CHAPTER 7
BRIAR CREEK
PUBLIC LIBRARY
“Is it true?” Ms. Cole asked Lindsey the next day.
Lindsey just stared at her. She hadn’t slept well and had just stepped into the library when Ms. Cole rumbled toward her from the new-book display. Lindsey couldn’t help but feel she’d been lying in wait for her.
“Is what true?”
Lindsey knew full well what she was asking, but she was hoping to avoid the conversation. It was bad enough she hadn’t been able to escape the image of Markus’s dead body in her dreams. She really didn’t want to give voice to the horror she had seen and have it infiltrate her day as well.
“Is it true that Markus Rushton was murdered?” Ms. Cole clarified, looking disapproving, as if Lindsey was holding out on her.
“I really couldn’t say,” Lindsey said. She had already decided she was not going to gossip about what had happened at the Rushtons’ as it would just cause more grief for Carrie.
“But you were there,” Ms. Cole protested.
Today was a gray day for Ms. Cole. It was an unfortunate choice, given that her broad frame already lent her the appearance of a large land mammal-the gray just narrowed down the species.
“Who told you that?” Lindsey asked.
Ms. Cole looked nonplussed and then said, “Well, that’s not…I consider it my civic duty…”
“Uh-huh,” Lindsey said. “Listening in on the police scanner again, huh?”
“If more people would take an interest in the goings-on of their community, the world would be a safer place,” Ms. Cole said.
Lindsey just stared at her. Ms. Cole did not listen to the police scanner because she had some noble desire to help keep Briar Creek safe. Oh, no, she listened because she loved knowing who was getting in trouble and for what. She took great joy in the flaws and foibles of the people around her, and Lindsey had no doubt that it made her feel vastly morally superior.
“I had no idea you were so civic-minded,” Lindsey said. “Remind me to have you chair the library’s community fund drive this year.”
“Oh, but I…”
“I’ll be in my office,” Lindsey said. She moved forward as if Ms. Cole wasn’t standing there, blocking her way like a potted ficus.
Given no alternative, Ms. Cole stepped aside and Lindsey shouldered her tote bag and strode into her office. When she shut the door, she hoped it signified clearly enough that the conversation was over.
She hung up her coat and unpacked her bag. She was never sure why she felt the need to bring the same files home every night. She always thought she’d go through them, but she never did. She really needed to break the tote bag habit.
She turned on her computer and checked her voice mail while she waited for her login window to open. There were several messages, mostly from Friends of the Library members who were concerned for Carrie and wanted to know what they could do to help her. Lastly, there was a disturbing message that made the hair on the nape of her neck prickle in alarm.
Lindsey almost erased it, because there was a three-second pause before the voice started, but her finger stalled over the erase button when a whisper-soft voice sounded on the line.
Lindsey wondered if the caller thought that by whispering she was letting Lindsey in on a secret.
“Now that Carrie is going to jail for murdering her husband,” the voice said. “You can make sure that Bill Sint becomes the president of the Friends again.”
There was a giggle that sounded oddly humorless and then the voice grew harsh, the softness of the whisper was gone. “I’ll be watching.”
The automated voice mail offered Lindsey the choice to erase or save. She opted to save. Someone else needed to hear this message and reassure her that she wasn’t crazy but that Marjorie Bilson most definitely was, because Lindsey was quite positive that the voice on the message belonged to Marjorie.
The call was disturbing on so many levels. First, why was she calling Lindsey? Second, the whispering thing creeped her out. And finally, the woman actually cackled with glee when she mentioned Carrie getting arrested.
Lindsey hung up the receiver. It was apparent that everyone thought Marjorie was a few chapters short of a book, but was she dangerous? The call certainly gave Lindsey the heebie-jeebies, and she had a feeling Emma Plewicki might be interested in hearing it, too.
It was probably crazy for her to even think it, but could Marjorie have shot Markus in a plan to have Carrie arrested for murder? Nah, that made no sense. If she was a murderess and really wanted Carrie gone, she would have just shot Carrie.
Lindsey thought back to the night Marjorie had chased her down with her car. Was she crazy enough to commit murder for Bill?
A knock at the door brought Lindsey’s attention up, and she shook her head to clear it. Beth opened the door and stuck her head in. Her black hair was styled in disorderly spikes all around her head, and she had a large plastic bucket of kids’ instruments propped on her hip.
“Hey, I heard about what happened,” she said. “Is Carrie all right?”
“She’s managing,” Lindsey said. “Nancy is keeping an eye on her.”
“If there’s anything I can do…” Beth let the sentence dangle.
“I’ll let you know,” Lindsey promised. “What’s with the instruments?”
“Parent-tot music time,” Beth said. “I’m planning a parade around the circulation desk when the lemon is on duty.”
Lindsey felt the corner of her mouth twitch, but she squashed a full-on smile, thinking she’d best not encourage Beth’s shenanigans. “Nice to see you enjoying your work.”
Beth grinned. “I have to go Lysol all of these before class. Flu season, you know. See you later?”
Lindsey nodded and turned back to her computer. She had a stuffed inbox of e-mails to deal with and a meeting with the mayor’s community liaison officer later that afternoon.
She had answered half of the e-mail when her phone rang. The caller ID listed her landlord’s number.
“Hello, Briar Creek Library, Lindsey Norris speaking. How can I help you?”
“Oh, I’m glad I caught you,” Nancy said. She sounded winded. “They just took Carrie in for questioning.”
“Well, that’s pretty standard, right?”
“In handcuffs,” Nancy added.
“Meet you at the station in five,” Lindsey said and hung up. Now she knew she had to get Emma to listen to the message from Marjorie. It might be the only thing that kept Carrie out of jail.
CHAPTER 8
BRIAR CREEK
PUBLIC LIBRARY
Lindsey shrugged on her coat and was striding to the front door when Ms. Cole moved to stand in front of her.
“You’re leaving?” she asked. Although it seemed improbable, her lips puckered even more tightly in disapproval than usual. “It’s a little early for lunch, isn’t it?”
“It is,” Lindsey agreed.
She took a deep breath. She knew if she let Ms. Cole get under her skin, then they were done for in a working capacity. And although the woman drove her nuts with her lack of social skills, she was the institutional memory of
