by Lynn Cahoon
She’d pulled out the card from the limo man, as she’d started calling him in her mind. She could just call him and ask him about the argument. And if it cost her a dinner, at least she’d be fed for a night. She set the card down by her phone.
Instead, she picked up a manuscript and chose the more enjoyable task. Soon she was lost in a story about a man who followed his wife to her new job. He was having trouble adjusting. So many of the literary stories were about a short section of one hero’s life. This guy was falling apart.
A knock sounded on her door and Michael stood in her doorway, two cups of coffee in his hands. The man knew how to make an entrance. “You always come with gifts. If you don’t stop, I’ll have to marry you or something.”
The look on his face showed his shock and she couldn’t stop the giggle that bubbled up.
“Sorry, I was just kidding. I appreciate the coffee, but you don’t need to do this.” She held her hand out for the cup.
“I was getting me one and thought you might want one too. Especially since you have journal class tonight. How’s the slush pile going? Have you found a diamond yet?”
“Several but everything I’ve liked has been shot down as being too genre focused. Seriously, even the literature students have a problem with good stories.” She set down the pages she’d been reading. “Where are you off to?”
“I have a seminar on the effects of government regulation on long term economic development. It’s going to be a fascinating evening. You should skip your class and come to mine.”
“I’d need a gallon of coffee to keep me awake for that.” She sipped her coffee. “Not to be rude, but it’s just not my jam.”
“No. Stories about teenage witches and the horrors of high school are more your speed.” He picked up the card. “How do you know Marcus?”
“I don’t. He tried to pick me up outside the admin building. I think he might have some answers to some questions that came up this morning.” She took the card from him and put it in her purse. “I’m just not sure I want to pay the entry cost to the circus.”
“Smart. You need to be careful with Marcus.” Michael sipped his coffee.
“And avoid the ides of March. Why are you being cryptic? Do you know him?” Now Cat was intrigued. Maybe Michael was just posturing.
“Yes, I know him. He always has an agenda. He’s my friend’s uncle. He’s attached to the college in some official consulting position. And he’s a terrible womanizer.” He smiled. “What else can I tell you?”
Cat decided to take a shot. “Do you know anything about the budget for the Aspen Hills’ library?”
Michael blinked and set down his cup. He pulled out a notebook and wrote something. “That’s quite a change of subject. Right off hand, I don’t know anything, but the good thing about being the professor leading a seminar on governmental effects on economic stimulus, I probably can get a copy.”
“You’re a miracle worker if you can get me a copy. Can you get it soon?” Cat figured her mom had eight days of work left. Hines had given her two weeks. If she could prove that the library had the money for the position, maybe she could change the board’s mind.
“I’ll have it for you tomorrow.” Michael tucked his notebook into his jacket pocket. “I need to get going. If I’d known the key to your heart was city budgets, I would have saved a lot of money on coffee.”
“Coffee’s fine, but this budget is really going to help. Besides, we’re just friends, remember?” She watched as he picked up his cup and headed to the door.
“I’m a patient man, Catherine.” He nodded and disappeared into the hall.
Cat returned to her reading.
A few minutes later, Stephanie appeared in her doorway. She nodded to the pile. “I’m working on mine too. I was going to grab some coffee and wanted to see if you wanted to come with, but it looks like you already have one.”
Cat felt her face flush. “Yeah, I’m good.
“I knew it. I thought I saw Professor Hottie getting into the elevator. Girl, you’ve got him wrapped around your little finger.” She laughed and left the doorway.
Cat studied the coffee cup. Michael had made no secret that he wanted the conversation to go deeper than just friends. But it had been less than six months since she’d broken up with Seth. She’d thought they would be together forever and yet that hadn’t worked. What chance did she have with a guy the single women around campus called Professor Hottie? She sipped her drink. Then she muttered, “‘Never look a gift horse in the mouth’ and just be happy for the free coffee.”
When no response came from the cosmos, she picked up the manuscript. Thinking of her mom and saving her job, one last mantra fell from her lips almost automatically. “God helps those who help themselves.”
4
The next morning, Cat sat at home writing at her dining room table. She was supposed to be emailing the anchor authors for the journal, but she decided to spend an hour on her story with her main character, Tori, writing the next chapter. Then she’d frame an email that would gently nudge the authors to making their deadline. Then, tomorrow, she’d go back to the boring book she was writing for the fiction class. She groaned when her phone rang. But she picked up immediately when she saw the caller ID. “Mom? Are you all right?”
“Yes, dear. I mean, maybe. No, I’m definitely all right, but he’s not.” Her mother rambled through the words.
“What are you talking about?” Cat’s stomach tightened as she braced herself for the bad news. “Oh, no, did something happen to Dad?”
“Your father’s fine. Are you teaching today?”
Her mother was being weird. Typically, she was direct. Blunt would be a better word for her communication style, but she was probably still upset about losing her job. Cat’s eyes drifted to the last sentence she’d written. Tori was just arriving at the school that would change her life. How would that feel to a fourteen-year-old? She absently answered her mother’s question. “No, Thursdays are my off day. What’s going on? Do you want to meet for lunch? I have some news.”
“Lunch is too late. I need you to come down to the library and help me with this. I think I should call your uncle too. Come down now.”
“Mom, I’m in the middle of something. Can I come in about an hour?” Cat tore her gaze away from the screen when she didn’t get an answer. She swore when she saw her mother had hung up on her. Debating, her better nature finally won, so she saved the file and shut down the computer. When she got back to the apartment, she’d do her classwork, then spend the rest of the day playing with Tori and her new friends. As a reward for being such a good daughter, she’d stop by the Morning Bean on the way back from the library and buy a coffee and a pastry for breakfast.
She hurried to get dressed in jeans and her last clean t-shirt. Laundry had to be done this weekend. Along with shopping and cleaning the apartment. The good thing about her apartment being so small was most of that could be done in a half a day, leaving her time to read, or visit her mom for dinner on Sunday.
It took her only a few minutes to get to the library where her mother stood outside under a tree. Fall in Aspen Hills was beautiful, but it wasn’t balmy. “What are you doing out here?”
“I couldn’t stay inside alone. Not with him.” Her mother opened the door and they stepped into the foyer.
She was shaking now and Cat took her coat off to put around her mother’s shoulders. “Who is in the building? Did someone break in?”
“No. Maybe. Okay, I’m not sure.” She pointed over toward the left. “I went to clear out the book drop and well, I’ve called your uncle so don’t touch anything, but maybe I’m just seeing things.”
“Calm down, Mom.” Cat looked over toward the book drop. The old building had a large slot that fed books directly into the building onto a table. At first, she saw nothing but books. It was a pretty big pile and several had fallen of the table and onto the floor. She stepped closer, ignoring her mother’s protests. If someone was here
playing a prank at her mother’s expense, she’d deal with it. “Who’s there?”
“He can’t answer, Cat,” her mom called out.
She was about to ask why he couldn’t answer when she saw the body lying under the table on a pile of books. A small knife appeared to be stuck in his throat. She went back to stand with her mother just inside the library doorway.
When her uncle arrived, Cat took her mother back to the break room to get a cup of tea. She was still shaking even under Cat’s heavy winter Columbia ski coat. Cat could ski runs all day up and down the mountain and stay warm, but her mother was still cold. She wondered if it was shock.
She set the cup of microwaved hot water in front of her mom and poured some sugar in it. Then she put in a tea bag. “That should be ready soon.”
“I don’t take sugar in my tea. That’s your father.” Her mother said in a distracted tone.
“I heard sugar helps in times like this.” Cat didn’t want to say if you’re going into shock, but she didn’t like the way her mother looked. “Speaking of Dad, should I call him and tell him to come home?”
“No, don’t call your father. Let’s figure out what’s going on. I hope it’s not Charlie. I really like him but I know that living on the street is hard. Maybe he came in from the cold and he couldn’t get warm. I might have left the door unlocked when I left last night. It’s been a busy week and I was distracted with the firing and all. Do you think that’s what happened?” Her mother looked up at her with hope in her eyes.
Apparently, Mom hadn’t seen the steak knife. Cat needed to change the subject. She pointed to a loaf of banana bread. “Is that one you baked?”
“Of course. Tina’s a nice girl but she doesn’t bake. I brought in one on Monday and Charlie liked it so much, I made another one last night. I stopped here first to drop the bread off and put my coat and purse in my locker. Then I went back out front to the book drop. Getting those books checked in is always my first priority. People are on waiting lists so long especially with the newer books. Anyway, I went to the front, and…” She dunked the tea bag absently. “I called you and your uncle.”
Cat decided to stop asking questions All it seemed to do was take her mom back to seeing the body. From what she was saying, her mom hadn’t seen who was lying dead in the front of the library. Cat started a pot of coffee since her uncle would be needing a cup after this. And Cat definitely needed one. There’d be no stopping at The Morning Bean now. And, no matter what her mother said, she was going to call her father the first moment she was alone.
She poured her coffee and sat at the table with her mother.
“I’m sorry I called you. With your father out of town, I didn’t have anyone else to call.” Her mother sipped her tea. Her hands had stopped shaking and Cat thought she heard some of the spine her mother always exuded in the tone of her voice.
“You can always call me.” She heard footsteps in the hallway and her uncle appeared, his hat in his hand.
“Loraine, you need to put up a closed sign and lock the front door. I’ll station a guy there until we get the body out and the sweepers have been in to do their thing. Did either of you touch anything?”
“No,” Cat said quickly. “At least not until we got in here.”
“Not ideal, but okay.” He looked at his sister. “Lori? Did you touch the body or anything around him?”
Her mother looked up. “I started to. I couldn’t see his face. I reached down, but then I realized he was dead so I stepped away and went outside to call Cat.”
“So you didn’t touch the body or the knife?” He repeated the question.
Loraine shook her head. “No. I’m afraid to say the poor man scared me. I’m too old to be freaking out when I see a dead body, right?”
“Everyone reacts differently.” Cat put her hand over her mom’s. It might have stopped shaking, but she was icy cold. She focused on her uncle. “Can I take her home?”
“If that’s all you know, then yes, you can take her home. I’ll come by and get a statement later.” He held out his hand. “Give me the keys to the library and I’ll lock up. If you want to wait, I can drive you to the house.”
“We’ll walk. Maybe that will get her blood running again.” Cat glanced around the room. “Where’s your locker, Mom?”
“Over there, number seven.” She pointed to a corner behind the door. “It’s not locked. Nothing bad ever happens here.”
Her Mom blanched as she processed what she’d just said.
“I mean, nothing bad had happened here before.”
Cat knew that after today, there would always be a before and an after for her memories of the library. A place she loved. And a place that Alfred Hines was not going to take away from her.
She got the coat and her mother’s purse from the locker and was back at the table when a man came rushing into the break room, two cops on his tail.
“Are you all right? I thought Tina opened on Thursdays?” The homeless man—Charlie, Cat corrected herself, knelt in front of her mother.
“Oh, Charlie, it was awful. I’ll never forget finding a body like that.” She looked up and gave the man a quick hug. “I’m so glad it wasn’t you. I was worried.”
Cat and her uncle exchanged a glance.
“I’m sorry, you need to leave the building. This is a police investigation.” Uncle Pete put a hand on the man’s shoulder only to be shrugged off. “I said…”
Cat’s mother held up a hand to stop her brother. “Pete, let me talk to him. Charlie, you need to leave. You can’t stay in here. They need to find out what happened to this man. Do you have somewhere else to go?”
He nodded. Then he stood and glared at Uncle Pete. “I can take care of myself, don’t worry.”
Cat watched as he walked out, the two cops at his side. A third stayed back and looked at Uncle Pete.
“Sorry, sir. He just bulldozed his way through. Tex was telling him the library was closed and then I guess I said something about your sister being such a good person, and he just flew inside.” He nodded toward Loraine. “I don’t know if you remember me, Mrs. Gibson, but you were one of the leaders for my youth group at the church.”
“Of course, I remember you, Cody. How are your folks? I don’t see them much anymore since they divided the service into two time slots.” Her mother turned toward the deputy. Her smile was shaky but genuine.
“They’re fine, thanks for asking.” Cody held his hat in his hand. “I’ll tell them you asked about them.”
Cat could tell her mother was starting to feel like herself. “Mom, let’s get out of here and let them do their work. Can we leave by the back door?”
“Yes, let me give your uncle the keys and we can go. Maybe we can stop by The Morning Bean and get a cup of hot cocoa to go? I think I’d like something to warm me up.” She stood and dug through her purse. Then checked her coat pockets. “Here they are. You’ll need to throw the deadbolt on the back door when we leave. The keyed lock doesn’t work anymore.”
Cat stepped toward the door and frowned. “Mom, did you come in the back?”
“No, I always come in the front so I can turn on the lights. The break room switch is over on that wall.” She pointed to the doorway where they’d come into the room. “Why?”
Cat met her uncle’s gaze. “Because the back door is unlocked and cracked open.”
Cat had just taken a quart of vegetable beef soup out of her mom’s freezer for their lunch. Her mom sat at the kitchen table, sipping another cup of coffee. She was going to be so wired on caffeine, she’d never get to sleep. Cat scanned the fridge and found some sparkling water. She took out two bottles and went to the table, setting one in front of Mom.
Mom smiled and took one last sip of coffee and then pushed the cup away from her. “You’re right, of course. I’ll never get to sleep tonight. I may not anyway after seeing that man lying there.”
Cat took the cup and put it in the sink. “I’ve started soup and I saw homemade bread we
can toast with some butter or we could do sandwiches too.”
“Bread’s fine. I’m not sure I’ll have much of an appetite.” She opened her water and took a sip. “This is what I needed, thank you.”
Cat sat across from her and she opened a notebook she always carried in her tote. “Maybe we can talk through some of this so you’ll be more comfortable when Uncle Pete comes by to interview you. Did you see who it was?”
“The body?” Her mom shook her head. “No, I just saw the legs and the chest. He had books under him. My first thought was someone was sleeping on the pile of books. I worry about the books. Will we have to throw those away? Is that stupid? I feel like not such a nice person because I’m worried about the books.”
“Mom, you’re just trying to deal with what you saw. You’re probably in shock.” Cat decided this was a really bad idea. “Okay, let’s change the subject. I think we can petition the board to get your job back. I don’t think they had the full story.”
“What do you mean? If there isn’t money in the budget, I don’t want to work for free. I may not make much but that’s our vacation fund. And I want to have something put away for retirement. Your father can’t be expected to shoulder all the financial burden.” She eyed the stove. “Did you turn the soup on high? You probably should let it warm slowly.”
“The soup’s fine.” Cat sighed as she found the pictures she took with her phone. “Anyway, back to the subject. The budget the city has on file only has a few hundred dollars listed as fundraising income.”
“Yes, that’s true. I guess the outreach we did over summer didn’t raise as much as we’d thought.” Her mom sipped her water. “It was a cute campaign too. We did a video of the kids reviewing their favorite books. At the end, it was a call to donate, to keep the summer reading program going.”
Cat handed her the phone with the picture of the five donation sheets. “There’s more than a few hundred dollars in pledges right there.”