Death in the Stacks

by Jenn McKinlay

  When Sully saw her walking toward him, he did a double take and then let out a low whistle, like a kettle letting off steam.

  “Darling, you are beautiful,” he said.

  Lindsey felt her face grow warm, but she refused to be embarrassed. “You clean up pretty good yourself.”

  “Thanks,” he said. He gently kissed her lips as if trying not to smudge her lipstick. Ever the gentleman.

  “And this,” she said, gesturing to the entryway, “looks spectacular.”

  It really did. At the entrance, he had placed a long red carpet leading into the building. Just inside the doors were two balloon pillars made up of blue and silver balloons that twisted in stripes like a barber’s pole with a big silver star balloon perched on the top.

  A small table just inside the doors was staffed by the president of the Friends of the Library, Carrie Rushton, and her boyfriend, Dale Wilcox. They were in charge of telling people what their table assignment was. Carrie looked very chic in a red sheath dress, while Dale kept his look simple with a black leather blazer over a dress shirt and jeans. The dress shirt covered half of the jailhouse tattoo on his neck, but the gold incisor that shone when he smiled made it clear that Dale still had a pirate’s soul.

  “Lindsey, you look amazing,” Carrie gushed.

  “I was just going to say the same about you.”

  The two women hugged, and when Carrie stepped back, she said, “I think this is going to be our best fund-raiser to date. We sold more tickets than ever before.”

  “Happy to help,” Robbie Vine said as he joined them with his girlfriend, Emma Plewicki, who was also the chief of police, on his arm.

  Robbie was looking very James Bond in a white tuxedo jacket over a white shirt with a black bow tie and black slacks. Emma was in a curve-hugging black satin number that made her the perfect arm candy for Robbie.

  “You two are perfect,” Lindsey said. “Very Ian Fleming.”

  “Thanks,” Emma said. “I was going for a Casino Royale sort of look.”

  “Not Live and Let Die?” Sully asked as he kissed her cheek. He glanced at Robbie. “Pity.”

  “Very funny, Captain Hook,” Robbie said. He turned to Emma with a small smile and said, “I was thinking we were more The Spy Who Loved Me.”

  Emma’s eyes went wide and her cheeks turned pink. Lindsey had never seen the police chief flustered before. Ever. It was delightful.

  “All right, that’s enough of that,” Emma said, shaking her head as if to get her senses back. “I’m off duty tonight, so our first stop—”

  “—is the bar,” Robbie finished for her. “Right this way, my beautiful black swan.”

  “Incorrigible,” Emma said with a shake of her head, but she was grinning.

  “He’s too much. I don’t know what she sees in him,” Sully said.

  “Oh, I do,” Carrie said. She was fanning her face with one hand. Both Dale and Sully looked at her, and she shrugged.

  “I just meant his accent, right, Lindsey? No woman can withstand a good British accent,” Carrie said. “They’re irresistible. Come on, back me up here.”

  “You’re on your own—” Lindsey began, but a group of guests arrived, cutting off her words.

  “Oy, did you hear that, mates? Our accents are going to make us irresistible tonight.”

  Lindsey blinked at the man who spoke. He was wearing a purple velvet suit over a lime green dress shirt, and if his suit wasn’t eye-wateringly painful enough, the group with him included four women, all of whom were wearing the most incredible hats Lindsey had ever seen. Hats? In Briar Creek? Weird.

  5

  “Good evening,” Carrie said. Her gaze flitted over the group as she was clearly trying not to stare at his outfit or the hats on the ladies. “Are you here for Dinner in the Stacks?”

  “Hello, Carrie. Yes, we are. We’re a party of nine.” Mrs. Parker, a fairly new resident to Briar Creek, waved to her from the back. She pointed at the redhead beside her. “My daughter Scarlett is visiting from London with her friends, and we thought it would be such fun for them to attend the fund-raiser for our local library.”

  “Mrs. Parker.” Lindsey stepped forward to greet the older woman. “So nice of you to come and to fill a whole table. I’ll be sure your name is at the top of the list for the next Hannah Dennison mystery.”

  “The series set in Devon?” Mrs. Parker’s blues eyes sparkled, and her British accent thickened as she said, “You know the way to my heart.”

  “Oh, I like this place.” A tall, willowy woman with dark eyes and skin joined them. She was dressed in a sunshine yellow cocktail dress that matched the yellow streaks in her curly bob.

  She held her hand out to Lindsey. “Hi, I’m Fiona Felton, but everyone calls me Fee. I’m a milliner. We’re supposed to lead with our occupation when introduced in the States, yeah?”

  “Yes, very American of you, Fee,” Mr. Parker said. “Good to see you, Lindsey.”

  “You, too, Mr. Parker.”

  “And it’s nice to meet you,” Lindsey said to Fee and shook her hand. “I’m Lindsey Norris, the library director, and I can honestly say I’ve never met a professional hat maker before.”

  Fiona patted the brown silk cap that was circled with bright yellow sunflowers on her head. “Well, I’m happy to be your first.” She turned to Sully and smiled. “And yours as well.”

  Sully looked at Carrie and said, “You’re right about the accent.” Lindsey frowned at him, and he laughed and looped one arm about her as he offered his hand to Fee.

  “I’m Mike Sullivan, but everyone calls me Sully,” he said.

  “Librarian?” she asked.

  “Boat captain,” he said.

  “Oh, very nice,” she said. “Here, I’ll introduce you properly to the woman responsible for our visit. Lindsey, library director, and Sully, boat captain, this is Scarlett Parker. Her parents invited all of us to visit. Daft, yeah?”

  Lindsey shook hands with a pretty redhead who was wearing a cocktail dress and a darling pillbox hat both in a shade of violent pink, which clashed spectacularly with her red hair, and yet she managed to carry it off.

  “Nice to meet you,” Scarlett said. At Lindsey’s surprised look, Scarlett grinned. “Yes, my dad and I are the lone Americans in our group. This is my boyfriend, Harrison Wentworth.”

  A tall man with wavy brown hair and bright green eyes in a charcoal gray suit that fit his broad shoulders to perfection shook Lindsey’s hand.

  “Delighted,” he said.

  Carrie was right. The accent was a killer.

  And so it went as Lindsey was introduced to the man in the vivid velvet suit, Nick Carroll, and his partner, Andre Eisel, who was wearing all black and was as subdued as Nick was flamboyant. He was also a photographer and had brought his camera with him.

  “Is it all right if I take pictures?” he asked.

  “Absolutely,” Lindsey said.

  She met Scarlett’s cousin Vivian Tremont, also a milliner, in a daring purple ensemble with a heavily plumed hat to match, and her date, Alistair Turner. They were a loud and boisterous group, and as she escorted them to their table, Lindsey listened to them trying to out-pun one another.

  “Mrs. P., I’m so glad you booked us for this event,” Nick said.

  “Yes, we were overdue for a night out,” Vivian quipped.

  “En-titled, even,” Harrison added.

  “More than read-y,” Fee agreed.

  “Clearly, we’re all on the same page,” Andre said.

  The group laughed, and then Alistair threw his arm around Vivian’s waist and pulled her close and asked, “Love, do I need a library card ’cause I’m checking you out?”

  This one caused the most laughter, and Lindsey found it impossible not to chuckle as well.

  “Wait, wait, I’ve got one,” Scarlett c
ried. “At last, we’re fine-ly here.”

  The entire group went silent. No one even cracked a smile. Scarlett looked miffed and then said, “Oh, come on. Library fine? Fine-ly as in finally? That was a good one.”

  Sensing that they were teasing their friend, Lindsey patted Scarlett’s shoulder and said, “It’s all right. You just have to believe in your shelf.”

  “Pah ha ha ha,” Nick burst out laughing, and the others joined in, looking delighted.

  “Really?” Scarlett asked. “The librarian is getting more laughs than me.”

  “She works with books, Ginger,” Harrison said to Scarlett. “She’s bound to be funny.”

  This set the others off again, and Scarlett rolled her eyes. Lindsey leaned close to her and said, “I believe I have a book of puns around here if you’re interested.”

  Scarlett gave her a conspiratorial wink. “Yes, please. It is game on for the rest of this trip.”

  Lindsey left them to arrange their seats at the table. When she reached Sully, he grinned at her and said, “I like them.”

  “Me, too,” she said. “It’s a shame we don’t have the same love of millinery in the States. A hat shop in Briar Creek would be so charming.”

  “Hat shop? I would love that. Think of what they could do for my story times!” Beth said as she and her fiancé, Aidan Barker, joined them.

  “You could be the Mad Hatter,” Aidan chimed in.

  “Or the Five Hundred Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins,” Lindsey said.

  “And it’s the lesser known Seussian book reference for the win,” Beth said. She held up her fist for a knuckle bump, which in her formal wear seemed ridiculous, but Lindsey banged knuckles with her, and Beth wiggled her fingers and did the exploding noise.

  As always, Beth was very much in touch with her inner child. Even when it came to dressing for tonight’s event. While Lindsey and Sully had not purposefully coordinated their clothes, Beth and Aidan clearly had. Beth was wearing a flouncy pale gold dress, and her black hair, which she had been growing out for months, was pulled up and away from her face with wide curls falling from an ornate clip at the crown of her head. Aidan, meanwhile, was wearing black dress pants with a white dress shirt, over which he wore a brown vest and a blue blazer.

  Lindsey tipped her head to the side as she considered them.

  “Call me crazy, but you two look to have a ‘tale as old as time’ thing happening.”

  Beth grinned at her and then looped her arm through Aidan’s and said, “See, I told you people would get it.”

  “I don’t get it,” Sully said.

  “Oh no, don’t—” Lindsey began, but it was too late.

  Beth started to sing the famous song from the animated film. Aidan shrugged at Sully and then opened his arms. Beth stepped into them, and they waltzed over to the dance floor. When they arrived, Charlie, who was onstage waiting to start playing, caught the gist of Beth’s song and began to play the refrain softly on his guitar. In a matter of moments, the people who had been seated began to fill the rented parquet dance floor, including the hat makers.

  “Ah, Beauty and the Beast. Now I get it,” Sully said.

  “Oh, they’re dancing already,” Nancy said as she and Violet arrived together. Dressed in spectacularly glittery cocktail dresses, they barely paused to greet Sully and Lindsey, grabbing their table number from Carrie before rushing out onto the dance floor.

  Ms. Cole and her date, Milton Duffy, followed them with Paula and her date, the high school librarian, Hannah Carson. The library staff were all sharing a table, and Lindsey walked them over to it. She had made certain this morning that it was on the opposite side of the room from the table that Olive was sharing with the rest of the library board and some of her friends. Lindsey didn’t want to risk a scene from Olive if she was brought into close proximity with Paula, or Lindsey, for that matter.

  Sully was called away to help Ian and Mary in the kitchen. With a quick kiss to Lindsey’s forehead and instructions that she was to call him if needed, he disappeared down the hall that led to the staff break room where they had set up their catering base of operations.

  “The music is too loud. Who arranged the balloon pillars here? They’re in the way. And who put you in charge of greeting the arrivals? They couldn’t hire professional valets?”

  Lindsey felt her shoulders shoot up to her ears as Olive’s voice shredded her nerves like a cheese grater. She sucked in a deep breath and slowly turned around.

  “Hello, Olive,” she said.

  In a stunning beaded black ball gown, Olive stood with her group of lady friends, the ones known around town as the “mean girls,” gathered around her. Olive’s entourage stared at the room in front of them with matching looks of displeasure.

  Oh boy.

  Olive didn’t speak to Lindsey. She looked her over from head to toe and turned away as if Lindsey was too insignificant for her to be bothered to acknowledge. It was the cut direct, like something out of a Georgette Heyer novel. That stung. Lindsey didn’t like Olive, but the slight was jarring, mostly because it was incredibly juvenile when she had thought they could at least be civil for the library’s event.

  “I’ll escort you to your table,” Lindsey said.

  “No need,” Olive said. She swept past Lindsey with her three friends, Amy Ellers, LeAnn Barnett and Kim MacInnes, following her as they marched through the room in a petite parade of middle-aged female outrage that had no known point of origin.

  “Well, they left a bitter nip in the air,” Carrie said as she returned from escorting another party and joined Lindsey.

  “Is there frost on me?”

  “Just a touch on your hair and your eyelashes.” Carrie smiled. “You’ll thaw.”

  “Let’s hope Olive does, or it’s going to be a very long evening,” Lindsey said.

  She turned to face the main room, checking to see where Paula was in relation to Olive. They were across the room from each other as planned, but still, Olive was glaring at Paula all the same. Lindsey’s gaze met Ms. Cole’s, and the lemon gave her a small nod. Ms. Cole understood that she was to keep Olive away from Paula and vice versa at all times.

  Given that Ms. Cole had not been overly fond of Paula as a new hire, Lindsey appreciated that the lemon was stepping up to protect her. It reminded Lindsey of her relationship with her brother, Jack. While they could trash-talk each other with impunity, if anyone else did it, there was hell to pay.

  “Incoming,” Carrie whispered, bringing Lindsey’s attention back to the door.

  Walking through the balloon pillars was another large group. She didn’t recognize anyone as a local except Willow Devaney.

  Willow had moved to Arizona ten years ago when her husband, a professor, had gotten a job at the university in Tempe. Recently, she had reappeared in Briar Creek. Everyone had assumed she was visiting, but as the weeks wore on, it became apparent that Willow was home to stay.

  No one knew what had happened in her marriage, but she wasn’t wearing a wedding ring, and when anyone asked about her husband, she def lected the question like a verbal ninja. Lindsey had only helped her a couple of times at the library, but she had come to learn that Willow was hooked on romantic comedy movies and was working her way through the library’s extensive collection.

  “Hi, Willow,” she said. “Welcome to Dinner in the Stacks.”

  “Thank you, Lindsey.” Willow took Lindsey’s hands in hers and gave them a gentle squeeze. “The library looks amazing. I could smell Ian’s cooking as we approached the doors, and my mouth started watering.”

  “I know. I’m glad it doesn’t smell like this all the time or I’d never get any work done,” Lindsey said.

  “Well, with any luck, my new workplace will smell like this all the time,” Willow said.

  Lindsey gave her a considering look. “Does this have anything to do w
ith all of the small business books you’ve been checking out lately?”

  “Yes!” Willow cried. “Lindsey, these people are from Fairy Tale Cupcakes in Scottsdale, Arizona, and we’re talking about me opening a franchise.”

  “Here? In Briar Creek? No way!”

  “Way!”

  “Hey, Mel, Tate, come look at this movie collection.” One of the women in Willow’s group was standing by the large shelf of movies that the library carried. She was wearing a smart copper-colored dress, and her long dark hair was twisted up on her head in a large round bun.

  “Angie, this is fantastic,” the man called Tate said as he joined her. “It’s even bigger than my personal collection.”

  “Oh, look, they have Desk Set,” a tall blond woman said. She turned to the dark-haired man beside her. “Joe, we should borrow this to watch at the Beachfront Bed and Breakfast.”

  “You probably need to have a card,” he said.

  “I bet Willow has one,” she said.

  She glanced over, and Willow gave her a thumbs-up. Then she leaned close and said to Lindsey, “That’s Melanie Cooper, in the mint green dress. She’s a Cordon Bleu pastry chef, and the handsome guy beside her is her boyfriend, Joe DeLaura. She owns the bakery with those two, Tate Harper and Angie DeLaura, who are about to get married. The other two guys are Marty Zelaznik, the bald one, and Oz, er, Oscar Ruiz, the young one, and they work for the bakery. The group seems to have a preoccupation with quoting movies, but otherwise, they are really quite nice.”

  “I thought we were here to open a franchise and see the leaves change. I don’t want to be inside watching a movie that came out when I was in my twenties. What’s the point?” Marty asked. He sounded grumpy. He was thin and a bit stooped over in the shoulders, but he wore his navy suit well, and his shoes were polished to a noticeable high gloss that matched the sheen of his bald head.

  “Oh, what are you thinking?” Oz said. His shaggy hair covered his eyes and he wore black Converse sneakers, which worked surprisingly well with his black suit. He frowned at the older man. “Marty, you know they’re going to—”