Death in the Stacks

by Jenn McKinlay

  “You’re giving him a mic to talk into?” Sully looked at Lindsey in horror. “We’ll be held hostage by the bloviating Brit and his love of his own voice.”

  “Bugger off, water boy!” Robbie said.

  Lindsey shook her head at Sully, who did not look repentant in the least. “Who knows? Maybe you’ll get overly attached to him, like a Stockholm syndrome situation, and become his biggest fan.”

  Sully gave a mock shudder and Lindsey laughed.

  Sully and Robbie, while not exactly friends, did seem to enjoy their verbal sparring. When Lindsey had chosen to give her relationship with Sully another chance, Robbie had taken the news well enough, but the two men continued to razz each other, and she suspected it had little to do with her and everything to do with the fact that they both enjoyed it. Men.

  Since Dinner in the Stacks was happening in just over two hours, the library was abuzz with activity. The library staff, the crafternoon ladies, as well as a crew from the town’s facilities department were cleaning, arranging furniture and showcasing the highlights of the library, while trying to fit enough large circular tables to accommodate the number of tickets they had sold to tonight’s event.

  A dais was set up in front of the fireplace in the magazine area with a podium from where Robbie would host the evening’s entertainment. Lindsey was charged with giving the opening greeting, which she did every year, and she was fine with that. Really, she was.

  She glanced at the dais and felt her hands get sweaty. Okay, she was a big fat liar. She hated public speaking. Hated it. It made her feel self-conscious, and she became overly aware of everything she didn’t like about herself. The sound of her voice, too nasal; the size of her nose, too big; the way she used her hands to talk, too distracting. Honestly, she looked like she was guiding planes down runways. She really hated public speaking. It was straight-up torture.

  Sully finished fastening the last lamp and climbed down the ladder to stand beside her. “You all right, darling?”

  “Dreading the public speaking portion, actually,” she said.

  He nodded. If anyone could understand her reluctance, it was Sully. Despite being friendly and kind, he was not a big talker except when he was out on his boat, giving a tour of the archipelago called the Thumb Islands that dotted the bay off of Briar Creek.

  “I hear that,” he said. He squeezed her shoulder under his calloused palm. It was a gesture of reassurance that she truly appreciated. “I’ve discovered if you talk about what you love, it’s not so difficult. If you talk about the library, the way you talk to me about it, you’ll be just fine.”

  She blinked at him. Now that was a solid idea. If she found him in the crowd and spoke directly to him, she would be fine. He was her rock, and she could pretend it was just the two of them. Suddenly, being onstage in front of everyone didn’t seem scary in the least. Lindsey melted into his side and gave him a half hug.

  “You’re pretty smart,” she said.

  He kissed the top of her head. “Only when it comes to you. Then I’m smart enough to hang on and never let go.”

  “I’m gagging, positively gagging,” Robbie said as he strode past them again.

  Lindsey laughed and Sully smiled. He kissed her quick and then straightened.

  “Next on the to-do list?” he asked.

  Lindsey picked up her clipboard and checked off the lanterns. One detail down, two hundred to go, and the clock was ticking. It would be fine. Really.

  “Do you hear me? You are to leave the premises at once. Blink if you can comprehend my meaning.”

  The voice was loud and outraged. It made the hair on the back of Lindsey’s neck prickle. She glanced around the room to see who was speaking but noticed that everyone else who had been working had stopped to listen as well.

  She exchanged a baffled look with Sully and then moved toward the front of the library to see who was making a commotion.

  Paula and Ms. Cole had been tasked with clearing off the large circular checkout desk. The beverage service would be set up there, and Ms. Cole usually had fits about anything happening to her precious circulation area. Lindsey couldn’t believe that she’d get so overwrought that she’d yell at anyone, however.

  When she came around the desk, it was not Ms. Cole she found but Olive Boyle. Olive had her hands spread wide, bracing herself against the counter as she leaned over it into Paula’s personal space.

  “Did I stutter? Leave,” she said.

  Paula’s eyes were wide. She looked small and diminished and afraid. Lindsey felt a spike of rage light up inside of her like a signal flare. No one talked to her people like this.

  “Back away from the desk, Olive,” she ordered. “Right now!”

  Lindsey’s command brought everyone’s attention to the front of the library. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ms. Cole come charging out of the workroom to see what the ruckus was about. When she took in the sight of Lindsey confronting Olive, she looked wary, as if Lindsey were taking on a snake about to strike.

  “Excuse me?” Olive said.

  “You heard me.” Lindsey frowned. “As we discussed the other day, the staff of this library is my concern, not yours.”

  “She is not to attend tonight,” Olive said. She pointed a bony finger at Paula. “I have it on good authority that she is a crimin—”

  “Enough!” Lindsey interrupted. “Say one more word and I will have you removed from your position as president of the library board for violating the privacy of a staff member.”

  Olive’s eyes narrowed as if she hadn’t expected Lindsey to put up a fight and she didn’t like it.

  “And I am telling you that she is not welcome to attend tonight’s event. It would be best for all if she would turn in her notice at the earliest opportunity—like now. If I can’t guarantee the safety of everyone in attendance, I will cancel the event.”

  “Safety? What are you even talking about? And you are in no position to cancel this event,” Lindsey said. She stalked forward, looming over Olive. “You. Have. No. Authority. Here.”

  She could feel Sully at her back, and she appreciated the support even as she feared he might hold her back if she took a swing at the vile woman in front of her. Lindsey had never thrown a punch in her life, but she’d never been more tempted.

  “I am the president of the library board. That gives me the authority,” Olive sniffed. She jutted her chin in Paula’s direction. “Ask her about her past.” She turned to give Paula a contemptuous glance. “You never should have been hired to work here, should you?” She turned back to Lindsey. “Hiring that convict is going to cost you your job.”

  Paula’s eyes went wide and she glanced away. Convict? What was Olive talking about? Lindsey refused to believe it. She had seen Paula work with their teens, getting kids who professed to hate books reading. She’d seen her work with the elderly, assisting them to gain proficiency with the digital age.

  When Old Man MacGower bragged about wooing a hot widow in his assisted-living facility with a social media app Paula had taught him, Lindsey was sure Paula was going to bust. Whether it was from laughter or pride was still unclear, but it didn’t matter. Paula was an invaluable member of their team, and Lindsey would not stand to have her threatened.

  “It’s time for you to go, Olive,” she said. “You are crossing the line, again, and we’ll be discussing this episode at our next meeting.”

  “Episode?” Olive asked. Her lips compressed into a furious white line. “I am merely trying to maintain the integrity of the place that the taxpayers support out of their own pockets. Do you think they’d be okay knowing their hard-earned money is going to fund the life of a criminal? I think not.”

  Lindsey was seething. “One more word, Olive, one more, and I swear I’ll choke you out.”

  “Is that a threat?” Olive looked delighted. Then she cast an evil smile at
Lindsey. “Enjoy this gala, Ms. Norris, since it will be your last.”

  4

  With that, Olive spun on her heel and stalked out of the building. When the doors whooshed shut behind her, Lindsey let out a breath while Paula sagged against the counter.

  “You all right?” Sully asked.

  “Yeah, I’m okay,” Lindsey said.

  She glanced at Paula. “How are you?”

  “Fine,” Paula said. “Really.”

  “You don’t look fine,” Ms. Cole said. She frowned. “In fact, you look like something the tide spit out onto the beach to die.”

  “Um . . . thanks?” Paula said. She gave Ms. Cole a wobbly smile. The lemon shrugged, having managed to diffuse the situation with her own particular brand of blunt speak.

  Paula glanced back at Lindsey with concern. “She can’t really do all of the things she says, can she? She won’t cost you your job, will she?”

  “No. I might be in trouble for snapping at her, but that’s it,” Lindsey said with a lot more confidence than she felt.

  Olive’s library board position was appointed by the mayor. With no salary or benefits, it was really more of an honorary position. The fact that Olive was taking it to the next level and looking into the backgrounds of Lindsey’s staff made Lindsey acutely uncomfortable. It was an invasion of privacy, clearly a scare tactic, but for what purpose? Lindsey could determine no good reason why Olive would want to start firing people or causing distrust and discord amongst the library staff. It boggled.

  “If it’s all the same with you,” Paula said, “once we’re done setting up for the party, I think I’ll go home.”

  “No!” Lindsey and Ms. Cole said together. They exchanged a look, and the lemon lifted her eyebrows at Lindsey before she continued speaking, “You most certainly will not go home. This is the biggest night of the year for the library of which you are a part. You can’t miss it.”

  As if that was the end of it, Ms. Cole turned on her heel and went back into the workroom.

  Lindsey looked at Paula with a small smile. “Listen, I understand why you’d want to avoid seeing that woman ever, but I can assure you I am going to do everything I can to make sure she never bothers you again. In fact, I think attending tonight will show her that you can’t be intimidated.”

  “I don’t know,” Paula said. “There are some things in my past, my youth, that I’d rather keep private.”

  “I understand,” Lindsey said. “But remember, it’s not just you she’s coming after. She came after me, too, and I’ll be here. We could show her a united front.”

  Paula thought about it for a moment before she nodded. “All right, I’ll come to the dinner, but I’m giving her a wide berth, and I’m only coming because I doubt she’d want to make a scene in front of the whole town, right?”

  “Absolutely,” Lindsey said. “And as an added precaution, we’ll get everyone to run interference if she comes near you. We won’t let Olive Boyle ruin your first Dinner in the Stacks.”

  “Thanks,” Paula said. It was a genuine smile, and it warmed Lindsey’s heart. It felt good to have her staff’s trust, and she was determined to keep it.

  “So help me, I am going to stab that woman right in the heart with my pruning shears!” Kelsey Kincaid, owner of the local flower shop, barreled into the library pushing a cart that was loaded down with big, beautiful flowery centerpieces for the evening’s event.

  Kelsey was a petite thing, and the cart was almost as big as she was, but she looked to have her temper fueling her strength as she maneuvered the cart as if she were driving a tank.

  “Who’s got you so mad?” Charlie Peyton asked as he left his bandmates to set up onstage and hurried across the room to help Kelsey with the cart.

  “Olive Boyle,” Kelsey spat. She tossed her thick brunette braid over her shoulder. “She said she wasn’t going to pay me for my flowers because they weren’t to her taste. She’s made me change them three times—how could they not be? I swear if I am left alone in a room with that woman, there will be bloodshed.”

  “She’s like Typhoid Olive,” Lindsey whispered to Sully. “Everyone she comes into contact with is poisoned.”

  “She does seem highly toxic,” he agreed.

  “Yeah, she tried to fire my band,” Charlie said to Kelsey. “She told us she wasn’t impressed with our lack of musical ability. Oh, and we play too loud.”

  Lindsey felt Sully stiffen beside her. Charlie was invaluable helping Sully run his boat tours and water taxi around the Thumb Islands during the peak summer season. Although Charlie only worked for him part of the year, Sully was very protective of his employee and encouraged his musical ambitions.

  “What happened?” Kelsey asked.

  “I told her she wasn’t the boss of me,” he said. “That I worked for Lindsey, not her. Man, was she ever steamed about that. It was the best.”

  “Nice.” Kelsey nodded and slugged him on the shoulder. “I wish I’d thought of that.”

  Lindsey and Sully approached them and Lindsey looked over the cart in awe.

  “Kelsey, the centerpieces are stunning,” she said. She wasn’t even trying to make Kelsey feel better. The flowers were truly works of art.

  Kelsey had taken old wooden card catalog drawers and lined them with thick plastic to protect the wood. Then she had filled them with small pots of flowers, miniature roses, violets, pansies, filling in the spaces around the potted flowers with ivy and ferns. They were delicate and lovely, and she’d even drawn the table numbers in gold calligraphy on antique paper and put them in the metal frames on the front of the drawers. They were simply fantastic.

  “Thank you,” Kelsey said. “I was really pleased with them until I ran into her outside. She’s a horror.”

  “Yes, well, I’m going to see what I can do about that situation,” Lindsey said. “And don’t worry, you are absolutely going to get paid for the flowers.”

  “See?” Charlie said. “Lindsey won’t let you down.”

  “Thanks,” Kelsey said. She turned to Charlie and batted her eyelashes at him. “Do you have a minute to help me get them set up?”

  “Sure,” he said, looking utterly smitten. He waved at Sully and Lindsey and pushed the cart for Kelsey into the thick of the dining area.

  Looking back at her clipboard, Lindsey scratched off flowers and scanned the list trying to figure out which items would take the longest and would need to be done first. She glanced at the hustle and bustle happening around her. The library was immaculate, the displays all dazzled, the decorations for the party were subdued but still magical—it really was coming together.

  “I don’t want to be overly optimistic,” she said, “but despite Olive, I think this might be our best Dinner in the Stacks yet.”

  “I’ll bet you’re right,” Sully said. “Even my parents are coming ashore for it.”

  Lindsey’s eyes went wide. She adored Sully’s parents. They were lovely people, and while they seemed to have taken to her, too, she was pretty sure they expected her to have at least showered before the big gala.

  “Oh my God, your parents cannot see me like this!” she cried.

  Sully glanced at his watch. “You’ve got over an hour to get ready.”

  Lindsey glanced at her reflection in a nearby window. She had on a wide headband, no makeup, ripped-up jeans, a flannel shirt, and she was pretty sure she smelled like cleaning fluid.

  She looked at the list in dismay. She still needed to decorate the entryway. Panic made her heart pound in her chest.

  Sully pulled the keys to his truck out of his pocket and handed them to her.

  “I’ve got this,” he said. “You go.”

  “Really?”

  “Of course,” he said. “I’m a dude. It takes me like five minutes to change clothes and be ready.”

  Thank heaven for manly men. Linds
ey hugged him hard and kissed him firmly on the mouth. “I love you.”

  His grin was almost blinding. “I never get tired of hearing that. I love you, too. Now go before I add ‘find a dark corner and make out with my favorite librarian’ to the to-do list.”

  Lindsey laughed and hopped out of his arms. She grabbed her purse and her coat and hurried for the door, calling, “I’ll be back as fast as I can.”

  “I’ll be here,” he said.

  As Lindsey hurried to the truck, she knew no words had ever been truer. Sully would be there, always. He was dependable like that, and it was one of the things she valued most about him.

  As she climbed into the truck and put the key in the ignition, she spotted Olive Boyle across the parking lot. She was standing beside an ancient dark blue Volvo, talking to the person inside. Lindsey didn’t recognize the car and couldn’t see the driver, but she could tell by the tense set to Olive’s shoulders and the way she was wagging her finger in the open window that Olive was giving them what for.

  Lindsey had a flash of sympathy for the recipient of Olive’s ire. She could only imagine what minor traffic transgression the poor person had perpetrated to tick Olive off. With any luck, Olive would be so mad she’d rant at them for a few hours and miss the gala entirely. Yeah, it was wishful thinking, but Lindsey still held out hope.

  • • •

  The entryway was incredible. Not because of the amazing job Sully had done, although he had, but because the man himself was standing in the doorway, waiting for her and looking so unbelievably handsome in his black suit and blue tie that Lindsey forgot to breathe for a second or two.

  Although they hadn’t coordinated their clothing, they were a perfect match, as Lindsey’s tea-length cocktail dress was the same shade of heather blue as his tie. Her dress was simple, but it had beading on the bodice and on the hem of the flouncy skirt, which made her feel ridiculously girly. She wore her hair in loose curls about her shoulders, and she’d kicked up her makeup to include eyeliner and a cherry red lipstick.