Due or Die

by Jenn McKinlay

  Lindsey fastened her coat closed and headed out the door. She hadn’t known that the lemon wanted her job. Suddenly, Ms. Cole’s hostility made so much more sense. It must have been very hard to be passed over for a job she had probably expected as her due. As the wind blew in off the water and yanked at the ends of her coat, causing a wicked draft to slap up inside, Lindsey tried to picture Ms. Cole in charge.

  Time clocks and docked pay, no sick time, and vacations denied, that’s what it would have been, Lindsey had no doubt. The committee had been right to choose someone else, but Lindsey knew that had to fester like a boil within the lemon’s heart.

  She needed to call Carole Towles, her mentor, to see if there was a better way to handle Ms. Cole. Along with Milton, Carole was her favorite member of the library board. A former librarian herself, Carole had an understanding of how to motivate staff in a positive way. Although she was presently at her winter home in Arizona, Lindsey knew she could call her and see if she had any ideas for projects to give Ms. Cole that would make her feel important but not give her power over the other staff persons.

  Lindsey had never been a supervisor before her position here in Briar Creek. In fact, when she had applied for the job, she was certain her lack of supervision would keep her out of the running. To her surprise, the hiring committee had felt otherwise.

  What Lindsey had come to understand over the past nine months was that her staff needed to be invested in the library in order to give it their best. If they felt they had the right to make decisions that best served their patrons and felt empowered to do so, well, their service was exemplary. The only one not embracing the flexible policies was Ms. Cole. Not a big surprise.

  Still, there must be a way to utilize Ms. Cole’s unique skill set for the good of the library. She just had to figure out what it was.

  Feeling marginally better about the situation, Lindsey stepped on the rubber mat in front of the library that activated the automatic doors. As the doors slid open, she stepped inside to find her library in complete chaos.

  CHAPTER

  9

  BRIAR CREEK

  PUBLIC LIBRARY

  Lindsey felt her mouth slide open as Ms. Cole, brandishing a broom, ran past the open door. On her heels was Beth shouting, “Drop the broom! You’re scaring him, you big bully!”

  Two pages, teenagers in charge of shelving the books, were racing after them, and Jessica Gallo, the library assistant working the adult reference desk, was looking on with an alarmed stare while Mrs. Holcomb, a patron, stood across from her with her eyes wide and her mouth slightly agape.

  Lindsey heard the doors slide shut behind her. For a nanosecond, she considered turning around and going back out, but only for a nanosecond.

  “Come here, you little flea-bitten pest,” Ms. Cole ordered, and Lindsey saw her broom come down hard on the floor.

  “Stop it!” Beth snapped. She snatched the broom out of Ms. Cole’s hands and looked like she was considering hitting her with it.

  The two teen workers skidded to a halt behind them, and Beth said, “I think he went that way.”

  Lindsey watched as they hurried toward the children’s area, with Ms. Cole in hot pursuit.

  “What’s happening?” Jessica asked as she came over to stand beside Lindsey.

  “No idea.”

  Several patrons who had been using the Internet had left their desks to check out the ruckus, and Lindsey saw Milton in his usual corner, trying to hurriedly extricate himself from an eagle pose without hurting himself.

  She hurried into the children’s section to find Beth standing in front of her area with the broom held across her chest like a staff. Ms. Cole was facing her, looking like an ominous thundercloud in her shades-of-gray outfit.

  “Back off,” Beth snapped. “Or I’ll let it bite you.”

  “That’s it,” Ms. Cole snapped. “I’m calling animal control and having it put down.”

  “You can’t!” Beth wailed. “He hasn’t done anything.”

  “Watch me!” Ms. Cole retorted.

  “Stop it!” Lindsey cried out.

  Everyone turned to look at her and she realized she had spoken louder than she’d intended. It was the first time she could remember raising her voice in years.

  “Would someone please explain to me what is going on?” she demanded.

  Ms. Cole and Beth both started talking at once, and their voices escalated as they tried to out-shout each other in their effort to be heard. Milton had gotten out of his asana and moved to stand beside Lindsey. She was grateful for the support.

  “Beth, Ms. Cole.” Lindsey tried to interrupt, but now that they were arguing, she was no match for their volume. “Ladies!”

  Still, they both kept gesturing and yelling. Lindsey looked at Milton and shrugged.

  “Silence!” he bellowed, and both women stammered to a halt.

  “Thank you,” Lindsey said. She turned to the two teenage workers who were watching this entire scene with slack jaws and bug eyes. “Perry, Heather, do you think you could fill me in?”

  Ms. Cole started to speak, but Lindsey held up her hand and said, “No.”

  “Well, it started with the dog,” Perry said.

  “Dog?” Lindsey asked.

  “Puppy, really,” he said.

  “We went to unload the book drop and we found a puppy,” Heather clarified. “We told Ms. Cole and she went to grab him and throw him outside.”

  “But Ms. Stanley said not to because he would freeze or get hit by a car,” Perry continued the story. “Then when Ms. Cole went to catch him, he nipped her on the toe and ran.”

  “Then she grabbed a broom and began to chase him,” Heather said. “But then Ms. Stanley tried to stop her.”

  “And that’s when you showed up,” Perry finished.

  “Are you all right, Ms. Cole?” Lindsey asked.

  She gave an indignant sniff. “I’ll live. He’s probably got rabies, fleas and heartworm. You need to call the pound.”

  “Perhaps, but I think we need to find him first. Does anyone know where he is?” Lindsey asked.

  They all glanced around, completely baffled.

  “All right, then, let’s find him and then we’ll figure out what to do,” she said. “What does he look like?”

  “Cute,” Beth said.

  “Mangy,” Ms. Cole said.

  “I was thinking more of a color,” Lindsey said.

  “Black,” they said together.

  “And size?” she asked.

  “Large rat,” Ms. Cole said.

  “Small cat,” Beth said.

  “All right,” Lindsey said. “Everyone fan out. Let’s see if we can find him.”

  Everyone hit the floor except Ms. Cole, who had snatched her broom back from Beth and held it in front of her as if she expected to be attacked.

  “He’s probably piddling somewhere,” she said.

  Lindsey sighed and hunkered down on the floor. She looked through the short picture-book aisles and around the children’s tables. No sign of a dog.

  She rose and walked over to the kids play area. There were several alphabet puzzles laid out on the short tables, and she hunched down to see beneath them, but still there was no sign of anything other than the stray letter A.

  She glanced around the room. The lid to the treasure chest that Beth used to store puppets and dress-up clothes was open. Lindsey wondered if she were a scared puppy, where would she hide? The trunk seemed like a pretty good bet.

  She crossed slowly to the trunk and said, “Here, puppy. Hey, fella, are you in there?”

  She didn’t want to reach into the trunk and scare him and risk getting bit, so she sat beside it and used her calmest voice.

  “It’s okay, no one is going to hurt you, I promise.”

  A low growl followed by a thumping sound came from the trunk. Bingo!

  Lindsey peered into the jumble of butterfly puppets and pirate hats. She couldn’t see any furry critters, but the growling an
d thumping could still be heard. She carefully reached in and pushed aside a pair of ladybug wings while she talked. “It’s okay. You’re safe now.”

  Growl, growl, thump, thump, thump. She smiled when she realized the dog was growling to scare her and thumping his tail to welcome her at the same time; smart dog to cover all his bases.

  “Did you find him?” Beth asked.

  Lindsey held a finger to her lips and nodded. Everyone went still watching her. She reached farther into the trunk and pushed aside a coned princess hat with a long pink veil.

  “It’s okay,” she said and held her hand up over the trunk, hoping he could smell her.

  She waited and there was a shuffling noise from the trunk, a growl, and another series of thumps. Lindsey stayed perfectly still, talking softly until a black nose pushed its way up past a Batman costume to press against her palm.

  The nose was cold and wet, but she didn’t pull away. The growling stopped and then a pink tongue appeared and took a nervous swipe at her wrist.

  “It’s okay, buddy,” she said. “Come on, I won’t hurt you.”

  A black head with fuzzy eyebrows popped up with a pair of glittery fairy wings hanging haphazardly about its neck. The puppy looked at Lindsey for a second and then wiggled forward, trying to get into her arms. Lindsey blew out a breath and picked him up.

  Lindsey held him close and he tucked his head under her chin. The furry, black body let out a soul-deep sigh, and Lindsey felt as if the dog were placing all the trust he possessed in the world right onto her.

  Beth was the first one to step forward. “Oh, look, he likes you.”

  “He probably needs some water,” Lindsey said. She untangled the fairy wings from about his neck and carried him toward their break room. It was at the back of the building and had a bathroom, a small kitchenette and a lounging area.

  “Shall I call the pound?” Ms. Cole asked.

  She looked at the puppy as if she wanted to whack him right out the front door with the broom. Lindsey found herself turning her back to her to protect the wee fellow.

  “I’ll do it,” Lindsey said. “I’d really like to know how he got into the book drop. It’s too high for him to have climbed up on his own.”

  “Someone must have put him in there,” Beth said. “You know, like Dewey the library cat in Spencer, Iowa. Vicki Myron, the librarian, has written several books about him.”

  “Oh, I love Dewey,” Jessica said as she joined them. “It broke my heart when he died.”

  “Maybe it was just a prank gone wrong. I can’t believe anyone would harm a puppy,” Lindsey said. “Hopefully, his owner will come looking for him.”

  Perry and Heather, the two teenagers, both came close to pet the dog. From the protection of Lindsey’s arms, he wagged and thumped his long tail against her hip while they patted his head.

  “He sure is sweet,” Heather said. “Look at those eyebrows.”

  “Yeah, he looks like my uncle Otto, all eyebrows,” Perry said. “Man, if we hadn’t unloaded the book drop today, he could have frozen to death in there.”

  As if he understood what they were saying, the dog shuddered in Lindsey’s arms and gave her a nervous lick on her chin.

  “You’re not really going to give him to the pound, are you?” Heather asked. Her face was creased with worry and Lindsey felt a pang of guilt.

  She firmly pushed it away. Lindsey did not want a dog. She was a renter. Dogs and renting didn’t mix. She would help the little guy out and make sure he found a nice home, but she was not keeping him.

  “Uh, I don’t know.” Lindsey hedged. “Let’s just take it one day at a time, unless, of course, Jessica, Beth or Ms. Cole want to take him?”

  Ms. Cole gave her a sour look, turned on her heel and walked back to the safety of the circulation desk.

  “I’m in grad school,” Jessica said. “No time for housebreaking a pup.”

  Beth shook her head. “I don’t think my cats would approve; besides, finders keepers.”

  “I didn’t find him,” Lindsey protested. “You all found him first.”

  Beth just tsked and shook her head. “Deny, deny, deny.”

  For his part, the dog licked Lindsey’s face again. She sighed. She had a meeting to get ready for and she wanted to find out what was going on at the police station with Carrie.

  “You really didn’t pick a good day for this,” she said to the dog. His tail thumped against her hip.

  The others left her with her armful, but Milton came and stood by her. Lindsey turned to him with hopeful eyes.

  “Alas, no,” he said, clearly reading her mind. “I’m horribly allergic.” As if to prove it, he sneezed.

  “Fine,” she said. She strode out the front door with the dog. At the slap of the cold air, he huddled closer to her.

  She walked him to the side yard and put him down. He sat on the cold ground, staring up at her with his brown eyes. He thumped his tail.

  “Potty,” she said encouragingly. “Do you need to go potty?”

  He lay down and rested his chin on her loafers. She reached down and patted his head, marveling at how soft his fur was. He really was an engaging little fellow. He was sturdy, with big feet and a long tail. He had a short muzzle that sprouted fuzzy hair, and over his eyes were more tufts of the same. He had the look of a grumpy old man, but she felt sure he was smiling at her.

  “It’s okay, you know, I won’t leave you out here. If you need to go to the bathroom, go,” she said. “Believe me, if you go in my office, we’ll really be off to a rocky start.”

  His ears pricked up and he slowly rose to his feet.

  “That’s right,” she said. “Go ahead. I’ll wait.”

  He moved cautiously away from her, as if ready to race back if she made any sudden moves. He lifted his leg on some nearby hedges and then scooted back to her. Lindsey picked him up, happy to have something warm to hold against the bitter wind. Note to self, she thought, next time wear your coat.

  She brought him back inside and found Beth waiting in her office with a bowl of water and a turkey sandwich.

  Lindsey put the puppy down and he promptly lapped up the water and scarfed the turkey out of the sandwich.

  “He has a really sweet disposition,” Beth said. “And he really seems to like you.”

  Lindsey gave her a flat stare. “Go away.”

  Beth got up and moved to the door. “Dogs are a woman’s best friend, I’m just saying.”

  “I think you have him mistaken with diamonds,” Lindsey said.

  “True friends are like diamonds, precious and rare,” Beth countered.

  “And getting rarer,” Lindsey said with a pointed look at the door.

  Beth grinned and closed the door behind her. Lindsey checked her cell phone. There were no messages. She wondered if they were still questioning Carrie. She also wondered what they would do with that phone message from Marjorie.

  Emma had looked as concerned as she felt when she listened to the message, so she knew it wasn’t just her. Lindsey could only hope they picked up Marjorie and she shed some light on Markus Rushton’s shooting.

  Lindsey felt a solid weight thump against her foot. She glanced under the top of her desk and saw that the dog had curled up under her desk and pillowed his head on top of her feet.

  CHAPTER

  10

  BRIAR CREEK

  PUBLIC LIBRARY

  She felt the aw bubble up inside of her before she could stop it, then sighed. Dogs required more care than she felt capable of, and he was just a puppy, which meant he’d need even more attention.

  She had always considered herself a beta fish sort of person. The relationship, while entertaining, didn’t last too long, and it was pretty easy to get a free fish sitter when you wanted to travel. She just didn’t think she was ready for more of a commitment at this point in her life.

  A soft snore sounded from the floor at her feet. “I’ll find you a nice home,” she said. “I promise.”

&nb
sp; When she had to leave for her meeting with the mayor’s liaison, she found herself reluctant to leave the puppy. Not because she cared, she told to herself, but because she didn’t know what sort of mischief he’d get into. She had read somewhere, probably when helping a patron find a book on dog rearing, that puppies could be soothed by the sound of a clock ticking and something that smelled familiar. She took her coat off the back of her chair, and as she eased her foot out from under the puppy’s head, she put her coat in its place so the puppy had something soft to rest on that smelled familiar. She then got her wall clock down and put it near the puppy so he could hear it ticking.

  Fortunately, the meeting with the mayor’s liaison was being held in the upstairs meeting room of the library. She felt slightly better that she was at least still in the building with the puppy on the off chance that Ms. Cole got crazy with her broom again.

  As she gathered her notes and slipped out the door, the only sound she heard was a soft snore. Poor guy was probably tuckered after his ordeal. She figured she’d better take him in to see a veterinarian just to be sure he was okay. Luckily, she now knew the vet on her street, Tom Rubinski. Maybe she could take the puppy to see him after work.

  The dog seemed healthy, aside from being hungry and thirsty. She supposed she should probably take his picture and make some flyers to report him found. If someone had taken him and shoved him in the book drop to be mean, well, the owner would probably be frantic. Maybe they would find his owner and all would be well. She wondered why that thought didn’t make her feel as happy as she thought it would.

  Lindsey had a hard time concentrating on the meeting with the mayor’s liaison, Herb Gunderson. It could be because she was worried about the puppy in her office or because she was concerned that Nancy hadn’t called to give her an update about Carrie, or it could be the fact that Herb was the single most boring person alive. She tried not to judge, really, but the man could send an insomniac into a well-deserved sleep coma.

  She glanced around the table; several of the department heads for the town were in attendance. Herb was giving a fact-laden discourse on the process of work flow and the mayor’s desire to improve it.