desk.
“Hi, Edmund,” Lindsey said. “What brings you in this afternoon?”
“This freezing weather has put me in the mood for a noir mystery,” he said. “Who can you recommend?”
“That depends. Are you looking for old-school Mickey Spillane or modern Ian Rankin?”
“Hmm, let’s go modern,” Edmund said.
“Follow me,” Lindsey said.
She walked him over to the fiction shelves.
“I’m surprised to find the library still open,” he said.
“Oh? Why’s that?” she asked as she crouched to find the selection of Rankin titles.
“The weatherman said a nor’easter is coming,” he said. “That’s why I need to stock up on reading material in case the power goes out. Uncle Bill’s library is a dead bore. I need something to keep me entertained if we get snowed in, otherwise I’ll be stir-crazy within hours.”
“A nor’easter?” Lindsey frowned. She had heard there was a snow storm in the forecast but nothing as dramatic as a nor’easter, which typically brought hurricane-force winds and arctic cold.
“If you’ll excuse me,” she said. “I’d better go check on this.”
“Absolutely,” he said. “It’s already started snowing.”
Sure enough, now that she stood close to him, she could see the damp spots on his jacket where the snowflakes had already melted.
Lindsey hurried back to her desk. A glance at the window and she could see the swirling snow falling outside. She hadn’t really paid it much attention before. She quickly brought up the weather website on her computer and typed in the zip code for Briar Creek.
The forecast was not good: bitterly cold temperatures, gale-force winds and lots of snow. They were supposed to be open for a few more hours, but if this was just the start of it, she didn’t want her staff to have to drive home in this weather.
She quickly called the town hall to see if the mayor was available. She would close the library whether he approved or not, but she thought it wise to get his okay.
“Mayor Henson’s office, this is Judy,” his secretary answered.
“Hi, Judy, it’s Lindsey Norris at the library; is the mayor in?”
“Yes, he’s just debating whether to close the town offices for the day. Horrible storm coming, you know.”
“I do; in fact, I was just calling to ask if I could close the library.”
“Hold one moment,” Judy said.
“Sure,” Lindsey said. No sooner were the words out than Muzak began to play in her ear. It was a slicked-out version of the Beatles’ “Let It Be,” and in her opinion, they should have.
“Hi, Lindsey,” Judy came back on the line. “The mayor says go ahead. Whiteout conditions are predicted, and he says it’s not worth anyone getting stranded in this.”
“Thanks,” Lindsey said. She hung up the phone and went over to the circulation desk. Ann Marie glanced up from the cart of books she was fine sorting.
“We’re going to close early,” Lindsey said. “There’s a nor’easter coming.”
Ann Marie gave her a wide-eyed look. “Oh, no, the last time we got hit with a storm like that, the power went out and I had to keep all of my perishables out in the snow. Never did find my whole fryer chicken until the thaw hit a few weeks later.”
Lindsey blew out a breath. She turned to assess the library. Other than Edmund, there was a mother with two children in the kids’ area, two computer users and a couple of teens looking over the DVD collection.
Lindsey cleared her throat and raised her voice to be heard throughout the room. “Due to the weather, the library will be closing in fifteen minutes. If you need to call for a ride, please come and use the phone. If you’d like to check out materials, please do so in the next few minutes.”
She saw Edmund appear from the stacks carrying several novels. He strode purposefully to the circulation desk, and Lindsey was glad he’d been able to find something.
“I’m so glad you came in today,” she said. “I didn’t realize it was going to be this bad and I’m not sure the mayor’s office would have remembered to call us.”
“I think this storm snuck up on us all,” he said. “No one expected a tropical cyclone and an Arctic cold front to collide, but they have.”
“It can’t be worse than the blizzard of ’78,” Lindsey said. “I was only a year old, but my parents still talk about how ice coated the trees and the snow drifts were higher than the house.”
“Yeah, and people got stranded in their cars for two days,” Edmund said. Then he wiggled his eyebrows and added, “And the baby rate boomed nine months later.”
“I have two cousins who arrived nine months later,” Lindsey said with a laugh.
“You know, this storm is going to put a crimp in our lunch date,” he said.
Lindsey felt her face get warm at the word
“That’s all right,” she said. She tried to make her voice sound casual, but it still seemed to come out a bit higher than normal. “I don’t think Carrie will be able to make it for a while.”
He handed his books and card to Ann Marie for checkout and gave Lindsey an understanding nod. “I heard about what happened with her husband. Is she okay?”
“She’s getting through it,” Lindsey said.
“Do the police have any leads?”
“I really don’t know,” she said.
She glanced at Edmund. He reminded her so much of her former fiance, back before he turned into a two-timing jackass. Edmund was smart and charming, and she felt an immediate kinship with him, probably because she had spent her entire life around academic types and he definitely had the Ivy League stamp upon him.
A thought occurred to her and she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to ask. “Listen, do you know Marjorie Bilson?”
Edmund took his books back from Ann Marie and began to wrap his scarf about his neck again. Lindsey thought she saw his jaw tighten, but when he spoke, his voice was neutral. “She seems quite taken with my uncle.”
Lindsey nodded as they walked toward the front doors. Good, then her erratic behavior might not be such a surprise.
“Has she done anything-how can I put this?”
“Crazy?” Edmund offered.
Lindsey bit her lip and nodded.
They paused before the doors, causing the remaining patrons to go around them on their way out into the whirling scene of white.
“I can’t say there’s been anything specific,” he said. “But I do know that she calls and texts him all day long. So far, he hasn’t complained, but I do wonder if he tried to put a stop to it, if she would turn on him.”
“Yikes.”
“I’m hoping it doesn’t come to that,” he said. “Maybe if we do get snowed in with a power outage, she won’t be able to charge her phone and she’ll have to stop calling.”
“So, she’ll chill?” Lindsey offered, unable to resist the pun.
Edmund broke into a wide grin and said, “In a word.”
They stood smiling at one another and then Lindsey said, “Well, I’d better help close up. Thanks again for coming in. Your timing was excellent.”
“No problem,” he said. The doors whooshed open behind him, but he ignored them as he said, “I’ve noticed you usually ride a bike to work, do you need a ride home today? I’d be happy to wait.”
“She has a ride home,” a voice said from behind him.
Lindsey glanced over Edmund’s shoulder to see Sully standing there in his thick navy coat, looking as bland as the blankets of snow beginning to cover the cars in the parking lot.
CHAPTER 14
