A Firm Foundation

by Anne Marie Rodgers

  “Why didn’t Tosten tell me?” Livvy was crying openly. She reached for a tissue from a box on her desk and blotted her eyes. “Is he just going to wait until the wrecking ball shows up and let me find out that way?”

  “I think Tosten Glass doesn’t want you talking about it because he’s involved. I think he’s going to benefit from it in some way. Maybe he’s afraid folks in town will find some way to stop the demolition if word gets out.”

  “But why would Tosten—or anyone on the council—want this building torn down? I don’t understand!”

  “I don’t either,” Kate said. “But we’re going to find out.”

  “Kate,” Livvy said, looking even more troubled, “I already told you how I feel about you pursuing this. I can’t afford to lose my job or have Danny’s reputation ruined.” She looked miserable. “But you’re not going to stop investigating, are you?” Her friend’s voice was resigned.

  Kate spread her hands. “I can’t, Liv, although I promise you I’ll continue to keep your name out of it. For you, for Danny, for every person in the county who uses and loves this library, I have to try to stop this.”

  “Stop it?” Livvy looked thunderstruck. “How do you propose to do that, Kate?”

  “I don’t know yet. But I have enough clues to pick at that I know I can find out who’s behind this. The question is, can I find out in time?”

  Livvy clasped her hands tightly together on her desk and studied them for a long moment. Finally she said, “If you need my help, I’ll do whatever I can. I’ve been an ostrich, but I’m not going to bury my head in the sand anymore. However,” she warned, “I can’t just stop packing in hopes that we’ll pull this off. What if we don’t?”

  “I wouldn’t want you to stop packing,” Kate said and smiled at her friend, relief sweeping through her. “It would help me a lot to have you to bounce ideas off of. I’ll keep digging. The first thing to do is to find out if I’m right, and if so, why the library is being torn down. Then we can plan how to stop it.”

  KATE TOLD LIVVY EVERYTHING she had learned. She began with the town-council meeting where the lawyer had spoken and the closing had first been decided upon. Then Livvy had received the threatening letter, after which Kate saw the article about Tosten Glass not running for another term.

  “Color me suspicious,” Kate told her friend, “but I can’t figure out why that man wouldn’t want to stay in a position of power. I just think there has to be some reason he isn’t running again, and I can’t help but wonder if it’s related to the library closing.”

  “Just because he’s not very likable doesn’t mean he’s crooked,” Livvy pointed out.

  “Yes, but then I went to the council meeting on Monday afternoon,” Kate told her. Then she mentioned overhearing the inspectors in the library basement and suspecting that the property was being sold for renovation.

  “The town-council meeting on Monday was interesting,” Kate went on. “Council members started blabbing about things that happened in the closed-door session on Thursday, and Tosten got really angry. He said he’s worried that the council could be sued for discussing the library issues publicly, but I wonder if that’s really why he doesn’t want it getting out. Also, Tosten and Ben Dean seemed amazingly unconcerned about what will happen to the library’s contents after the move, while the others seemed to be worried about getting you open again. Ben might just be a curmudgeon. Or he might be involved. I couldn’t get a good read on him.”

  Livvy exhaled softly. “You’ve been busy.”

  Kate nodded. “Then,” she said, “you got the next threatening note. Makes you wonder who I was upsetting, doesn’t it?”

  Livvy nodded. “I begin to see why you’re looking at Tosten.”

  “So I went to the mayor and asked to read the town-council minutes. He also gave me a copy of the budget to review. I glanced over it, and frankly, it’s a complicated mess. I’ve never seen anything like it. I nearly took it to an accountant, but I don’t want to spread this around any further.”

  “Maybe Danny could make some sense of it. Since he teaches a class of business math, he knows something about accounting. I’ll call him when we’re done here.” Livvy sighed. “I need to talk to him anyway. It’s time for me to stop keeping this from him.”

  “That would be great.” Kate spoke again. “I found the name of the lawyer in the meeting minutes. He’s Ellis Hayer from McMinnville.”

  “McMinnville. That’s weird.”

  “That’s what I thought. Oh, I almost forgot. Lawton has pictures of himself, Tosten, and one other kid, Gerald Foxfield, who moved away, on the wall in his office.”

  “Tosten again!”

  Kate grinned. “Yes. Again. The mayor mentioned that Tosten has really changed and that all he thinks about is money these days. And guess what? The friend was from McMinnville. I’m not sure if it fits in or if it really is just coincidental, but it stuck in my head, and I keep wondering if it could be important.”

  “It does seem a little too coincidental, doesn’t it?” Livvy agreed.

  Kate continued her review, telling Livvy about her visits to the asbestos and radon companies, where she heard the word demolition. She explained about her conversation with Eli Weston, her plan to see if demolition really was a possibility, and her engineered encounter with Tosten in the Mercantile, where he had inadvertently confirmed the plans before hastily backing off.

  “I couldn’t decide whether Ben Dean is involved, and Eva Mountjoy seemed shocked by the demolition news. Either she’s a terrific actor or she really doesn’t know anything. Or I’m completely wrong, and there is no demolition coming. I also talked to Ellis Hayer.”

  “You went to McMinnville?” Livvy said, her eyes wide.

  Kate nodded. “I did get one interesting bit of information, even though Ellis would barely talk to me. He got so agitated that he slipped up and told me the library has never been owned by the town. Can that be possible?”

  Livvy looked puzzled. “I’ve never heard that. How can that be?”

  Kate shrugged. “I haven’t gotten that far yet. But last night, Louisa Pellman came for dinner with her children, and she offered to do a title search for me since she works in the deeds office right now. She’s going to get back to me.” She took a deep breath. “So. Today I need to visit the historical society to see what I can learn about the library’s history. I also want to talk to Earl Pennyweather about his memories of the library, and I need to visit the demolition company.”

  “What demolition company?”

  Kate grinned. “I looked in the phone book, and there’s only one listed in Harrington County. In fact, it’s the only one for miles and miles around. I don’t imagine there’s enough of that type of work to support a lot of demo companies.”

  She went on. “I don’t know what, if anything, they can tell me, but I need to try to shake something else loose. At the very least, I want to find out if they have a demolition date set yet.”

  “When do you want to get together with Danny to look over the budget paperwork?” Livvy reached for the phone.

  Kate shrugged. “It’s a busy day. How about sometime tomorrow? What works best for Danny?”

  “I’ll find out,” Livvy promised. She made a quick telephone call to her husband. “How’s four thirty sound?”

  “Sounds fine.” Kate nodded. “It’ll be nice to have a fresh pair of eyes look over that budget. Shall I go to the house?”

  Livvy shook her head. “Might as well meet here.” To Kate’s delight, her friend looked determined rather than defeated. “I’m not going to be intimidated anymore. If there’s a way to save this library, we’re going to do it!”

  Kate felt tears rise. She leaned over the desk and gave Livvy a hug. “Oh, it’s so good to have you back again. Every time I learned something, I wanted to tell you, but I couldn’t.”

  “You can now,” Livvy said firmly.

  Kate nodded and smiled. “Okay. Upward and onward. I’m off to Pine Ri
dge.”

  KATE ARRIVED AT Green Acres Retirement Home shortly after breakfast was over and the residents were dressed and starting their day. She was anxious to talk to Earl Pennyweather.

  Earl had started the local paper, the Copper Mill Chronicle, and he had run it for many years until his retirement, when he sold it to Marshall Owens. Despite the fact that it was early in the day, Earl looked as if he was dressed for a dinner party in a white jacket and bow tie and carrying a cane with an ornate brass handle. Today’s tie was white with a pattern of tiny yellow chevrons, an appropriately sunny choice given that the heat index was still hovering near one hundred.

  “Good morning, Earl,” Kate said loudly.

  “Kate Hanlon! Well, hello.” His eyes twinkled. “You don’t have to shout. I’ve got my hearing aids in.”

  Kate chuckled. “Sorry. How are you doing?” She took a seat close to his armchair.

  “Real well, except for this heat,” he said. “Feels like I’m walking through water when I go outside.”

  “I know what you mean,” she said. She sat forward. “Earl, have you heard about what’s happening at the library?”

  “Heard it was closing,” he said in a disapproving tone. “Don’t know what those morons on the town council are thinking. Why are they closing it, and when will it reopen?”

  “It won’t,” Kate said. “At least not there. A new location hasn’t been determined. Everything’s going into storage.”

  “What?” Earl sat up straighter. “That doesn’t make sense.”

  “I know. Do you remember how the library got to be town property? Or who owned it before?”

  Earl was silent. Kate could see the sharp brain turning her questions over and over. Finally he said, “I can’t remember the name of the folks who owned it. But I do recall hearing they deeded it to the town before my time.”

  The news puzzled Kate. “Are you sure about that?”

  Earl nodded. “Pretty certain. There wouldn’t be any newspaper records in Copper Mill because those began with me, but there could have been a mention of it in the Pine Ridge paper. That was the first one in the county.”

  “The first what in the county?” demanded an aging voice.

  Kate turned, although she already recognized the imperious person who had spoken. “Why, hello, Caroline. Hi, Renee.”

  Caroline Beauregard Johnston had been a resident of Green Acres until she broke her hip, after which she had moved in with her daughter, Renee Lambert.

  “Hello, Kate.” Caroline said it as if she were a queen granting an audience.

  Behind her, Renee rolled her eyes. Her dog Kisses was tucked under her arm. “Mama, it’s rude to eavesdrop on other people’s conversations,” she said, as if she didn’t do the very same thing every chance she got. She turned to Kate and Earl. “We’re here to visit some of her friends.”

  “It’s not eavesdropping when you can hear him plain as day,” Caroline said haughtily.

  “Earl said the Pine Ridge newspaper was the first one in the county,” Kate interjected hastily. “Caroline, perhaps you can help me. I’m trying to learn the name of the people who deeded the library to the town. It had been their home, but it was large enough to house an impressive collection. I’m sure it was before your time, but maybe you heard about it?”

  Caroline leaned heavily on her cane as she turned to look at Renee. “I know I should remember the name of those folks. Let’s see, I believe I was a teenager, maybe about sixteen?” Caroline was coy about her exact age; Kate only knew she was over ninety. “They moved away after they gave that building to the town. But I can’t remember their names,” she said again, sounding a bit frustrated.

  “Was it donated to be used as a library?” Kate asked, hoping to jog the old lady’s memory.

  Caroline nodded. “Yes, indeed. But as I recall, they nearly changed their minds.”

  “Why?”

  “They wanted to donate a whole bunch of books along with the building. They had so many books, it was a sin.”

  “How can it be a sin to have too many books?” Renee asked.

  “Anyhow,” Caroline went on, “some of the local folks had something against a book called As I Lay Dying that had been published a few years before.”

  “What was wrong with it?” Kate asked.

  Caroline shrugged. “It had a good many nasty words in it.”

  “Nasty words?” Kate wasn’t sure what Caroline might classify as a nasty word.

  “Cussing,” Renee qualified.

  “Ah.” Kate returned her attention to Caroline. “But obviously that blew over.”

  “Not right away,” Caroline said. “The whole deal fell apart. It took a whole lot of fancy footwork by the mayor to get the mess straightened out. But after it was, they gave that building to the town.”

  “William Faulkner,” Earl said. All three women looked at him, and he said, “I remember now. William Faulkner wrote As I Lay Dying.”

  Kate got out a pad and pen and scribbled down both details. She could see when the book had originally been published, and perhaps that would at least give her a time frame in which to search.

  “You don’t remember their last name though?”

  Caroline looked at Earl, and both of them shook their heads. “They moved away years ago,” Earl said.

  Kate felt a prickle of intuition shiver down her spine. “Did they move to McMinnville?” she asked.

  “That’s it!” Caroline said. “The family moved to McMinnville after they donated the house.”

  Kate nearly asked if the family had been the Foxfields, but she didn’t want to put the suggestion in their heads. Perhaps they would remember the name later.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Kate needed to visit the historical society, but she also needed to get pies made for the Faith Freezer program. Reluctantly, she headed home. She would return to Pine Ridge later.

  At home again, she got out her rolling pin and a baking mat, as well as four aluminum pie pans. She tried to keep a supply of aluminum baking dishes so that she could take meals to parishioners and the Faith Freezer Program without making folks worry about getting a dish back to her.

  She quickly used a fork to mix lard, flour, and a dash of salt into enough dough for four pie crusts. Dividing the dough into four even portions, she set it aside and sprinkled flour lightly over her baking mat. In no time at all, she had rolled out four pie crusts, reserving enough to make strips for the latticework on top, and folded them gently into the pie pans.

  One of their parishioners had brought Paul a large bag of peaches on Sunday morning, right before Kate had returned home from her trip. She had been so busy, she hadn’t gotten to them, but she had to use them today if she didn’t want the peaches to spoil.

  Kate forced herself to set aside her concerns about the library until she had measured her ingredients. She’d learned the hard way to pay close attention when she was combining the elements of a recipe.

  First, she mixed together flour, sugar, and several spices in a small bowl and set it aside. Then she relaxed her vigilance and let her mind drift back to the library closing. With efficient motions, she peeled and sliced the peaches while she mulled over the next steps in her investigation. The most pressing order of business was to find out who had engaged Ellis Hayer’s services, she decided as she sprinkled lemon juice over the peaches.

  She brushed the pie crusts in the pans with beaten egg so they wouldn’t get soggy later. So how could she narrow down her search? Ellis Hayer had told her the town didn’t own—had never owned!—the library. If that was true, then the town council as a group wasn’t responsible for the demolition. And that would mean the name of the person who had requested it would be on the demolition order. Or if not on the actual order, certainly someone at the company would know who was paying the tab.

  Dividing the peaches among the pans, she lay peach slices in each pie tin, then poured some of the dry ingredients over the fruit and gently mixed it a bit. While she
spread the mixture evenly over each pan, she dotted the tops with butter.

  Then she rolled out the rest of the dough, which she cut into strips with a pastry wheel, leaving a pretty fluted edge. While she wove the strips together, working her way across the pie and folding all the edges under, she decided that she was making progress. She needed to continue to investigate as she had planned.

  With a fork dipped in egg, she pressed the edges of the pie crust to seal them, then brushed the latticed tops with the remaining egg.

  Popping the pies into her preheated oven, Kate set the timer for ten minutes so she wouldn’t forget to reduce the heat.

  While the pies were baking, Kate settled into her favorite rocking chair. She could work in her stained-glass studio, but she felt too unsettled to be creative. Rocking slowly, she stared into space as she reviewed everything she’d learned about the library since learning of the closing on Sunday.

  The ten-minute warning buzzed. She got up and turned back the heat in the oven, then reset the timer for thirty minutes. She also covered the edges of each pie with strips of aluminum foil so the crust didn’t brown too fast.

  She returned to the living room and lay down on the couch, kicking off her sandals. True, she had slept long and well the night before, but she might just close her eyes for a teeny-tiny catnap...

  Kate jolted awake when the oven timer buzzed rudely, interrupting a lovely nap. She sat up and ran a hand through her hair, dragging it back from her face as she rose and went to the kitchen. Time to get back in gear, Kate, she thought to herself.

  She removed the pies from the oven, setting aside the aluminum strips. She could reuse those the next time she made pies. The peach pies were gorgeous, she thought, and they also smelled heavenly.

  After grabbing a quick bite to eat and dashing off a note to Paul in case he beat her home—Love you, but DO NOT touch my pies!—she tidied up and headed back to Pine Ridge.

  KATE’S FIRST STOP AFTER LUNCH was the Pine Ridge Historical Society. As she drove the short route from Copper Mill to the larger town, she mulled over what she had learned.

  How odd, she thought, that the lawyer representing the mystery client hailed from McMinnville, and the family who donated the library to Copper Mill had moved there. Not to mention the mayor’s childhood friend who had moved there as well and just happened to be a friend of Tosten’s. That couldn’t all be coincidence.