A Likely Story: A Library Lover's Mystery

by Jenn McKinlay

  “To read a person’s character from their face? I wish,” Beth said. She pushed her salad around her plate with her fork. “Every time I think I’ve nailed it, the guy turns out to be a toad. I’ve dated more than my share of toads. I’m surprised I don’t have warts.”

  “But I thought you had a nice time with that young banker you went out to dinner with last week,” Nancy said.

  “Ugh,” Beth grunted. “He’s all about conspicuous consumption, you know, the big house, expensive car, designer label life. So shallow.”

  “That’s too bad,” Violet said. She patted Beth’s shoulder. “Don’t you worry, the right one will come along.”

  “Speaking of the right one,” Charlene said.

  She turned her reporter’s gaze on Lindsey, who immediately hopped up from her seat before the conversation could veer back to her personal life.

  “Do we have enough paper for the paper flowers we’re making?” she asked. “Maybe I should go check on that.”

  She crossed the room to their crafting table. Today they we making bouquets of paper roses out of recycled office paper. Lindsey planned to use the bouquets to decorate the library and help fight off the winter doldrums.

  Starting with scrap paper with words printed on them, they employed a template to cut the petals out, then they colored just the edges of the paper to give the flowers some pop. Next they would use a glue gun to layer the petals from biggest to smallest. Once the flowers were done they would attach green florist wire for the stem and then put them in vases all over the library.

  She heard the women resume talking about the novel, and she heaved a sigh of relief. She loved them all dearly, but she didn’t want to talk about her love life, since she barely had a handle on it herself. In truth, it wasn’t complicated so much as it was none of their business, but that seemed rude to say.

  “Lindsey, can I talk to you for a sec?”

  Lindsey glanced up at the door to see their library clerk Ann Marie Martin standing there. The ladies all greeted Ann Marie warmly, and Nancy promised to bake a batch of molasses cookies for Ann Marie to bring home to her two precocious boys.

  When Lindsey had started at the library, Ann Marie had dressed in the standard-issue mom ponytail and corduroy jumper, but as the boys had gotten older and were more occupied in school, Ann Marie was letting her dark brown hair down and dressing in tailored slacks and pretty sweaters. Still, she always smelled like cinnamon and apples, which Lindsey found comforting.

  There was no question that Ann Marie was looking much more professional these days. An idea wriggled in the back of Lindsey’s brain, but she pushed it aside for the moment, focusing instead on her employee.

  “What can I do for you?” Lindsey asked.

  “We finally got that book in for Stewart Rosen,” Ann Marie said. She held up the book in question. It was a medical text that they’d borrowed from a university for him. “They’re giving us a very short turnaround on it. Just two weeks.”

  Lindsey glanced at the title and nodded. “Stewart will want this right away, then.”

  “That’s what I was thinking,” Ann Marie said. “Do you want me to put a call in to Sully to see if the water taxi is available?”

  “That’d be great,” Lindsey said. She felt her heart kick up a notch at the thought of spending the afternoon with Sully.

  “I think Stewart and Peter have some other books put aside for them on the hold shelf as well. Could you check this one out to them and put it with the others?”

  “You got it, boss,” Ann Marie said. “Make sure you dress warm. The wind out on the water today is brutal.”

  “Will do,” Lindsey said.

  In her previous occupation as an academic librarian, Lindsey had never mopped up after overflowing toilets, but she’d never gotten to go on boat rides either. Even though it was a chilly day in February, she couldn’t help but be pleased that she was going out to the islands to deliver books to two of their homebound patrons. It was one of the parts of her job that made her feel as if she really was making a difference in her patrons’ lives.

  When Lindsey had become the library director, she had made it her mission to reach out to the residents of the Thumb Islands and provide them with borrowing privileges, and they had responded with great enthusiasm. Stewart and Peter Rosen were elderly brothers who had lived their entire life on Star Island. They were definitely on the odd end of the spectrum, but Lindsey had become rather fond of them and their quirks.

  Now, if it just so happened that she had to use the local water taxi, operated by her ex-boyfriend Sully, well, what was a girl do? Borrowers needed books, and Lindsey was all about giving excellent customer service.

  Luckily, Star Island wasn’t too far out in the bay. She could be there and back within an hour. Easy peasy, or so she thought.

  It wasn’t freezing. Lindsey supposed she should be grateful for that. Having a sunny day in the forties at the end of February in Connecticut was not something to complain about—not when there could be a blizzard dumping three feet of snow on the ground.

  She left the library, crossing Main Street, and entered the small town park that sat right on the water’s edge. She pulled her rolling plastic cart full of books behind her. She had contacted a few other islanders and now had three stops to make out in the archipelago to deliver and retrieve materials from the residents who lived year-round on their islands.

  Thankfully, she was wearing her snow boots and her long wool coat, along with her hat, scarf and mittens. She had a feeling while it might be in the forties on land, on the water the temperature would plummet, taking her body heat with it.

  She pulled her cart down the large wooden pier, listening to the wheels thump a rhythm against the uneven, weatherworn boards. The water taxi and tour boats were near the end, docked beside the small office that perched off to the side of the main pier. She glanced in the glass door to see Ronnie sitting behind the desk filing her nails.

  If fifty was supposed to be the new thirty, Ronnie definitely was way ahead of the game. She was easily eighty going on thirty with her bright red cranberry hairdo, her big plastic jewelry circa nineteen seventy-seven, her skinny jeans, Ugg boots and Coach accessories.

  “Afternoon, Ronnie,” Lindsey said as she pulled open the door.

  Ronnie lowered her cat’s-eye reading glasses and looked at Lindsey over the top of the lenses.

  “Lip gloss, honey,” Ronnie said. “You’re supposed to be spending time with an eligible man this afternoon. Let’s not get sloppy with the details now.”

  Lindsey grinned and pulled off her gloves. “Silly me, and here I thought I was going out to the islands to deliver books to the stranded.”

  Ronnie just stared at her, and Lindsey huffed a breath. She reached into her coat pocket and pulled out her lip balm in the shape of an egg.

  “What is that?” Ronnie asked.

  “Lip balm,” Lindsey replied, and she swept it over her lips.

  “No wonder you’re single,” Ronnie said with a shake of her head.

  “What?” Lindsey asked.

  “You need to get yourself a nice bright red lip stain, sweetie, then you’ll be irresistible,” Ronnie said.

  “Now, Ronnie, my dear, don’t go giving my girl pointers, I don’t need any more competition,” Sully said as he entered the room. He winked at Lindsey, and she felt her insides cartwheel at the sight of him.

  His cheeks were ruddy from being out in the cold. She always liked that look on a man. It made her want to press her palms against the rosy skin to warm it. She resisted the impulse. Sully was wearing a dark blue wool cap over his red brown curls, and his heavy jacket was unzipped as if he didn’t need to fasten it against the winter’s chill because he was so used to the frigid temperatures from years spent outside.

  “Last time I checked she wasn’t your girl yet,” Ronnie said. Sh
e glanced between them. “Have I missed something?”

  “Nope,” Sully said. “Just wishful thinking on my part.”

  Uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation, Lindsey glanced out the window and asked, “Calm water out there today?”

  As if in answer to her question, the front door banged open behind her and in swept a middle-aged woman, looking every inch the picture of old New England money in her tailored knee-length camel coat and fur-lined boots.

  Her meticulously maintained blond bob framed her square face, which was wiped clear of wrinkles. Her darker eyebrows formed perfect arches over her pale blue eyes, her nose was a cute little upturned button, and her lips were wide even as they curved up in the corners in a toothless smile.

  Lindsey couldn’t place her age until the woman removed her leather driving gloves and Lindsey saw the age spots on the backs of her hands, which put the woman somewhere in her fifties. Lindsey tried to remember if the woman had ever come into the library, but she was quite sure she’d remember her if she had.

  “Sully, there you are.” The woman strode around Lindsey to approach Ronnie’s desk. “Would you be a dear and reserve your taxi for me for first thing tomorrow morning?”

  “I’d be happy to,” Ronnie said. “As making reservations is really my thang around here.”

  She gave the woman a chastising look, and the woman shook her head.

  “Oh, do forgive me, that was terribly thoughtless of me, wasn’t it?” she said. She wrinkled her nose as if making a cute face would erase her faux pas.

  Lindsey noted upon closer inspection that the woman was nowhere near as young as she first appeared. There was only so much a surgeon could do for jowls and a turkey neck, and this woman had both.

  “No problem,” Ronnie said. Lindsey noticed that her usual friendliness was missing, and she wondered at it.

  “What time will you need the taxi, Mrs. Dewhurst?” Sully asked.

  “Oh, call me Evelyn. After all, we’re neighbors. Seven o’clock would be perfect,” Evelyn said. She paused and then asked, “Unless you’re available now?”

  “Unfortunately, no,” Sully said. He gestured to Lindsey. “I’m taking the librarian Lindsey Norris out to do her rounds.”

  “Librarian?” Evelyn spun around and looked at Lindsey. “Heavens, I didn’t even see you there.” She wagged her gloves at Lindsey and said, “Must be because you’re a quiet little librarian.” She clapped a hand over her mouth. “Am I being too loud? You’re not going to shush me, are you?”

  Evelyn laughed at her own joke while Lindsey forced one side of her mouth up. She had met Evelyn’s type before. She was the sort who defined people by stereotypes and didn’t see the individual beyond the classification.

  “No, we’re not in the library, so you’re safe,” she said. She glanced at Sully. “Are you ready to head out to Star Island and such?”

  “Star Island?” Evelyn glanced between them. Her pale blue eyes glittered almost as brightly as the modest diamond studs in her earlobes. “You are allowed on the Rosens’ island?”

  “Sort of,” Lindsey said. “Stewart usually meets me on the dock.”

  Evelyn opened her Chanel clutch and extracted an embossed business card. “Do me a favor? Give my card to Stewart. I have been trying to get on Star Island for months. I’m interested in preserving the islands, you know, and so far I’ve had no luck with the Rosens. Put in a good word for me, would you?”

  “I’ll be sure to give him your card,” Lindsey said, feeling very diplomatic.

  “Fabulous!” Evelyn cried. She pressed the card into Lindsey’s hand and then looped her arm through Lindsey’s, squeezing her close as if they were coconspirators. She turned back to Ronnie. “So, tomorrow morning, then?”

  Ronnie tapped the keyboard on her computer. “It’s available, so I’ve put you in.”

  “Terrific,” Evelyn said. She still held Lindsey close, and Lindsey wasn’t sure how to extricate herself from the woman without it being weird, which it already was.

  “Well, it was nice to meet you,” Lindsey said. She hoped Evelyn got the hint.

  “You, too,” Evelyn said. She wrinkled her nose again as if she just found the situation adorable. Then she let go of Lindsey to flip up the collar on her long coat. “Until tomorrow.”

  She hustled out the door, taking her manic energy with her. Lindsey blew out a breath and looked at the others.

  “What was that?” she asked.

  “Evelyn Dewhurst,” Ronnie said with a curl of her lip. “Privileged princess from Fairfield County.”

  “Now don’t hold back, Ronnie. Tell us how you really feel,” Sully said.

  “She’s buying up all of the islands,” Ronnie said. “She’s bought ten in the past eighteen months!”

  “Really?” Lindsey asked. “Why?”

  “She says it’s to preserve them,” Ronnie said. “Pah!”

  “You can’t blame her if people keep choosing to sell to her,” Sully said. “Besides, a lot of the properties she bought were falling into ruin, and she is refurbishing them. Her goal does seem to be to preserve the islands.”

  “But does she have to own them all? I mean, of course, people are going to sell. She offers them gobs of money,” Ronnie said. “The last one went for ten million, and it was little more than a rock with a shack on it. It’s madness.”

  Sully let out a small sigh, and Lindsey could tell that the situation worried him more than he was letting on.

  Ronnie glanced at the clock and then at Sully. “You’d better get going or you and your girlfriend will be late to the Rosens.”

  Lindsey felt her face grow warm, and she saw Sully and Ronnie exchange an amused glance.

  “She’s cute when she’s flustered,” he said.

  “I wouldn’t know. She’s not my type,” Ronnie said. “Now get a move on, the two of you. You have to pick up Tim Kessler from Clover Island at four o’clock.”

  Sully saluted Ronnie and then came around the desk to take Lindsey’s cart for her. With practiced hands, he lowered the handle until it formed a crate and then swung it up onto his shoulder.

  “After you,” he said and gestured for Lindsey to lead the way.

  Lindsey pushed through the back door and out to the narrow stairs that led down to the dock that housed Sully’s boats. He and his brother-in-law, Ian Murphy, owned the touring company together, but because winter was slow, Sully did most of the work in the cold months, bringing in Ian and Lindsey’s downstairs neighbor Charlie Peyton to help with the summer high season.

  “Has it been busy today?” Lindsey asked, feeling the need to talk over the sound of the water lapping against the boat’s hull. She realized it was dreadful small talk, but being with him put her on edge, not in a bad way, and she couldn’t seem to help it.

  Sully was her ex-boyfriend. Lindsey didn’t generally keep in touch with exes, mostly because her only other ex of any significance was one who made her long to back a car over him repeatedly. They had since worked through it and were now occasionally in touch, very occasionally, but it was more of a courtesy thing and not a true friendship.

  Sully, however, was rapidly becoming one of Lindsey’s closest friends. It sort of made the whole wanting to jump his bones thing dicey because, yeah, who wanted to mess up a perfectly good friendship?

  It occurred to Lindsey that although the most recent backing off and taking time to reevaluate the relationship had been her idea, the slower they went, the more attached to him she became, which did not bode well if they didn’t end up together.

  During their first run at a relationship, Sully had hurt her very badly when he ended things between them to give her time she hadn’t asked for to know her own feelings. When Sully had come back around, realizing that what they had was not like what either of them had experienced in the past, she had suggested a do-ove
r, as in starting from scratch as friends. Her big, strong, silent boat captain needed to practice his communication skills. Sully was working on it, and it wasn’t easy for him, which charmed Lindsey to no end.

  She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye as she untied the ropes while he adjusted her box of materials in the storage bin to keep it dry.

  It was like a brick to the temple to realize that if things kept going the way they were, he was going to have the ability to not just break her heart but to smash it to smithereens.

  “Not busy, no,” Sully answered her, bringing her attention back to the moment. “Other than a pesky tea-tippling British man, it’s been fine.”

  “Robbie?” Lindsey asked.

  She pushed the side of the boat clear of the dock, and Sully held out his hand to her. She grabbed his hand and jumped onto the boat. He steadied her before turning back to the controls.

  “The same,” he said. He started the engine, and they began to putter away from the shore.

  “What did he want?” she asked.

  “You mean other than to badger me and nag me and generally drive me crazy?” he asked.

  Lindsey smiled. “Yes.”

  “I have no idea,” he said. “But I ran into him having breakfast at the Anchor, and he was most definitely trying to find out where you and I stand with each other.”

  “Oh.” Lindsey didn’t know what to say to that, since she wasn’t really sure where she and Sully stood either.

  “I gave him nothing,” he said. A grin spread across his face, and Lindsey knew he had enjoyed tormenting Robbie.

  “That’s not nice of you,” she said. “He’s a good guy. He really is.”

  Sully glowered. “Are you dating him?”

  “No!” Lindsey said. “He’s married.”

  “Apparently, it’s more of a business arrangement,” Sully said. “Or so he says.”

  He pushed the throttle until they were chugging out of the cove. Lindsey tightened the scarf about her throat.

  “Married is married,” she said.

  “And if he wasn’t?” he asked.