Let's Play Dead

CHAPTER 21

I headed downstairs in search of Eric and Chloe, to give Chloe the good news, but instead I found Barney waiting in the lobby.

“You got your membership card already?” I asked.

“Yes, ma’am, I did. Shelby hand-delivered it, and I thank you. I had some time between jobs, so I thought I’d check this place out. I’m just waiting for your guy here”-he nodded toward Front Desk Bob-“to track down that librarian you said could help me.”

“Felicity Soames. Bob, I’ll take Barney to the reading room. He’s signed in, right?”

Bob nodded, and I led Barney through the catalog room into the large reading room beyond. Barney studied the soaring ceiling and the tiers of books around the perimeter and on the balcony above, and gave a low whistle. “Wow. Nice place. I wouldn’t know where to start.”

“You haven’t looked at our collections before? You said you’d been doing research for a while.”

“On and off. I don’t get much free time, and it’s just kind of a hobby, really.”

Felicity was seated behind her high desk, surveying her domain. The reading room had a few people in it, and one of our shelvers was delivering requested materials to the patrons. I led Barney over to the desk. “Felicity, this is Barney Hogan, the person I told you about who’s interested in what we have on baseball history.”

Felicity’s eyes lit up. “The Quakers, right?”

Barney grinned. “Yup. My great-great-grandfather played for them, and I’m hoping you have some team pictures.”

Felicity looked at him critically. “He must have been a baby when he played for them.”

It took Barney a moment to find the compliment buried in her statement, and then he grinned. “Yep, he was all of eighteen.”

Felicity picked up her phone. “Let me find someone to cover the desk for me, and I’ll show you what we’ve got.” She spoke into the phone, then stood up. “When Nell told me about what you wanted, I started to do some digging, and I’ve already set aside some files about the team in back. Ah, Janie, there you are. If you can hold down the fort for a while, I’ll get Barney started.”

I was clearly superfluous, but since I knew next to nothing about local sports history, I wasn’t insulted. “I leave you in good hands, Barney. Happy hunting!”

I’m not sure he even heard me, as Felicity led him toward the elevator and her office upstairs. It looked as though I’d made at least two people happy today.

As I was trying to figure out what came next on my to-do list, I realized I still needed to tell Latoya about Marty’s offer at the Executive Committee meeting to fund part of the registrar’s position. I was pretty sure that Marty hadn’t discussed the issue with Latoya first; they didn’t get along well. So Marty had told me-and the core board members-first and left me to deal with the fallout. But that was my job now. I squared my shoulders and headed for Latoya’s office on the third floor.

She looked up when I reached her door. “Hi, Nell. Sorry I didn’t make the staff meeting this morning, but I had a problem with my car, and I had to leave it with the mechanic. Did I miss anything?”

I took a seat across from her. “Kind of. At the Executive Committee meeting last night, Marty announced that she’s setting up an endowed fund to supplement the salary for Alfred’s replacement. I gather she still feels kind of responsible for what happened with him. I wasn’t about to turn her down, and she’s going to lean on the rest of the board to contribute. We haven’t had a lot of interest in the registrar position so far, so I think we have time to sort out Marty’s contribution. Do you have someone in mind?”

Emotions flit across Latoya’s expressive features. Annoyance came first, but she smoothed that over quickly. “I have put some feelers out among my colleagues, but being able to offer a better salary should spark some interest.”

So far she was playing nice. “I’ve also asked Shelby to look into any matching grants Do you have a job description for the position handy?”

The always well-organized Latoya reached into the bottom drawer of her desk and pulled out a piece of paper, then handed it to me. “Of course. This is what I gave Melanie.”

“Thank you. I’ll give this copy to Shelby. Anything else we need to discuss? Do you have the documentation for the cataloging software?”

“I’ll have a complete package together for interviews. I should tell you that I’ve been working with the FBI to refine the list of what’s gone missing. I think we’re making progress, but we shouldn’t expect too much. Sadly, I think some items are gone forever.”

As was Alfred. “I know, but I hope we’ve done all we can.”

“Was there anything else, Nell?” Latoya looked at me expectantly.

I stood up. “No, that’s all. I just wanted you to know about the funding change.”

“Thank you,” she said gravely-and waited for me to leave.

I left. Maybe I was her boss now, at least on paper, but she’d never had much time for me before, and some of that attitude still lingered. We’d have to work on that.

I dropped the registrar job description on Shelby’s desk and went back to my own. The next time I looked up it was three o’ clock, and I hadn’t even remembered to eat lunch-again. I was interrupted by a phone call from Felicity.

“Nell, Barney’s about to leave, but he wanted to thank you first. You have a minute?”

“Sure, I’ll be right down.” I could use the exercise-maybe the blood would return to my brain if I actually left my chair. It seemed to work, because I had a thought as I walked to the stairs, or maybe a series of thoughts. Barney was probably in his sixties and apparently had been an electrician and union member most of his adult life. Could he have known Nolan Treacy? Would he know, or could he find out, if Nolan was actually in Philadelphia at the moment? It was worth asking.

I found Barney and Felicity in the catalog room, still deep in conversation. Barney was clutching a thick sheaf of photocopies, and he looked dazed but happy. Felicity was doing much of the talking, and Barney nodded now and then. They didn’t notice me until I was a few feet away from them.

“You look like you’ve had a successful day,” I said.

Barney nodded vigorously. “Yeah, really. Felicity here was great-she really knows her stuff.”

“Well, of course I do-that’s why I’m head librarian,” she said, softening her statement with a smile. “But I love all that early baseball history. I’m so glad I could help! I’ll keep looking, if you’ve got the time to come back again?”

“Sure, I’d love to.”

As I watched the two of them smiling at each other, I wondered if I had started something more than research here. I knew exactly nothing about Felicity’s personal life, and even less about Barney’s, but I’d never seen either look so animated. Interesting.

“Barney, if you’ve got one more moment, I’d like to ask you something,” I said.

He tore himself away from Felicity’s gaze. “Oh, sure, no problem. What?”

“Maybe we should take this someplace more private?” It wasn’t the kind of question I wanted to ask in the middle of a busy-well, sort of busy-public room. “Thanks, Felicity,” I said, then led Barney to the old boardroom under the stairs.

He looked confused. “What’s this about? You still thinking about electrical problems?”

“Kind of.” There was no simple way to lead into this, so I just jumped right in. “Barney, have you ever known an electrician named Nolan Treacy?”

“Nolan? Yeah, sure. We were both in the union back in the eighties, and then he left town. I hadn’t thought of him in years until recently.”

My radar went into overdrive. “Why recently?”

“He’s in town, visiting, and came by the union hall, a week or two ago, looking for his old mates. We all went out and had a few drinks. Why’re you asking about him?”

So Nolan could have been in town in time for the Let’s Play accident. “Did you know he was once married to Arabella Heffernan, the woman who runs Let’s Play?”

Barney sat back in his chair, clearly surprised. “That I didn’t! Back in the day, we weren’t exactly buddies, and we never talked about families, just about work. But he was really into the whole Sinn Fein thing back then. Kept asking us all to contribute to the cause, that kind of thing.”

“Before he left Philadelphia?”

“Yeah, and then he just fell off the map. Somebody said he went back to Ireland. I know I didn’t hear from him again until the other week, like I said.”

I wondered if I’d end up in hot water with James if I kept asking questions. I should just tell Barney to talk to the FBI, but I didn’t know how he’d react to that suggestion. “What’s he doing back here in Philadelphia?”

Barney shrugged. “Said he was just visiting.”

“How did he seem to you?”

“What’re you getting at? He used to be a real jumpy kind of guy, with a gift of gab. But we’re both twenty-some years older now, and he’s more laid-back-like we all are, I guess. I know he’s got kids back in Ireland, too-he showed us pictures.”

So Nolan had remarried, after he left Arabella. His visit sounded completely innocent-or was he hoping to set up something more? I was so not prepared to deal with this kind of thing. “Did he say whether he’d seen his ex-wife?”

“Didn’t come up. Why all the questions, Nell?”

I had to decide which way to go, and I opted for the simple truth. “The FBI is looking at him for the electrical accident at Let’s Play, since he was connected to Arabella, and he may have terrorist ties.”

Barney stared at me for a moment, then laughed out loud. “You’ve gotta be kidding. Hey, we were all young then, and most of us had Irish relatives, so some of us were into that whole scene. But that’s a long way from doing anything violent, apart from handing over some cash now and then. Are you saying Nolan went back to Ireland and got into it there?”

“I don’t know. But the FBI apparently has reason to check it out. Do you know where he’s staying?”

“He didn’t say. We talked about getting together again, but we didn’t set a time. But I think you’re barking up the wrong tree here. The idea of Nolan being a terrorist… You might as well suspect me. It’s a sad turn of events when old pals can’t get together for a drink without being suspected of plotting the overthrow of something or other. And him, a man with kids? I can’t see him going after a kiddy museum.”

“Was he angry with Arabella?”

“How the hell would I know?”

Great, now I was making him angry. “Barney, I’m sorry if I’ve upset or insulted you in any way. I’ll admit I find it far-fetched, too, that a guy who hasn’t been in Philadelphia for decades would show up now and stir up trouble. But he is an electrician, and he did have some sort of terrorist ties, once upon a time. Wouldn’t you rather the FBI checked it out, before someone else gets hurt?”

Barney didn’t look convinced. “I guess. You want me to ask around, see if anyone knows where to find him? That way he can clear things up.”

“I don’t want to make trouble for anyone, including Nolan, but maybe he should know that the FBI would like a word with him. Again, I’m sorry if I’ve caused any hard feelings between us, and I appreciate the information you’ve given me. Are we okay?”

“Sure, no problem. You’ve done me a great service here, getting Felicity to help me out, and it’s the least I can do to thank you. I’m sure it’ll all be nothing, in the end.”

“Good. I’ll see you out. And I hope you’ll come back again.”

“Already planning to-Felicity said she had some ideas where to look next. You’ve got a whole lot of stuff here.”

“Don’t I know it!”

I escorted Barney to the front door and then headed back to my office, wrestling with an internal debate: should I call James and tell him what Barney had said about Nolan? Maybe I was worried about nothing. Maybe James had already confirmed that Nolan was in town. Maybe it really was Nolan whom Arabella and I had seen at the Market.

I decided to say nothing for the moment. I didn’t want James to know I was meddling in his business. Upstairs, half the offices were dark already-people tended to leave on the dot of five on Fridays, especially at this time of year when it was cold and dark out. Eric had left a neat stack of phone slips on my desk. The top one was from Arabella. Did I want to talk to her now? I checked my watch: nearly six. I didn’t have her home number, so I would call her office and leave a message, and clear my conscience.

I was surprised when she answered her phone. “Oh, Nell, thank you so much for calling me back. I really need to talk to you.”

“Now?”

“No, I can’t tonight. Is there any way you could come by my house tomorrow morning?”

On a Saturday? I considered turning her down but realized with embarrassment that I had no weekend plans. She sweetened the pot by promising breakfast, but she didn’t say anything more about why she needed to see me so urgently. Still, she wasn’t the hysterical type-although I could imagine that dealing with Hadley had pushed her over the edge-so I assumed she had a good reason for asking. Besides, driving into the city would take me no more than forty minutes, so what excuse did I have to say no? “Tell me how to get there.”