Checked Out (A Ricki Rydell Mystery Book 1)

by Abby Matthews

  “Well, for one thing, your brother is a cop and you probably hear things before anyone else does.”

  “Everyone seems to think that, but it’s not true. He’s only a Highway Patrol officer. He doesn’t hear anything about homicide.” Of course, it was a little lie because her brother had friends in homicide, but that didn’t mean it was okay for him to tell his sister everything. Even if he did, she wasn’t about to share that information with anyone else, least of all Felicity.

  “Another thing is, you seem rather nosy.”

  “I don’t know about that.” Well, actually, she had become nosy, but she had to be that way if she wanted to be a detective. But there was one thing Ricki did know, or sort of understood, about human nature: innocent people don’t often tell others they didn’t do something unless they did something.

  Twenty

  For the rest of the evening, Ricki indulged Felicity and her wild accusations. She said Victoria always hated Jennifer because she was a backstabber. Jennifer had gone to Felicity on more than one occasion to report Victoria for not doing her job and accused her of playing favorites to certain volunteers and coworkers. According to Felicity, Jennifer was in her office countless times with accusations about how Victoria was influencing the library’s hiring practices. Which was an indirect attack on Felicity since she had the final say on who was hired or fired. She complained of nepotism and favoritism and every other -ism imaginable. In spite of all of that, Victoria always took the higher road and treated Jennifer with civility. Unfortunately, that was only to the public. Behind her back, not so much.

  Even after hearing all of the sordid details, Ricki was still skeptical but accepted her request for help. She wasn’t entirely convinced Felicity was innocent of any wrongdoing, but working with her could possibly get her closer to the person who actually did kill Jennifer. If it helped, why not? That’s what she told herself as she sat on the couch staring at the television with Rumpus by her side. Her head spun with all the information and accusations. Ricki couldn’t wait to confront Victoria. Now that Felicity gave her permission to go back to the library any time she wanted, she had big plans for her return visit.

  She wanted to feel sorry for Felicity and the mayor, but she couldn’t let go of her own personal struggles. Marty went on a business trip to Chicago and came back madly in love with someone else, someone he couldn’t live without and left Ricki high and dry. And so it was hard to feel any sympathy whatsoever for the two cheaters. But on the other hand, she couldn’t imagine how sad it must have been to be stuck in a loveless marriage. For a brief second, her mind wandered over to the dark side. The dark side that maybe Marty was unhappy and felt like he was stuck and his only option was to fall in love with someone else. It was a painful thought, and she got rid of it before it had a chance to settle in for a long stay.

  So she thought of their kids. To have them grow up in a house where there was no love between the parents seemed all too sad. In her family, there was a lot of love. Her family wasn’t perfect, but there was no mistake in how they felt for each other. Mom and Dad didn’t hide their affection for each other or their affection for their kids. She counted herself among the lucky who grew up in a healthy, happy home. But how were those kids going to feel when they found out what their parents were doing? She struggled with the judgment, but it was getting harder and harder to be objective.

  Did Ricki believe Felicity and think it was Victoria who killed Jennifer? Innocent people don’t make a point of covering their tracks. That didn’t automatically make her think she was guilty of more than just having an affair. Maybe all Felicity wanted to do was to tell someone her secrets to relieve a repressed guilt. Or maybe Felicity was lying entirely.

  It looked like another restless night for Ricki as her mind raced with thoughts of her own, words of Felicity’s, clues of Jennifer’s, how to confront Victoria, and Rumpus howling in his sleep. She rolled over in her bed and watched his paws twitch. “I hope you catch that rabbit, boy.” She laughed. Then sighed.

  Jennifer was most definitely blackmailing others. Ricki convinced herself the police knew about it, but she wanted to find out for sure. She texted her brother: Did you know Jennifer was blackmailing people?

  She placed the cellphone back on the nightstand and rolled over, hoping she could will sleep to find her. She didn’t count on hearing from her brother until the next morning and was surprised when her phone vibrated within a minute. It was a text from Chris with a simple yes. So the police knew Jennifer was blackmailing others. It may have been something they learned after she died. But wouldn’t they have arrested her for something like that? Maybe they’re still putting all the pieces together, but this also meant the police knew about Felicity and the mayor. Ricki had a feeling things were about to heat up.

  After a restless night sleep, Ricki stopped at the coffee shop to grab a cappuccino and an almond croissant before heading over to the library to confront Victoria. She went over what she was going to say in her head until she had sufficiently worked herself up into a frenzy. In the car, she took a few minutes to enjoy her breakfast. She had a serious case of brain fog, and the caffeine couldn’t hit her system fast enough. But once it did, she felt more clearheaded and even more riled up. She was ready for a fight.

  As she passed Asbury Park she kept her eyes on the library and noticed something odd. The parking lot was completely empty. Except for the few cars parked there for the other businesses near the library, it was virtually barren. It wasn’t a holiday. It wasn’t a Sunday. What’s was going on? As she swung around to the back of the building, she noticed the employee parking lot was empty as well. As she drove closer, she saw why.

  Police cars were parked directly in front of the building. Her stomach twisted in a knot thinking that maybe someone else got killed. Since she was accused of being nosy, she decided to put it to good use. She drove around the block one more time and parked on a side street before walking over to the library. With her mind focused on getting to her destination to spy on the cops, she ignored mostly everything else going on around her. Until she heard a familiar voice. Somewhere on the street she was walking on, she could’ve sworn she heard Felicity talking. She stopped dead in her tracks and listened.

  Ricki cupped her ears with her hands and followed the sound of the voices. She hid behind a bush. As she got into place, she heard Victoria’s voice.

  “I can’t believe you would do that to me,” Victoria said. While most of the time her voice was even keeled never revealing any expression whatsoever, this time it was unmistakable. She was angry. “What possessed you to do that?”

  Do what? Ricki wanted to know. She peeked out from behind the bush and saw the two women standing in the alleyway behind one of the restaurants that sat next to the library.

  “I thought it was a good idea. It was only Ricki. It’s not like she has any clout.”

  “Her brother is a cop. It doesn’t matter if he sits on his butt all day and watches speeding cars ride past him, he’s still a cop. I can’t believe you didn’t even think about that before you told her.”

  Didn’t have clout? Her brother sits on his butt all day? Ricki was starting to find this conversation rather offensive.

  “You’re supposed to point the finger at me in return. That’s the way it works. I just need some time.” Felicity was practically on her knees begging for Victoria to understand. She was unapologetic, desperate, even if Ricki had no idea what she was talking about.

  Victoria threw her hands in the air. “I’m not covering for you. You know how I feel about this. As far as I’m concerned, you’re on your own. I can’t believe you would betray me like that even if it was just to Ricki. You put me in a dangerous situation. What if the police come after me just because of what you said?”

  “You have a perfect alibi.”

  “How would I have a perfect alibi when I don’t even understand what’s going on. All I know is that she had a heart attack, but apparently you know more than I d
o. You know what. I’m done. You’re on your own. You’re making a huge mistake.”

  Victoria walked away. Ricki did her best to push herself into the bushes as far she could go without getting stabbed by all the little branches and twigs, not to mention being eaten alive by the spiders that built their nests in those bushes. Another set of footsteps walked away. Ricki peeked through the green of the shrubbery to see what was going on in the alleyway. Both women had left.

  When she saw that the street was clear of both women, she jumped out of the bushes, pulling twigs out of her hair, wiping cobwebs off her arms. She caught her breath. She had no idea what that was all about, but it supported what she suspected all along: Felicity lied about Victoria and maybe she was the guilty party after all.

  Ricki raced over to the library and paced back and forth in the parking lot, keeping her eye on the activity. Like a trail of ants, a line of cops came in and out of the building, carrying boxes and official looking envelopes into an official looking van. What a strange turn of events.

  She recognized one of the cops. His name was Steve, and he was good friends with her brother. He always tried to convince Chris to go into forensics because he had a good eye for that sort of thing. But Ricki knew her brother couldn’t handle the sight of blood. It wasn’t so much the blood as it was the splatter of certain other things one might find at a crime scene that he couldn’t handle. Steve jerked his head upward when he saw a Ricki. “Hey, what’s up?”

  Steve made Ricki weak in the knees. He had such dreamy dark blue eyes that looked like an ocean they were so blue. And she so desperately wanted to skinny dip in that ocean. She promised herself she would never ever, no matter what, under any circumstances go out with a cop. She didn’t want to have to deal with the possibility of waking up the middle of the night to a phone call saying her husband had been shot. Not that Unionville was that bad of a place to live, but there was always a possibility. Besides, from what she heard, Steve was getting serious with a girl he met online.

  “Hi, Steve. What’s going on?”

  “Just a little excitement, as you can see.”

  “Can you give me a hint? Maybe I can give you one in return.”

  He arched an eyebrow. “Do you know something?”

  “Let’s just say I’ve had some interesting experiences ever since she died.” Ricki whipped out her phone and showed him the pictures she had taken of Jennifer’s desk before someone cleared it off. “I heard she might’ve been poisoned, but you didn’t hear me say that. There is a bottle of something sitting on the desk.”

  “How did you get that? We went in and the desk was wiped clean from top to bottom. Not even a fingerprint to work with.”

  Ricki felt vindicated. Getting let go as a volunteer suddenly became so worth it.

  “Can you send that picture to me?”

  With him watching over her shoulder, and her knees growing weaker, she sent him all the photos she had taken of Jennifer’s desk.

  “Thanks. I feel like I just hit the jackpot. What else do you know?”

  “Have you looked at Felicity?” Sure, she said she was going to help her, but after what she overheard in the alleyway between Victoria and Felicity, she changed her mind. It wasn’t so much that she insulted her and her brother that made her want to throw her under the bus but that she pulled Victoria into her ugly situation. She pointed the finger at Victoria, thinking she would do the same in return. Ricki may have read that trick in a book recently. It was done to throw the detectives off the trail of the real murderer.

  She was sorry that Felicity was being blackmailed and that Jennifer was bleeding both her and the mayor dry, but it was a murder investigation and she wasn’t going to obstruct justice. No matter how much everyone hated Jennifer, she was dead, murdered. No one deserved that.

  “You know I can’t tell you that, but I appreciate the tip. I best get back. But before I go can you tell me who that guy is standing under the trees?”

  Her eyes followed the direction he pointed. She recognized the figure at once. “It’s one of the library associates. Why?”

  “Do you know anything about him?”

  “Not much. Again, why?”

  Steve was reluctant to answer.

  “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.” Ricki was getting good at this manipulation thing, and this time she didn’t feel badly about doing it.

  “He’s been hanging around here all morning. There have been a few complaints over the past week about some young man lurking in the park.”

  “He’s harmless. A tender heart. You have nothing to worry about.”

  “All right. I best get back.” He winked and smiled as he walked away.

  Why did he have to be a cop?

  Since Jon was in the direction she needed to go to get to her car, she thought she’d stop and say hi. She could only imagine what he must have been feeling, watching the cops going in and out of his beloved library. Unhurried, she walked toward him. He was so engrossed in what was going on that he didn’t even see her walk up to him. In fact, when he saw her he nearly jumped out of his skin.

  “Hey, Jon. What brings you here? The library is closed as you can see.”

  His eyes narrowed, he turned toward her. “Obviously. Why are you here?”

  “Oh, probably playing cat and mouse.”

  He kicked at the ground. “You always talk in riddles.”

  “That’s a riddle we need to solve.” Ricki was convinced Jon knew something but didn’t want to say. Now was the time to turn into a private investigator. “The day I was let go from being a volunteer, I noticed Jennifer’s desk was cleaned off, almost like she had never been there. Do you know who did it?”

  Jon kept his eyes focused on the police activity near the library. “I do not.”

  There was something different about Jon’s demeanor that day. Normally he seemed a bit shy, fidgety kind of guy. This time he acted detached and distracted by something, almost annoyed that she was standing there talking to him. “Are you feeling okay?”

  A nod was all she got in response.

  “So I guess now the library is considered a crime scene. That’s pretty intense, huh?”

  Again, all she got was a nod. Something wasn’t right with this guy.

  “Maybe you shouldn’t be standing here watching all this. It seems to be getting to you.”

  “Maybe you should go home.”

  Take that, Ricki. She was already in a bad mood after working herself up into a frenzy to confront Victoria. She wasn’t in the mood to deal with Jon’s mood. “If you have something to say, you should come out and say it.”

  “I don’t have anything to say. If you hadn’t shown up none of this would be happening.”

  “How is this my fault?”

  “You show up out of nowhere and all of a sudden my coworker is dead. And now there’s a police investigation going on. This is most definitely your fault. Why don’t you just go back home and write your stupid love stories.”

  “I think the stress is getting to you, Jon. Maybe you should pull yourself away and go home. Take a nap or something.”

  He turned his head slowly toward her, his brows knitted together. He then uttered some expletives that she didn’t care to repeat. She took that as her cue to leave. She knew stress did strange things to people, but this was a bit over-the-top.

  As she drove home, she thought about relationships, romantic and otherwise. There were relationships filled with love and honesty. There were relationships filled with deceit and were clandestine. She didn’t know enough about Jon to speculate why he was behaving the way he was. If he had any romantic inclination toward Jennifer, he never showed it. In fact, from what she gathered, other than the shyness and the nervousness, he didn’t show much of any emotion. Except for that day. Either the stress was getting to him or his true nature we bubbling to the surface.

  The picture she began painting in her head became filled with many different faces. There was Felicity who had a
lot to lose because she was having an affair with a political official. There was Victoria who was connected to Jennifer through work and absolutely despised the woman. Not to mention the conversation Ricki overheard in the stacks between her and another volunteer. She wasn’t unhappy to see Jennifer go. There was Grace1 who was connected to Jennifer through her granddaughter. But that was such a long ago relationship that it probably didn’t have any significance in the present day. Then there was the mayor himself who was being blackmailed by Jennifer. Not to mention all the other unnamed victims of Jennifer’s blackmailing. Her brain was filled with too many people. This wasn’t good for her. It was too much like work to think this much about other human beings.

  She turned on the radio to distract herself from overthinking the situation and letting her imagination run wild. After her favorite song ended, a Breaking News segment came on. The mayor had run off with his mistress, leaving his political office and his family behind. Details were forthcoming when they knew more. Felicity and the mayor were now free to live their love openly.

  Twenty-one

  It didn’t take long for the local media to pick up on the juicy tidbits happening around town. They ate it up like a hungry dog. The biggest story of all, of course, was the mayor and Felicity running off together, leaving everyone and everything behind. The second biggest story was Jennifer’s toxicology report. She was killed with an almost undetectable poison that caused her to have a heart attack. Because she was a health nut, and the autopsy showed she had a healthy heart, the medical examiner pushed for a toxicology report.

  The library stayed closed for a few more days while the police finished up their investigation, giving the assistant director enough time to clean up the mess Felicity left behind. Since the Unionville Public Library was such a strong presence in the community, nobody wanted to see it closed for good. Everyone worked together to make sure it opened back up and as quickly as possible.