Death in the Stacks

by Jenn McKinlay

  “Dangerous?” Lindsey scoffed. “There is no one on our staff who is a danger to anyone.”

  Olive gave a delighted laugh. “You really don’t know, do you? You have no idea the monster you’ve shoved into our lives. Oh, this is even better than I’d hoped.”

  “Monster? What are you talking about?” Lindsey cried.

  “Excuse me.” Kelsey Kincaid, the florist, passed by them with two glasses of wine in her hands. She looked distinctly uncomfortable to be in the vicinity of their spat, and Lindsey wondered if she was also leery of Olive coming after her about her flowers again.

  “I’m talking about that loathsome woman you hired. Your clerk, Paula Turner. She can’t continue to work in the library.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I have it on very good authority that she is a violent criminal,” Olive declared.

  7

  “What? I don’t believe you,” Lindsey hissed.

  She glanced at Kelsey, who had most definitely still been within earshot when Olive spouted her ridiculous accusation. To her credit, Kelsey didn’t show it, and Lindsey was grateful. The last thing she needed was anyone giving credence to Olive’s poisonous lies.

  “I don’t need you to believe me,” Olive said. “I have proof.”

  “Proof? Don’t be absurd. Paula is one of our best employees. I won’t have you targeting her for your own malicious amusement. You can’t make up lies about my staff and try to have them fired. I won’t allow it.”

  “I’m not lying,” Olive said. “Ask her. Ask her about her past. Clearly you didn’t before, since it was your incompetence that got her hired in the first place. I heard all about it. She and your dog saved a litter of kittens, whoop-de-do—that’s not proper protocol for hiring someone, and I am going to see that you lose your job over it.”

  “Really?” Lindsey asked. “Because after the stunt you just tried to pull, I am planning on having you removed from the library board.”

  Olive smirked at her. “That’s never going to happen.”

  “Oh, no?”

  “No, because I have made it my business to know everyone’s secrets,” Olive said. “They can’t remove me from the board, because if they do, I’ll tell all.”

  “You’re vile,” Lindsey said.

  “And you’re unemployed, or at least you will be soon enough,” Olive said. She swished away in her gown, looking so confident that it took all Lindsey had not to step on the back of her dress and trip her.

  This was a nightmare. Lindsey had hired Paula on the spot when she’d found her in a rainstorm, saving a mama cat and her kittens with Lindsey’s dog, Heathcliff, by her side. Maybe it wasn’t standard operating procedure, but Lindsey had felt that anyone who put aside a job interview for a position they desperately wanted to rescue a family of cats from drowning, well, she didn’t think there was much more that she needed to know about the person.

  Of course the human resources department had run a background check, and Paula’s references had been verified by Lindsey. There was nothing to indicate that Paula was anything other than what she seemed, a twenty-something woman looking to begin a career in library science. How could Olive accuse her of being a violent criminal? Surely, it would have come out when they did their background check.

  No, this was just Olive being vindictive and mean, pushing people around just because she felt like she could. Well, it wasn’t going to work with Lindsey. She had never tolerated bullying, and she wasn’t going to start now.

  When she arrived back at her table, the party was in full swing. Some people were dancing to the smooth groove Charlie and his band were playing, while others were checking out the donated auction items. Robbie was pacing, getting ready to do his auctioneering bit. The noise was festive and bubbly. If Olive’s intent had been to ruin the fund-raiser, then she had failed spectacularly.

  Since no one else was upset by Olive and her hollow accusations, Lindsey refused to let the woman get to her. Paula as a criminal was crazy talk. She found Sully waiting for her, and when he held out his hand to lead her to the dance floor, she let him.

  There was something calming about being in Sully’s arms. With his broad shoulders and calloused palms, he made her feel safe and secure. She knew that no matter what happened he would be there, just like he’d been the one to hush Olive up in his own quietly effective way.

  “Nice work unplugging Olive tonight,” she said. “Thank you.”

  He pulled her in close and kissed her forehead. “No one messes up my girl’s party.”

  Lindsey sighed and rested her cheek on his shoulder. She wished it was that simple, but she suspected it was going to get worse before it got better.

  “Are you all right?” he asked, leaning back to study her face. “It looked pretty heated between you and Olive a minute ago.”

  “It was.” She blew out a breath. “I tried to make it clear that her behavior was unacceptable, but she is determined to make trouble. I don’t like it, but I’m going to talk to the mayor and see if I can get him to step in and remove her from the board.”

  “I think I can help make that happen,” Sully said.

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, just go with it,” he said.

  With that, Sully put his hand on her hip and spun Lindsey, which was a pretty flashy move for their level of dancing, right into the vicinity of Mayor Hensen and his wife.

  “Oh, pardon me,” Lindsey said.

  “Not at all.” The mayor smiled at her. “You have quite the turnout tonight, Lindsey. Good job.”

  “Everyone loves the library,” she said.

  “Oh no, this is my dancing time,” Mrs. Hensen said. “No shoptalk, you two.”

  “You know they can’t help it, Mrs. H.,” Sully said as he joined them. “These dedicated-public-servant types just don’t know how to let loose. Come with me, we’ll show them a thing or two.”

  Mrs. Hensen’s eyes went wide, and without overthinking it, she dropped her husband’s hand and took Sully’s.

  “Oh, now, hey—” the mayor protested.

  “Back in a jiff,” Mrs. Hensen said as Sully danced her away.

  Smooth, the sailor was very smooth—Lindsey had to give him that. She turned back to the mayor. He hesitated only a moment before offering her his hand. Lindsey stepped into his arms, and together they moved around the dance floor in the most awkward swaying waltz ever witnessed in Briar Creek.

  “Mayor Hensen,” Lindsey began, but he interrupted.

  “I can’t remove Olive Boyle from the board,” he said.

  “What? Why? And how did you know I was going to ask you that?”

  Beth and Aidan came careening in from the right, and Mayor Hensen weaved to the left just in time.

  “Because it’s pretty obvious that she’s got it in for you,” he said. “What did you do to tick her off?”

  “No idea,” Lindsey said. “Why can’t you remove her?”

  “Because she’s a vindictive shrew and I don’t want her malevolence pointed in my direction during an election year,” he said. “She could ruin me with her malicious gossip.”

  Lindsey heaved a sigh. “So, you’re saying your political career is more important than my job.”

  “It sounds so rude when you say it like that,” he said.

  “Hmm,” Lindsey grumbled.

  She knew she could push him. She could force the issue, but to what purpose? He would resist. There would be tension between his office and her department. Other departments would get into the fray.

  Small-town politics never went well when one department went rogue. If she wanted their support, she was going to have to figure out how to disarm Olive and keep her from threatening anyone else.

  “What if I can find out her endgame?” Lindsey asked.

  “Meaning?”

  “You h
ave to have heard the rumors,” Lindsey said. She lifted one eyebrow at him and the mayor stumbled. Only her nimble reflexes got her toes out of his stomping range.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said.

  “She’s going to make a run for mayor,” Lindsey said. “That’s why she keeps getting on all of these boards and commissions. She wants to know all of the players. Probably, she’s out to discover everyone’s secrets so she can use them as leverage when she tosses her hat into the ring.”

  The mayor’s shoulders hunched forward. He looked like a big kid trying to shield his favorite toy from being snatched by a bully. It wasn’t going to work—not with Lindsey and not with Olive.

  “If I find out for sure that she’s after your job, will you help me get her to back off from the library?” Lindsey asked. “She’s targeting my staff, and I just can’t have that.”

  “I thought after your last near-death experience you’d given up sleuthing.”

  “I have,” she said. “This is more like regular library work—you know, fact-finding.”

  “All right,” he said. “I admit that I’m curious to see what she’s planning. Find out what she’s got cooking, and I’ll do what I can to keep her away from you and yours.”

  “Thanks, Mayor Hensen.” Lindsey smiled at him, and he returned it.

  Sully twirled the mayor’s wife back into his arms and reclaimed Lindsey.

  “How’d it go?” he asked.

  “I’m on my own until I do some fact-finding,” Lindsey said. “He wants to know for sure that Olive is gunning for his job before he’ll make a move to remove her from the library board.”

  “So, where are you going to start?”

  “I think it has to be with those mean-girl neighbors of hers. They’ve got to know what her plan is, especially since they’re always together, traveling in their pack of rude condescension.”

  She glanced over Sully’s shoulder and saw Olive sitting with her friends. She was looking quite pleased with herself. When the youngest one in the pack, Amy, tapped Olive’s arm and pointed to Lindsey, Olive snatched up her glass of champagne and lifted it in Lindsey’s direction.

  Olive wrinkled her nose as the bubbles tickled, then she gave a wicked, merciless laugh—the sort that could have inspired the Brothers Grimm to write about wicked witches and made the hair on Lindsey’s neck stand on end.

  Why was Olive after her? Had she done something? Lindsey thought over the past few years, trying to remember any unpleasantness between her and Olive. Had she inadvertently irritated her? And why would Olive ever think that Lindsey was a husband stealer? That was just mental.

  Sully turned them to avoid colliding with his sister, Mary, and her husband, Ian. Mary looked amazing in a white gown that draped becomingly over her baby belly, and Ian looked delighted as ever to be with his wife.

  “If there’s anything I can do to help, just ask,” Sully said.

  “I will. I promise,” she agreed. “You know, if she was only coming after me, I wouldn’t mind so much, but she’s set her sights on Paula, and I can’t have that.”

  “That’s what makes you a good boss,” Sully said. “You look out for your people. Any idea why she has it in for Paula?”

  Lindsey thought about confiding in him, but when she glanced over his shoulder and saw Paula, sitting at their table, looking anxious, Lindsey couldn’t share what Olive had told her. It was so vicious and Lindsey was so certain it was completely untrue that she didn’t want to give credence to Olive’s nastiness by saying it out loud.

  “Personality clash?” she suggested. “That and I think she might be using her to get to me.”

  Sully nodded. “I can see how Olive might not approve of Paula. I don’t agree with it, but I can see it. Then again, I can see Olive being like that with just about anyone.”

  “She really is awful,” Lindsey said.

  “But why come after you?” he asked.

  “No idea.”

  The music slowed to a stop, and they broke apart to applaud. Sully put his fingers in his mouth to give a raucous whistle, and Charlie grinned at them from the stage.

  “We play weddings, bar mitzvahs, funerals, too,” Charlie joked. The crowd laughed, and the band broke into their next song.

  Lindsey and Sully took the opportunity to walk to the other side of the library and check out the auction. Robbie was killing it, driving up the bids with witty banter, fibs and the occasional threat. He was lively and fun and worked the crowd over while entertaining them at the same time.

  Lindsey spent the rest of the party mixing and mingling with all of the guests while keeping one eye on Olive. It made for a stressful evening, and when the auction ended and people started to head for home, she felt herself begin to relax for the first time all night.

  As the last of the guests straggled to the door, Lindsey was quite sure she had a blister on her heel, and her back hurt from standing for so long. She was hobbling as she walked, and when she smiled, it felt forced. Honestly, she could not wait to be in her pajamas with her book.

  With just the staff and a couple of their dates left in the building, she pulled the doors shut and turned the lock. They would do a quick cleanup tonight, and then Lindsey would come back tomorrow to meet the town’s cleaning crew for a more thorough Sunday wipe down before opening hours the following Monday.

  She had just started across the room when a fist rapped on the glass door. She turned back around to see LeAnn, Amy and Kim standing there. There was no sign of Olive. Lindsey had the brief thought that Olive had sent her posse to do her dirty work, but maybe she was just being paranoid.

  She bent down and unlocked the doors and manually pried them open a crack.

  “Did you forget something?” she asked.

  “We can’t find Olive,” Kim said.

  “She said she’d meet us outside by the car after the auction ended, but that was a half hour ago, and she’s not there,” LeAnn added.

  Lindsey pulled the doors open wider and gestured for them to come in.

  “She wouldn’t have left, would she?” Lindsey asked.

  “Not without us,” Amy said. She pushed her trendy rectangular-framed glasses up on her nose and gave Lindsey a hard stare. “We all came together, and the car is still out there.”

  “Did she meet someone?” Lindsey asked. She couldn’t imagine anyone being crazy enough to hook up with Olive, but she didn’t want to be rude and say as much.

  “No. She’s in here. She has to be,” Amy said. She gave Lindsey an impatient look as if she thought Lindsey was being difficult on purpose.

  “What’s going on?” Beth asked as she joined them.

  “Olive is missing,” Lindsey said.

  “Maybe she just caught a ride home on her broomstick,” Beth said, low enough so that only Lindsey could hear her. Lindsey quickly turned her laugh into a cough.

  When she glanced up, Olive’s friends were staring at her as if they expected her to produce Olive out of thin air. Lindsey’s blister hurt, and she was feeling cranky. She turned away to address the room.

  “Listen up, everyone. Olive Boyle’s party is looking for her,” Lindsey announced. “Could everyone check the bathrooms and study rooms and make sure she hasn’t gotten distracted?”

  While Olive’s friends waited in the front of the building, the staff split up to search. Wanting to avoid Olive, Lindsey decided to the check the fiction area, assuming that it was highly unlikely that Olive would be browsing for a good read at this late hour.

  She was almost all the way to the back of the shelving units when she heard a gasp. Someone was back there. She hurried forward, scanning the spaces between the tall shelves as she went. When she rounded the corner to the second-to-last unit, she stumbled to a halt.

  Crouched on the floor, holding one of the steak knives from dinner,
was Paula Turner, and lying on the ground at her feet was Olive Boyle.

  8

  Paula’s eyes were huge. She glanced at Lindsey, and the knife fell out of her fingers and landed on the carpeted floor with a soft thump.

  “I just found her! I swear!” Paula said.

  Lindsey blinked and raced forward, falling to her knees as she pressed her hand to Olive’s chest, feeling for a heartbeat, breaths, anything that would indicate she was alive.

  “No, no, no,” Lindsey cried. She’d seen enough death, been through enough tragedies. She desperately wanted this not to go that way.

  Olive’s skin was still warm, but her body felt as if it was softening, as if her life essence was pooling out of her like the puddle of blood that soaked into the floor. Her face was slack, her eyes open and staring at nothing. There was no pulse in her wrist, no rise to her chest, no breath coming from her lips.

  There was nothing. Olive Boyle was dead.

  “I need to call an ambulance.” Lindsey lurched to her feet, planning to race back to her office and make the call.

  “Don’t leave me.” Paula jumped up, too, and Lindsey nodded.

  “Let’s get help,” she said. She turned on her heel and hurried to the end of the row. She stepped out and slammed into Amy Ellers.

  “Oh!” Amy staggered back.

  “Sorry.” Lindsey held out her hands to steady Amy, and Amy’s eyes went wide.

  “You’re covered in blood!” Amy cried.

  Lindsey looked at her hands. They were shaking and streaked with red. She dropped them to her sides.

  “Do you have your phone? I need you to call an ambulance,” she said. “Quickly.”

  “Why?” Amy demanded. “What’s going on?”

  She pushed past Lindsey and peered down the row at Olive’s body. Her spine went rigid, and she let out an ear-piercing shriek. Lindsey reached out to her, but Amy jumped away from her bloody hands, slamming into a shelf and knocking the books to the ground.

  “What’s happening?”