“Well, you were sort of sticking your nose in with her,” I said, avoiding any mention of the bar visit.
“I’ve known her a long time, Mel. She has never talked to me like that. Not in fifteen years. She’s really a fine woman. She can be kind and thoughtful when you get to know her.” He gave me an embarrassed smile. “We’re really good friends, and I like her a lot, but the way she’s been treating the doc doesn’t make sense.”
Has he got a thing for Mrs. Podeski? I heard warning bells. This wasn’t a conversation I wanted to continue. I might learn personal things I didn’t want to know. I decided to switch topics to be on safe side. “I’ve been sorting through the books in the store,” I said. “What do you think about sprucing up a little? I can call some publishers and maybe get some new titles brought in. Bestseller stuff. That might help sales.”
“I wouldn’t know what kinds of books to bring in.” Barney watched the coffee pot fill as he talked. “That bookstore was a dumb idea from the get- go.”
“I know you don’t care much about books, Uncle Barney. But that’s okay. I just got a degree in English, remember? Let me put it to good use. I’d like to try and turn things around.”
“There’s no point. I think I’m going to shut it down. Expand the café.”
I moved closer to the display case separating me from the coffee machine. I slumped onto the case and patted it with my hands. “You can’t do that, Uncle Barney.”
He turned to me and furrowed his brow. “Why not?”
“Because Bookmarks is an institution in Glacier, that’s why. I used to spend half my summers in there. It’s like the town library! People used to love snooping through those titles while you brewed their coffee.” Barney turned away so I clapped and continued my argument. “We have to offer them something more modern. That’ll bring them back in. I’m thinking some bestseller- list titles instead of all those old castoffs on the shelves.”
“There aren’t any customers, Mel. People in Glacier don’t read. They watch TV or movies. Hell! I stopped carrying the Portland paper ‘cause no one bought it anymore.”
“Let me work on that, Uncle Barney. I could get proactive! I could start a book club. Maybe read to kids on Saturday mornings. I could even have writers come in from Portland or Seattle to do readings.”
“That sounds like a lot of work for no return. It’s not worth it.”
“It’s worth it to me!” I swallowed hard. I couldn’t believe what I was saying. When I came to Glacier my intention was to use a short visit to sort things out in my life. I’d only planned on staying a week or two. But coming to Glacier had been like a shot in the arm. I hadn’t moped about Jim once since the first miserable night. I still worried about what I was going to do when summer was over and how I would pick up the pieces of my life. Now here I was begging for the chance stay longer. And for what?
Barney shrugged and finally poured himself a fresh cup of coffee. “You’re willing to get Bookmarks in order? You’d have to put in that work for free. It doesn’t make enough to pay you.”
“I’m willing.” As I said it, the words nearly caught in my throat.
“It would mean you’d have to stay here a while. You sure you want to do that?”
“If it means saving Bookmarks, then yes.” Good grief, what am I saying? I’m almost broke, and now I’m working for free? And what about the novel I am supposed to be starting on? Well, that won’t happen anyway until I get an idea what to write about.
The morning flitted by in a maelstrom of book stacking, book boxing, and shelf dusting. As an English grad student, I had a tough time sorting through the titles. There were so many of them that I’d read. Every time I came across one of the battered old books, I would flip it open and search for my favorite quote or passage. Culling them became quite a chore and I found sorting through and picking the ones to remove from Bookmark’s stock a harder task than I expected.
By the time I was ready to move the boxes of books that I planned to give to the Goodwill in Eugene, it was nearly closing time, and Su-Jitzu had been a pest. When I was done loading a box, I’d heft it and try to navigate through the stacks of cartons towards the back door access to the kitchen without falling down. That became a test of wills between me and the terrier. Su-Jitzu always seemed to find a way to block my path or get in my way.
“What’s with you, Su? You’re acting like you don’t want me to dump these books! Now move or I’m putting you outside.” My voice was so stern Su-Jitzu, tail tucked, cowered into a corner. He stared at me with a forlorn, unhappy look. “Oh, for heaven’s sake, I’m not angry with you, Mister Sensitive. I promise, we’ll get more books. You aren’t losing your home.” As if he understood, Su-Jitzu skulked through the empty Grind and into the kitchen where he flopped on his pillow bed with a soft groan.
Barney and Nancy were washing the wood plank floor in the café with a shared pail and mops as I lugged the last box of castoffs to the back door by the kitchen. Bookmarks already had a different look. It could breathe. The shelves had empty pockets of space now. It no longer looked crammed to the rafters and though I still had to sort the books that were left by subject, it already had a newfound sense of order. For one thing, I’d moved the rows of paperbacks from down by my ankles to eye level. I’d displayed the few new titles beside the cash register between Barney’s coffee can and a Buddha bookend. I was proud of what I’d accomplished in such a short time and was happily staring at the shelves when Chief McCaffrey entered The Grind, a serious look on his face.
“Hello Chief,” I said, greeting him with a cheery smile. “We’re about to close but I guess we could brew you up a cup. What would you like?”
“I’m not here for coffee, Miss Willoughby.” His voice was serious, matching his look. “Barney, I need to talk to you.”
Barney gave his mop to Nancy and moved to the front of the café.
“I need you to be honest with me,” the chief said. He took off his Stetson and sat down with a deep sigh. Nancy and I stood shoulder to shoulder at the display case, watching. “Utta’s neighbor said she saw you leaving Utta’s place yesterday night at about eight p.m.”
“That would be about right,” Barney replied, sitting down opposite his inquisitor. “I went to see her around closing time yesterday. I’m not sure exactly when I left her place but that sounds about right. Why? What’s going on?”
The chief’s gaze at Barney was intense. “What happened while you were there?”
“Nothing,” Barney answered. He looked to me and then back to the chief. “I went to see her because Doc Santos was on the warpath. He said she was telling people that he assaulted her in here the other afternoon. He came back looking for her and he was kind of upset. I wanted to make sure she was okay, so I went over.”
“You were worried about her safety?”
Barney shrugged his shoulders. “Not really. We’re talking about the Doc after all, but I like Utta so I …”
“Is that the only reason you went over?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Barney replied immediately.
“Look, Barney, everybody in Glacier knows you’ve had a thing going with Utta for years. Did her husband Pavel finally catch you together?”
I felt my heart rise as a lump to my throat. I turned to Nancy who looked back at me with her eyebrows raised. You’re kidding! My uncle Barney and Mrs. Podeski have a thing?
“Pavel wasn’t there.”
Chief McCaffrey splayed the fingers of both hands on the table and leaned forward. “Barney, it’s important you tell me the absolute truth now. Were you and Utta arguing about something?
“No!” Barney looked at Nancy and me again. “Not really. I was just there trying to get her to stop with her nasty attitude towards the doc. They’ve had this fight going on since he fired her. It got a little out of hand the other day, is all. I wanted her to back off.”
“How did she take that, Barney? Was she happy to see you defending Dr. Santos?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you were taking his side, weren’t you? We all know there was bad blood between those two, and how Utta could get kind of feisty. Did she get physical with you when she found out you were takin’ his side?”
“No!” Barney gave his head a quick shake. “We argued about it. Sure. But that’s it. She yelled at me and told me to mind my own business and to get out. So I did.”
The chief stood up and put on his Stetson. He was a heavy man and in his padded black police jacket he looked even heavier. If it had been earlier in the day he would have cast a shadow over Barney. His hands moved to his gun belt. He locked his thumbs between the belt and his pants. “What did you do then?”
“She upset me. I got a little angry, so I went to the Long Branch to calm down. I had a few beers.”
The chief stared down at him. “I know you, Barney. You haven’t had a drink in ten years or more. You must have been pretty upset.”
Barney straightened in his chair.
The chief pulled out handcuffs he had clipped to his belt, leaned forward and locked them to Barney’s wrists with a gentle grip. “I have to arrest you on suspicion of the murder of a Utta Podeski,” he said formally. He helped Barney stand and turned to me. “You better get him a lawyer,” he said. He led Barney out of The Grind to his waiting police car as he read him his rights.
What the—it? What-what-what? What just happened here? Do something, Mel, don’t stand there!
Numb with shock, I followed them out and anxiously grabbed the chief’s arm as he helped Barney into the car’s backseat. “This can’t be possible! You know my uncle Barney. He would never kill somebody and especially not Utta Podeski! What about Dr. Santos? He was upset and looking for her.”
“Look, Ms. Willoughby,” McCaffrey replied with frustration. “I’m questioning the doc too, but I have a witness who saw Barney leaving her house. He admits to being there and having an argument. Nobody saw the doc or anyone else paying her a visit. And early this morning her husband Pavel came home from a delivery trip to Eugene, so we know it couldn’t have been him. All I know right now is somehow Utta Podeski ended up in her freezer last night. Looks like she might have been stuffing it with baking and fell in off her stool. Could have been. Or she was put in there. Barney was the last person she was with. Either way I gotta take him in on suspicion because she’s a Podeski popsicle now.”
I was in a blind panic as the police car drove away. What was happening just couldn’t be happening. It made no sense!
With Nancy’s help, we went on a frantic search for uncle Barney’s phone directory. We scoured through his rolltop desk drawers, searched his bedroom shelves, dug through stacks of cardboard boxes in his closet and finally found his personal telephone directory inside a drawer in his bedside table. His lawyer, Alvin Simpson, practiced law in Eugene which meant he wasn’t readily available in Glacier. And worse, he practiced family law. Criminal law was probably as big a mystery to him as it was to me.
I had to call him at home and after ten minutes trying to explain what happened with Barney, he calmly told me to relax. He said he had court the next day but he’d try to postpone it if he could and come to Glacier to get Barney released. “That depends on whether they charge him with something and if they have a judge scheduled or not. I’ll find out soon enough. We can straighten things out.”
Glacier, being a small back water place, didn’t have a sitting judge and had to depend on court schedules for everything from speeding tickets to major crimes. He paused. “I’ve known your uncle for thirty years. I could see he might lose his temper when he was drinking. But he wouldn’t hurt someone. Not even when drinking—and he’s been sober a long time. It’s strange that he went to a bar. I have to admit that worries me the most.”
“He hadn’t been drinking before he left here. I’m certain.” I turned to Nancy as if she could hear what the lawyer was saying. She seemed to and shook her head in agreement.
“But he was upset enough after seeing Utta Podeski to go to a bar and have a drink. That’s seriously upset for an alcoholic.”
You’re right. “He told me they had an argument,” I said in my uncle’s defense.
“Right.” The lawyer paused. “Well, in my opinion Barney isn’t capable of violence. They had to have some hard evidence to arrest him. We’ll figure it all out. Don’t worry.”
As I hung up the telephone, I heaved a heavy sigh and looked at Nancy again. I knew I had to rely on this stranger and his assurances and that only made me feel more terribly uneasy.
“So is he coming?” I knew Nancy had heard Simpson’s deep voice over the telephone as well as I had and she was asking me the question as a way of calming me down. It didn’t work.
“Not until tomorrow. If he can.”
Nancy frowned. “We have to do something to clear this negative energy off of you.” She gazed at me thoughtfully. “A salt bath. That’ll do it! I have Himalayan salt crystals. Come on. You’re spending the night at my place. A hot soak away from here is what you need.”
“What about Su?”
“He can come. It’s like his second home.”
“So what now?” Nancy had dropped toast on the table. I’d barely slept and knew I probably looked a wreck. I pushed the toast back towards her and frowned. I felt like crying but somehow managed to hold back my tears. Nancy got up, sensing my discomfort, and moved in to hug me. “It’ll be okay. You’ll see.” She squeezed me gently.
“I don’t know what to do!”
“There’s nothing you can do. You have to accept that and try to relax. Do you meditate? We ought to clear your chakras.”
“Please,” I said, squeezing the arm she had draped around me. “No woo-woo right now, Nancy. I need time to think this through.”
With that, Nancy released me. “Didn’t you say you had a lunch date?”
I glanced at my watch. “I’m supposed to meet Carol! I don’t want to now. I can’t go. I have to go to the police station.”
Nancy patted my shoulder like a mother would her upset child. It was firm but still gentle. “He’s not going anywhere.”
“You mean they have to book him like a criminal.”
She patted me again, this time squeezing my shoulder as well. “We don’t know if he’ll be charged with anything, do we? You should go and see Carol. It’ll take your mind off of what’s happened. You can go to the station after.”
“I won’t be good company.”
“Go. She’s an old friend and the first one you’ve met since you got here. You can talk to her about Barney. It’ll be good to tell someone what’s happened and get the worry off your chest, won’t it?”
I nodded defeatedly. “Will you come with me?”
Nancy shook her head. “Uh uh. I’d guess it took all of ten minutes for half of Glacier to hear about what has happened. The Grind will be packed with gossip hounds looking for answers. Barney would kill me if I turned away that kind of a crowd by closing up.” Nancy laughed.
I checked my watch again. I had an hour before lunch. That was enough time to go back to The Grind with Su, have a shower to wash Nancy’s salt concoction from my hair, and get dressed. “You’re probably right. This whole thing will blow over, right?”
Nancy nodded and smiled. “Sure it will. It’s all a big mistake.”
I wasn’t enthusiastic by any means, but I managed to get ready for my lunch in plenty of time. As I walked to the Lee Hotel I couldn’t help but replay what had happened with the chief. I was troubled by the fact that Barney hardly objected when he was arrested. He let the chief handcuff and march him to the police car without saying a word. What could that mean? He isn’t guilty. He can’t be guilty!
In the hotel restaurant I found Carol already seated in a booth. She was dressed in a summery shift with yellow and blue stripes that made her fulsome figure look thin, and she had put her hair up in a tidy bun. In a way I’d matched her for style, coming to the restaurant dressed in a t
ight-fitting, beige mohair sweater and black slacks. I’d twisted my unruly hair in a loose French bun. I slid into the booth opposite her and tried to smile
.“What’s wrong? You look tired and worried.”
“Something terrible has happened.”
She stared at me, waiting for me to continue.
“My uncle’s baker was found dead and they’ve arrested my uncle. He’s at the police station right now under suspicion of murder!”
Carol gasped. “That’s terrible. But why would they suspect Barney? For heaven’s sake …”
“He was the last person to see her alive.”
With a slow shake of her head, Carol reached over and cupped my hands in hers. “What can I do? Is there anything I can do to help?”
I told her no. “I’ve called his lawyer. He’s coming today or at worst tomorrow to get them out if there’s a judge scheduled. There’s nothing to do right now but wait.”
“This puts a kibosh on our little reunion, doesn’t it?”
I smiled weakly and nodded. “I wanted to see you. That’s why I came. But we’d probably be better off trying this again another time. Do you mind?”
“Of course not. But can you stay for a cup of coffee at least? We can still have a little chinwag. Are you hungry?”
“No, but I’ll have a coffee.” The middle-aged waitress I’d seen the other day came to the table and took my order. “How are Elizabeth and Bill?” I really didn’t care but I had to try and be pleasant.
“Bill’s on split shift right now so I hardly see him and Lizzy’s at school, probably sleeping at her desk. Her babysitting went a lot later than I expected the other night.”
The importance of what she said didn’t hit me right away. I accepted a cup of coffee from the waitress and flooded it with cream. The black goop they were serving at the restaurant couldn’t possibly match my uncle Barney’s fare.
“She got in late?”
Cool Demise Page 5
