What did you do?” Wilson said, “I went straight to Burton. Jonas had been sending me threatening notes and I handed those right over to the police. Unfortunately, they were written on a computer and nothing could really be traced so it was my word against his.” He glanced up again. “Here comes Burton now.” He squared his shoulders as if ready to face some sort of firing squad instead of the kind-faced police chief. Wilson flinched a bit as Burton gave him a pat on the back. But he managed to give the chief a strained smile. “Holding up okay?” asked Burton. “I suppose so,” said Wilson miserably. He ran a hand through his white hair, making it stand uncharacteristically up on end. “Although I would frankly prefer to go home and back to bed. Perhaps I could start this day over again and have the outcome turn out better.” Burton gave him a small smile. “That would be a nice option to have, wouldn’t it? And one a lot of people would want to try. You’ll be glad to hear that our team has everything we need from you now. I appreciate how forthright you’ve been during the process. We’ll be in touch if there’s anything else we need.” Wilson gave a stiff bob of his head, looking relieved. “Excellent. Thanks, Burton.” The police chief was called away and joined the forensic team at the front of the house. “Ready to get out of here?” I asked quietly. Wilson nodded again. I walked over to my Subaru and hopped into the front seat. Wilson looked drawn and tired, despite the still early hour. “Wilson, I was thinking that maybe you and I should go grab some breakfast.” He looked at me with an owlish expression. “It’s very late, though. I should be getting to the library.” I shook my head. “There’s really no reason to do that. The library is fully-staffed today and no one needs any direct supervision. It’s not the day for you to meet with the board of trustees. Besides, I’m sure you’ve built up plenty of time off.” In all my days of working at the library, I couldn’t immediately recall Wilson taking any vacation days. For a second, he looked stubborn but then sighed. “I suppose you’re right. I could use a little time to get my head screwed on straight. I just don’t know if I feel like sitting out in public right now. I’m feeling a bit shaky.” “Why don’t you come by my place?” I asked. “It won’t be as fancy as a restaurant, but I can definitely scramble us some eggs and fix coffee and toast.” Wilson relaxed a little. “That sounds perfect. As long as I’m not messing up any of your plans, Ann. I know today is supposed to be your day off. You surely didn’t intend to spend it with the library director.” “It’s my pleasure,” I said quickly. I drove us back to my cottage where Fitz was blinking at us out of the front window. Wilson chuckled. “It looks like you have a welcoming committee.” Sure enough, Fitz happily wound himself around Wilson’s legs and then hopped into his lap as I busied myself in the small kitchen with making the aforementioned eggs, toast, and coffee. I gave him a steaming cup of coffee first, putting the half and half and sugar in front of him while I got the eggs and toast started. I sensed that Wilson felt a bit awkward about everything that had happened so I kept busy with the cooking and Fitz kept Wilson busy by loving on him. I realized as I was cooking that I hadn’t eaten breakfast, myself. I put a couple of extra eggs in the pan. When I put the food down on the kitchen table and joined Wilson, I was pleased to see that his color looked a little better. He took a few bites of eggs and toast and then sat back in his chair a little, reaching down to rub Fitz again. “I can’t imagine what you must be thinking, Ann,” said Wilson sadly. “I hope the things I’ve told you this morning haven’t changed the way you think about me.” “I always have total respect for you,” I said immediately. It was true. Wilson could irritate me sometimes, especially when he loaded me up with extra work. But he worked just as hard and cared so much about what we did at the library. And he’d always conducted himself with so much integrity. “One bad decision doesn’t change that.” He sighed with relief. “I’m so glad to hear that. I’m really a different person now than I was. I’m embarrassed to admit, but I’ve always been an uptight person. I discovered about a decade or so ago that alcohol was a way for me to unwind. Now I know, of course, that it wasn’t good for me at all. It might be fine for other people,” he added quickly, glimpsing a wine bottle or two on my counters. “For me, though it was basically poison. It made me act in ways I wouldn’t ordinarily.” Wilson straightened his tie. “I got to the point one night where I’d run out of alcohol in my house. I drove to a bar and had some drinks and then, as I mentioned to you earlier, drove home. An incredibly horrible and disastrous decision on my fault. I was pulled over by Burton’s predecessor and had a DUI test. I suppose it must have been witnessed by Jonas’s father. I was so ashamed of my behavior. The charges were reduced, but I was so worried everyone in town would know. And you know how I feel about our trustees.” I did. Wilson would do anything for our library trustees. The last thing he would want to do is create some sort of a scandal that they’d end up gossiping about. “I kept waiting for it to be the talk of the town. I was so very grateful to find that Worth, Jonas’s father, never said anything. Later, of course, I realized he must have said something to his son. I started getting threatening notes recently, as I told you.” I remembered how quiet Wilson had been lately. He’d never exactly been the sort who was the life of the party, but he’d gotten so silent and so remote that Mona had been hurt and confused by his behavior. “And you went right to Burton with them,” I said, remembering our conversation earlier. “That’s right. Blackmail is never really over, is it? But now I’m in even worse trouble. I was at Jonas’s house this morning to tell him in person that the jig was up and that I’d turned his correspondence to me over to the police.” He shrugged. “The rest is history.” “At least you know that you handled the entire situation appropriately. You handed over the blackmail notes to the police. You quit drinking. And you called Burton when you discovered Jonas dead.” Wilson sighed. “Yes. But now I’m embroiled in a murder investigation. Of course, I had nothing to do with it,” he added hurriedly. “Jonas’s power over me was destroyed as soon as I took the letters to the police.” He hesitated. “Ann, you seem to have a natural talent for solving these types of puzzles. It must be a good trait for a librarian to have. Maybe you can do some digging for me. I just hate that the trustees might think I’m a murderer.” “Of course they won’t,” I said stoutly. “Anyone who knows you will realize you’re completely incapable of harming anyone.” “Thanks,” said Wilson, although he sounded doubtful. He finished off his coffee and said, “And now I think I should get out of your hair for the day.” “Are you feeling any better?” I asked. He nodded. “A lot. The food and caffeine have done their jobs.” He did look a good deal better and he said he thought he’d be able to drive again. So I dropped him off back at Jonas’s house where his car was parked. I got out of the car too, mainly just to make sure Wilson walked over to his car well. I heard my name being called and turned to see a beautiful woman in her thirties with dark hair.