Twelve Angry Librarians

TWENTY-FOUR

My hand trembled so badly I almost dropped the phone on the floor. I managed to tighten my hold on it, though, and tapped the icon to answer the call.

“Hello, sweetheart, how are you?” I was thankful my voice didn’t waver.

“Hi, Dad,” Laura said. “I’m a little tired, as usual, but otherwise okay. How has the conference been going?”

I hesitated. I didn’t want to give my daughter any reason to worry, because she had more than enough to occupy her mind right now. “It’s been okay, a few hiccups. I’ll tell you all about it later.” I hoped she wouldn’t press me for details. I would tell her about the murders another time.

“Better you than me.” Laura giggled. “I don’t care much for meetings like that, especially these days.”

“No, I suppose not,” I said.

“I know you’ve been wondering about this big decision we’re having to make,” Laura said. “We haven’t made it yet, although I think Frank is really leaning toward accepting the job.”

My heart sank. I tried to form words but couldn’t.

Laura continued without apparently noticing my lack of comment. “He’s told his department chair about the offer, though, and she’s invited us to dinner tomorrow night. I know she’s not happy about losing him, so I’m pretty sure she wants to try to talk him out of it. She asked him not to make a final decision until after dinner tomorrow night.”

Now I was able to speak. “Do you think she has a chance of changing his mind?” I hoped the woman would be able to come up with enough money and perks to keep Frank and Laura in Athena.

“I don’t really know, Dad. He knows I’m concerned about leaving so soon after the baby is born, but we’re both aware of the advantages of the new job.”

“I want what’s best for you, you know that,” I said. “But I’m going to be praying that the department chair manages to find some incentives to keep Frank here.”

Laura sighed. “Me, too, Dad. We probably won’t see you until sometime after we’ve had that dinner tomorrow night, but I’ll let you know what happens.”

“All right, sweetheart,” I said. “Try not to worry. I know you and Frank will make the best choice for all three of you.”

“Thanks,” Laura said. “I’ve got to go, but I’ll call you tomorrow.”

I put down the phone and stared blankly at the computer screen. I hated this feeling of suspension—waiting for the worst to happen, even though there was a chance it wouldn’t. I wanted to know now, to end this tension one way or the other, but I knew it wasn’t possible.

I also wished I could make up my mind about my own future. Did I really want to work full-time again? With two grandchildren soon to be born, did I want to be tied down to the nine-to-five routine five days a week? Then I thought about how much I had been enjoying—for the most part—the work I was doing as the interim director. I would miss that if I didn’t take the job.

There was also the question of my relationship with Helen Louise. We both were comfortable with things the way they currently were. She loved her business, despite the huge demands it made on her time and energy. We spent time together when we could, and we both tacitly agreed that marriage at present wasn’t a huge priority. Though I know we both wished we had more time together, I didn’t expect Helen Louise to give up a business she had worked so hard to make successful in order to marry me.

Everything would work out for the best. I had to believe that. I had to trust that we would all make the best decisions we could, and then we would go forward. I felt like a superannuated Pollyanna thinking that, but optimism was always a better choice.

My phone buzzed to notify me that I had received a text message. From Kanesha, it read simply, Got the e-mail. Interesting. Thx. Nothing more. I sighed and set the phone down again. I really wished I could sit down with Kanesha and find out more about the progress she was making. The longer it took to identify the killer, the more worried I was that someone else might die.

My phone buzzed again. Perhaps Kanesha wanted to talk to me.

No, this text was from Lisa Krause. Charlie, where are u? Been hoping to run into u. Need to talk about tonight.

I frowned. What about tonight? I wasn’t sure what she meant. I texted back that I was at home and told her to call me. I hated long text message exchanges because my big fingers didn’t handle the small keyboard all that well. I couldn’t do the two-thumb typing that so many young people did with such ease.

Lisa called two minutes later. “Hi, Lisa, what about tonight?”

“Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten about the post-reception party in my suite at the hotel, Charlie.” Lisa sounded exasperated and tired.

Oops. Lisa had told me about that last week, but it had slipped my mind until now. “Oh, that,” I said, trying to sound halfway knowledgeable. “What about it?”

“I wanted to get your okay on the budget for the drinks and the food. Dessert-type things, you know, like mini-cheesecakes and things like that. I was going to go out and get the stuff myself, but there wasn’t time, so I arranged for the hotel to do it. And that costs more, of course, but I’m hoping you won’t think it’s too much, since the library is paying for it.”

“How much are we talking about?” I asked. As overseer of the library budget, I had to keep a tight rein on costs for everything.

Lisa named a figure, and although I winced inwardly, I told her it would be okay. The amount wasn’t that much more than the original figure I’d signed off on, and I would sort it out next week when we had all the bills for the conference expenses in hand.

“That’s okay,” I said. “We need to make sure that’s it, however. No more wiggle room in the budget after that.”

“I understand,” Lisa said. “Now, I’ve told people that they can come as early as seven thirty, though I expect we won’t see many until after eight. Most of them will head out for dinner after the reception from five thirty to six thirty.”

“How many people are you figuring on turning up?” I asked.

“Fewer than fifty,” Lisa said. “Frankly, I’d be surprised if as many as twenty show up. By the time most of them finish with dinner, they’ll probably be headed to a bar or to bed.”

“If you really don’t think all that many people will show up,” I said, “I might bring Diesel with me. What do you think?”

“That would be great,” Lisa said. “I’ve had quite a few people ask me about him. You don’t think it would be too much for him, do you? I wouldn’t want him to be frightened or upset.”

“If there are a lot more people than you expect,” I said, “I will bring him home. He did fine at the retirement party last month, though, and there were about thirty people at that.” One of our senior librarians had retired after forty years at Athena, and her one special request was to have Diesel at her going-away party. Diesel had seemed to enjoy all the attention.

“That’s fine,” Lisa said. “I won’t tell people that he’s going to be there in order to keep the numbers down, how’s that?”

“Good plan.” My idea about having a party with all of Gavin’s party guests in attendance forced its way back into my consciousness. Should I simply wait and see if any of them turned up? Or should I make an effort to get them there? I figured Randi and Marisue would come if I asked them, but I didn’t know about the others.

“Thanks, Charlie. I’d better get going,” Lisa said. “Can you and Diesel be there by seven thirty?”

“Yes,” I said. “Look, Lisa, can you do me a favor?”

“Sure, what is it?”

“If you happen to see any of the people who were at Gavin’s party on Thursday, could you tell them how much you would like them to come to your suite tonight? Don’t sound too effusive, but see if you can get them to show up.”

Lisa didn’t respond right away. Finally she said, “I guess I can do that. What exactly are you up to, though? I have to tell you, you’re making me nervous.”

“I’d like to talk to them,” I said. “Nothing more. Maybe having them in a party situation again will stimulate their memories, and we could learn something that’s pertinent to the murder investigation. You never know.”

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Lisa said. “All right, I’ll make sure to talk to any of them that I happen to see. Now I’ve really got to go.”

I put my phone down feeling both excited and apprehensive. I hoped I hadn’t set up a possible disaster. Perhaps I should make Kanesha aware of my little plan. I’d have to think about that. I would have to be particularly vigilant, and I’d definitely have to keep a close watch on Diesel. That shouldn’t be too hard, because he would probably stick close to me in a group like that. If he showed any signs of stress from the gathering, I would of course take him home right away.

Probably I’d be lucky if even half of the people on my short list showed up tonight. The lure of more food and drink at someone else’s expense might suffice, if some of them were on tight travel budgets. They might rather save their per diem and pocket it, rather than spend it on a restaurant if they could get enough to fill them up at the two parties tonight. I remembered times when I attended conferences outside of Houston when I’d had to stretch my travel allowance as much as I could in order to avoid dipping into my own pockets. Particularly in the days when I had two young children who seemed to outgrow their clothes and shoes every couple of months.

My phone rang, and I saw that Helen Louise was the caller. She must be taking her midafternoon break, I reckoned. The time was a few minutes past three thirty.

“Hello, love, how are you?” I asked.

“I’m doing fine, love.” Helen Louise sounded tired, but she rarely ever would say that, at least during the workday. “We’ve had a really good day today so far. I must say, all your librarian colleagues seem to have made the bistro their favorite place to eat. Business has boomed since the conference started.”

“I’m not surprised,” I said. “The food of course is fabulous, and your prices are reasonable. They can afford to eat good meals and not worry about running their expenses up.”

Helen Louise chuckled. “All I have to say is bless them. Hungry librarians are a good thing.” She paused for a moment. When she continued, her tone was more serious. “What time do you think you might be through with the conference today? Or tomorrow? I know you said it runs through noon tomorrow.”

“Yes, it does,” I said. “I’ve got to be at a reception the library is having for attendees at the hotel from seven thirty to probably around nine or nine thirty. What’s up?”

“I want to talk to you about something,” she said. “I’m just wondering when will be the best time for us to sit down and talk when neither of us is distracted.”

“When is best for you?” I asked. “I’ll make my schedule work around yours as much as possible.”

“Thank you for that, sweetheart,” Helen Louise said. “I don’t want to impinge on what you need to do for the conference, though. I don’t think I’ll feel up to it tonight after we close, and I don’t imagine you’ll feel like talking then, either. So how about tomorrow afternoon sometime? Before Sunday evening dinner?”

“That should be fine,” I said. My curiosity about what she wanted to discuss was growing every second. Several possibilities danced around in my mind, but the one that made me terrified was the thought of illness. I knew she’d been to see her doctor the previous week for a routine checkup, and so far she hadn’t shared the results of that with me. I prayed I wasn’t going to hear devastating news about her health. “Can you give me any idea about what this is you want to discuss?”

She probably heard the note of fear in my voice. “Don’t worry, sweetie, I promise you it’s nothing terrible or scary.” She hesitated a moment. “I guess I might as well tell you now, so you can be thinking about it when you have time. I’m considering turning over the running of the bistro to Debbie and Henry and stepping back, taking more time off.”