Hitting the Books

by Jenn McKinlay

  Lindsey nodded. She glanced at the three glass-walled study rooms on the far side of the library. Only one was occupied. “This way.”

  They were halfway across the room when Kayla Manning arrived. And right behind her was Chief Plewicki’s right-hand man, Officer Kirkland. Lindsey watched him exchange a nod with Emma and suspected that the two of them had been keeping tabs on all the persons of interest.

  “You!” Larry shouted. He pointed at Kayla as if there were any doubt as to whom he was shouting at. “You’re the reason for all of this, aren’t you?”

  “What are you talking about?” Kayla asked. She was dressed in workout clothes, and the neon green and pink spandex hugged her muscle-hardened thighs, while her taut abs were showcased below the sports bra that framed her bosom to its best advantage.

  Toby was riveted, but his mother seemed oblivious, clearly not getting that her baby boy was a man now and a woman like Kayla was making his head not only turn but swivel in an anatomically impossible three-sixty.

  “You sent him”—Larry pointed at Toby—“to harm Theresa, didn’t you?”

  Kayla blinked. “Are you insane?”

  “You were mad that I dumped you, so you worked your feminine wiles on this boy so that you could get him to exact revenge for you.”

  “Toby?” Andrea Carter glanced from her son to Kayla and back. Her eyes were huge. “Is this true? Are you in a relationship with Ms. Manning?”

  “I’m in love with her, Mom,” Toby said. His look was so earnest, it actually caused a pang in Lindsey’s chest.

  “Oh, the poor sod,” Robbie whispered to Lindsey. “I don’t think this is going to end well for him.”

  Emma leaned around Lindsey to look at Robbie. “Why are you here?”

  “I’m being helpful,” he said.

  “No, you’re not,” Emma said. She glanced from him to Larry. “In fact, neither of you are.”

  “I’m not trying to be helpful,” Larry ground out. “I’m trying to defend my daughter.”

  “Well, I can only deal with one problem college kid at a time,” Emma said. She crossed to the study-room door and pushed it open. “You two stay out!”

  “This is an outrage!” Larry cried.

  “Yeah, yeah, call my supervisor,” Emma said. “Oh, wait, that’s me. Now git.”

  Larry stomped across the library, and Robbie watched him.

  “I’ll keep an eye on him, shall I?” he asked Emma.

  “Do, but don’t get into trouble.”

  “I promise, love,” he said. He kissed her cheek and hurried after Larry, who was charging across the room.

  After another nod from Emma, Officer Kirkland followed the two men.

  Lindsey moved to hold the door open while they all squeezed into the study room.

  “Toby, I don’t think you realize—” his mother began, but he interrupted her.

  “I love her,” Toby insisted. “It’s that simple.”

  “But she’s so much—” Andrea began, but Kayla cut her off.

  “So much what?” Kayla snapped.

  “More mature,” Andrea said. “I was just going to say mature.”

  “You mean I’m too old for him,” Kayla said. She planted her hands on her hips and bent one knee, showing off her knock-’em-to-their-knees figure to perfection.

  “Well, yeah,” Andrea said. “Good grief, you’re my age!”

  Obviously, Kayla’s figure meant nothing to Andrea as she stood in her khaki capris and floral blouse with a sweater tied around her shoulders. Her hair was more gray than brown, and the lines around her mouth and eyes were faint, but they were definitely the signs of a woman solidly in middle age.

  “Mom!” Toby protested.

  “What? She is.”

  “So?” he asked. “I don’t care. I love her.”

  “Really?” Andrea asked. She raised her hands in the air in complete exasperation. “Because you know so much about love. How about I throw over your dad and pick up with your best friend, Alec?”

  “Mom, ew, gross,” Toby said.

  “Uh-huh,” Andrea agreed.

  “It’s not the same,” Toby protested.

  “People, can we get back to the matter at hand?” Emma broke in.

  “Yes, let’s discuss how Kayla’s not over me and is the mastermind behind the hit-and-run and everything else that has happened to Theresa,” Larry said as he barged into the room. He glared at Kayla while Robbie stood behind him, shrugging.

  “Oh, please,” Kayla snapped. “Look at him and look at you.” She waved her hand between Toby and Larry. “He’s got youth, good looks, and stamina. What do you have?”

  “Money.”

  “Money can’t buy you love,” Kayla retorted, then she clapped a hand over her mouth.

  Andrea closed her eyes and put a hand over her face. Toby grinned.

  “So, you admit that you care about me?” he asked Kayla.

  “I didn’t say that,” she said.

  “Yes, you did,” Toby argued. He crossed the room until he was standing in front of Kayla. “Admit it. You care about me.”

  “Only as a distraction,” Kayla said. She tried to wave him off, but he wasn’t having it.

  “You are all my witnesses,” Toby said. “Kayla Manning is smitten with me.”

  Kayla blushed a shade of hot pink, while Andrea looked a bit ill. Larry was fuming, and Emma had a speculative look on her face while she watched what was going on around her.

  “Toby, we have the little matter of your library card being used to check out the materials that were found in Kayla’s car to discuss,” Emma said.

  “There weren’t any CDs in my car when it was stolen,” Kayla said. “I’m a satellite radio type of gal. Classic rock is my jam, as it’s a workout motivator.”

  “It’s true,” Toby said. “That’s all she listens to.”

  “How do you know this?” Andrea asked. “And how do I not know that you know this? I thought we were close.”

  Toby gave his mom a sympathetic look. “Sorry. It just sort of happened when I ran that marathon last fall.” He threw his arm around Kayla and pulled her close. “We just clicked.”

  Andrea sank into a seat at the small conference table. “My son is dating a woman the same age as me. My brain is shutting down. I can’t process this.”

  “Is there any way to prove that your card was stolen?” Emma asked Toby. “Did you report it to the library?”

  “No.” Toby shook his head. “I just figured it would turn up.”

  Emma’s mouth twisted. Lindsey suspected she wanted to clear Toby off her suspect list so that she could focus on Liza.

  “You lost your card?” Andrea stared at her son. “Is that why you’ve been using my card? By the way, I just got an overdue notice for a book on biomedical engineering, which I am not paying. You promised me if I loaned you my card, you would be responsible.”

  “I’ll pay the fine,” Toby said.

  His mother fumed and waved a hand at Kayla. “Why not have your girlfriend pay it? At least she has a job.”

  “Mom.” Toby gasped. “I have a job.”

  “That’s right, you’re a bag boy at the grocery store,” she said, looking at Kayla. Then she turned toward her son. “And don’t you ‘Mom’ me.” She rose from her seat and adjusted the strap of her purse on her forearm. “You don’t get to have it both ways, young man, and yes, you are a young man. You don’t get to have the older girlfriend while you live in my home, eat my food, and have overdue books on my library card—”

  “Are you getting this?” Emma asked Lindsey.

  “Oh yeah,” Lindsey said. “Give me one minute with our database, and I can verify that he’s been using his mother’s card and therefore not likely checking out materials on his own.”

  “Excellent,” E
mma said. “Go.”

  Lindsey backed out of the room slowly, so as not to interrupt the discussion between mother and son.

  “You want that?” Andrea waved a hand at Kayla. “Then you need to grow up, get a real job, start paying rent, and show me that you’re responsible enough to be treated like an adult and not just some old lady’s boy toy.”

  Kayla sucked in a gasp that Lindsey thought might have taken all the oxygen out of the room. Oh boy. She turned on her heel and hurried to her office. She could hear the women yelling at each other, and as she passed Ms. Cole, she felt her curious gaze over the rim of her reading glasses.

  “You know, back when Mr. Tupper was the library director—” Ms. Cole began.

  Lindsey turned to look at her and figured she must have had her scary-librarian face on, because Ms. Cole’s eyes went wide.

  “Just kidding,” she said.

  Lindsey nodded and continued on her way to her office. For privacy, she opened up the circulation database on her computer. When she checked Andrea Carter’s library record, she had books about biomedical engineering, the subject Toby happened to be majoring in, checked out and overdue. Lindsey sent the page to the printer.

  By the time Lindsey got back to the study room, Emma was standing in between Kayla and Andrea with Toby nearby, hopping from foot to foot as if uncertain whom he should be calming down.

  “Listen, cougar,” Andrea snarled. “You are to stay away from my boy.”

  “Mom!” Toby was pleading.

  “What if I don’t want to?” Kayla snapped back. “Maybe Toby and I are more serious than you realize. Maybe he’s going to move in with me.”

  “I am?” Toby asked.

  “Yes,” Kayla said. “Why not?”

  “Toby, you’re not ready for this.” Andrea’s voice was sharp with warning.

  “I’m sorry, Mom,” he said. He looked truly wrecked. “But I love her.”

  Lindsey handed Emma the printout. She looked at it and then at Toby. “Well, it looks like you were telling the truth about using your mother’s card, so I’m not going to arrest you . . . right now.”

  Toby sagged with relief. He dropped his arm around Kayla’s shoulders and pulled her close. “Come on—let’s go.”

  Kayla allowed him to guide her to the door. Toby paused to look back at his mom. “I really am sorry you found out this way, Mom. I hope you can accept Kayla and me as a couple.”

  Andrea looked at Kayla and then at Toby. She studied them as if she were in a poker game, trying to call another player’s bluff. “Come to dinner tonight at our house.”

  “What?” Kayla and Toby asked together.

  “About six o’clock? We can sit down and have a nice family dinner with your dad and sister, too,” she said. She glanced at Toby. “If this is seriously what your life plan is, then your family will be a part of it, too.”

  Kayla paled. Andrea was making it very clear that Toby came with his own familial entourage. Lindsey had to give Andrea props. This was well played.

  “We’ll be there,” Toby said. He looked relieved and nervous at the same time, but he nodded at his mother as they left.

  The door shut behind them, and Andrea turned away, facing the wall as if she couldn’t bear to watch them leave together. The room was shrouded in awkward silence.

  Because it was her library, Lindsey was the first to step forward. “Hey, Andrea, it’s going to be all right. If you look on the bright side, at least he’s been pushed down on the suspect list.”

  Andrea didn’t say anything. She continued staring down at the floor with her hand over her mouth. Lindsey exchanged a glance with Emma, who raised her hands in the universal sign for I have no idea what to do.

  “Is he gone yet?” Andrea asked.

  Lindsey glanced out of the room at the library. Toby and Kayla were just approaching the doors. The automatic doors whooshed open, and they stepped out into the warm spring sunshine as a happy couple, with their arms around each other for all the world to see.

  “They just left,” Lindsey said.

  Andrea turned back around. Her eyes were shining, and a broad grin parted her lips.

  “Whoa,” Emma said. “Wait. You’re happy?”

  “About them? No, but I have a plan,” Andrea said.

  “Did I miss something?” Lindsey asked. “’Cause you looked like you were upset. Not a little upset, big upset—like crying for days, lying on the floor in a fetal position upset.”

  “I might have been,” Andrea conceded. “But they are coming to dinner.”

  “And?” Emma asked. She cast a concerned look at Lindsey. “You’re not planning on hurting Kayla, are you? Because I’m telling you, as a police chief and your friend, that’s a bad idea.”

  “What?” Andrea asked. She put a hand on her chest in a protestation of innocence. “I would never. Besides, I won’t have to.”

  “No?” Lindsey asked.

  “I am going to make sure that Kayla gets a good long look at his room,” Andrea said. “That boy is the single most disgusting human being who ever lived. I used to do a daily sweep, but two weeks ago, I gave up. The dirty laundry, food wrappers, plates, all of it—if she gets one look at the filth that boy chooses to live in, she will one hundred percent change her mind about having him move in with her.”

  “Genius,” Emma said.

  “So you didn’t invite them over to make peace,” Lindsey said.

  “No,” Andrea said. “Kayla Manning might think she has a man in the making, but when she gets a load of his room, she’s going to realize she has a boy. I expect she’ll be dumping him, oh, at about eight o’clock tonight.”

  Emma put one hand on her hip, leaned back, and studied Andrea from top to bottom. “Color me impressed.”

  “Me, too,” Lindsey said. “One question: you didn’t seem all that surprised by Kayla. Did you know about her and Toby before today?”

  “Of course,” Andrea said. “I still do that boy’s laundry, and when I found the evidence of birth control in use, I had Mike tail him until we knew who he was shacking up with. I wasn’t thrilled, but I figured it would burn out before now. Looks like we’ll just have to help it.”

  “You had them completely fooled,” Lindsey said.

  “Yeah, well, survival of the fittest,” Andrea said. She pulled out her cell phone. “Excuse me, I have to call Mike. He needs to have his game face on for tonight.” She paused and looked at Emma. “Aside from all of the family drama, you know Toby had nothing to do with the attacks on Theresa Huston, right?”

  Her voice was firm, leaving no room for argument. Emma gave her a slow and thoughtful nod, and said, “It certainly appears that way.”

  Andrea nodded in return. That was good enough for her.

  Lindsey and Emma left the room, shutting the door behind them.

  “I didn’t see that coming,” Lindsey said.

  “Agreed,” Emma said. “Of course, now we only have one direction to look.”

  “Liza,” Lindsey said. “Unless—”

  She paused, and Emma stared at her and then motioned for her to continue. “Come on, out with it.”

  “Unless the person who hired Chad Bauman and whoever tried to shoot Theresa last night isn’t Liza but rather is the missing Sarah Milstein, divorced and not dead,” Lindsey said.

  16

  “How do you figure?” Emma asked.

  Lindsey hesitated but then admitted what she’d seen. “I thought I saw Sarah Milstein in the house the night that Robbie and I took the library materials that Liza had left behind to the Milstein house.”

  “And you didn’t think this was relevant information?” Emma asked.

  “Well, I saw the face from the driveway, but Robbie didn’t, and we figured it had to be household staff or maybe the nurse taking care of Theresa,” Lindsey said. “Beside
s, at the time, Sarah Milstein was presumed deceased.”

  “Fair enough, but now that we know Milstein faked his wife’s disappearance and then divorced her, it could be very relevant,” Emma said.

  “Which is why I’m telling you,” Lindsey said.

  Emma strode across the library toward Robbie and Larry. Both men must have sensed she was coming, because they stood taller and looked as if they were bracing themselves.

  “You.” Emma pointed at Larry. “To the police station for questioning, now.”

  “I demand to have a lawyer present,” he said.

  “That’s up to you, but the longer this takes, the longer you spend in a jail cell,” Emma said.

  “Jail cell?” Larry squawked.

  “That’s right,” Emma said. “I’m done waiting for answers. I want to know what the story is with your missing wife, whether she’s alive or dead, if you’re divorced and what, if anything, this has to do with your daughter and someone going after Theresa Huston, a woman you have a hefty life insurance policy on.” Emma glared at him. “So, tell me, how is business, Larry?”

  Larry’s mouth dropped open. “You can’t think that I have anything to do with the attacks on Theresa?”

  Emma’s brows lifted.

  “I love her. I would never ever harm her,” he protested. “Would I have hired bodyguards if I didn’t?”

  Robbie patted Larry on the shoulder. “I think it’s time you tell her, mate.”

  “But it could mean . . .” Larry’s voice trailed off, and Lindsey got the feeling he was in anguish.

  “It does mean that,” Robbie said. “I know you don’t like it, but you can’t change it by wishing. Now tell the chief what you just told me.”

  Larry looked at Emma as if he’d give up a kidney not to have to tell her what he was about to say.

  “I took out a multimillion-dollar life insurance policy on Theresa,” he said. “It’s the same one I have for myself, and we agreed that like mine, Liza would be the beneficiary should anything happen to Theresa.”

  Emma blinked at him. “You mean if something happens to you or Theresa, Liza inherits several million dollars?”