Checked Out

by Elizabeth Spann Craig

  A couple of hours into work, I moved to the community room to host one of our book clubs. This one I particularly liked. It had a wide range of people in it—men and women, younger patrons and elderly. It made for interesting conversation and book discussions. Plus, Sadie’s mother was almost always there. I wondered if maybe her mom might have any thoughts about Sadie’s relationship (or lack of one) with Roger.

  This time both Sadie’s mother and Sadie were there. Sadie had her toddler, Lynn, with her and wasn’t participating in the book club meeting, but she’d driven her mother there. This Tuesday book club was in the late morning. There were a few patrons who came during their lunch hour, but it was mostly retirees.

  Sadie’s mom, Louise, was a retired teacher in her mid-sixties. She always wore colorful slacks and tops and a cheery scarf. She smiled at me as she entered the community room. Louise was the first one there, as usual.

  “You’re here nice and early,” I said, smiling back at her.

  “I’m excited about talking about the book,” she said. “I’d always heard good things about Pride and Prejudice, but I’d never actually read it. It wasn’t a popular book to teach when I was in school. Besides, Sadie could bring me here early today, so I took advantage of it.” She leaned in and whispered, “Bless her heart, she’s a horrible driver. I’m always clutching the door in fear of my life. But I’m so grateful she drives me around. My driving days are through as of a couple of weeks ago. I suppose I wasn’t such a wonderful driver, myself.”

  “How is Sadie doing?” I asked politely. Naturally, I also had other motives for asking this question.

  Louise sighed. “She is just totally overloaded, but thanks for asking. The poor thing. Her days are crazy. She drops Lynn off at daycare and then is running right off to work.”

  “Where does she work again?” I asked.

  “Sadie works over at the gym. She checks people in, makes sure the equipment is working, and even teaches a couple of the classes.” Louise shook her head. “It’s not a bad job, but she comes back home exhausted and sometimes she works really weird hours—later at night, very early in the morning, weekends, holidays. And I think working with the public and all the long hours really exhausts a person. Well, you’d know about working with the public!”

  I smiled at her even though I found working with the public rather invigorating—most days. You never knew what people were going to do or say next and that’s what made the days so interesting. There was nothing repetitive about working at a library and there was always the element of surprise. The surprise could be anything from a no-show from the teacher of the library’s computer basics course to a patron who sheepishly realizes the book they heatedly insisted they’d returned to the library was actually in the back seat of their car.

  Louise continued, “Then Sadie picks up Lynn at preschool and cooks supper. Half the time she cooks enough supper for me to have some too. Since I’m not driving, she and Lynn will pick me up and bring me to her house. We’ll eat, sometimes I’ll help read Lynn a story or help with her bath, and then Sadie drives me back home. She has a very busy life. But she wouldn’t have it any other way. That’s how it should be, though. We Stewart women would do anything for our babies.”

  Her fierceness reminded me of my aunt, who would also have done anything for me. She effectively had her entire life turned upside-down when I came to live with her, but handled it beautifully. Not only had she given me the safety I was looking for, but she had made life fun again. She’d also encouraged me to step out of my shell as much as I could. Just the same, I wasn’t sure I was up to having a family of my own. I wasn’t sure I could live up to becoming the role model my aunt had been.

  “That does sound really hectic,” I said.

  “Plus, she has all of those medical bills. I know those keep her up at night. I don’t think she sleeps half the time, and that’s not good for her,” said Louise.

  “Medical bills? I’m sorry, I didn’t realize she’d been ill,” I said.

  “Oh, they weren’t for her—they were for Lynn. She had this terrible stomach bug a few months ago and the poor little thing became dehydrated. She spent several days in the hospital and Sadie was right by her side, of course. I don’t have a lot of money, but I’ve always tried to help pay for some extras for Lynn—a preschool art class, a few toys, that kind of thing. But I couldn’t even be of much help with those bills. They’ve been horrible, and they kept coming in the mail for longer than we thought. Really, she’s still getting bills months later. Sadie has been really struggling to keep up. She’s been so incredibly stressed. Every time I look at her, I see how exhausted and anxious she seems.” Louise paused and then laughed. “Sorry, I shouldn’t be unloading this on you. I sound like one of the Bennets from Pride and Prejudice, don’t I? If only there was a Mr. Darcy out there for Sadie.”

  I said, “Is she in a relationship now?”

  Louise laughed again, but this time it was harder. “No. She hasn’t had the time or the energy. Although I’d babysit for her, of course, if she had a date. Lynn’s a good girl and I love keeping her. But Sadie was really burned the last time she had a boyfriend. Roger.”

  I said, “Roger Walton, right?”

  Louise nodded. “Of course I feel bad such a young man would pass away. But I can’t say I’m grieving for him. He could be very unpleasant, and he didn’t help with Lynn whatsoever. Sadie could really have used the financial support. And she hated the idea that Lynn was going to grow up without really having a relationship with her father.”

  I said, “That’s a shame. Roger was her dad, after all. You’d think he’d have wanted a relationship with Lynn. Would have treasured it.”

  “He was only her dad in the technical sense of the word. He didn’t do a blessed thing to help Sadie out. He could have seen the child on the weekends or taken her to a doctor appointment. Even if he didn’t want any personal involvement, he could still have helped pay a hospital bill or even Sadie’s power bill. He didn’t want anything to do with either of them,” said Louise.

  I frowned. “But surely he must have had some sort of legal obligations to help provide support for Lynn.”

  “By the time Lynn was born, their relationship was over. As a matter of fact, it was over when Roger found out Sadie was pregnant. That’s the kind of man he was,” said Louise, her voice trembling a bit with anger. “Sadie didn’t even list him on the birth certificate. And to force him to help her financially would have meant a lawyer and court dates—she certainly couldn’t afford that, and he knew it.”

  I absorbed this for a second. Again, the more I heard about Roger Walton, the less I liked him.

  The door opened and several of our book club members came in, one of them calling out a greeting to Louise, who waved back at them. “Thanks for letting me unload like that. I think the gist of what I was trying to say was Sadie is such a good girl. With all she has going on in her life and with as little help as she’s getting, she still takes time to take care of me, too.”

  After a few minutes where everyone visited, I started the book club meeting. For this club, I felt my job was simply to help move things along, pace-wise, to make sure we got in a full discussion and everyone who wanted to had the chance to participate. I started out by asking about the function of marriage in the book—how did different characters view it? How did it keep some characters (Lydia and Wickham) in line? The discussion started off with a bang and I didn’t really have to step in much for the rest of the meeting. Almost everyone seemed to have enjoyed Pride and Prejudice and the two that didn’t were good-humored about it.

  When the book club time was up, I thanked everyone for coming and then stepped back out to the circulation desk, leaving the club members to continue catching up. Sadie Stewart walked up to me with Lynn and a stack of board books in her hands. She looked absolutely worn-out but still managed to smile at me. “Someday, I’ll have time to read again, myself.”

  I smiled back at her. “Life i
s like that, isn’t it? There are times when all we can do is to just get through the busy days and then times when it slows down a little bit for us to do more of the things we want to do.”

  Sadie grinned. “You must have been speaking with my mom if you know how busy I am! I forgot you’re the one who moderates the book club.”

  “She’s a great lady. I love having her in the book club and she really appreciates you driving her here,” I said. “She was telling me about all the things you do to help her and how busy you are.”

  Sadie said fondly, “Mom is my biggest cheerleader. Actually, my only cheerleader. But she helps me out too with Lynn. She would do anything for us and I can use somebody like that in my corner. I don’t know what I’d do without her help. Even though she stopped driving recently, she’s still able to help out a ton. Driving would help, of course, but first she had problems driving at night. Then it was driving in the rain. Finally, she lost confidence in her driving altogether. Actually, I need to help her sell her car, but I’ve been so busy lately. Mom does a great job keeping an eye on Lynn so I can run errands. And since she’s a former teacher, she can even provide Lynn with a little early childhood education. She certainly is doing a better job than Lynn’s father ever did.” The last words came out bitterly.

  I said, “I’m so sorry he treated you both so poorly.”

  Sadie nodded and sighed. “He did. I was just telling the police chief about it yesterday. He did know Lynn was Roger’s, but I guess that’s his job to track details down. I told him I was furious with Roger for not helping with Lynn but the last thing I would do is murder him. Then I wouldn’t have a hope of persuading him to part with any money.”

  I said, “Did Roger seem as if he was going to come around and help you out? Louise was telling me about Lynn’s hospitalization and all the bills.”

  Sadie gave a short laugh. “When it rains, it pours, right? The poor little thing was so sick. And then, later, I was so sick when I got all those bills and I knew I didn’t have a hope of paying them off by the time I was supposed to. I felt like Roger had some responsibility for that, you know? But I wouldn’t hurt him. When I saw him Friday, he was alive and well.”

  I drew in a quick breath. “Sorry, but didn’t you say you didn’t see him on Friday?”

  Sadie frowned and then said slowly, “If I did, I misspoke. I was briefly there to make a pitch for money . . . yet again. I’d received another big bill, and I really felt like I was drowning. I dropped by his house on the way to pick up Lynn at daycare.”

  I said, “While you were there, did you see or hear anything that might give a clue as to who killed Roger?”

  Sadie thought about this for a moment. “I did see Heather pull up in her car as I was leaving. I didn’t even think about that. I was in such a fog of anger when I left after Roger refused again to help out. But yeah—I recognized her car. It just didn’t seem important at the time at all.”

  “By the way, did you hear Mary Hughes has been murdered?” I asked.

  “What?” Sadie’s mouth dropped open a little, and she quickly snapped it shut. “The woman who worked with Roger? Murdered? Do the cops think it’s connected to Roger’s death?”

  I said, “I don’t know, although I can’t imagine it wouldn’t be. Whitby isn’t exactly rife with murderers. And nothing was stolen from the salon, so it didn’t seem like a robbery.”

  Sadie looked thoughtfully at Lynn, who was pretending to read the board books on the floor, her small finger tracing the words as she’d likely seen her mother do. Then she said, “This is getting crazy. I’m sure the chief is going to come back and talk to me again.”

  “He might want to know where you were early this morning,” I said in an apologetic tone.

  “Work,” she said with a sigh. “I had to cover for someone’s early shift today and the gym opens at five o’clock for all those folks who like to come in before work. So I’ll be able to tell him I was at work with lots of witnesses.”

  “What do you do with Lynn that early?” I asked.

  “Oh, there’s a nursery at the gym that the employees can use for their kids. It’s not all day, though, so I have her over there early and then I have to leave later to take her to daycare. It’s not ideal but then I don’t usually have the early shifts. So Mary was murdered early today?”

  I said, “Early this morning, yes. Did you know her?”

  Sadie shook her head. “No. That is, I felt like I knew her because Roger talked about her a lot. I guess you’ve heard by now that Mary wasn’t Roger’s favorite person.”

  “I got that impression,” I said dryly.

  “She blamed him for everything that was going on in her life. It really bothered Roger because she was so vocal about it. And you know—when people hear things like that, it could make them think of Roger as less trustworthy. And when you’re dealing with someone’s money, you want to make sure you inspire trust,” she said.

  “So, Roger was upset about her bad-mouthing him around town,” I said.

  “Yes. In fact, if Roger was still alive, I’d say he’d be suspect number one in Mary’s murder,” said Sadie. She looked across the room. “Looks like my mom is finishing up so I should go. Thanks again for the book club. It’s one of the highlights of her month.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  FORTUNATELY, THE LIBRARY became a little quieter after book club let out and after the flurry of checkouts that happened after book loving club members were released out in the stacks. I saw Fitz had curled up asleep with an older man who was reading a magazine and was dozing on and off himself by the fireplace.

  About an hour from closing time, I saw another man come in. Fred usually came to the library right after work, still wearing his suit and tie. He had a briefcase full of work, as always. He’d told me before that he got a lot more caught up with his work at the library than he did at home—his house was too distracting and he lost focus. I could pretty much count on him like clockwork.

  I remembered Fred worked in the financial realm, but couldn’t remember if he was a banker or in investments. I walked over to where he was setting up—in the back near an outlet for his laptop. He looked up when I approached him and gave me a friendly smile.

  “How’s it going, Ann?” he asked. “If you’re going to give me another book recommendation, you should know I’m still working on that World War Two story you gave me.”

  I smiled at him. “Well, it was a big book. You shouldn’t have any trouble renewing it since it’s not a recent release. No, actually, there was something else I wanted to ask you about.”

  He put down his papers and sat back in his chair to more fully focus. “That sounds serious. Okay, shoot.”

  I said, “It’s about Roger Walton. I was wondering if you knew him—or maybe even worked with him. I know you’re in finance, but I can’t remember exactly what you do.”

  Fred sighed. “I did hear the news about poor Roger. And yes, I did work in that same office. The new police chief came in recently and asked us a bunch of questions. I actually got to know Roger pretty well since there weren’t many of us in the office. I’m a little surprised you knew him, though. Roger didn’t seem like the sort of guy to hang out at the library. At least, I never saw him here.”

  I said, “No, I never did, either. One of my patrons was a relative of his and set us up on a blind date.”

  Fred thought about this for a moment and then slowly shook his head. “Nope. Can’t see the two of you together at all. Not to speak ill of the dead, but that wouldn’t have worked out.”

  I said, “The more I learn about Roger, the more I have to agree with you. Unfortunately, I was the one who found him . . . it was the night of our date.”

  Fred winced. “That sounds like a nightmare.”

  “It was, even though I didn’t know him at all. And a friend of mine might be considered a suspect. I’d really like to clear my friend’s name.”

  Fred nodded. “I can get that. So, what do you want to
know?”

  “First off, I heard he’d given one investor bad advice,” I said.

  He chuckled. “I’d say he gave many more than one really bad advice.”

  “Was he bad at his job?” I asked.

  “Not really. I mean, I’ve given bad advice, too. We do the best we can with forecasts for different stocks or funds. But we’re not fortune tellers. We have no idea if the market is going to crash or have a setback or whatever. I didn’t mean to say Roger didn’t do a good job. There were many more investors who were pleased with his advice and gained steady earnings,” said Fred.

  “There was one client who was particularly unhappy with his advice,” I said.

  Fred considered this, nodding his head. “I think I remember. An old fellow, wasn’t it? He came to the office and really let Roger have it . . . on more than one occasion, I believe.”

  I said, “I’m actually friends with the client. He seemed to think Roger had ruined him almost on purpose. That it was a dereliction of duty or that he was totally heedless.”

  Fred snorted. “Sorry, but that’s simply not true. It was a market fluctuation, that’s all. I gather he lost a lot?”

  “A lot,” I agreed.

  “Well, I will say Roger shouldn’t have had him put all of his eggs in one basket, no matter what. Especially at his age,” said Fred.

  I said, “Did you hear about what happened with Mary Hughes?”

  Fred nodded. “I heard it on the radio this morning. Awful. I simply can’t believe it. Are they saying it was a robbery?”

  I shook my head. “No. There is nothing of value there. It definitely seemed to be an attack on Mary.”

  Fred sighed. “I liked Mary, but she could be a tough person to be around. She continually thought she was getting the short end of the stick at the office and that she was being held back because of her gender.”

  “Was she?” I asked.

  “No. She was being held back because she was difficult. Mary was super smart and had a good track record with investments, but she was prickly. She also liked to gossip. I’d always make sure I never made any personal phone calls at the office where Mary could overhear them. Otherwise, the next thing I knew, Mary would be giving me a card signed by everyone in the office that they hoped my mother was feeling better soon. That kind of thing. I know she meant well, but I didn’t like the thought she was listening in on my conversations.”