Murder of a Bookstore Babe

minicheesecake in order to put down her cup.

“No.” Trixie waved a book with a red high heel on the yellow cover. “I picked up this first.”

“Is it any good?”

“So far.” Trixie took a huge bite of lemon pound cake, then spoke around the crumbs, “Isn’t this the cutest shop?”

Skye had just opened her mouth to agree when she heard a commotion in the next room.

“What’s that?” Trixie craned her neck.

Skye twisted around but couldn’t see anything. “Maybe they’re raffling off a prize.”

“Maybe.” Trixie munched thoughtfully. “But I thought I heard a scream.”

“The winner?” Skye guessed, when another, even louder sound reverberated. The chatter of the other diners halted as if someone had pushed the STOP button on a DVD player, and Skye turned in her seat. “Should we go see if everything’s okay?”

“Yeah.” Trixie half rose from her chair. “Maybe we’d better.”

As Skye stood, she heard a shriek, then what sounded like a stampede. She and Trixie looked at each other. What on earth was going on?

A nanosecond later May ran into the cafe and yelled, “Giant rats are loose in the store. Run for your life!”

In the midst of people shouting and scrambling for the door, Skye grabbed her mother and pulled her to one side. “Calm down.” It was no secret that May hated animals and was terrified of most all of them. “Stay here with Trixie, and I’ll be right back.”

Several women were standing on chairs. Others seemed unsure whether they should stay or go. Skye reassured them as she hurried past. “I’m sure everything’s fine. Stay where you are. Keep enjoying your treats. No need to panic.”

When she arrived at the front of the store, a steady stream of screaming people was leaving as fast as they could. Rise tried to stop the tide, her voice rising above the hullabaloo, but just as it began to slow, there’d be another squeal, and the exodus picked up speed again.

Skye made a quick inspection of the remaining rooms. They were empty, with piles of abandoned books and broken ornaments strewn throughout. She returned to the central hub and found Kayla and Rise leaning against the counter. Both looked dazed. The door of Beelzebub and Cherub’s cage was open, and they were nowhere in sight.

“I take it the chinchillas escaped?” Skye asked.

“I’m not sure what happened.” Rise held her head. “Someone called me into the Professor’s Office with a question about the last Oprah pick. I was explaining that the novel really did end that way, and no, there was not a missing last chapter, when I heard a commotion coming from the front of the store.” Rise took a breath. “As I hurried in here, I saw a woman running into the other rooms yelling that the shop was infested with rats and telling everyone to get out.”

“Oh, my.” Skye patted Rise’s arm but didn’t share that the culprit was her own mother.

“I noticed that Beelzebub and Cherub’s cage was empty, and I tried to explain, but no one would listen.” Rise sagged. “They just all left.”

“Any idea how the chinchillas got out of their pen?” Skye inspected the latch. It seemed fine. “Could you have accidently forgotten to close the catch all the way?”

“No.” Rise’s chin went up. “I’m sure it was secure.” She looked at Kayla, who was tugging on the collar of her yellow polo shirt. “Did you notice anything?”

“No, ma’am.” The girl smoothed her khaki slacks. “I was in the mystery section when I heard the shouting. By the time I got up front, everyone was gone.”

“Someone must have wanted to pet them and opened the door,” Skye suggested.

“Beelzebub and Cherub wouldn’t have run out. They would have hidden inside their house.” Rise pointed to a three-sided plastic box. “Chinchillas are extremely skittish.”

“Will it be hard to get them back?”

“No.” Rise shook her head. “Once everyone leaves they’ll come to me if I offer them raisins.”

“The other rooms are cleared out.” Skye offered, “Would you like me to round up the stragglers in the cafe?”

“There’s no rush.” Rise straightened. “But if you’d let my husband know what happened, I’d appreciate it.”

“Sure thing.” Skye patted Rise’s arm again, then went back to the cafe.

When she explained the situation to Orlando, he shrugged and said, “It’ll be fine.”

As Skye made her way over to her mother and Trixie, she admired the man’s calm but wondered at his remarkable serenity, which didn’t seem quite natural.

Trixie had her arm around May and was saying, “Take a deep breath. Everything’s okay. Maybe all you saw was a display of plush toys.”

Skye kept quiet, curious to find out her mother’s perception of what had happened.

“No.” May shook her head stubbornly, her voice taking on an edge of determination, or maybe hysteria. “It was a giant gray rat.” She held her hands twenty inches apart. “It was this big and it made the most awful sound.” She shuddered. “It went kee-kee-kee.”

Trixie eyed Skye and asked, “Did you find out what happened?”

“Yes. Rise’s pet chinchillas got out of their cage. She claims that even if the door was opened by mistake or someone wanted to pet them, they’d hide, not make a run for it.”

Trixie shot Skye a quizzical look. “What exactly did you see, May?”

“Well.” May elongated the word by taking a shaky breath. “The crowd had finally thinned out, and there wasn’t anyone in that middle room, the one with the register.” Her voice strengthened as she told the tale, her love of being the center of attention overcoming her fright. “I was looking at the cookbook display, waiting for Aunt Kitty and Glory to come out of the bathroom, when I heard a clink.”

“Was that the cage door being opened?” Even though she knew it was useless to try, Skye attempted to shorten her mother’s account. May employed the step-by-step version of storytelling.

“I suppose so.” May frowned at the interruption. “I didn’t actually see that part.” She took a seat and ate a bite of Trixie’s abandoned chocolate croissant. “You know, my throat is awful dry.”

“I’ll get you a coffee.” Skye turned to fetch her mother a drink.

May called after her, “Black, no sugar.”

Once Skye returned and May had taken a sip from the cup Skye handed her, she continued, “Anyway, I heard a clank and looked up. At first, I didn’t notice anything unusual, but then the hair on the back of my neck rose and I froze. It didn’t feel like I was alone anymore.”

Skye stopped herself from sighing. She might as well accept the fact that there was no way to speed this up.

May wiped her mouth on a napkin, then continued, “I was about to shrug it off when I saw the rat scurrying towards me.”

“It was a chinchilla, Mom.”

“I don’t care what fancy name you give the thing. It’s still a rat, just one that has a nice fur coat.”

“Fine.” Skye rolled her eyes. “Go on.”

“The rat scared me to death. It was coming straight for my throat, and all I could think about was getting away from it before it attacked me and gave me rabies.”

“So you didn’t see anything else.” Skye folded her arms.

“Well, when I was running away, I might have seen someone crouched behind the register.”

“Did you recognize who it was, May?” Trixie asked.

“No.” May took out her compact and reapplied her lipstick. “All I saw before I ran in here was the top of a woman’s head.” May snapped her makeup case shut. “Whoever it was really needs to see Vince for a color and style. Her hair was a real drab brown, and she wore it in this ugly bun.”

Skye and Trixie looked at each other. That had sounded like Pru Cormorant. Was that why the English teacher hadn’t been with the protesters? Had she wanted to remain anonymous so she could sneak in and let the chinchillas loose in order to sabotage the store?