Checked Out (A Ricki Rydell Mystery Book 1)

by Abby Matthews

  She tugged the earbuds out of her ears, and smiled. Be friendly, she told herself. “Nice to see you again, Jennifer.”

  “Ricki,” she said, out of breath. “It’s really important you read my book. I don’t think you understand just how important.”

  “You’re in luck. I turned in my manuscript early, so I have time.” It was a total lie. Just because she finished her project early didn’t mean she had time to look over Jennifer’s book, but she was backed into a corner. She wasn’t going to leave her alone until she read it anyway, and by the looks of her at that moment, Ricki was afraid to refuse her.

  Jennifer practically shoved the manuscript into Ricki’s arms. “I think you’ll find it—” She started wheezing and coughing. “Please read it, quickly.”

  “Would you like me to get you some water?” Ricki placed the manuscript on the shelf behind her and focused her attention on Jennifer. The woman doubled over, leaning on her knees as if she had just run a marathon and was trying to catch her breath. Just as Ricki was about to help the poor thing to the stepstool, Victoria and Felicity came rushing back to see what all the noise was.

  “Is everything all right?” Victoria said, concerned. At least Ricki imagined it was concern, but she could have sworn it sounded more like annoyance.

  “Are you feeling all right, Jennifer?” the library director said, not hiding her annoyance.

  “I’m all right. Just… I’ll be fine.” She shook them off with the jerk of her arm upward. She coughed and sputtered, grabbing at her left shoulder.

  “Should we call 911?” Ricki asked, starting to panic.

  “No!” Jennifer got a burst of energy and stood up, pulling her shoulders back like everything was right with the world. “I only came to get something from my desk.”

  She staggered off, leaving the three of them standing there completely dumbfounded, especially Ricki. She didn’t know these people. She only spoke to them for a few minutes once a month when she came to pick up her books. All of a sudden she felt like she was pulled into some drama that she didn’t know anything about. All she could do was to keep her mouth shut and stay out of it.

  “What is she even doing here?” Victoria whispered to Felicity.

  “I don’t know,” Felicity said. “I’ll have a talk with her on Monday. Maybe she needs the weekend to get herself together.”

  As they walked away, Ricki overheard Victoria: “I know it’s none of my business, but…”

  Once again, Ricki questioned if volunteering at the library was the right thing to do. At first it felt providential, but now it was feeling more like a huge mistake.

  From the stacks, Ricki watched Jennifer disappear into the office through the door in the corner, stagger back out, slipping something into her front pocket, still coughing and grabbing her shoulder. She figured it was none of her business and had nothing to do with her, so she went back to doing her job. She had about fifteen minutes left before her shift ended. She placed Jennifer’s manuscript on the floor so she wouldn’t forget it and pretended to shelf read. Instead, she looked at the books, wondering if the philosophers of old had any insight into her existential writing crisis. Unfortunately, the philosophers didn’t care much about contractual obligations and job burnout.

  After she had finished, she met Jon at the circulation desk and asked if there was anything else she needed to do before she left for the day.

  “Hopefully you’ll end up working the circulation desk,” he said as if it were the greatest thing in the world. “It can get crazy at times, but we have fun. The patrons in the community are just fantastic, some of the most interesting characters you’ll ever meet.”

  Although he may have been in his early twenties, Ricki knew she was speaking with an old soul. “I’m sure I’ll work up to that.” Not really. Not yet at least. If today was any indication of what she had to deal with, no thanks. She said goodbye to Victoria and all the others she had met that day.

  Felicity tried to apologize for Jennifer’s behavior back in the stacks. “Her heart is in the right place,” she said. “But if she does something like that again, don’t hesitate to tell me. I’ll take care of her, I mean, it.”

  The message behind those words seemed like a loaded gun, and Ricki didn’t want her finger anywhere near that trigger. Jennifer must have been a joy to work with. Judging by her coworkers, no one really cared for her. They didn’t know what to do with her. They didn’t even like her.

  As she headed to the break room, she wondered if there were other places she could donate her time. Her mother told her the hospital was always eager for volunteers if she were interested. Being a slight hypochondriac, she tried to stay away from hospitals. She was sure if she stepped one foot in one, she’d end up with some sort of fungus on the bottom of her shoes. Then she’d track it home where it would infest the place and multiply and end up eating both her and her dog. That wasn’t the romantic way she imagined her life would end.

  Ricki struggled to get the little key in the locker to retrieve her things so she could leave this soap opera masked as a library. She heard moaning coming from inside the bathroom directly behind her. Not wanting to invade someone’s private moments, she ignored the sound. But when she heard the moaning again, she knocked on the door cautiously. “Hello? Are you all right in there?” From outside the door, she could hear the water running. This didn’t seem right. She pushed the door open a little, but something was in the way, something heavy but still movable. She pushed against the door until she was able to squeeze her head inside.

  Jennifer lay in the middle of the floor, moaning and gasping for breath.

  Five

  At first Ricki screamed. After she finished screaming, she called 911. After she finished the call to 911, she ran out of the break room door and stood in the middle of the library and yelled at the top of her voice. “Help. Jennifer. On the floor. In the bathroom. Help.”

  By that time, the library was full of people. Every single face turned in her direction. Every single eyeball was wide with curiosity. A little girl sitting with her mother at the public computers cried because Ricki had scared her. She had scared everyone. It wasn’t the smartest way of handling things, but she did it, and it was too late to take it back.

  The library director, the volunteer coordinator, the reference desk person, and everyone in youth services came running. In fact, everyone, everywhere came running back to the break room like a stampede of wild animals. Luckily, someone knew CPR and was able to keep Jennifer conscious until the paramedics arrived.

  Ricki pressed herself against the wall, trying to stay out of the way and unsure what to do next. Until she saw Jon. His infectious smile was gone, eyes narrowed with worry, the color of his skin a pale green as he clutched his stomach. While the EMTs took care of Jennifer, she took care of Jon. “Let’s get you some water.”

  “I think I’m going to throw up.”

  “Let’s get out of here so you don’t have to watch this.” With the chaos now behind the closed doors of the break room, Ricki and Jon hovered about in the stacks, pacing back and forth. She thought she was helping Jon, but she was really trying to help herself. She didn’t know how her mother was able to handle being a nurse, not to mention raising two kids who were always getting cuts and scrapes. The things her poor mother must have seen and done gave Ricki a shudder.

  “What do we do now?” Jon said, the color slowly coming back to his face.

  “I don’t know.” Ricki twisted the cord of her earbuds around her finger. “Should we close the library?”

  “That’s up to the director, but it’s not a bad idea.”

  “I hope it’s nothing serious.” With the earbud cord sufficiently cutting off circulation to her fingertip, she unraveled it, flexing her finger to get the blood moving again. “I guess I caused a bit of a panic, didn’t I?”

  “What did you see?” Jon kept his hands in his pockets even as he paced back and forth, but it wasn’t hard to see his hands were ball
ed into fists. “What happened?”

  Just as she was about to answer his question, the door swung open. The reference librarian and one of the girls from youth services walked out, whispering. Ricki thought she heard someone say that Jennifer might have had a heart attack.

  Jon raked his fingers through his hair and mumbled, “This can’t be happening.”

  She thought for sure he was going to throw up or worse, pass out. Ricki wasn’t feeling so hot herself upon hearing this news.

  “Maybe I should go to the circulation desk, and I don’t know, do something else instead of standing here.”

  “Good idea,” Ricki said. “I’ll be up in a few seconds. I just need to catch my breath.” Considering she was the one who found Jennifer on the floor, Ricki decided to hang back for a bit. She felt it was her duty to stick around in case anyone had any questions. Sooner or later, she would have to answer a few even if she didn’t have much to tell. She heard moaning coming from the bathroom. She pushed the door open and found Jennifer on the floor. And then she screamed. That was about it.

  After about five minutes of even more pacing back and forth, waiting to be of use to someone, she went to the circulation desk to check on Jon. Overly curious patrons, craning their necks toward the back of the library where all the commotion was, peppered Jon with questions: What happened? Who got hurt? What’s going on? Was there a terrorist in the building? Jon had pretty much turned mute.

  Felicity, the library director, came to the circulation desk, looking pale and worried. “What a trial by fire, huh?” she said to Ricki. “Thanks for alerting us to Jennifer. You probably saved her life.”

  “I did?” Maybe standing in the middle of the library and screaming was a good thing. “Is there anything I can do?”

  “It’s out of our hands, now. The paramedics rushed her to the hospital. I’m going to get in touch with her emergency contact right now.”

  Nausea stirred in Ricki’s stomach. She suddenly felt horrible for the way she treated Jennifer.

  Felicity started to walk away but turned back. “I feel I ought to apologize.”

  “You? I feel like I’m the one who should apologize. If she hadn’t rushed over to give me the book she wrote, maybe none of this would’ve happened.”

  There was a flash of something in Felicity’s eyes when Ricki mentioned Jennifer’s book, but whatever she was thinking, she never let on. Ricki chalked it up as another weird experience in her morning and let it go.

  “This isn’t your fault. Go home and take it easy for a few days.”

  Ricki exhaled and eased her shoulders down from her ears. What a strange day. She was going to believe Felicity that this wasn’t her fault. Jennifer pushed and pushed and wouldn’t take no for an answer, and that wasn’t her fault. She purposely picked Thursday to volunteer, hoping to avoid Jennifer altogether, but she chose to come in on her day off.

  “The backdoor is probably free now,” Jon said, interrupting her thoughts. “If you want to make a break for it.”

  She looked to him, worried. “Are you going to be okay?”

  He nodded, smiling. She wasn’t convinced he was, but she was done with people for the day and needed to tend to herself. “I’ll see you later, then.”

  As Ricki made her way to the break room a second time, there was still a buzz in the air. Concerned library patrons huddled around Linda at the reference desk as she explained what had happened and reassured them that everything would be okay. Right about the middle of the nonfiction section, Ricki overheard someone speaking. “I hope she dies,” said a female voice. She recognized the voice at once. It was Victoria.

  She stopped to listen, pressing herself against the shelves, trying feebly to be invisible.

  “She deserves what she gets,” said another female voice.

  If Ricki made any false move by peeking through the stacks of books to see who was there, she was sure to give herself away. This was the kind of conversation that wasn’t meant to be overheard. Yet it was a public place.

  “Be careful what you say. These walls have ears.”

  “I know. You can’t trust anyone here.”

  Victoria didn’t hide her disdain for Jennifer. Ricki most certainly had the wrong impression of her. When she first met her, she seemed like a patient and tolerant sort which was quite the opposite of the words that came out of her mouth. There was certainly no love lost when it came to Jennifer. Why?

  Once Victoria and the other lady had cleared out of the stacks, Ricki made a mad dash to the aisle where she left Jennifer’s manuscript, grabbed her purse out of the locker, and ran out the door before something else happened. She sat in her car, drumming her fingers on the steering wheel, mulling over what had happened. When Jennifer came out of the office, she slipped something in her pants pocket. Other than coming all the way to the library on her day off to give the book she wrote to Ricki, she said she needed something. What was it? Maybe she only said that to get Felicity and Victoria off her back. Ricki shook her head, trying to wrap her brain around it all. If she didn’t know any better, which she didn’t, Jennifer was in the throes of having a heart attack as she spoke to her. Her mom would know. She sent a quick text: Bad day at the library. On my way over.

  Within seconds, she texted back: Do I need to make pie?

  Ricki didn’t bother to text back because she knew she wasn’t going to get the banana cream she wanted.

  “What happened?” her mother said.

  Ricki flopped down on the couch. “This is exactly why I don’t like going out of the house. My first day as a library volunteer and someone has a heart attack. Practically while they were talking to me.”

  Her mother gasped. Her father stopped working on his crossword puzzle. At the same time they said, “Who?”

  “Do you know Jennifer Barnes?”

  An eye roll, a tsk, and a grunt was her mother’s reaction.

  “Does anyone have anything nice to say about this woman?” Ricki sat up, eyeing her mother, waiting for her to give her the dirt on Jennifer. “What is it about her that everyone hates?”

  “Would you like a cup of coffee? Because we’re going to be here for a while.”

  “I’m too wound up for coffee.” Words that rarely came out of Ricki’s mouth. “Just tell me.”

  Not a fan of gossip, her father grumbled and went outside.

  “All I know,” she whispered, “is that she likes to sleep with other women’s husbands or pre-husbands. That’s all I know. And no, she hasn’t slept with mine. Because she’d be dead. And I’d be in jail.”

  “Um, thanks for that bit of too much information.” Ricki fluffed her hair, soothing away the reminder of Jennifer’s infidelities and what it meant to her. “Is there anything else other than that?” Still feeling guilty for the way she tried to get out of reading Jennifer’s manuscript, Ricki didn’t want to dwell too much on how the woman rubbed her the wrong way, even if she had good reason to dislike her.

  “I’m going to make myself some coffee. Are you sure you don’t want any?”

  Ricki followed her mother to the kitchen, still wanting to talk. “I’m sure.”

  “Did you say she had a heart attack? Because that doesn’t make sense.”

  “Why?”

  “I know it’s possible for anyone to have a heart attack, but she’s healthy. I mean, really healthy. Have you seen her arms? She’s a bodybuilder, a runner, and she pops vitamins like candy.”

  Ricki wanted so desperately to make the joke that maybe all of her extracurricular activities wore Jennifer out, but her mother always scolded her for making inappropriate comments. She had a lifetime of experience of saying something off color in front of her and feeling the consequences of doing so. Just put it this way, Ricki didn’t like the taste of soap. “Don’t you remember years ago when that ice skater had a heart attack on the ice? And he was in his early twenties.”

  “I do remember. But…” Something puzzled Ricki’s mother.

  “I know that
asking this question is a violation of someone’s privacy, but is there any way you can find out how she’s doing or what’s going on?”

  “You’re right, that would be a violation of her privacy. And don’t even bother trying to call the hospital for information because you won’t get any. You’re not family.”

  “I guess we’ll have to wait and see. Right before she got sick, she handed me her book. She wrote a book. Did you know that?”

  Her mother raised an eyebrow. “Is it any good?”

  “I haven’t had a chance to look at it yet, but now that she’s in the hospital, I feel even more obligated to read it. I’ll look it over tonight. Anyway, I better get going. Rumpus is probably waiting for me. If you happen to hear anything, could you let me know? Not saying you should find out or anything, because that would be bad, that would be a violation of her privacy. But if you happen to come across any news. Just throwing that out there.”

  Rumpus waited by the door, leash in mouth, ready to go outside for his walk. Just as she clicked the leash on his collar, her cellphone rang. It was the library. How unusual. She answered the call.

  “Ricki,” Victoria said, sniffling. “I just wanted to let you know that we got word that Jennifer died on the way to the hospital.”

  The blood rushed from her head down to her feet.

  “They believe she went into cardiac arrest and couldn’t save her. If you don’t want to come back as a volunteer, we’ll understand. But if you need someone to talk to, don’t hesitate to call me.”

  She couldn’t find the words to respond. Jennifer Barnes, dead. And she was still holding her book in her arms.