Twelve Angry Librarians

TWENTY-TWO

As I regarded the palpable tension in both Marisue and Randi, I realized that, despite our close friendship back in library school, over the years we had grown further and further apart. So much so that I really didn’t know them as well as I thought I did. When you don’t have regular contact with friends, even the best of friends, you don’t see how their lives have changed, how their opinions may have altered, and what might motivate them to do things you never would have believed they could do.

Like kill someone.

I told myself I was overreacting, simply because Marisue and Randi seemed not to want to confide in me. I couldn’t really believe that either one of them, or the two of them in concert, killed two people.

But I couldn’t be sure.

In the same way, they couldn’t be sure of me, either. Not because they thought I killed Gavin Fong and Maxine Muller, I reckoned, but because of my involvement in murder investigations over the past several years. They might be leery of telling me anything they didn’t want Kanesha to know.

If they weren’t implicated in the two murders, however, why should they be reluctant to tell me—and Kanesha, of course—about what happened at the party?

I realized I had let the silence last too long, and Marisue and Randi now looked even more uncomfortable. I forced a smile.

My phone buzzed to let me know a text had arrived. “Pardon me.” I picked up the phone to read the message. From Kanesha, as I expected.

E-mail me please. No time to talk f2f right now.

The f2f stumped me for a moment, then I realized she meant face-to-face. I texted back Ok, will do as soon as I can, and set the phone back on the table.

My thoughts had strayed from my earlier panic over the thought of more cyanide running loose. My fear was legitimate, because the killer could have plenty more of the deadly substance, especially if it came from overseas. I wondered just how much you could order.

If the killer had stolen it from a chemistry lab, however, the chances were that the amount was very small indeed so as not to arouse suspicion. Although, as Stewart told me, a well-run lab would know that even a minute amount had been taken.

Our server arrived with our desserts, and they turned out to be sinfully delicious. Our mutual enjoyment of the brownies and ice cream seemed to have erased the awkwardness that had sprung up over my questions about the party. I decided to let the subject drop for the moment and waited to see if either Marisue or Randi mentioned it.

Randi finished hers before Marisue and I were barely halfway through ours. “That was lovely.” She put down her spoon and patted her lips with her napkin. “Although I swear I could eat another one.”

“Yes, it’s wonderful,” Marisue said. “But one is more than enough. We should probably have split one between us, the brownies are so big.” She pushed her dessert plate away with about a third left.

Randi eyed it, and Marisue noticed. She picked up her plate and set it in front of Randi. “Go ahead.” She shook her head as Randi quickly finished the remains.

Marisue turned her gaze to me. “If you must know, Charlie, we went to Gavin’s party because we were afraid not to.”

I nearly dropped my spoon. “Afraid not to? Why on earth?”

“Because he could be vindictive if you didn’t do what he wanted.” Randi stacked Marisue’s empty plate on top of her own.

“What were you afraid he might do to you?” I savored the last bite of brownie while I waited for an answer.

“Write nasty anonymous letters to our directors, for one thing, telling them who knows what,” Marisue said. “He was capable of anything underhanded. My boss would probably ask me about it, but I don’t seriously think she’d believe the crap Gavin would invent. It would be horribly embarrassing, though, to have to deal with it.”

“It was easier just to go to the stupid party. Let Gavin see us there and gloat because he knew he’d forced us into it.” Randi picked up her water glass, and I noticed that her hand shook slightly as she raised it to her mouth and drank.

“All it cost us was a couple hours of our time.” Marisue’s tone was bitter. “And a few ounces of pride.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, although I knew how inadequate that was. “I have to ask you this, and I hope you’ll forgive me, but had Gavin ever written such a letter about either of you? Or about anyone you know?”

“Not about me,” Randi said.

Marisue shook her head. “Me, either, but you already know about Harlan Crais.” She paused for a moment. “You might talk to Maxine’s friend, Sylvia O’Callaghan, though. If she’ll talk to you, that is.”

Given Ms. O’Callaghan’s reaction to me previously, I figured I’d have a hard time getting close enough to her even to explain what I wanted to talk to her about. Still, I’d have to try.

I didn’t share these thoughts with Marisue and Randi, however. Instead I asked, “Can you tell me who else was at the party?” I picked up my phone, selected an app I often used to make notes of things I needed to remember, and waited.

“I suppose so,” Randi said, though she sounded uncertain. “I guess you’ll find out anyway in the long run.”

“Besides Randi and me,” Marisue said when Randi failed to continue, “the others were Harlan Crais, that young man with the tattoos, Bob Something-or-Other, Maxine and her friend Sylvia, Cathleen Matera, and Nancy Dunlap.”

“And Mitch Handler,” Randi added. “He’s so quiet, you probably forgot about him.”

“Yes, he was there, too,” Marisue said.

“Anyone else happen to come in while you were there?” I wondered if they remembered Lisa Krause.

They were both quiet for a moment, then Marisue said, “Yes, Lisa Krause. She wasn’t there for long, though.”

“Thanks.” I finished typing in the last name and closed the app. Now that I had the list I wondered exactly what I was going to do with it. I wanted to talk to each of them, but how should I go about it?

I knew that Kanesha wouldn’t appreciate what she might legitimately consider meddling on my part, but I could always use the excuse that the college library was the official host for the meeting. As director of the host library, therefore, I should make an effort to talk to people and get feedback on the conference.

One of my paternal grandmother’s sayings popped into my head. That’s your tale. I’m sitting on mine. My grandmother, bless her, had little patience for prevarication of any kind. No doubt my conscience dredged up that bit of folk wisdom, but despite that, I would go ahead with my plan if I could.

Marisue checked her watch. “If we want to make that session on liaison services in small academic libraries, we’d better scoot. It starts in about eight minutes.”

“Oh, gosh, yes, that’s one I really don’t want to miss a minute of.” Randi grabbed her purse and started digging in it.

I caught the attention of our server, and he came over to the table. He had the separate checks ready, and he presented each of them. Randi and Marisue charged theirs to their rooms, and I had enough cash to cover mine, along with a healthy tip.

“I think I’ll come with you,” I said as the three of us rose from the table. “That session sounds interesting.”

“Fine.” Marisue strode toward the dining room door, and Randi and I followed.

When we reached the meeting room for the session we wanted to hear, Marisue and Randi found seats near the middle of the room at the end of an aisle. I found an aisle seat several rows back. I had sensed that both women were ready to get away from me for a while, and I decided not to make more of a nuisance of myself than I needed to at the moment.

I got out my program and turned to the pages where the afternoon sessions were listed. I scanned through to see if there were any others that might interest me. Nothing stood out as particularly exciting, though there was a session on the licensing of electronic resources that was a possibility. After the afternoon sessions ended, there were no further events for the day. Programming resumed tomorrow morning, Sunday, and ran until noon, when there was a final lunch session with another keynote speaker.

Everyone had a free evening tonight. I wondered idly what they would find to do. Those who chose to venture out of the hotel had a number of excellent choices with nearby restaurants, and there were a couple of bars within walking distance.

One of the presenters called for attention, and then she began to introduce herself and the other two presenters, another woman and a man. I paid little attention to what she said, because I’d had an idea and was running through the possibilities in my mind.

The scheme was audacious, and I was nervous even thinking of it. I could imagine what Kanesha would say, but if it helped toward a solution of the double homicides, then most likely she would be willing to overlook the part I planned to play in it. I would have to do some fast work to get everything in place, but I had persons I could count on to make it work.

The more I thought about the logistics, the more nervous I became. I pulled out my phone, opened the note-taking app, and started tapping away.

Could I get this together in the next six hours or so? I hoped so, and I would have to count on the fact that Kanesha didn’t know about it in time to stop it.

I was going to have a party in honor of the memories of Gavin Fong and Maxine Muller, and my guests would be everyone who attended Gavin’s party on Thursday night. I figured getting them all together in one place again could yield interesting results.

Results that might lead to the arrest of a double murderer.