Let's Play Dead

CHAPTER 20

The next morning was our regular biweekly staff meeting, held before the doors opened to the public. I had two new employees to officially introduce, which was good. More important, I had to crack the whip and get everyone to focus on their jobs, now that the holidays were behind us and people weren’t distracted by things going on in their lives outside the building. Some people actually had lives outside of the Society.

I’d warned Shelby and Eric to be there early, and they were already in their seats, looking eager, when I arrived. One of them had even thought to bring coffee and goodies, a surefire way to win friends among the staff. I smiled at the latecomers who straggled in, and called the meeting to order a few minutes after nine.

“Good morning! I know you’re all busy, so I’ll keep this short. First of all, I wanted to officially introduce the person who will be filling my former role as director of development, Shelby Carver. Since she’s been here nearly two weeks already, she’s probably introduced herself to all of you by now. Shelby, you want to say anything?”

Shelby beamed at the group. “No, ma’am. I think I’ve met all these nice people already. And if anybody has any ideas for a good grant project, just stop by my office and we can chat.”

“Good idea. If there’s anything I’ve learned working here, it’s that you never know what’s going to catch a funder’s eye, and you staff members here know what the real needs are. We want to know what you’d like to see implemented. Of course, we still have a long way to go to beef up our security systems, and before you say it, I know you’d all like to see a small raise in your piddling salaries.” A quiet laugh rippled through the group; they’d heard this before. Nobody here had had a raise in all the time I had been here, more than five years now. But I’d keep trying, because the staff members deserved it, and they couldn’t be expected to work purely for the love of local history. Not forever, anyway.

“And there’s one more new member here, Eric Marston. He’s my new assistant, and that’s a pretty big job, at least from my perspective. Please make him welcome. I suspect either he or Shelby is responsible for the tasty treats here?” Eric blushed and smiled. “Eric, you’re learning fast! The best way to win over people here is to feed them. One other staffing issue-we’re still looking for a replacement for Alfred Findley, so if any of you knows of someone who might be interested in the registrar job, please let me know. A computer wizard might be helpful, since Alfred was the only one who really knew how the cataloging database works. Okay, anything else we need to talk about?”

The meeting shifted to small administrative details and scheduling issues. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Front Desk Bob peer into the room-he was holding the fort out front while we met. I raised one eyebrow, but apparently he wasn’t looking for me. He nodded toward Eric. Eric looked confused but excused himself and headed out the door.

After a few more minutes the staff scattered to their respective tasks, and Shelby and I shared the elevator up to the third floor. “I need to talk to you about looking for some funding for Alfred’s position,” I told her. “Marty Terwilliger announced at the board meeting last night that she’s started the ball rolling with an endowment fund to help support collections management, and we want to use it to supplement the salary for the position. In fact, she’s guilt-tripping the other board members to ante up, too. Can you check through the funder database and see what might fit?”

“Sure will,” she replied. “You have a job description for the position?”

“Talk to Melanie-she does, and she’s updated it recently. Alfred Findley was here for years, and I understand the computer side of things has changed just a bit. He understood it, but I don’t know what kind of instructions he left behind. Or…” I stumbled over my words, distressed at my own oversight. “Or you should talk to Latoya, since she was his boss.” Heck, I had to talk to Latoya to update her about Marty’s offer. “And FYI, he was some kind of distant relative to Marty, which is why she’s helping out financially.”

“Marty seems to be related to just about everybody around here,” Shelby remarked as we arrived at the development office.

“That she is. That’s what makes her so useful on the board. Have you had a chance to talk to her?”

Shelby shook her head. “Not more than in passing.”

“She’s worth getting to know. Maybe we should all have lunch one of these days.”

“You figure things’ll be slow for a while?”

“Maybe. A lot of our members are retired and older, and they don’t like to come out in winter. Just wait until summer-we actually get tour busses stopping by.”

“Kind of like a magical history tour?”

“You’ve got it.”

I was about to go back to my office when Eric appeared in the doorway, looking worried. “Sorry, Shelby, but can I borrow Nell for a minute?”

I met his concerned gaze. “We’re all set anyway. What do you need, Eric?”

Eric didn’t answer but urged me toward my office, bypassing his desk outside. Once in the office, he said, “Hadley Eastman’s assistant, Chloe, is downstairs. That woman fired her with no notice, and she’s real upset.”

I wasn’t surprised, given what Marty had told me and what I’d seen firsthand of how Hadley treated Chloe, but I wondered why she’d come here. “I didn’t know you two were friends.”

“We aren’t-the only time I’ve ever seen her was when she was here with Hadley this week. But maybe I’m the only person who’s been nice to her lately. Anyway, do you mind if I bring her up here? I figured you didn’t want her to sit in the lobby weeping-it might scare off some of our patrons.”

I was confused. Why was Chloe so upset? I would think that she’d rejoice that she was finally free of prima donna Hadley, but maybe she was in dire financial straits and couldn’t afford to lose the job. And maybe… she could tell me something about Hadley. “Sure, bring her up.”

“Thank you, ma’am. I’ll try to find a quiet corner and see if I can calm her down.” Eric headed back toward the elevator, and I took my seat behind my desk and tried to figure out what else I was supposed to be doing at the moment. At least I could check off the Executive Committee meeting, which I thought had gone as well as I could have hoped, and the staff meeting, too. What next?

I’d managed to put in a constructive half hour clearing necessary paperwork when Eric rapped on my door, with a teary-eyed Chloe hovering reluctantly behind him. “Nell, sorry to bother you again, but I thought you really ought to talk to Chloe. About Hadley.”

I wondered if I’d ever work my way through the pile of papers on my desk, but I did want to hear what Chloe had to say, especially if Eric thought it was important. “Sure. Chloe, come in and sit down.”

Chloe came in and sat timidly. “Look, I’m really sorry to be a pest. Eric told you Hadley fired me?”

I nodded. “I’m sorry to hear that, although I understand that happens a lot with her.”

Chloe nodded. “Yeah, I knew that, but I thought I could handle her. And I thought at least I could learn something about publishing and stuff. Maybe it would have been okay if it hadn’t been for what happened at Let’s Play.”

Eric was still hovering in the doorway. “Eric, come in and shut the door, and sit down,” I said. “You’re the one Chloe asked for, right? Why was that, Chloe?”

Chloe sniffed. “Eric was nice to me the other day when Hadley was throwing one of her hissy fits. Which she does maybe every ten minutes. It’s like, Chloe, carry this; Chloe, get me that. No matter what I do, it’s not enough. I would have quit weeks ago, but I’m flat broke. And she owes me money. Not just my salary, but she’s always asking me to get her a latte or pick up her dry cleaning, and she never remembers to reimburse me for it.”

I was beginning to get impatient. Was I supposed to take care of all of the local orphans and strays? “Was there something different that set her off this time?”

“The police asked for her records. Her correspondence with her publisher, stuff like that. She went off the deep end, said that was private, and they should get a warrant.”

“That’s probably true, and she’s within her rights.” And then I realized that as her assistant, Chloe probably knew what was in those files, and I could ask her… It was slippery moral ground, but I wanted to help Arabella, and I really didn’t like Hadley. I decided to approach this indirectly. “Chloe, did the police question you?”

Chloe nodded, new tears springing to her eyes. “I didn’t know what to do. I mean, I had to tell the truth, didn’t I? Even though I knew I’d lose my job. Which I did.”

I chose my words carefully. “Did Hadley have something to hide?”

“Maybe. I’m not sure.”

I took a deep breath. “Maybe you should tell me what you’re worried about, and then I can help.”

“Could you? But, I mean, it’s not like I have anything real to tell anybody.”

“Were you working for Hadley when the planning started for the exhibit?”

“No. That was about three assistants back, but at least they left pretty good records.”

“Was Hadley pleased with the way things were going at the museum?”

Chloe snorted. “Ha! Is Hadley ever pleased about anything?” She leaned forward in her seat. “Look, here’s what I know. Based on what I found in the files, and what I’ve overheard, Hadley’s publisher told her that her sales numbers were dropping and maybe she should look at some new ways to expand her audience. The message was, either the numbers pick up or you’re toast. So after she went into a royal snit, she started thinking about things she hadn’t tried, and she brainstormed with the publicist and they came up with the idea to approach the museum. I mean, Hadley’s local, so it was a logical tie-in. And the publicist promised to chip in some promotional bucks for the exhibit and getting the word out. This was maybe two years ago?”

That matched what Arabella had told me. “Did you get the impression that Hadley thought she was doing the museum a favor, or vice versa?” I asked.

“You’ve met Hadley-what do you think? But the memos that went back and forth made it sound like the museum was calling the shots. I mean, everybody benefitted, but the museum set the timetable and the scope of the display, not Hadley. Anyway, the announcements about it went out in all the museum’s promotional stuff, so that was good exposure for Hadley. And to be fair, I think once she realized what was on the line, she did pitch in and try to help. But it might have been too little, too late. That silly hedgehog is a nice character and all, but she’s kind of out of step with the times, isn’t she? Kids these day, even the really young ones, want something more than cute talking animals.”

“Did anyone tell Hadley that?”

Chloe shrugged. “I don’t know-maybe. Not me, that’s for sure. I think her agent kept trying to let her down gently-there was a little bump up in sales when the exhibit was announced, but not as much as the publisher wanted to see. So this exhibit opening was really, really important to Hadley.”

I mulled over what Chloe had told me. Hadley needed a success, or her career might be on the line. Or at least, she needed to get some attention. But would that have included rigging the exhibit display to do harm? Would that include a deadly weasel? Maybe that was Hadley’s idea of taking her work in a new, edgier direction. Or she hoped to milk the event for a lot of tearstained network interviews, defending the beloved hedgehog and pals? Based on what little I’d seen of Hadley, I wouldn’t put it past her. But if she had somehow been behind the incidents, why had she stormed into my office and ranted at me? How could that benefit her? Unless she wanted to make this an even bigger story by piggybacking off the Society’s recent unpleasant events…

I realized Eric and Chloe were looking at me expectantly. “Chloe, what did you tell the police?”

“All of this. I mean, I couldn’t give them the documents, but I could tell them what I knew, right?”

“And how did they respond? Wait-was there a detective named Hrivnak there?”

“A kind of chunky woman? Yeah, she was there. I don’t think she got the whole hedgehog and publishing thing, but she was paying attention to what I told her.”

I had trouble envisioning Meredith Hrivnak in a children’s museum-she wasn’t exactly the maternal type. But would the detective see a motive for Hadley to sabotage the exhibit, or the opposite? Hadley wasn’t a warm and fuzzy person, either, and she had her eye fixed on the bottom line, selling books. Did disaster sell?

But there was still one big sticking point: how could Hadley have done it? “Chloe, how much time did Hadley spend at the museum while the exhibit was being installed?”

“Lately, lots. She really wanted to make sure they got it right. I mean, she even bitched-oh, excuse me-complained that they hadn’t made Harriet look happy enough, and that Willy looked too snarky. I think they had to change Willy’s head a couple of times before she was satisfied. It was kind of creepy-she kept the heads sitting around at her house so she could decide which one she liked best.”

Now that was interesting. If Hadley had had the heads at home for a while, she could have had someone else rig the wiring for her, or figured it out for herself. From what Barney had told me, the whole setup wasn’t particularly complicated. Even if there had been multiple tests of the equipment, Hadley had been in and out of Let’s Play often enough that it was possible she could have tweaked Willy after the testing was done. But it was hard for me to make the leap from diva behavior to rigging Willy’s wiring. “Is Hadley good with her hands? I mean, does she make things, do any craft work?”

Chloe shook her head. “Nope. She can barely keyboard. Didn’t you notice her manicure? No way she’d risk those nails, much less actually do some real work.”

I couldn’t say that I had-I just wasn’t tuned into that kind of thing. “When did she decide which head she liked best?”

“Early last week, I think-I’d have to check her calendar. Arabella or Caitlin would know. I know the installation crew was getting really fed up, and I think Arabella had to put her foot down: no more changes.”

“And when was she there last?”

“The Wednesday that the guy died, when she and Arabella got into a fight over the heads. After that, last week, maybe? Monday or Tuesday, I think.”

Opportunity and motive. I wondered how hard the police were looking at Hadley. But I was still troubled by the mechanics of rigging the head. I’d read that short brochure on wiring, and I was nowhere near ready to deliberately cross wires to achieve what had happened. I didn’t think Hadley was any better qualified than I was, so she must have had help. “Chloe, is Hadley seeing anyone?”

“In the time I’ve worked with her, she’s dated at least three guys that I know of, and I’d bet there are some that I didn’t. She goes for the young blue-collar type-hunky but not too intellectual. That way they’re too intimidated to argue with her, and they think she’s brilliant because she writes books, even if they’re only children’s books. And she doesn’t keep them around long.”

That was promising. The right construction worker could certainly know the rudiments of electrical wiring. I wondered if the police had already gone down this road.

Chloe seemed much calmer now. “Listen, I know this is real pushy, but do you have any job openings here?”

Smart girl, to seize the opportunity. And she had given me some useful information. “I can’t promise anything, but I can certainly ask. It’s likely to be something low level, like shelving books, if that’s okay.”

“After working with Hadley, that’d be great-books don’t yell at you. Thank you, Nell. I mean it.”

I glanced at Eric. “Why don’t you show Chloe the library, and I’ll call Melanie?”

Eric grinned. “I’d love to. Chloe, follow me.”

I watched them leave, and then I picked up the phone. Luck was on Chloe’s side: it turned out we had a short-term slot with grant funding, doing some reorganization of one of our collections. It might not last long, but it would let her get back on her feet. Chloe had helped me, and I was happy to be able to repay the favor.