by Rose Pressey
“By the way, did you just send me a text message?” I asked.
After a pause, she said, “No.”
“Can I at least have him call you?” I asked.
There was no answer. I took the phone from my ear and looked at the screen. The call had ended. Had it dropped or had she hung up on me? I immediately dialed the number back, but there was no answer. I guessed that meant she didn’t want to speak to me anymore. I had to tell Brannon about this. If I gave him the number maybe he could track her down that way. I just wanted to make sure I did the right thing.
Something about her voice told me she wouldn’t kill someone. At the pie contest had been the first time she’d ever said anything violent. Before that she’d always been nice enough. Everyone had a bad day, that didn’t mean they’d kill someone. As I continued my walk to the coffee shop I dialed Brannon’s number. He would immediately think something was wrong since I was calling him so soon.
Chapter 8
I was practically breathless as I dialed Brannon. After a couple rings he picked up.
“Everything all right here?” he asked.
I guessed he knew I wouldn’t call when I was on my way to work unless there was a problem. He was right about that.
“You’re not going to believe this. I just got a call from Alexandria Emerson.”
“Are you serious, Rip?”
“She said that she didn’t do it,” I said.
“Where is she, Rip?” Brannon asked.
“She wouldn’t tell me. But I do have the number that she called from. Maybe you can trace it.”
“Go ahead and give me that number,” he said with a sense of urgency in his voice.
I relayed the number to him. “I hope you can find her, but Brannon, I got the feeling that she was telling the truth.”
He sighed. “You’re such a sweet person. I believe that maybe you’re not picking up on the full gravity of the situation,” Brannon said.
So Brannon thought I was just being naïve? I thought I was a pretty good judge of character and I didn’t get the sense that she was guilty. It would be a shame for her to go to jail for something she didn’t do. How could I stop that from happening? If the real killer was out there, then I had to find them.
“Just promise me that nothing will happen to her,” I said.
“I don’t know what the situation is right now, Rip. If everything goes well, we’ll try to get her to come in. If we can locate her we’ll tell her we just want to question her. She’s not going to be arrested.”
I released a deep breath. “Well, I suppose that makes me feel a bit better. All right, I’m going to get some coffee from the shop because I really think my nerves need it right now.”
“I’ll call you as soon as possible,” he said.
After ending the call, I continued my walk toward the coffee shop. I crossed the street toward the coffee shop. A cute little sign hung above the door with a black and white striped awning covering the entrance. When I stepped into the place the aroma of coffee hit me. That certainly made me feel a bit better. As I walked across the floor it felt as if all eyes were on me. Looking to my left I saw a man and a woman staring at me. When I looked to the right, I spotted a couple of women whispering to each other while they watched me.
Oh, no. Word had already gotten out about the murder at the library. It wasn’t as if I’d committed the murder. Or maybe that was what they thought. Witnesses had seen me at the front of the library when it happened, so no one could blame me. Though I had to admit there had been a lot of weird stuff going on in town since I came back. It was no wonder they talked about me. Dana, the coffee shop owner, made eye contact with me.
I walked up to the counter. Dana had that pitying look on her face, as if to say, Bless her heart.
“It’s okay,” I said. “I’m holding up all right.” I answered her question without her even having to say the words.
“It’s just that if it weren’t for having bad luck you’d have no luck at all.” Dana shook her head while grabbing a paper coffee cup.
“That’s why I need a pastry stat,” I said.
“Coming right up. Coffee too, I assume?” she asked, waving the cup.
I glanced over my shoulder to see if the people in the dining area were still watching me. They still watched but this time when I looked their way they turned their attention back to their pastries. After Dana put my pastry in a bag and made the coffee. I handed her the cash.
“Have they found her yet?” Dana asked.
“We have a few leads,” I said.
Until Brannon figured out what was going on I wouldn’t tell a soul about the call I received from Alexandria Emerson. Enough though I kind of wanted to tell Dana that I thought Alexandria was innocent.
“There’s something else on your mind,” Dana said,
I knew I could always count on her to pick up on my moods. I’d been coming here for quite a while now and she seemed to be a bit intuitive. She was also part of the book club. Of course she hadn’t been there with the incident with Alexandria Emerson went down.
“Well, on top of the murder last night I had a tour out of town and one of the tour-goers went missing.”
Her eyes widened. “Missing?”
“Yes, he disappeared while on the tour. It’s quite unsettling. I thought for sure that he would show up this morning. I thought he was just playing a trick, but so far there’s been no sign of him.”
“Where was the tour?” Dana asked.
I took a sip of coffee, wondering if I wanted to reveal the location. “Um, the woods out on highway two-ten.”
“Do you think he’s lost?” Dana asked.
“I can’t see how because the wooded area isn’t that big. He would come out on Mr. Sanders’ farm. But maybe he was disoriented.”
“I hope he shows up today.”
“Me too,” I said. “Well, I guess I better get to work.”
I took my bag with pastry inside and my coffee cup and headed out of the coffee shop. Of course, the customers watched me as I walked by. I wanted to tell them in my defense I wasn’t guilty, that there wasn’t a black cloud over me, but even I wasn’t sure about that.
Heading down the sidewalk toward the library, I glanced over my shoulder a few times to make sure the ghost trio hadn’t followed me. I hoped they wouldn’t make an appearance again. Were they really gone this time? Perhaps I would never know what they wanted, and I was fine with that.
I passed by the antique shop and the bookstore. Those were spots on my tour too. I would be back to my regular tour tonight. I’d never known how much I loved my routine until something bad happened. As I continued down the sidewalk my phone rang. Again I didn’t recognize the number. Anxiety spiked through me, thinking that maybe it was Alexandria Emerson again. She had to tell me where she was this time. Clutching my coffee and pastry with one hand, I fished the phone from my pocket.
“Hello?” I asked as I continued walking down the sidewalk.
There was nothing on the other line.
“Hello?” I asked again.
Still no one said a word. It must have been a bad connection. The call had ended. I immediately dialed the number again. It just rang and rang, and no one picked up. It didn’t go to voicemail either. This was certainly odd, but I would give Brannon this number as well. With my coffee in one hand and pastry in the other, I hurried the rest of the way to the library.
As soon as I walked up the path, headed for the front doors, visions of the murder scene and poor Lucy Marcus’ terrible fate flashed through my mind. I wished there were something I could do. There was nothing though other than find the killer.
Tammy stood at the front doors waiting for me. She must have seen me coming up the path. I had to tell her about the man’s disappearance in the woods. I wasn’t looking forward to telling her either because she would feel the same way as Brannon—upset that I had gone without telling her.
“How are you holding up?” she asked when
I walked up the steps.
“I’m all right. How about you?”
“As well as can be expected, I suppose.”
I pulled out my keys and opened the front door. Tammy stepped inside the library and I followed behind her, flipping on the lights. As expected in the library, all was quiet. Annie was nowhere around. Jane Austen was leisurely stretched out on one of the tables. She was licking her paws and looking at us as if to say it was about time we came and fed her breakfast.
“So how did your tour go last night? Did the people from out of town enjoy it?” Tammy asked as we moved around behind the reference desk.
It certainly hadn’t taken long for that question to come around.
I stuck my bag under the desk. “Yeah, about that. I suppose there’s something I should tell you.” I started stacking books onto the cart, trying to avoid eye contact.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
Immediately she knew by the tone of my voice that something was amiss.
“There was this guy and he’s missing now.”
“Missing?” Tammy’s voice echoed across the library.
I explained the entire story to her, as odd as it seemed. I even told her about the ghosts. Maybe I should’ve left that part out because now she looked completely freaked out. She kept glancing over her shoulder.
“I really don’t think they’re here now,” I said.
“Yeah, what about that portal in the reference section? Maybe it opened up again.”
She had a valid point. I couldn’t argue with that. Maybe I needed to call that demonologist again.
My phone alerted me to a text message. I had a feeling it was from Annie.
I saw ghosts here last night.
I looked around to see where Annie was standing. I didn’t spot her anywhere. Jane Austen was still on the table dozing.
“Where are you?” I asked.
Finally Annie popped around the corner.
“Tell me more about the ghosts,” I said.
I checked my phone. There were three of them. They had angry faces. They never said a word. They just stared at me and then disappeared.
“Oh, my,” I said.
“What’s wrong?” Tammy asked.
I couldn’t tell her that the ghosts had really been here, but I definitely needed to find out if that portal had been opened. I didn’t need a library full of angry ghosts. I needed a library full of happy patrons.
I hope those ghosts never come back. I didn’t like them.
The feeling was mutual since I didn’t like the ghosts either.
“I’ll make sure to take care of it,” I said.
“Take care of what?” Tammy asked.
“Oh, Annie said the lights are out in the bathroom down the hallway.” I gestured.
Tammy frowned as if she knew I wasn’t telling the truth.
I smiled and said, “Well, I need to make a phone call about those cameras.”
“I’m still not sure that it’s such a good idea to have those. I don’t want strangers watching me.”
“I agree it will be kind of strange, but I don’t think they’ll be watching us all the time.”
“It will be like reality TV. Except for I think I’m kind of boring. I’ll just be putting books on the shelves. Why would people want to watch that?”
“They’ll be watching for paranormal things,” I said.
“I’d rather they not be around here either, but I suppose it is what it is,” she said around a sigh.
“Let me know if you need anything. I’ll be in my office.” I tossed my hand up and headed back down the hallway toward my office to place the call about the cameras.
I’d been in my office for about an hour placing calls and doing other necessary paperwork when Tammy rushed back and opened the door.
“It’s crazy out there. Books are flying off the shelves by unseen hands.” She waved her arms.
I jumped up from my desk and hurried out of the office. This was not the news I needed to hear. More ghostly activity. We raced down into the main section of the library. She pointed with her index finger, letting me know that she didn’t plan to go any further. I walked over to the area and saw the books scattered around the floor.
“That’s not very nice,” I said to the air, hoping that the ghosts heard me.
Although I doubted if they cared if I scolded them about anything.
“Don’t do that again,” I yelled. “Messing with me is one thing but messing with my books I will not tolerate.”
Just then a couple more books flew from the shelf, whizzing by my head. I ducked in order not to be hit. This was dangerous. Now I was worried that a patron might be hurt. I picked up the books and placed them back on the shelves. Now that the mess was straightened up I raced back over to the reference desk.
“What do you think about that?” Tammy asked.
I picked up my phone. “I’m calling the demonologist right now. Maybe he can close that portal again.”
Things had been so quiet for a while, but I supposed it was only a matter of time until it opened back up again and allowed some nasty ghosts to come through. I wouldn’t allow them to disrupt my library like that.
Unfortunately, he didn’t answer so I left a message and told him to call me back soon as possible. I supposed it hadn’t reached dangerous levels yet, but having a book thrown at my head was pretty serious. The faster we got this taken care of the better off we’d be. Tammy stood close to me waiting to hear the outcome of my call.
“I’m sure he’ll call back right away,” I said.
Chapter 9
When the library doors opened Tammy and I looked up to see who would be the first patron of the day. Jessie Goodman, one of the book club members, tossed her hand up in a wave. Naturally she had a grim look on her face. She walked over to us.
“How are you doing today?” I asked.
“Better. How are you?” she asked.
“We’re all right. It’s still fresh in our minds, you know?” I frowned.
“Have you heard anything about Alexandria Emerson?” she asked.
“They don’t know where she is,” I said.
I still didn’t want to tell anyone that she had called me.
“I hope they find her soon,” Jessie said.
“Actually, I really don’t think she did it,” I said.
Jessie’s eyes widened.
“What makes you say that?” Tammy asked.
Obviously they were convinced that Alexandria Emerson was guilty. That was only natural. Tammy had seen Alexandria over Lucy’s body just as I’d seen her.
“Alexandria just doesn’t seem like she would be capable of murder,” I said.
“She sure did yesterday,” Tammy said. “After all, she threatened to kill someone.”
Jessie was a schoolteacher in town and she’d been a member of the club for several months. I didn’t know a lot about her, but she was nice. I knew she was getting married soon and I thought she was probably my age, around thirty-two.
“You really don’t think she did it? What makes you think that? I heard that you all found her in the act,” Jessie said.
“That’s how rumors get started,” I said. “We didn’t catch her actually doing it.”
“But we caught her standing over the dead body,” Tammy added.
“Yes, but she screamed. It’s almost as if she found the body. If she’d stabbed her I doubt she would scream like that,” I said. “And what happened to the knife?”
Tammy and Jessie were silent for a moment as if contemplating my words.
“I suppose that’s true,” Tammy said. “But who could’ve done it?”
“That’s what I’d like to find out,” I said.
“Don’t tell me you’re looking into this murder,” Tammy said.
“I’m certainly not keeping my eyes closed,” I said.
We stopped our conversation when someone else walked into the library. I was shocked when I saw Jenny march through the do
or. She made eye contact with me right away. She headed over toward us with a scowl on her face. This probably wouldn’t be good. I wished that Jessie wasn’t standing here. Or Tammy either for that matter. If Jenny started yelling, then Tammy would get mad. It might be a whole big thing.
Jenny stepped up to the reference desk. “Can I talk to you?”
“Absolutely,” I said.
It was good that she was at least being somewhat calm, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to go to my office alone with her. Something about her gave me a bad vibe. What if she decided to start a fight? I knew Tammy and Jessie watched this interaction.
“We can go over to the table.” I motioned.
It would be best to keep this talk out in the open. Tammy and Jessie were talking amongst themselves as I walked over to the table with Jenny. Was she here to tell me that they’d found Jonathan?
“Any news about Jonathan?” I asked when we reached the table. “Would you like to have a seat?”
She shook her head. “No, thank you. And no, he hasn’t been found. I just think that it was irresponsible for you to take us out there in the woods in the first place. I’m thinking about suing.”
“What?” I yelled.
My voice was louder than I’d expected. I glanced over at Tammy and Jessie. They stared at me in shock.
“That’s right. You heard me. Suing you,” Jenny said with a point of her finger. “If not for you we wouldn’t have gone out there.”
“I told you last night that you’re the one who asked to go out there. I’m not responsible for anything that happened in the surroundings. Furthermore, I don’t know what type of game you’re playing. I think I’ll call my boyfriend with the Devil’s Moon Police Department.”
“Oh, I’m well aware of who he is,” she snapped. “This won’t be the last you hear from me.”
Jenny stomped across the room toward the exit. Something told me she was completely truthful about her statement. I had a feeling it wouldn’t be the last I saw of her. At least not until Jonathan showed up again. Jenny opened the library doors and stormed out. Feeling a bit unnerved, I walked back over to the reference desk. Tammy and Jessie stared at me.
