Death in the Stacks

by Jenn McKinlay

  “She bought a house for a woman she’d just met? Okay, that’s unusual,” Lindsey said.

  “Unless they really were lovers. It could be Olive liked boys and girls,” Robbie said. “Margaret . . .”

  He paused to address Olive’s sister in the crowded room. Lindsey scanned the room, too. Margaret was gone.

  “Huh, she just left?” Lindsey asked. “That was . . .”

  “Abrupt,” Kyle said. He looked agitated.

  Kili frowned. “Too abrupt.”

  “What are you thinking?” Robbie asked.

  “That we may have just given a killer a new target,” Lindsey said.

  “What? Who?” Robbie asked.

  Lindsey ignored him and turned to Olive’s ex-husband. “Kyle, was there any family scandal concerning Olive?”

  “You mean other than finding out her father wasn’t her father?” he asked.

  “Yes, was there anything else?” Lindsey asked. “Did she have anything in her past that she was hiding?”

  “I’m sorry, you’re going to have to speak plainly,” he said. “I’m not sure what you’re getting at.”

  “Did either Olive or Margaret have a child?”

  Kyle’s eyes went wide. “No! God, no, at least not that I’m aware of . . . but honestly, Margaret was away at school when I came into the picture, and then she took off to Alaska. I don’t really know anything about her except that she’s Olive’s younger sister, half sister, and that Olive always seemed to resent her, which reached a boiling point when Olive discovered that their father really wasn’t her biological father.”

  “But he adopted Olive, so he would have been the grandfather to any child born to either Margaret or Olive,” Lindsey said.

  “Are you saying you think Amy is the daughter of Margaret or Olive?” Robbie asked.

  “Margaret did take off to Alaska in her youth, and Olive and Amy did meet there just a few months ago,” Kili said.

  “The question is whether their meeting was happenstance, or did Olive go there looking for Amy?” Lindsey asked.

  “If it was six months ago, then it was a few months after Olive found out her father wasn’t her real father and she lost her portion of the estate by fighting the terms of the will,” Robbie said. “But if it’s still in probate, could she have gotten it back by providing another heir?”

  Robbie and Lindsey looked at each other and together said, “Amy.”

  “We need to go over there right now,” he said.

  “Agreed.”

  “Go where?” Kili asked. “I’m not following.”

  “No, you’re not,” Lindsey said. “I need you to stay here and find out everything you can about Amy Ellers. I’m betting Ellers is her adoptive name. See what you can find out about the Ellers family in Alaska, specifically if they adopted a baby girl around thirty years ago.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I think Margaret went to Alaska to have a baby and give it up for adoption,” Lindsey said. “I think Amy is her daughter and as such would rightfully inherit some of the Davidson estate, especially since it’s still in probate. If Margaret did kill Olive to make sure the estate remained hers, then she’ll go after Amy next.”

  “Oh, wow, okay. But where are you going?” Kili asked.

  “To make sure another murder doesn’t happen,” Lindsey said.

  She turned and ran for the door, slamming into a big, burly chest on the way.

  Sully caught her by the upper arms before she landed on her butt.

  “What’s going on?” he asked. He set her back on her feet, looking at her with concern.

  “We’ll explain on the way, merman,” Robbie said. “Right now we have to stop a killer.”

  Sully looked at Lindsey, and she shrugged.

  “Maybe,” she said.

  He nodded as if this made perfect sense. “All right. Let’s go.”

  Lindsey stopped at her office to grab her handbag so that she had her phone and her hooded sweatshirt, since the temperature had dropped and it would be even colder by the water. They took Sully’s truck, which was parked out front, and while he drove, Lindsey called Emma on her cell phone.

  “She’s not answering,” Lindsey said. “Why isn’t she answering?”

  “I don’t know,” Robbie said. “Maybe her phone is off.”

  “Chief Plewicki, how can I help you?” Emma answered just before Lindsey ended the call.

  “Emma, it’s Lindsey,” she said. “Listen Sully, Robbie and I are on our way to Amy Ellers’s house. I’m not sure, but I think she might be in danger. Crazy speculation, but I think she’s related to Olive Boyle and stands to inherit all of Olive’s estate plus a portion of the Davidson estate.”

  “What?” Emma squawked. “How did this come about?”

  “There was a meeting at the library . . .” Lindsey began but then stopped. “That’s not really the point. The point is I think Olive’s killer is her sister, Margaret, and I believe she’s going to strike again and Amy is the target.”

  “Do not go into the house,” Emma said. Lindsey could hear her breathing become rapid, and she knew Emma was running for her car. “I repeat, do not go inside.”

  Sully parked the truck right in front of the house. Lindsey was wedged between the two men and looked past Robbie at the large stone and glass building very much like Olive’s. Nothing seemed to be amiss.

  “We won’t go in,” Lindsey promised. “We’ll stay parked right in front—”

  Robbie opened his door and climbed out.

  “Hey, understudy, get back in here,” Sully said.

  “Oh no, is Robbie out of the car?” Emma asked.

  “Possibly standing in front of it,” Lindsey hedged.

  “Don’t let him go near the house. I mean it,” Emma said. “I’m on the other side of town. In fact, I have Paula with me.”

  “Paula? Is she all right?” Lindsey asked.

  “Yes, she’s fine. She’s been staying with her girlfriend Hannah’s aunt Claire on her farm,” Emma said.

  “Oh,” Lindsey said. The news that Paula was safe made her sag a little bit with relief. “Tell her things are going to be okay, please, and sound like you mean it.”

  “Fine. We’ll be there in fifteen minutes. I’ll see if I can get another officer out there faster. Do not go near the house. Repeat, do not go near the house and don’t hang up.”

  “All right, got it,” Lindsey agreed. She noted a familiar dark blue Volvo covered in bumper stickers parked in front of the house. She’d seen this car before. But where?

  Robbie walked over to the old car and glanced inside the back window. Then he spun around and looked at Lindsey.

  “Pruning shears,” he said. “There are pruning shears in the back.”

  “Margaret,” she said.

  That was it! This was the same car they’d seen at Margaret’s house. A cold chill rippled through her, and in a flash she remembered that she’d seen this car one other time. The day of the library dinner she’d seen Olive arguing with someone in a blue Volvo outside the library.

  “We have to go in,” Robbie said.

  He started up the walkway. A scream ripped through the quiet and made the hair on the back of Lindsey’s neck stand on end. Robbie started to jog toward the house, and Sully moved past Lindsey to go with him.

  “What the hell was that?” Emma asked.

  “It came from the house,” Lindsey said. “We’re going in.”

  “No!”

  “Emma, we have to,” Lindsey said. “Send backup if you can.”

  She dropped the phone into her pocket before Emma could protest, and she ran after the boys.

  “Who are we looking for?” Sully asked.

  “Margaret Davidson or Amy Ellers. The car belongs to Margaret, and we think she’s here to kill
Amy to make sure her inheritance stays intact, because we suspect that Amy is actually Margaret’s daughter, whom she gave up for adoption almost thirty years ago, unknowingly giving Amy a heck of a stake in the inheritance. But Olive knew and we think that’s why Olive brought Amy here.”

  “Oh boy,” Sully said. He took Lindsey by the elbow and moved her to the side of the house out of sight of any of the windows. “You wait for Emma right here.”

  “But—”

  “No.”

  “I agree,” Robbie said. “Sully’s military. He’s our best bet.”

  Sully turned to look at him with his eyebrows raised in surprise. Robbie shrugged at the concession.

  “I’m going around back to look for a point of entry,” Sully said. “Robbie, you watch the front and make sure no one leaves.”

  “Got it.”

  A crash sounded from the house, and Sully kissed Lindsey quickly on the head and dashed around the side of the house, hunched over, staying below the windows. Robbie crept to the corner and peered around it, keeping watch on the front.

  Another scream sounded, and Lindsey felt her heart clutch in her chest. Sully was going in there. He was entering a house with a suspected murderer. She couldn’t stand it. She began to ease backward until she was at the corner, giving her a view of the back door.

  There was no sign of Sully. There was, however, a sliding glass door on the patio that had been left open, leading into the lower level of the house. It would be so easy to peek from there. Without overthinking it, she crept across the lawn and then over the small wall that enclosed the patio. She pressed herself up against the back of the house as if she could make herself as slim as a shadow and then waited, listening for any noise from inside.

  She couldn’t hear anything over the pounding of her own heart. Her hands were sweating, and she clenched them into fists, trying to calm her breathing before she took a look inside. She pulled the hood on her sweatshirt up over her head, hoping it would camouflage her light hair.

  She slid down the wall, figuring it was better to watch from down below. She eased her head around the door and looked inside. It was dark, and she could only make out shapes of what looked to be a family room with squashy furniture and a big TV. It was empty. She leaned in closer and listened to hear if anyone was moving. She had no idea if this was where Sully had entered the house, as there was no sign of him.

  Another crash sounded, and Lindsey lost her balance and fell to her knees just inside the door. Since no one was in the room, she couldn’t make herself leave, not knowing where Sully was and whether he was all right.

  She didn’t bother to rise but scuttled on her hands and knees into the house. She hid behind a big fluffy couch and then a chair. She moved so that she was in the shadows of the perimeter of the room. A shallow flight of stairs leading up to the first floor was on the far side of the room, and she knew she’d have to take them upstairs to find out what was happening. She also knew that they would leave her visible to anyone from above.

  The sound of footsteps running above her, light ones and then heavy ones, convinced her that she needed to be up there to help. She made for the stairs. She had just reached the top when an arm clotheslined her across the chest, knocking her down the stairs to sprawl on the floor.

  When she glanced up, it was to see Margaret staring down at her with wide eyes and a large kitchen knife clutched in her fist. In full panic, Lindsey scuttled away from her in an uncoordinated crab walk that was awkward and slow, as her feet gave out beneath her, giving her no traction.

  Oh, man, Margaret was going to stab her just like she had Olive. Why hadn’t she listened to Sully and stayed outside? Why?

  24

  “Oh my God!” Margaret cried.

  She lunged toward Lindsey, who dropped onto her back and raised her legs, getting ready to kick Margaret into next week if she tried to stab her.

  “Back off!” Lindsey yelled.

  “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know it was you. I thought you were her,” Margaret babbled.

  “Who? Amy?” Lindsey asked. She tried to keep her voice even as she scurried to put the squashy chair in between them.

  “No, Molly Boyle,” Margaret said. “She’s here. She wants to kill Amy, my niece.”

  “Niece?” Lindsey shook her head. “I thought Amy was your daughter?”

  “No, she’s Olive’s daughter,” Margaret said. “I’m the one who took her to Alaska as an infant to find a family for her.”

  “Why would Molly want to kill her?” Lindsey asked. “That makes no sense.”

  “Because she thinks that Amy is Kyle’s daughter, too,” Margaret said. “Molly killed Olive because she was going to use Amy to take Kyle away from her, and now she wants to kill his child, too.”

  “Why should I believe you?” Lindsey asked.

  “Because I’m telling the truth. In the meeting this afternoon, the second I heard that Amy was from Alaska, it all started to fall into place. Olive went to Alaska six months ago to find her daughter so that she could use her to gain back the inheritance she’d forfeited by contesting the will and to try and win her ex-husband back. LeAnn said Olive had a big plan to get her ex back; this had to be it. Molly must have figured out what she was doing and decided to stop her.”

  “How do I know Molly is really here?”

  “Didn’t you see her car?” Margaret asked. “It’s the mom mobile out front.”

  Lindsey blinked. There had been a high-end minivan in front of this house, just like the one she’d seen in the Boyles’ driveway the day she went to visit them about Olive’s memorial. She’d been so distracted by the Volvo she hadn’t recognized it.

  The fear pouring off of Margaret was hitting Lindsey in waves. She wondered if her phone was still connected to Emma’s and if Emma could hear this conversation and know what she was walking into.

  She and Robbie had been wrong. It wasn’t Margaret but Molly who had stabbed Olive. She remembered Molly’s dislike of her husband’s ex. She could only imagine how Molly would have reacted if she found out that Olive had a child with Kyle and she was going to use that child to win him back. Margaret was right. LeAnn had admitted that Olive had a big scheme to win him back.

  “Does Kyle know that he has a daughter?” Lindsey asked. He seemed devoted to his two children, and she couldn’t imagine he’d have let a child of his be adopted by a family across the country unless he didn’t know.

  “No, no one knew,” Margaret said. “I don’t know how Molly figured it out, but she must have been tipped off. Maybe Olive told Amy and Amy went to meet her father?”

  “Where’s Amy now?” she asked. “We have to get her out of here and away from Molly.”

  “I don’t know,” Margaret said. She looked like she was about ready to cry. “When we were talking at the meeting, and I realized that Amy was my niece, I raced over here. Molly was here already. No one answered the front door, so I came around the back. When I peeked in, she came at me with this knife, but I kicked her and she dropped it and ran back up into the house. I was checking the house when I caught sight of you. Sorry I knocked you back.”

  “It’s okay.”

  The tread of footsteps sounded above again, and Margaret tensed. “We have to find Amy before Molly finds us. If she discovers us, she’ll kill us all.”

  “You go and wait for the police,” Lindsey said. “I’ll make sure Amy is okay.”

  “I can’t leave her. I’m her aunt,” Margaret protested.

  “It could be that Amy isn’t even here,” Lindsey said. “Go.”

  “No, we leave together,” Margaret insisted.

  She nodded at Margaret, pretending to agree with her. She did not have time for this. Sully was here, and Lindsey couldn’t leave him alone with a killer. If she could, she’d get Amy out of harm’s way, too, but she couldn’t do it with Margaret underfoot.
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  “Let’s go,” Margaret said. She turned and led the way to the door. Once Margaret went through it, Lindsey slid the door shut and latched it.

  Margaret’s eyes went wide. She banged on the glass. “What are you doing? She’ll kill you!”

  “Go call for help!” Lindsey hissed. When Margaret didn’t move, she mouthed the word Now!

  Margaret turned and ran away from the house. Lindsey heaved a sigh of relief. Okay, one person safe. Now she just had to find Sully and Amy and get the hell out of here.

  She pulled her phone out of her pocket to see if she was still connected to Emma. The call had ended, probably with her fall. She couldn’t risk making any more noise by calling again, so she pocketed her phone and crept up the stairs.

  She paused at the top step. She didn’t hear anyone moving. Where would Molly be? If Margaret had taken her knife from her, would she have gone for another?

  Lindsey felt terrible for suspecting Margaret of Olive’s murder. It had seemed that Margaret had the most to gain given the vastness of the Davidson estate, but if Olive had been making a play for Kyle by using their child as emotional leverage, then that gave Molly a powerful motive to eliminate her competition. Kyle had admitted that he was forever stepping in to help Olive. How would finding out he had a daughter with her have impacted their relationship? Lindsey couldn’t even imagine it but understood why Molly must have felt as if her whole world was collapsing. Maybe after all of these years of Olive causing trouble for her, she’d finally snapped.

  The downstairs of the house was very much like Olive’s, which seemed appropriate since Olive had owned it. Sparsely decorated, very modern, it had no personal touches to signify what sort of person lived here. Lindsey didn’t see anyone in the wide hallway at the top of the staircase. She walked very swiftly and very quietly in the direction of the kitchen.

  It was empty. She tilted her head to listen to the house. She didn’t hear anyone walking around. She desperately wanted to call out to Sully, but if Molly was still in the house, she didn’t want to let her know that they were both here, too.