Little Bookshop of Murder

by Maggie Blackburn

  The trouble was he’d not been anywhere around the house. He couldn’t have taken the batteries out of the smoke detector. But she was assuming it had happened since she’d been home. Perhaps it hadn’t. Maybe he’d been here before her mom died.

  The other people who’d been in the house were herself, Agatha, Piper, Mia, Doris, Glads, and Marilyn. Could she consider all of them suspects? Certainly not her cousin or her aunt. That left Glads and Doris, since Marilyn had been out of town. Which made little sense. At all.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  “Do you know if my mom had anybody over a few days before her death?”

  Piper stood at the kitchen counter, pouring them both a cup of coffee. She brought the cups over to the table where Summer sat.

  “I’m just not sure. Mia was in and out of here all the time. And your mother had this open-door policy. Everybody knew they were welcome.”

  Summer was aware of that. She didn’t even have an open-door policy for her students. She shuddered to think of it. Half the island population could have been here. “I wonder if there’s any way we could find out.”

  “I’ll talk to Mia tonight and see if she knows. What are you thinking?”

  “I’m trying to figure out who would have taken out the batteries—who would’ve had access. At first I thought of the women who’ve been here since her death. Then it dawned on me that it could’ve happened weeks before Mom died.”

  Piper frowned. “It seems unlikely, knowing how careful Aunt Hildy was, but it’s worth looking into. So you definitely think the person who set the fire is also the person who killed your mother.”

  “Yes, but I need more proof.” Summer took a sip of coffee. “That’s so good.” She took another sip.

  “First, we need to know how she died. Have you heard anything at all from the police about the final autopsy results?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Well, we recognize she didn’t die of a heart attack, even though that’s what they say.”

  “It seems impossible,” Summer said. “It happens to people occasionally if there’s some underlying issue.” A thought occurred to her. “Was Mom still seeing the same doctor?”

  “I believe so.”

  “I wonder how much information he’d give me.”

  “That’s a good question.”

  “Let’s go,” Summer said, reaching for her bag.

  “Now, wait a minute. You’ve got a concussion and last time you went … I sound like my mom, right?”

  “You do. But I hear you. I think I pushed myself too hard. Traveled too many places—the lawyer’s office, then the bookstore. And it was a stressful day.”

  Piper folded her arms. “I agree. But if anything happens to you …”

  Summer shrugged. “Come on. You’ll be with me the whole time. If I start to feel bad, I’ll tell you.”

  Piper lifted an eyebrow with incredulity.

  “I promise.”

  “Okay, let’s go. I’ll drive.”

  “Good idea.”

  * * *

  The cousins drove the short distance to Dr. Chang’s office. The parking lot had a few cars in it, and Summer hoped it wasn’t a busy day. It wasn’t a nice thing to do—just to pop in on a doctor. But a strong impulse drove her forward. She needed to get a move on this. She’d not considered this before. This thread warranted some plucking.

  They walked into the office, which was cool and crisply decorated. Even the plants were well manicured.

  The woman behind the counter considered them. “Sign the check-in form, please.”

  “I’m not a patient,” Summer said.

  Her eyebrows lifted in interest. “How can I help you?”

  “My mom was a patient. She recently passed away. I was just wondering if the doctor might have some time to chat with me about her.”

  “Is your mother Hildy? Are you Summer, the Shakespeare professor?” She brightened.

  “Yes,” Summer said.

  “I love your mother, and I’m going to miss her. When she came in, she always brought us a treat. Vegan cookies or cupcakes. Something. Such a doll.”

  “Yes,” Summer said, pausing. “So is Dr. Chang available?”

  “Let me see,” she said, plucking at her keyboard and staring at the schedule. “He’ll be back any minute. He may have some time then.”

  “Is he at lunch?” Piper asked.

  “No,” she said. “He’ll be right back. Make yourself at home. There’s coffee. Tea. Water.”

  “Thank you,” Summer said.

  Piper and Summer sat down next to each other and watched the fish in a huge tank swim around. Shocking bright orange fish. Summer’s thoughts turned to spiders. She glanced around. Her heart raced. Anytime she ran into a small critter, spiders came to her mind. She stood and paced, trying to avoid the huge tank.

  “What’s wrong?”

  She shook her head. “You don’t want to know.”

  “You don’t like the fish?”

  Summer nodded again. “For some reason, they remind me of spiders.”

  Piper smiled. “What?”

  “Right. It makes no sense. But what does anymore?” The pacing helped. Summer was breathing fine.

  “Miss Merriweather?”

  “Yes?”

  “Dr. Chang is here.” She opened the door back to the exam rooms. “Follow me.”

  They walked past several and sunk around into an office where the doctor sat, reading over papers on his desk. He stood. “Summer! So good to see you. You, too Piper.” It was kind of uncomfortable to sit across the desk from a man who’d seen your bare butt, among other things. He shook her hand. Then Piper’s.

  “I’m sorry to hear about Hildy.” He dropped his head and shook it. “I was shocked. Please sit down.”

  “Yes, well, that’s what we’re doing here. I’m inquiring about Mom’s health before she died.”

  He sat back in his chair. “I can’t give you access to those records.”

  “That’s not what I’m asking. I just want to find out if she was healthy. Was she having problems?”

  “Your mother was healthy. That’s why I was shocked to hear of her death. She didn’t have heart issues at all. In fact, she had great blood pressure. Which she would tell you was from years of not eating meat.” He grinned.

  Summer’s brain twisted and turned. Her mom had been healthy, just as she suspected.

  “You’re verifying our feelings and, in fact, what everybody we’ve talked to says. Nobody was aware of any health issues,” Piper said.

  He lifted a finger. “That said, these things do happen. Science and medicine can only explain so much.”

  “Will you be viewing her final autopsy results?” Summer asked.

  “If you want me to, you must request it with the chief of police.” He rapped his fingers on the desk and stopped. “Can I ask what’s going on?”

  Summer drew in a breath. “We think someone might have killed my mother. She’d been getting threatening notes and phone calls. Other things just don’t add up. Like the fact that she was so healthy. We’re just checking into it.”

  Summer had exposed herself to more ridicule. But instead, he nodded in consideration. “If there’s anything I can do, please reach out. I hate to think of anybody hurting her. But anything’s possible. Have you talked with the police?”

  “Yes, Chief Singer’s not taking me seriously, but I think the fire chief is.”

  “Someone set Hildy’s house on fire when we were inside,” Piper said.

  “This was after she died?” the doctor asked.

  “Yes, which makes us think he or she might be after me next.”

  “From what I remember, if they get you, they’ll get more than they bargain for.” He grinned at Piper.

  Her chin lifted and her mouth curled into a grin. “I’d agree to that statement.”

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  “Let’s stop in at the police department,” Summer said. “It’s on the way and
I feel fine.”

  “You promised,” Piper said. “I think one visit is enough for today. Besides, you can call the police from home.”

  Duly scolded, Summer agreed. But she felt fine. She did. The trip to see her mom’s doctor had been a success. He’d verified everything she’d felt. Hildy was healthy.

  At the same time, sadness washed over her. Someone had killed her mom. She was so loved on the island and was such a good person. It felt like a big screw-you from God. Anger welled up from her guts. One moment sad, the next angry. Control yourself, woman. She wouldn’t be ruled by emotions. Not now. Not when her mom needed her to think as logically as possible. She swallowed her feelings. She knew how to do that. Was well practiced.

  When the two of them arrived at the house, Aunt Agatha was there, hands on hips. “Where were you?”

  “Calm down, Mom. We just went to see Dr. Chang.”

  “Hildy’s doctor?”

  “Yes, and he confirmed everything he could without revealing too much, that she was healthy,” Summer said as she sat down at the kitchen island.

  “Well, we figured,” Agatha said, “but I suppose it’s good to hear from a pro.”

  “Do you know if anybody was here the days before her death?” Summer asked.

  Agatha looked perplexed.

  “We’re trying to figure out who took the batteries out of the smoke detector.”

  “Mia was in and out of here,” Agatha said. “That’s the only person. But you know your mother.”

  “Where is Mia?” Summer asked.

  “Out with her friends. And that’s a good thing. I’ve been so worried about her. She was so close to your mother.”

  “I’m going to text her and ask her to stop by later. She may know something and not even realize it,” Summer said. “Also, I need to find out more about what her last day was like. Did she go straight from home to the shop?”

  “Most of the time, yes. The only other thing she did was attend yoga classes some mornings. But I’m uncertain whether she attended that morning.”

  “She also volunteered a couple of places. The women’s shelter and the library, of course.”

  “Women’s shelter? I think we need to check and see when she was there the last time. Maybe she got involved with someone there.”

  “That could be,” Agatha said.

  “What did she do at the library?”

  “She spearheaded a reading program where she and some others would go to terminally ill patients and read to them,”

  Summer warmed. “Now that sounds like Mom.”

  She scribbled down Glads. “I’ll call Glads to see if she knows if Mom was reading that day. And I’ll call the women’s center.”

  She had an action plan. Keeping busy was what she needed to do. She jotted down Henry.

  “Aunt Agatha, have you heard from anybody about your newfound ownership of the first editions?”

  “Only Henry.”

  Summer recalled his gambling problem and money issues. “Did he make you an offer?”

  “Yes, but of course I didn’t take it.”

  “He’s got gambling problems. I’m assuming he also has the money issues that go along with that. So it’s odd that he has the money to make an offer.”

  “Maybe his gambling turned around. Maybe he had a good night.”

  “He couldn’t have waited awhile? Aunt Hildy just died a few days ago!” Piper said, face red with anger as a tear escaped. Piper was an angry crier. Always had been.

  Her mother wrapped her arm around her. “Calm down.” She paused. “But you’re right. The more I think about it, the more suspicious that man is.”

  “He said he was a friend of Mom’s, but she made special mention of him in her will—to not sell her books to him.”

  The wheels in Piper’s head were turning. “But if he did hang out with her, he definitely could have been in this house. Nobody would have suspected.”

  “No, indeed. Plus, he’s a member of the book club. Nobody would think a thing of it,” Agatha added.

  “How do we prove it?” Piper said, sniffing.

  “We need to prove he was here,” Summer replied. “And we need to know exactly how she died so that we can link the murder weapon to him.”

  Agatha’s eyes widened into circles. “Weapon? There was no weapon.”

  “You know what I mean.” She officially had a heart attack, but someone could have given her some drug or substance to induce a heart attack. Why hadn’t Summer concluded this before? She dialed Ben, leaving Agatha to calm Piper down.

  “Ben Singer, please. This is Summer Merriweather, calling about my mom.”

  “Just a moment, please.”

  The phone rang more than a few times. “Hello,” he croaked into the phone. “What can I do for you, Summer?”

  Have you gotten the autopsy and blood results back yet?” Agatha and Piper looked up at her.

  “Should be any day now. I’m sorry it’s taking so long.”

  “I want Doc Chang to review the results. Do you have a problem with that?”

  “No. But why?”

  “He claims Mom was healthy. He was her doctor. So I think if there’s anything off, he’ll be able to spot it.”

  “I see. Are you still—”

  “Yes, I think my mom was murdered. I understand that there are several drugs and poisons that will mimic a heart attack, and I’d like to see if she ingested any of those.”

  “Well, you’re within your rights to ask for these tests, but I don’t want you to get your hopes up, Summer. As I’ve said before.”

  Summer clicked off the phone. She didn’t want to hear anymore.

  “Well?” Agatha said.

  “Well, what?”

  “What did he say?”

  “He said the final tests aren’t back yet but that I’m within my rights to ask for the results of them. But then he started down the same path as before. The sometimes-people-just-die path. I don’t want to hear it. I want answers. I need answers.”

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  A phone call from Poppy interrupted their visit. “I’m sorry to disturb, but we’ve got a problem with reconciling the books and wonder if you could help. Now that you’re the owner and everything.”

  Summer never reconciled anything in her life, but she supposed it couldn’t be too hard. “Reconciling the books? Sure. I’ll be right over.”

  Agatha and Piper looked at one another.

  “They want you to do what?”

  “You heard me.”

  Agatha looked frightened. “That’s a very complicated process. Your mother hated it.”

  “Mom, she’s got a PhD in Shakespearean lit. She can handle it,” Piper said.

  She replied with a snort. “Very impressive, but that has nothing to do with what they’re asking of her. Spreadsheets. Figures. Databases.”

  Piper stood. “We’ll come with you. Between all of us, we’ll figure it out.”

  Agatha reached for her bag. “You’d think they could do it at the store. They manage this stuff.”

  “Let’s walk,” Summer said.

  The three of them left the house and took the sandy path to the beach, shoes slipped off, heading toward the boardwalk.

  “I need to find someone who knows what they’re doing. I may head back to Staunton.”

  “They usually have it taken care of. Poppy knows what she’s doing, but it must be a big problem. Computers!” Agatha said over the sound of crashing waves.

  “Surf’s getting stronger,” Piper said.

  She and Piper used to watch the cycle of the ocean and the moon tides when they were kids. But Summer lost track of all of that and could barely remember the names of the different tides.

  They stood for a moment, watching the waves crash into the sand. Foamy caps left behind. The sun was sinking, though still far from setting. Summer and Piper continued walking.

  The scent of funnel cakes and hot dogs hung in the air. The boardwalk was teeming with peo
ple in line for hot dogs and funnel cakes. Lemonade. Ice Cream. Young people spilled out of the arcade. The place was hopping.

  Finally, the two of them arrived a Beach Reads. Summer opened the door as the mermaid looked on. Bloody thing—for some reason it always chilled Summer. It was just a carving, and it was intricate and beautiful, but Summer also found it a bit … well, creepy. In a Titanic kind of way. Sunken ships. Lost lives.

  Poppy rushed toward them as they entered. Flustered. “I’m so glad to see you. I just don’t know what’s going on. If it’s me. If it’s QuickBooks or …” She shrugged. “I just don’t know. This has never happened before.”

  “Okay, First calm down,” Piper said. “We’re here now. Just show us the problem and we’ll take it from there.”

  Poppy led them to the computer in the back. There was a huge spreadsheet on the screen, which sent Summer’s heart afire. Nothing like a beautifully organized spreadsheet. She scrolled over to the balances. “See?”

  The bookstore appeared to be just over $6,000 in arrears.

  “That can’t be right,” Piper said.

  “I know.”

  “I need to get on the register to give Cally a break,” Poppy said.

  “Okay, we’ll take it from here.”

  Summer and Piper scanned over each expenditure, each deposit. And a few hours later, they still had no answers. The money appeared to be gone. Had someone taken it? Who would have access to the money besides Poppy?

  Summer groaned. “Who would do something like this?”

  “I don’t know, but we need to figure it out.”

  “We’ve been so focused on the murder investigation that we’ve taken our eyes off the store. I need to get my act together.”

  “I think, to be safe, we should hire an auditor.”

  “Hire with what money?”

  “The bookstore will have to pay for it.”