Checked Out

by Elizabeth Spann Craig

  I took a deep breath. The problem was that Nathan saw right through me and knew me too well. He knew I had a tough time getting close to people. And he knew the reason why.

  He put his hands up. “And that’s all I’m going to say. I know it’s none of my business, but I care about you as if you were my own daughter. Now let’s move on to something else. Why don’t you tell me something good? What’s going on at one of my favorite places in the world?”

  I smiled at him, relieved at the change of subject. “The Whitby Library? There are all sorts of good things going on there. Let me tell you about a couple of upcoming programs I think you might want to be a fly on the wall for. But first . . . I should tell you the story of our new resident.”

  His white eyebrows sprung up as if they were on springs. “Resident? At the library?”

  “Indeed. And his name, although it’s still being determined, might be Fitz.”

  Chapter Ten

  “LET’S GO WITH FITZ,” said Wilson decisively the very next morning before the library opened. The library opened at noon on Sundays and there were already some folks gathering outside the door. The library director was glancing through the social media votes and the sheaf of votes with a pleased expression on his face. “Say, this was terrific for public engagement. I don’t know when our social media accounts have been so busy.”

  “Fitz it is,” I said. “I didn’t see anything else that seemed to fit him so well. Besides, I ran it by my former English professor last night. If even he couldn’t think of something better, we’re in good shape.”

  Wilson and I both gazed at Fitz. He’d spent the entire evening loose in the library since he’d already demonstrated himself an expert at the litter box the day before. The custodian was able to fashion a cat door on our custodial closet and Fitz clearly had gotten the hang of it overnight. I’d come over to the library at eleven to make sure there hadn’t been any Fitz-related damage I needed to know about. I found him asleep on a table against a displayed row of Rosamunde Pilcher books. There was no evidence of any claw-sharpening, ‘accidents,’ or destruction of any kind. I’d vacuumed thoroughly before my conversation with Wilson.

  “Fitz seems like a laid-back guy,” said Wilson. The cat opened one eye and surveyed Wilson solemnly before closing it again. He tilted his head to one side. “So . . . we’ll keep him out in the library today. He knows where his litter is.” He set his face grimly. “If there are any complaints, refer the patrons to me.”

  “I will scoop him up with me to the breakroom at lunch, too,” I said. “Maybe it would be good for him to take a break from people at that point.”

  Although, to be sure, it didn’t seem like a concern. Fitz’s love for people was already well-documented.

  Wilson turned a stern expression on Fitz. I knew Wilson well enough to know this was an expression of deep thought and of analyzing a particular situation. But if you didn’t know him, it would look as if he was very annoyed about something. He finally said, “Now, the last thing we need is for this cat, once the public latches onto him, to have something to happen to him. He doesn’t need to be dashing out into a busy parking lot. Heaven forbid he gets run over with a library full of loving patrons watching.”

  We surveyed Fitz again. He rolled over on his back and opened an eye again at Wilson.

  “It doesn’t seem likely,” I said.

  “By the way, how did things go with Luna yesterday?” asked Wilson.

  I smiled at him. “She fit in perfectly. She didn’t ask a lot of questions, she took initiative, she introduced herself to patrons. And the kids all seemed to love her. I think they thought she was some sort of fairy with her colorful clothes and purple hair.”

  Wilson looked puffed up. He liked to hear when he’d done something well. “Yes. I rather thought she’d fit in well.” He gave me a look out of the corner of his eye. “Appearances can be deceiving, you know. In a library, we know not to judge a book by its cover.”

  “I know what you mean. I’ll confess I wasn’t really sure what to make of Luna at first. She does have a sort of big-city tough look about her, but Luna is about as tough as Fitz here,” I said.

  Wilson lifted his eyebrows. “Considering Fitz survived a flood in a gutter, I think that speaks to both his and Luna’s levels of grit.” He glanced at his watch. “The only thing I worry about is that she won’t be punctual.”

  I hid a smile. Wilson always reminded me of the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland when he started up with his punctuality rants. He’d stand there, looking at his large watch and worrying.

  I said, “I know she’s taking care of her mom right now and I have a feeling mornings are a rough time. Anyway, you know I’m always here at the crack of dawn to cover in case she’s in five or ten minutes late.”

  Wilson batted his eyes a bit at the ten minutes part of that sentence, but seemed generally appeased.

  Fortunately for Luna, she came in several minutes before the library opened to the public. What’s more, she gave a rousing storytime that had the mothers applauding at the end of it. On the way out, she showed all the children how to rub Fitz gently if they wanted to meet him. Fitz had taken a lazy interest in the storytime and was curled up on a display we’d made of Junie B. Jones books. He gave little mews to the children and totally won them over.

  A little later, I was at the research desk and one of our regular patrons came up to me with a look of concern. She was Sadie Stewart, a woman in her mid-thirties with brown hair and, lately, an exhausted expression on her face. She had her toddler with her, Lynn, who blinked sleepily at me.

  “Everything okay?” I asked. It was a question that could lead to a patron asking about researching a particular health problem, or one that could lead to a patron reporting that the restrooms were out of order.

  “That’s what I wanted to ask you,” she said. “I’ve heard about what happened with your date.”

  I looked ruefully at her. This was definitely something that came along with the territory of living in a small town. “I’m sure most of Whitby has, by now.”

  Sadie nodded and looked uncertain. “Sometimes the town knows things and sometimes not. I’m not sure if you knew I was in a relationship with Roger.”

  My mouth dropped open before I hastily snapped it shut again. “I didn’t, I’m afraid. I’m so sorry! You were currently dating Roger when we had our date arranged? How awful.” I glanced around to make sure there weren’t a bunch of town residents horning in on our conversation, but everyone seemed otherwise engaged. That was good. The last thing I needed was for a rumor to start that I was some kind of homewrecker.

  “No, no,” she said hurriedly. “Roger had ended our relationship. I am not over here to give you a hard time or chastise you or anything. I felt bad that you had to go through finding him dead. And maybe I wanted to hear more about what happened.”

  I asked, “Roger had just ended your relationship?”

  Sadie shook her head. “No. And, actually, it had been on-again-off-again for a long while. And maybe I hadn’t accepted the relationship was over. He and I had history together, not all of it good. But it was good enough on the whole that I thought it would be worthwhile trying to make something of it.”

  She carefully set her toddler on the desk so she could reach for Fitz, who was sprawled out taking a nap. I made sure the toddler wasn’t too grabby, but she seemed gentle and Fitz seemed happy.

  “I’m so sorry,” I repeated. “I’d never have agreed to go out with Roger if I’d thought he was in any sort of relationship. You see, I didn’t even know him. One of his relatives set us up on a blind date.”

  As we watched her toddler, it occurred to me she could be Roger’s child. Sadie caught me studying her and smiled, “She favors him, doesn’t she?”

  “Honestly, I never even met him, so I couldn’t say. She’s Roger’s daughter?” I asked. I was stumbling now, really knocked off-guard. For some reason, I’d apparently assumed Roger didn’t really have
any kind of romantic backstory. Maybe it was just convenient for me to think he had a blank slate when it came to dating. But here was a woman I’d been acquainted with for years who’d had what was clearly a very intimate relationship with Roger.

  “Roger wasn’t the best at dealing with responsibilities. Maybe he was just in denial. Oh, I guess he helped me out from time to time. But I wanted more involvement. I wanted more support,” she said, giving a short laugh. “Not just money. I wanted emotional support, too. And support from another parent. It’s tough to be a single mom and sometimes I don’t feel like I’m doing a very good job,” said Sadie, looking tired. “Although my mom does help me a ton. I don’t know what I’d do without her.”

  “You’re doing a great job,” I said firmly. “I know you work so hard with your daughter. You’re checking out bedtime stories, you’re checking out music for her to listen to. You’re going to storytimes. Everything you do is designed to enrich your child.”

  Sadie brightened at this. “Thanks. Sometimes it’s easy to lose perspective. I’ll see what other parents are doing and I know I’m working with a really cramped budget and can’t do all of the special, extra activities that other parents are doing. Thanks for making me feel like I’m doing all right.”

  I said slowly, “And you said you wanted to know more about my discovery of Roger.” I briefly and as non-dramatically as possible filled her in.

  Sadie listened closely and then was silent for a few moments. “That must have been awful. But it sounds like he didn’t suffer. Was that your impression?”

  I said, “I don’t think he possibly could have. And maybe he wasn’t even aware it was coming—he could have been caught totally off-guard by whoever did it. He would have been focused on getting the grill ready.”

  Sadie said slowly, “So the police are thinking it was someone he knew?”

  I nodded. “For one thing, a stranger crime is really unlikely in Whitby. Strangers are unlikely in Whitby. To have some sort of itinerant killer coming through is not a scenario they’re likely to pursue.”

  Sadie cleared her throat. “For the record, I was picking up Lynn at daycare when that was going on. Not that I’d have wanted to kill Roger anyway, despite all the trouble he’s caused me. Although I sure have an idea who might have wanted to do him in.”

  I just waited, hoping Sadie would continue.

  Fortunately, she did. “I’d put Heather at the top of the list.”

  I waited a moment for Sadie to explain why Roger’s sister would have wanted to kill him. We watched as little Lynn laughed when Fitz reached out and touched her hand with a paw.

  Sadie sighed. “I know I shouldn’t gossip, but Heather and Roger didn’t have the closest of relationships. Heather spent most of her time being mad at Roger.”

  “Why?” I asked, although I had the feeling it had something to do with their mom.

  “For not doing what he was supposed to do. For not helping out.” Sadie gave a short laugh. “I guess I didn’t see it at the time, but Heather and I had exactly the same issues with Roger. We were upset he didn’t take any responsibility for his family. And not only did he not help out financially or help spend time with his mother, but he also would tell Heather he was going to sit with their mom for a while for her to run errands—and then he wouldn’t show up. That happened a lot,” said Sadie. She made a face. “You must be hearing this and wonder why on earth I wanted to get back with him. I know I’m making Roger sound like he was totally unreliable, and I guess he was. But when we were together, we really had something special. And he wasn’t always completely thoughtless. He could make incredibly romantic gestures.”

  And that apparently was the problem with Roger. He had been the kind of guy who was good at the gesture and bad at the everyday commitment.

  Sadie glanced at her watch. “I should probably go. Thanks for talking to me—you’ve made me feel better that at least Roger didn’t suffer at the end.” She gently picked Lynn up and said, “I love the cat! What’s his name?”

  “We’ve decided on Fitz. Short for Fitzgerald,” I said.

  Sadie grinned at me. “A great cat deserves a great name.”

  The day grew really busy after that. Busy enough that it went in a blur and I didn’t even realize it was time for a break until several minutes in. I hurried off to the breakroom to eat a few almonds I’d brought in as an energy-booster.

  When I opened the door, I froze. Luna was crying, her head buried in Fitz’s fur.

  She jerked her head up and quickly wiped her eyes with her sleeve. I grabbed a few tissues from the box across the room and handed them to her.

  “Thanks,” she said, her voice muffled.

  I walked over to get my almonds out, trying to give her time to compose herself—or to let her cry more, if she needed to. I was just thinking maybe I should take my snack back out to the circulation desk when she said, “Hey, sorry about this, Ann. You must think I’m a total mess.”

  I shook my head. “No way. You’re just under a lot of stress right now. You’ve just moved back to a town you haven’t seen for . . . what? Twenty years or so?”

  Luna nodded ruefully.

  I kept enumerating. “You’re living with your mom. And taking care of your mom. And starting a new job. That’s a lot going on at one time, Luna. And yet, since I’ve met you, you’ve been really upbeat and have kept a smile on your face the whole time. You’re not a mess at all.”

  Luna gave me a grateful smile and then blew her nose with gusto. “Thank you. It’s been a lot harder than I thought it would be. Usually, I can just handle stuff with no problems. I’ve always had a kind of happy-go-lucky personality. But this? This has been tough.” She hesitated. “I think, on top of my mom’s physical injuries, that she’s a little depressed. This all started when she had knee replacement surgery. She asked me to move back home. I was surprised, but what could I say? Ever since her surgery, she really hasn’t been the same. I was glad when her friend came over last night, like I mentioned.”

  “How did that go?” I asked.

  She shrugged. “It seemed like it was okay. They were still visiting by the time I got home and Mom seemed like her old self—cheerful, fun. But then just half an hour after the friend left, Mom sort of deflated somehow. Half the time I’m trying to get her to do her PT exercises and the other half of the time I’m trying to persuade her to get out of the bed and get dressed. Part of me thinks I should stay at home with her, but it doesn’t seem to make her any better when I do, plus we need the income from me working.” She shrugged again and then chuckled. “I guess when I’m not sure what to do, the answer is ‘cry’.”

  I said slowly, “I don’t really know your mom, Luna. Maybe I’ve met her, but it’s been a while since I did. Do you think she’d like to spend part of her day at the library? You could check in on her regularly. Do you think being around other people might do her some good?”

  Luna considered this. “I’m not sure if she’d leave the house, to be honest. I’ve tried to get her to go out to supper with me, but she just doesn’t want to. I guess I could give it a go, at least.”

  “The thing is, she could be totally quiet and by herself and still be surrounded by other people,” I said. “You could pick her up or drop her off at lunch, if she needs you to drive her. I’ve got a film club meeting that’s coming up . . . maybe she’d even enjoy it].”

  Luna dabbed at her eyes again, a hopeful expression on her features. “Maybe. Maybe she’d go for that. I know she likes old movies. Thanks, Ann.”

  And suddenly, just like that, the conversation was over and she moved on to another topic.

  “Hey, I tried the place you’d recommended yesterday. The vegan place a couple of blocks away. They had this amazing avocado and maple glazed tempeh sandwich that I think changed my life. At any rate, it cleared my head a little bit. As a bonus, I think I actually have a clue for you,” said Luna, grinning at me. “I know you’re trying to clear your professor friend.”
>
  “A clue? From the vegan deli?”

  “From earlier. But first off, I’m wondering if you could show me a picture of Roger,” said Luna.

  Chapter Eleven

  ALTHOUGH I DIDN’T HAVE a picture of my own, Roger was definitely on Google, considering the investment firm had all their counselors up on social media. I handed her my phone with the picture.

  She studied it with narrowed eyes and then nodded. “Yep. That’s him.”

  “You knew him? Or had met him?” I asked.

  “Neither one. But I sure did hear him having a humdinger of an argument with someone not long before he croaked,” said Luna in a level tone.

  I felt my eyebrows fly up. “Really? Where was this?”

  “Oh, I was grabbing lunch at a deli—different deli from today. The funny thing was it was sort of ironic because I’d just been reflecting on what a nice, quiet day I was having and what a very quiet town Whitby was. The next thing I know, I’m hearing this argument in hissed voices,” said Luna.

  “Who was the other person? Did you know him?” I asked.

  “My answer would usually be no, since I’m so new here. But this guy I did know—he’s my mom’s doctor. Or one of her doctors, at any rate. His name is Kenneth Driscoll,” said Luna. “In his forties, kind of handsome in a sort of Television Doctor way. And seems to think a lot of himself.”

  I nodded. “I know exactly who you’re talking about. Everyone considers him to be the best family doctor in town.”

  “Well, that’s a relief, since my mom really does need some good help and I’d have hated to make her change doctors, since she likes him so much. Although, I thought the guy acted like he was pretty big on himself. I think she likes him because he’s tall, dark, and handsome,” said Luna. Then she shrugged. “I dunno. Maybe I’m being uncharitable. He has a good way with Mom, and that’s not always the case with doctors.”