Hush-Hush

by Elizabeth Spann Craig

  I nodded. “Although I got the impression Ellie and Pris didn’t have much remaining family. But let’s stand farther back, to be on the safe side.”

  Because Ellie was relatively new to town and Pris was very new to town, there was just a small trickle of mourners who came in. When Pris spotted Wilson and me standing back behind the tent, she spoke to the funeral director, who came over.

  “If everyone could come sit under the tent, please? There will be plenty of room for all,” he said with a studied solemn and efficient manner.

  Wilson and I moved and sat in the back row under the tent and others followed until there were at least a smattering of mourners there. I noted with surprise that Sunny Griffith was there with Ted. He wore a dark suit and a grim expression and seemed to be perspiring more than the day warranted. Sunny was wearing a brown dress and was holding onto Ted’s arm.

  Wilson murmured, “That’s nice of her to come. I was hoping there’d be a bit more attendance from the library board. At least we have one trustee here.”

  The service was short, but nice. The minister read Psalm 23, there was a hymn we joined in, and then the minister said a few words. After it ended, Wilson and I walked up to speak with Pris, who seemed completely drained. She gave us a tight smile and thanked us for coming. There didn’t appear to be any sort of funeral reception afterward, which was understandable under the circumstances and with Pris being so new to town.

  Sunny and Ted walked over to join us.

  “It’s good of you to have come, Sunny,” said Wilson after shaking their hands.

  Sunny said smoothly, “Of course—I wanted to be here. Such an awful thing to have happened and to such a young person.”

  Ted pulled at the collar of his button-down, still perspiring and looking extremely uncomfortable, despite the wind and the grayness of the day. But, if what I’d heard was true, he was at the funeral of a woman he’d been close with. He could be grieving and no one would be comforting him over her death because their relationship had been illicit. It was enough to make anyone look rough.

  Sunny apparently picked up on how bad he looked, too. She gave him a sharp look and said, “Unfortunately, Ted ate something that didn’t agree with him last night.”

  “Sorry to hear that,” said Wilson gruffly.

  Ted gave a rather sick-looking smile in acknowledgement and swallowed hard.

  “But he was determined to come to the funeral with me and support me today,” said Sunny smoothly. “As soon as we get you back home, though, you should get some rest, Ted. Health is so important, isn’t it? And it’s something you don’t really appreciate until you don’t have it. I’ve made a goal recently to move more. I feel as if I find myself sitting all day long. I’ve got a smartwatch now that reminds me when I need to start moving.”

  It felt like an abrupt segue to another subject, which made me wonder if Sunny was trying to maneuver the conversation away from Ted.

  I said ruefully, “I’ve made the same goal in the past and have had a hard time sticking to it. Maybe I should get one of those watches, too. It’s not as if I couldn’t get up from the desk and start shelving books. There are always books to be shelved.”

  “Oh, we’ve all made promises to ourselves about moving more,” said Sunny, making a face.

  Ted said, apparently trying to make an effort to finally speak, “That’s why Sunny and I have decided to start small. We figured if we set the bar really low that we might be able to form a habit.”

  Sunny gave him a fond smile. “We’re walking in the park every day. We’re not trying to jog or anything. Not saying we’re going to spend an hour out there. Just making the time to go there and do something every day regularly. Although, we may have to take a pass today, under the circumstances.” She looked at me again. “I’ve been reading the columns Grayson has been writing for the newspaper on good local hikes. I understand from reading them that you’re the local guide for him on the hikes.”

  “Oh, I think ‘guide’ isn’t really the right word for it. I’m just familiar with a bunch of them because that’s what I liked to do as a teenager. It’s been fun to introduce the trails to a newcomer.”

  Sunny glanced at Ted. “Maybe we can work our way up to those.”

  “Yes, but let’s tackle the park first,” he said with a laugh. “It’s at least flat.”

  Wilson brought up some business to do with the library board as Ted wandered off to sit down on a shady bench nearby. Sunny gave him a concerned look as she spoke with Wilson. A few minutes later, she and Ted left the cemetery and Wilson and I followed at some distance behind.

  Wilson gave a sigh as we got into his car. “Well, that’s done,” he said in the manner of someone checking something off a mental list. “We can feel good about attending the funeral, Ann. Poor Ellie is laid to rest. Hopefully at peace, although I’m sure she’d rest better if her killer were brought to justice.” He glanced over at me as he drove toward the library. “Have you heard any updates from the police at all? I know you sometimes speak with Burton.”

  “I haven’t heard anything but I’m sure he’s working hard to find out who’s behind her death.”

  Wilson shifted in his seat, looked at me and then looked back at the road. I had the feeling we were about to suffer through another uncomfortable conversation. “Listen, about Connor,” he started. Then he sighed and continued, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have gotten involved in your business. He’s a fine young man, really. I’m sure he’s nice to spend time with. I’ve always been fond of him when I’ve seen him at holiday gatherings and that sort of thing.”

  I waited for him to continue, which he did after some hemming and hawing. “It’s just that he’s never seemed to want to really settle down or even commit. He’s left a string of broken hearts in his wake. I just didn’t want to see that happen to you and I spoke out of turn.”

  I said sincerely, “Wilson, I appreciate your looking after me, I really do.”

  “It’s just that you don’t have . . . well, you don’t have any family to advise you on such things. I know it wasn’t my place to step into that role, but I couldn’t seem to help myself.” Wilson looked so exasperated with himself that I nearly laughed.

  Instead, I said warmly, “I’m glad you stepped out of line. You’re welcome to do that at any time. You shouldn’t worry—like I said, Connor and I aren’t anything serious. We’re just enjoying going out with each other and having meals.”

  He looked both relieved and pleased at this and said, still flustered, “Excellent! That’s good. Like I said, he’s very good company, of course, and if anyone deserves a break it’s you, Ann. You work very hard.” At the mention of work, his mind reverted back into professional mode and he said, “So, this technology drop-in. I’m curious to hear how that’s going to go. It’s such a different set-up than our usual class format.”

  So we talked about that for a few minutes on the drive back to the library and I was glad for the change of subject. Neither of us were comfortable talking about personal things to each other, as was evident in the fact that he really never brought Mona up in my presence. I told him that the drop-in date was set, Timothy was available to help out, and it had been duly advertised on social media.

  “Good,” said Wilson briskly. “I suppose Timothy is a volunteer, then? I was going to suggest our tech guy, Frank Morrison, but we’d have to pay him to participate.”

  “Actually, I’ve been meaning to talk with you about Frank,” I said slowly.

  Wilson frowned. “Has something happened? I thought he did good work for us.”

  “Oh, he does. At least, when he’s left, everything he’s worked on seems to be in good shape. It’s just that I’ve heard something about Frank, and it’s left me a little conflicted. I wasn’t sure what I should make of it, so I thought I’d tell you about it and let you decide.”

  I told Wilson what I’d heard about him, stressing again that it was second or third-hand knowledge.

  Wils
on looked grim as he pulled into a parking spot at the library. “Well. That’s not good.” He paused. “Honestly, it doesn’t speak well of Ellie, either. Am I to understand she was probably blackmailing Frank with the information she had? I suppose this means Frank had an excellent motive for murdering Ellie, considering she was extorting him.”

  “I did tell Burton about it, just to fill him in. That’s exactly why I wanted to let you know, keeping in mind this is basically hearsay.”

  Wilson frowned and opened his car door absently, but stopped again before getting out of the car. “I’m glad you told me, Ann. I’ll have to consider this very seriously. Frank is, after all, a contract worker for the library and we could simply use another tech service until Burton works this all out. Or, perhaps, we won’t have any other issues on our end that need to be resolved until then.”

  I nodded somewhat doubtfully. Our copier was notorious for going out and seemed to take great pleasure in its regular malfunctioning. I had the feeling Wilson was going to have to come up with his decision sooner than later.

  As it happened, though, the next morning, I had a visit from Burton at home. With a grim face he said, “Ann, just wanted to let you know we discovered Frank Morrison’s body last night.”

  I invited Burton inside and poured him a cup of coffee, topping off my own cup too. We sat down at my tiny kitchen table. I quietly said, “What happened?”

  Burton rubbed his tired eyes with his hand. “Frank was murdered. Shot. A fisherman found his body early this morning in the lake.”

  He and I sat quietly for a few moments while I tried to absorb this. I sighed. “It just doesn’t make any sense, does it? I was wondering if maybe Frank had been the one to murder Ellie since he seemed to have the most pressing motive. I thought he’d tried to hush her up for good to make sure she didn’t spill the beans about his abusive marriage.”

  Burton nodded. “That was sort of the direction my mind was going in, too. Now, I know he did contract work at the library sometimes. They told me you were off today, so that’s why I’m here. Did Frank say anything to you lately that might have provided any clues as to who might have wanted to kill him? Has he been feuding with anybody? Mentioned any relationships? Problems he’s had?”

  I considered this and then shook my head regretfully. “No. Honestly, I wasn’t too jazzed about talking with him to begin with, knowing what I knew about him. It was the morning after I’d found Ellie in the library and he and I were alone so I was still re-shelving books and getting everything ready for us to open to the public. Maybe I should have tried to get him to open up more but I was feeling kind of leery around him.”

  “No, you were fine, Ann. Considering he was a suspect and you were alone in the library with him, you were smart not to press him for information. I’m wondering now if he did know something, though—something somebody didn’t want to have exposed.”

  “Was Frank murdered at the lake, then?” I asked slowly. “It just sort of seems like an unusual place for him to be.”

  Burton said, “You don’t think he’d have headed out there for recreation’s sake? There are trails around the area, too.”

  I shrugged. “It’s not like I knew Frank really well, but he’d always seemed like more of an indoor person to me. He was very into computers, of course, and not just for his work—he’s talked before about the video games he played and stuff like that. He was interested in our film club, although he never made a meeting.”

  “Seems like an odd conversation to have with a librarian,” said Burton with a chuckle.

  I gave him a wry look. “I guess it does. It was when he was fixing one of our laptops at the library and I was helping a patron with another one. The patron was actually interested in getting a game for his grandson for his birthday and that’s what made Frank offer his opinions on them.” I took another sip of my coffee, feeling as if I needed to be a little more alert this morning than I currently was. “So Frank’s body was discovered this morning—do you know the last time he was seen?”

  “Apparently, his neighbor saw him leaving his house around eight-thirty last night,” said Burton.

  “Do you have any idea when he must have been killed?”

  Burton said, “It’s still a little sketchy because of the water, but we’re thinking sometime late last night or very early this morning. Unfortunately, we haven’t had any luck so far nailing down the time. It’s a fairly remote area of the lake and there apparently wasn’t anyone on the walking trails—not that late at night anyway. It almost seems as if Frank deliberately picked that area.”

  “Which goes back to your wondering if maybe he knew something about Ellie’s death and had to be silenced,” I said.

  “It’s just total speculation at this point,” said Burton, rubbing his face again tiredly. “But yeah, I can’t help but think maybe he was unwisely meeting up with the killer. Maybe to get money in exchange for his silence. At any rate, I appreciate your thoughts on him. He sure doesn’t sound like the kind of guy who’s going to go take a midnight run for his health.”

  I shook my head.

  “Okay, well I should be getting along and leaving you to your day off.”

  “Do I need to keep quiet about Frank’s death?” I asked.

  “No, no. The newspaper was already at the scene asking questions and I’m sure it’s already being talked about around town. Do let me know if you hear anything please. I’m ready to put this case to bed. And then put myself to bed,” he said with a dry laugh. “I feel like I haven’t gotten good sleep for ages.”

  After Burton left, I kept thinking about Frank. I decided to change my plans for my day off. But considering my plans had previously consisted of snuggling with Fitz and reading This Tender Land, I figured I could change them easily enough.

  For one thing, I felt like I could stand to get out of the house. For another, I’d been telling myself I needed to get some more exercise and work that into my days off instead of just lying around the house. But the truth was that after Burton told me about Frank, I felt a real restlessness and felt like I needed to talk to someone and sort of work through it all. Luna came to mind, but I knew she was working today. I was sure Grayson was at the newspaper office but thought I might check in with him later after I’d exercised. I decided on more coffee first . . . and then thought about Tara. She’d been so open to talk through things when Luna and I had last seen her.

  So I left Fitz happily curled up in a sunbeam on the kitchen floor, made sure I had my phone, and headed out to Keep Grounded to see if it was quiet enough for me to have another conversation with Tara.

  Chapter Twelve

  As soon as I walked in, I saw it was a totally different atmosphere from days ago. It was full of people when I came in—students, professionals having meetings, and more moms and toddlers. I was glad I had the ebook version of my book on my phone because I was definitely going to have to wait if I wanted the opportunity to speak quietly with Tara. I ordered my coffee and got a croissant, then lucked out by slipping into a small table that had been vacated just moments before.

  The coffee shop was lively and pretty loud, but as soon as I started reading my book, it all disappeared. That was, perhaps, a gift bestowed on me from spending so much time in the library—the ability to block out the buzz around me and get my work knocked out. When I next looked up, there were just a few tables with people at them and things had gotten much quieter. Tara came over to chat.

  “That was quite a rush,” I said after greeting her. “You’re really getting some good business in here.”

  “It comes and goes,” she said with a laugh. “And it’s totally unpredictable. Sometimes I have students in here who’ll ask me when the best time to come in to study is and I really have no idea. It can get crazy in the mornings, but then it can sometimes get just as crazy in the afternoons.” She added, “No work today?”

  “It’s my day off,” I said with a smile.

  “It looked like you were doing some
reading,” said Tara. “How’s the book going . . . House of Mirth, wasn’t it?”

  “Oh, things are generally heading downhill for Lily Bart,” I said lightly. “But it’s not an unexpected development.”

  Tara said, “Hey, I wanted to thank you for the book recommendation list. I popped by the library during my lunch one day and grabbed one of them. But I haven’t had a chance to read yet because I had a date.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “Really? Did it go well?”

  Tara snorted. “It was a total disaster. Oh my gosh. I swear I’ll never go on another blind date. They’re always awful.”

  I chuckled. “Amen to that. I’ll have to tell you sometime about some of the blind dates I’ve suffered through.”

  We chatted lightly for a few more minutes before I turned serious. “Actually, I kind of wanted to talk to you. Something else has happened. Have you heard?”

  “No, and usually I’m one of the ones who hears all the gossip first. You don’t mean that someone else has died?”

  “I’m afraid so. Frank Morrison.”

  Tara’s face grew grim. “I see. You know, I did have a fleeting moment in the middle of all the busyness where I realized he hadn’t come in for his daily fix. I could usually set a clock by him. I was wondering if maybe he was sick.” She shook her head. “Well, I hate to hear about anybody’s death, although I do feel a little more conflicted about his than most. Considering what he might have been guilty of. What happened?”

  I filled her in with what little I knew. “I’m just trying to talk it all through, mostly. I know you hear things around town and wondered if you’d heard anything about Frank. You know, in terms of his getting on people’s bad sides.”

  Tara snorted. “You mean besides Ellie’s? That’s the thing that’s surprising—I’d have thought Frank killed Ellie. But now I don’t know what to think. Still, I’m sure there are other people he might have rubbed the wrong way. After all, his personality could be rough around the edges. He seemed kind of pushy and bossy. He’s a good customer, but I have a hard time getting a word in edgewise because he interrupts me a lot. He seems pretty dismissive of women altogether, actually—except for Sunny Griffith, of course.”