Murder by the Bookend

by Laura Gail Black

  “Maybe it was like that old movie where it wasn’t just one killer,” Mason suggested. “Maybe they got together because they all hated him, and they all helped kill him.”

  Rita rolled her eyes. “This is not an Agatha Christie movie.”

  “There’s only one way we’ll know for sure who’s stealing books and whether it really does tie in to the murder.” I leaned forward and propped my elbows on the table. “We’ll have to stake out the library at night.”

  “Why at night?” Rita sipped her beer. “Why can’t they just walk in and take a few books out during the day?”

  “Trust me, they can’t.” I filled them in on the alarm system the library had rigged to prevent such thefts. “Someone would have to do it after hours so they could turn off the alarm. Our stakeout will have to be overnight.”

  Mason whooped. “Awesome! We’ll get coffee and donuts like they do on TV. Anyone own a big camera with a night vision lens?”

  I chuckled. “I don’t think it’ll be quite as exciting as it is on TV. Remember, they get to cut out the hours where the characters just sit there. A real-life stakeout is bound to be pretty boring.”

  “You have no idea.” Keith leaned forward and sobered. “Guys, we can’t go stalk these folks or stake out the library without knowing what Sutter has planned for his investigation.”

  Rita snorted. “Frank Sutter’s determined to ignore anything Jenna says. He’d try to prove the sky was lima bean green if Jenna pointed out that it’s blue.”

  “Sutter’s a lot shrewder than he seems.” Keith ignored Rita’s second snort. “He always ends up on the right track with real results. Let me talk to him tomorrow and see where he’s at with everything.”

  I sighed deeply, knowing Keith was right. Last thing I wanted to do was screw up a police operation to catch the killer. And to tell the truth, I didn’t want to put Keith in the position of hiding things from his department. That was his job, and I wouldn’t let him risk that. “Fine. Talk to him tomorrow morning. If he’s pursuing this angle, we’ll sit back and wait. But if he’s not …” I tilted my head and raised my hands.

  Rita stood and took her beer bottle to the trash can. “If he’s not, we have a killer to catch.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  I sat at a table inside The Weeping Willow. As with previous visits, I enjoyed the play of colors across the tables and floors where light streamed through the stained-glass windows. I’d already ordered a glass of sweet tea, and I sipped it, lost in thought, while I waited on Keith. As it was only ten AM, he’d promised to meet me here for a non-lunch date after he’d talked with Sutter about the case.

  My heart skipped when he swept the door open and strode through the room toward my table. Holy cow, he was hot. I sipped my tea again to hide the warmth spreading across my cheeks at the thought.

  Keith plopped onto the seat across from me. “Sutter said no.”

  I took in the tension, the furrowed brow, and the tone. “Rough morning?”

  He nodded and raised a hand to wave at our server, ordering a coffee when she arrived at our table, before returning his gaze to me. “There, now I’ll have a bit of go-juice, and maybe I’ll be fit for polite company.” He chuckled. “Let’s try this again. Hi, sweetheart. How was your morning?”

  I leaned in to brush a kiss on his cheek. “It was fine. I went for a walk, called the vet to check on Eddy, and worked in the store for a bit. Nothing spectacular. Sounds like yours was a bit more stressful. Want to talk about it?”

  With closed eyes, he took a long deep breath and let it go slowly. “You have no idea.” His eyes opened and settled on me again. “So far today, we’ve talked to an elderly lady who regularly calls in to tell us there are multiple peeping Toms trying to look in her windows from outside. She lives in a third-floor apartment with no balcony. We’ve also gone on calls for littering outside a restaurant, two jaywalkers, and a dumpster fire.”

  My guffaw drew looks before I could quiet my mirth. Catching his somber expression, I cocked my head. “You’re serious?”

  “Dead level serious.” Keith sipped his coffee, which had just been delivered.

  I reached across the table and touched his hand where it wrapped around his mug. “Keith, what’s going on? Why would you be going on such low-level calls? Aren’t you guys a senior team?”

  He flipped his hand and laced his fingertips through mine. “Honestly? I think they’re trying to push Sutter toward early retirement.”

  My eyebrows shot up. “What about the whole Sutter’s-the-best-and-even-though-he’s-unorthodox-he-always-solves-the-crime thing?”

  Keith raked his free hand through his hair, mussing it a bit, and I resisted the urge to reach out and fix it for him.

  A deep sigh escaped his lips, and he leaned forward, propping his arm on the table. “We’ve been partners for five years, since I transferred here from Virginia. During our partnership, he’s always been spot on.”

  “Until Uncle Paul’s murder.” I squeezed his fingers gently.

  He nodded. “Yeah, until your uncle’s case. He was up for promotion, and he was determined to close a high-profile case the Charlotte PD couldn’t solve. It would’ve been quite a feather.”

  “You mean he was determined to prove I had embezzled and murdered in Charlotte and had then come here and murdered my uncle.” I picked up my tea glass and took a large gulp, trying to give my mouth something to do other than let loose a few rude comments about what I thought of Frank Sutter. My mother’s voice in my head was right. Now was not the time.

  “Pretty much.” Keith shrugged. “He thought if he could prove you’d murdered your uncle and then tie in your past in Charlotte and solve that, he’d be a shoo-in for the promotion.”

  “Well, he missed the boat on that one.” I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “But he eventually got it right. You guys showed up just in the nick of time.”

  “Jenna, his stubborn insistence that you murdered Paul Baxter is what almost got you killed.” Keith squeezed my fingers once more and let go, leaning back to wrap his hands around his coffee cup hard enough his knuckles turned white. Thank goodness for strong, cheap restaurant mugs. “The only reason you didn’t die was because a junior officer we had combing through drug records found the link to the sleeping meds that killed your uncle. And even then, Sutter tried to discount it. We basically steamrolled over him to come check it out.” His gaze softened, capturing me in the depths of his deep brown eyes. “And thank God we did.”

  “I take it the powers that be noticed his attitude?” I’d had no idea. All I’d ever heard was that Sutter was the bomb at this police detective thing. Seems he was slipping. Badly.

  Keith nodded. “They did. He missed out on that promotion. Now he’s desperate to have a high-profile win to regain his reputation. He’s almost rabid about it.”

  “Why are they basically benching the two of you?” I swirled my glass, letting the little bit of tea left melt the surrounding ice cubes.

  “I’m pretty sure they’re giving him the proverbial rope to hang himself on this one. They’re watching him closely, and they don’t want him to have any excuses about a heavy case load to blame it on, like he tried to do with your case.”

  The “well, duh” moment hit me. “They’re trying to get rid of him, aren’t they? And you’re caught in the crossfire for now.”

  “Yep on both counts.” Keith swigged down the remainder of his coffee, mumbling a thanks to the server when she swept by to refill our drinks. “If he blows this one, I think they’ll be offering him early retirement with a strong encouragement he take it.”

  “What happens to you, though?” Surely they wouldn’t demote or fire Keith just because his partner was losing his grip on reality. I knew he’d moved here from a much larger town, because his mother had been ill and had since passed away. I hoped what was going on now wouldn’t push him into moving again for a better position.

  He shrugged again. “I’ll be okay. I’m just stuck
in this loop of garbage cases with him, and I can’t even work on the one big case they’re letting him have, since I was at the party.”

  “What’s his angle on this? You said he said no to staking out the library. Why?” My frustration must have come out in my tone, if Keith’s expression was anything to go by. I sighed. “I’m sorry. I’m not upset at you. Just the situation.”

  A rueful smile tipped up one corner of his mouth. “Believe me, I know what you mean. And to answer your question, Sutter is determined this is about politics. He is almost maniacal in his attempts to force the facts to fit his theory. It’s worse than when your uncle died.”

  “Wow.” I almost felt sorry for Bradford Prescott. Almost. He might have been the one to kill Linus and poison my dog. But I wasn’t convinced it revolved around politics. “I take it high-end book thefts, even if it’s a politician doing it, isn’t glitzy enough for him?”

  “Not in the least.” Keith took one last gulp of his coffee and signaled the server for the check. “For him, that’s about on par with peeping Toms and dumpster fires. The sad thing is, if he would solve this and close it cleanly and accurately, they’d likely back off and call your uncle’s case a one-off.”

  I watched while he signed the check, smiling at the healthy tip he put on a tab with only a sweet tea and a coffee. Definitely a keeper. Wow, another random thought.

  “What now?” I downed the last of my sweet tea.

  Keith stood, placing his warm palm at the small of my back when I joined him for the walk toward the door. “I’m not sure. I’ll keep trying to aim Sutter in the right direction.”

  “That’s not what I meant.” I walked through the door Keith held open and stopped on the sidewalk outside, turning to face him. “I meant about our stakeout.”

  “Jenna, I’m still not comfortable with you sitting in the dark waiting to catch a killer.” He shoved his hands in his suit pants pockets.

  “We already discussed teaming up in twos to do the stakeout. I wouldn’t be alone. You or Rita or Mason would be with me.” I took a step forward and placed a hand on his cheek. “I can’t just sit here and do nothing. Whoever did this tried to kill Eddy. Without knowing who it was, the only way to keep him safe is to lock him in the apartment by himself all day and hope no one breaks in while I’m not there. I have to do something. Please.”

  Keith closed his eyes and sighed before opening them to gaze into mine. “Fine. I’m working late all week this week, so Mason and Rita would have to go with you.”

  Working late? On what? A rash of cats in trees or a spike in loitering? I kept my tacky giggle to myself, as joking around about his recent spate of insignificant cases wouldn’t help his mood, and I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. “Okay, I’ll talk to them and see if they can make that work.”

  He stepped forward and cupped my cheek in his hand. “Promise me you’ll be careful. Promise me you’ll call me if you see anything suspicious.” His eyes again held more than he was letting himself say out loud.

  I turned my face into his hand and kissed his palm. “I promise.”

  Keith’s shoulders dropped a little as he released tension I hadn’t realized he’d been holding in. “I’ll call you periodically to check on you.” He brushed a kiss across my hair and turned, striding toward the parking lot at the end of the street.

  Watching him walk away, I worried, not for his own safety, but for his sanity. Because of Sutter’s demented determination, he’d been shoved aside to work on cases that could be resolved, in many instances, with phone calls. His disappointment and frustration must be incredible right about now. I just hoped I could keep my promises to him and wouldn’t become another rock in his pocket.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Mason and I spent the rest of the morning assisting customers, but after lunch, the flow of customers slowed enough I asked Mason to try his hand at researching a few of the more interesting books that had arrived with my estate sale purchase. While he worked on books, I hummed softly to myself as I made a list of items we’d need for our stakeouts. Mid-October in the mountains, albeit in North Carolina, would be chilly. We wouldn’t be able to leave the car running, so we’d need gloves, blankets, jackets, and tons of hot coffee or, in Rita’s case, maybe tea. If we were there long enough, we’d need something to eat, so I’d likely make a few simple sandwiches. It wouldn’t be fancy, but we wouldn’t go hungry.

  I’d called Rita, asking her to pop in for a few minutes after she got off work, so we could plan out our schedule, and around five PM, she swept through the door, jingling the door chimes as she came.

  “Hey, Jenna. How’s it going?” Rita planted her purse on the counter beside my notepad and leaned across to look at what I was writing. “Already planning, I see.”

  I flipped the pad around so she could read it. “Yep. Did I miss anything?”

  “Other than several boxes of NoDoz, nope.” She chuckled.

  “I included coffee. That should do it for the caffeine need.” I pointed to the line item on the list.

  “Then you’d better put toilet paper, and baggies to put it in after it’s used, on the list.” She apparently caught my confused look. “Night-long stakeout, tons of liquid, need to pee frequently.”

  The light bulb went on in my brain. “Ohhhhhh. I hadn’t thought of that. A caffeine pill would keep us up without needing to go so much. But I hadn’t considered what we’ll do when we do need to go.”

  “No worries.” Rita slid the notepad back to me. “There’s a twenty-four-hour grocery store two doors down from the library. We’ll have to disable your overhead light in your car, so we don’t shine like a Christmas tree when one of us needs to get in or out.”

  Thank goodness for a friend who thought of these things. “Now all we need to do is discuss shifts.”

  Rita rounded the counter and sat next to me on another stool. “I thought about that on the way here. I’m a morning person. If Mason’s a night owl, we should split shifts with you. With Keith out of the picture, we can’t take half a night each. Someone needs to be there the whole time. I vote it’s you.”

  “Gee, thanks.” I put my hand to my chest in a gesture of surprise. “I can’t believe I won.” I fluttered my eyelashes. “I’m so happy.”

  “Knock it off.” Rita chuckled again. “It makes the most sense. You can be there to keep track of things for continuity’s sake. Mason can sit with you until around two in the morning, and I can come spell him off. That way, we each get a little sleep so we can keep our day jobs. I hear his boss is a real taskmaster.”

  I cocked an eyebrow at her. “A taskmaster? Really?” I shook my head. “So, I don’t get to sleep at all?”

  “You do during the day. Mason can run the store for now.” She lowered her voice and leaned in as Mason exited the back room. “It would be good for him to feel you trusted him enough to let him have full responsibility for the store.”

  I eyed my employee speculatively as he strode down the aisle, a laptop balanced on one arm. Rita was right. Letting him run the store would free me up to have a day off occasionally and to go to auctions on workdays.

  As he approached, he looked up from the screen. “Hey, guys, look at this.” He slid the laptop onto the counter and turned it to face us, leaning forward to see the screen.

  An antique book filled the screen. The site’s header stated it was a book auction site. I started to shrug but did a double take instead. “Isn’t that my book? I mean the book I sold Alice?” I leaned in, taking in the brass bindings, gold scrollwork, green grosgrain material peeking out through a cutout on a white cover, and gold gilt edging on the pages. The Milton I’d sold Alice King was for sale on a rare book site.

  My eyes quickly scanned the write-up.

  “This says it’s in pristine condition.” Rita pointed at the screen.

  “Look at what it’s going for.” Mason pointed to the current bid, which was twice the price Alice had paid me for it.

  I reached up and swiped through
the pictures of the book, which showed the book from all angles, carefully avoiding showing the glue surgery Linus had performed on it. Yep, that was definitely my book. So much for her need to have the last book “her” Linus had touched.

  “It also says she picked it up at auction in Georgia from a collector, and the book had been in his family since its publication date.” I pointed at the provenance section for the book.

  Rita’s whistle came out in a low, solemn tone. “Looks like she’s up to her old tricks again.”

  “With Linus gone, maybe she thinks no one will catch her at it this time.” Mason shrugged and propped a hip against the counter, hands in his pockets.

  “The question is, however, did she kill him in order to start up again?” I closed the laptop and leaned back. “It seems like really convenient timing for her.”

  “While I was back there”—Mason nodded his head toward the back room—“I pulled out the printed runs from Linus’s folder and checked for the books that had gone missing. I didn’t find any of them up for sale. At least not on this site. I also pulled up her seller’s profile, which showed her last sale happened well over a year ago.”

  “About the time Linus shut her down.” I remembered what Phillie had said about Alice’s current job situation. “She can’t be making very much working at a gas station. Maybe she needed the money and grabbed the opportunity to pass the book off as pristine for a quick buck.”

  Rita stood and grabbed her purse. “Whatever her reason, we may need to put her at the top of our list of suspects. It could be she didn’t learn her lesson back when Linus caught her, and she’s been stealing the library’s books to pay her bills since then. Either way, I need to get a few winks, or I’ll be a zombie come two AM.”

  I followed Rita to the door and gave her a quick hug before she left. “I’ll see you tonight.”