No Cats Allowed

SIXTEEN

I was so shocked I almost dropped the phone. What a gruesome way to die. Poor Reilly. I felt sick at my stomach and did my best to keep an image from forming in my mind. No wonder the poor student worker was so upset.

“Charlie, are you still there?” Penny’s anxious tone brought my brain back into focus.

“Yes, I’m here,” I said. “You’re right, it is horrible. What on earth was he doing in the basement of the library at that time of night? Does anybody know?”

“No, I haven’t heard any other details,” Penny said. “The whole thing is truly bizarre. Whoever did it must have hated him terribly to kill him like that.”

“Yes, they sure did,” I said. “I’d better get off the line now, Penny. I’m expecting another call. You’ll let me know when I need to come to your office.”

Penny assured me she would be in touch as soon as she had further news about my status at the library, and I bade her good-bye. I set the phone down, and I saw my hand shake. I couldn’t help thinking about Reilly’s manner of death. I had loathed the man, certainly, but I wouldn’t have wished him so brutal an end.

Hatred.

Melba couldn’t have done it, I knew with absolute certainty. She might have hated Reilly, but she was not cruel. His death was cruel.

Porter Stanley hated his former brother-in-law, I had little doubt. He seemed a far more likely candidate to have executed Reilly in such a gruesome fashion. Kanesha had better move quickly, though, before Stanley disappeared. Perhaps I ought to call her.

I reached for the phone, and it rang as I touched it. Startled, I almost dropped it. I looked at the caller ID. The number looked vaguely familiar, but I didn’t know to whom it belonged.

“Is this Charlie?” the caller said. “This is Delbert Winston.”

“Yes, Delbert, this is Charlie,” I said. I had forgotten about him. “I called right after I read your e-mail, but you weren’t available at the time.”

“Sorry about that,” he replied. “I really appreciate you calling back so quickly. I guess you’ve heard that the jerk is dead.” He sounded happy about it.

“Yes, I heard,” I said. “I also heard that he died in a particularly horrible way. Even he didn’t deserve that.”

“I’m not going to argue with you about it,” Delbert said. “I don’t think you know how nasty he really was. Frankly, I’m surprised somebody didn’t take him out years ago. He was twisted.”

The distaste in his tone was obvious, and I had to admit to being curious about this strong reaction to the man. Delbert obviously hated Oscar Reilly. Could he be the killer? I had better be cautious in talking to him and not put him off. I might be able to extract useful information from him, information that could help Melba.

“He was not a pleasant man,” I said. “He seemed to cause turmoil around him.”

“He did, in spades,” Delbert said heatedly. “I can’t figure out why the hell anybody thought he’d be the right person to run the library while they look for a permanent director.”

I wondered how much the high-level library staff, like Delbert, Lisa, and Cassandra, knew about the budget crisis Peter Vanderkeller left behind when he decamped. I didn’t want to say anything out of turn, because if they didn’t know about it, I didn’t want it known that I was the one who told them.

“I suppose it had something to do with his financial background,” I said. “Maybe President Wyatt wanted someone with a firm hand on the budget.” I thought that was suitably diplomatic enough and didn’t give anything away.

Delbert laughed, a short, sharp sound. “So you’ve heard about the mess good ole Petey left us. I can’t believe how idiotic he was. Surely the man had better sense. But I guess he didn’t.”

“At least he didn’t embezzle it,” I said. “It was careless of him to overcommit the budget that way, but I’m sure he had the best intentions.”

“He probably did. We all want to make sure the students and faculty have access to the resources they need,” Delbert said in tones of great patience. “But at the end of the day, we have only so much money, and we can’t spend what we don’t have.”

“No, I understand that, but the president is going to have to get it sorted out, not us.” I decided it was time we got to the point of why he wanted to talk to me. “What is this urgent personal matter you want to discuss with me?”

“Oh, yeah, that.” Delbert paused, long enough that I thought I would have to prompt him again. Then he spoke. “You’ve been involved in murders before, haven’t you? I mean, I’ve heard about you helping the sheriff’s department a few times.”

“Yes, I have helped a bit,” I said. I had a bad feeling about this.

“That’s good,” he replied. “I mean, that you’ve got experience. I need help from somebody who knows how to deal with the cops.”

“Why?” I asked. “Do you have information about the murder? If that’s the case, the best thing you can do is call the sheriff’s department and tell them what you know. Or if you don’t feel comfortable talking to them, call Martin Ford. He’s a good guy, and you can talk to him.”

“It’s more complicated than that,” Delbert said. “Look, this is how it went down. Before I heard about the budget crap, Reilly came to me the first week he was put in charge. He’s talking to me about the acquisitions budget, as well as my cataloging budget, asking me all sorts of questions, trying to figure out the process of ordering and paying for resources. I guess because he didn’t want to deal with that witch Cassandra. I explained everything as patiently as I could, and he went away.” He paused for a long breath. “Then, he comes back a week later, and all of a sudden he’s wanting to look at invoices, purchase orders, spreadsheets—all kinds of documentation. So I give him what he asks for, even stuff he should have gotten from Cassandra. He goes away. Then a few days later he’s back again, like some damn dog with a bone. This time, though, he tells me he thinks I’ve been fiddling with the books and that I must have embezzled like a hundred grand out of the acquisitions budget. All because I’m the selector for the history and art history departments, and they have endowed funds that I manage. Cassandra can’t stand it because she can’t tell me what to do with the money.”

With all the controls the college had in place to insure against fraud, I was surprised that Reilly could have found anything suspicious. I said as much to Delbert.

“Right, I know. You have no idea how many hoops I have to go through to get purchase orders and invoices okayed. There’s no way I could embezzle anything.” He sounded disgusted. “Maybe if I was some high-priced accountant, I could figure out a dodge, but I was a classics major, for crying out loud. What the hell do I know about cooking the books?”

“Yes, I can see your point.” I didn’t necessarily agree with him but there was no point in my antagonizing him. “He accused you of embezzling. What was your response?”

“I went ballistic,” Delbert said. “See, I’ve got a temper. Most of the time I’m this quiet, mild-mannered guy, gets along with pretty much everybody. But I have a quick fuse, especially when some idiot like Reilly comes along and calls me a criminal. I totally lost it, and I was screaming at him like nothing you’ve ever heard. And you know what?”

“No, what?” I said, because he was obviously expecting me to.

“The jackass just sat there and stared at me with this superior little smile on his face.” Delbert sounded surprised. “I couldn’t believe it, and it just made me angrier. I grabbed this brass bookend I have and was about to brain him with it, and then he got up and walked out. I went after him, though I had enough sense to put down the bookend, and I was yelling all kinds of things at him.” He paused. “I guess I even said I’d kill him if he ever came back and accused me of anything like that again. So you see why I’m worried, don’t you?”

“Did anyone besides Reilly hear you make those threats?” I asked.

“All of technical services,” Delbert said. “You’ve been in our area, you know what it’s like. All those cubicles are open, and if you’re loud enough, they can hear everything.”

“You’re worried you could be a suspect in the murder,” I said. “I really think you should go to the sheriff’s office and make a statement before they have a chance to hear about it from anyone else. I’ve known Chief Deputy Berry for several years now, and she is tough and determined. She’s also principled and intelligent. She’s not going to railroad anyone. If you didn’t do it, you don’t have to worry about it. Just tell her the truth.”

There was only silence on the other end. Had I angered him? I wondered. I wasn’t sure what else he expected me to do, other than to give him the benefit of my experience.

“I’ll think about it,” he finally said. “You won’t go to her and tell her about this, will you?”

“Not if you don’t want me to,” I said. “I will respect your confidence for now, but eventually you will have to talk to her and be straight with her. Just think about it this way. How would you feel if the wrong person is arrested and charged with the murder?”

Delbert laughed, a harsh sound. “I’d just as soon give the guy a medal for getting rid of Reilly. He’s no loss to anyone, believe me.”

“He may not be, but we can’t let a murderer go free,” I said. “What if the killer goes after someone else?”

“Why would he do that?” Delbert seemed surprised.

“If the murderer feels threatened somehow, he—or she—might do anything for self-protection.”

“I hadn’t thought about it that way. Interesting,” Delbert said. “But if someone is smart enough, they can keep the killer from finding out what they know.”

Something about his tone made me suspicious. “Delbert, if you know anything else about this, I cannot urge you strongly enough—for your own safety—to talk to Kanesha Berry. As soon as possible.”

“I’ll think about it,” he said. “Look, thanks for your advice. I appreciate it.” He ended the call.

Did he really know anything that could be dangerous? For his sake I hoped I was misreading the situation.

If I wasn’t, however, he could end up in a lot of trouble—or worse. I really ought to talk to Kanesha, I decided. I didn’t have to break Delbert’s confidence—at least, not yet—but I could emphasize that she really needed to talk to the senior library staff. There was no telling what kind of accusations Reilly might have made against Cassandra or Lisa, for example. He could have subjected them to the same kind of intimidation.

My phone rang and pulled me out of my rumination.

“Hi, Sean. Are you still at the jail? How’s Melba?” I asked.

“Yes, I’m still here,” he said. “They plan to hold Melba for a while longer.”

“Why? Surely they haven’t charged her with anything. What’s the holdup?”

“They haven’t charged her. Yet.” Sean sounded grim. “But I think it’s only a matter of time.”

“Why?” I asked again.

“They have evidence tying her to the scene,” Sean said.

“What evidence?”

“A tube of pink lipstick that she says is hers.”