On Borrowed Time

by Jenn McKinlay

  Robbie dropped his arms and stepped back with an irritated twist to his lips. “Now was that necessary?”

  “Yes,” Sully snapped.

  In spite of the trauma of the day, Lindsey felt the corners of her mouth curve up. This sort of thing had been going on for a while, ever since Robbie had arrived in town to help Violet with her community theater production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream a few months before. The play was long over but Robbie remained.

  Tall, with reddish-blond hair, green eyes and a pair of roguish dimples, Robbie Vine, a famous stage and film actor from England, had charmed his way into the Briar Creek community and made it more than plain that he was interested in Lindsey.

  Meanwhile, Sully, a local boat captain with a sailor’s strong build, sea blue eyes and a head of thick reddish-brown curls, had alternately won Lindsey’s heart and then broken it. Not one to quit, however, Sully was now in the process of trying to win her affection back.

  Lindsey adored them both, but she had declined any offers of a romantic nature, wanting to have more than a passing acquaintance with her own feelings before she made any rash decisions. It had made for an interesting few months with both men under foot, and just as Emma had noted, it had certainly kept her mind occupied.

  “Unless the mayor tells me otherwise, I’m going to close the library to the public for the rest of the day,” Lindsey said. “Staff can stay and catch up on clerical work if they choose, but I think it will be easier for the investigators if we close.”

  “I can call the mayor and request it,” Emma said. “It certainly would make our job easier.”

  “Let’s do it,” Lindsey said. She put one hand through Sully’s arm and the other through Robbie’s as she began to walk them to the door. “Thank you so much for checking on me. It was very considerate of you both.”

  “She’s giving us the boot, isn’t she?” Robbie asked Sully.

  “And how,” he agreed. “Are you sure there isn’t anything we can do to help?”

  “I can’t think of anything,” Lindsey said. “But I’ll let you know if I do.”

  She gave them a gentle push out the door and then stepped back as the automatic doors whooshed shut.

  Beth strolled over to her side. “Decisions have to be made.”

  “No, they don’t,” Lindsey protested. “I don’t know what I want yet. Honestly, aren’t I allowed to take my time and figure it out? I mean, is there some invisible relationship countdown clock of which I’m unaware?”

  “Um, I was talking about whether I should cancel the teens’ party tonight or not,” Beth said.

  “Oh.” Lindsey puckered her lips. “Since it’s not in the library, I think you should forge ahead. There’s no reason for the teens to miss out on wearing their steampunk gear.”

  “Excellent,” Beth said. “They’ve all worked so hard, I’d hate to disappoint them. I’ll send out a status update on our social media page that we’re a go.”

  She disappeared into the children’s department while Ms. Cole and Ann Marie manned their positions at the circulation desk. Lindsey scanned the library one more time, futilely looking for her brother with no success. Where could Jack have gone?

  This was only one of many questions plaguing Lindsey. Had Jack been in the meeting room when the man came in? What happened between them? Or was Jack gone before the man entered? If so, who had strangled the man to death?

  Lindsey felt her stomach knot up. If it was someone else who harmed the man, and it had to be because she knew it couldn’t have been Jack, then where was that person? And was he looking for Jack? Or even worse, had he found him?

  “Lindsey, are you all right?” Emma paused beside her and studied her face.

  “Yeah, I’m good,” Lindsey lied. Again.

  “You know, what you saw in there would make a veteran police officer puke on his shoes,” she said. “It’s okay to be rattled.”

  “Oh, I’m more than rattled,” Lindsey assured her. “But I’m still functional.”

  Emma nodded. “Let me know if you need to talk.”

  Lindsey squeezed her friend’s arm in silent thank-you. She watched Emma go back to the crime scene while Officer Kirkwood escorted Peter Schwartz out of the building to much complaining.

  She took the opportunity to go back to her office, hoping that this time she’d find a message from her brother on her phone. No such luck. Lindsey hovered by her office phone and her computer for the rest of the day, but there were no messages or calls from Jack.

  The police cleared out an hour before closing, so it was just Lindsey and her staff meeting at the back door to exit the building.

  Beth came running down the hall in her steampunk aviator costume with a big paper bag in her hands. As Lindsey set the alarm, they stepped out of the building into the bitter December air.

  Ms. Cole gave them a stiff nod as she headed to her car while Ann Marie waved and gave them a small smile, her usual cheeriness subdued by the events of the day.

  Being environmentally minded, Lindsey and Beth usually rode their bicycles to work even in winter, so they headed toward the bike rack at the side of the building. Lindsey was wrapping her scarf about her face and making sure her gloves reached up under her coat sleeves so a sneaky chill couldn’t creep in between her layers.

  “I think you should come to the Blue Anchor tonight,” Beth said. “In fact, I insist.”

  Lindsey gave her a tired smile. “I would, really, but I’m just not up for it tonight.”

  Beth held a folded piece of paper out to her. “No, really, you need to come.”

  Lindsey frowned and took the paper. She opened it and caught her breath as the familiar scrawl of Jack’s handwriting filled the small space.

  Meet me at the Anchor tonight. Love, J

  “When? How?” Lindsey asked. “Is he okay?”

  “He was fine, a little mysterious, but fine.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Lindsey asked.

  “He asked me not to,” Beth said. “I went into the storage area about an hour ago to gather my steampunk stuff, and there he was. He said he has to talk to you and that you’ll know what it’s about.”

  Beth gave her an assessing look. She may play with children all day, but Beth was no one’s fool. She had to suspect that the dead body and Jack’s arrival were not unrelated.

  “He’s not in trouble, is he?” she asked.

  “I don’t know,” Lindsey said.

  She could barely focus, given the relief that was pounding through her. Jack was okay. Only now could she admit to herself that she’d been dreading the worst, that somehow Jack was involved with the dead man and that he was hurt or harmed or had even been killed.

  Lindsey clutched the paper to her chest and sucked in a gulp of the frigid evening air.

  “What’s going on, Lindsey?” Beth asked.

  “I wish I knew,” Lindsey said. “I only saw Jack for a few moments today and then he disappeared. I won’t know any more until I talk to him. So it looks like I’m going with you.”

  “Excellent,” Beth said. “I figured you would and, of course, you’ll need this to fit in.”

  She opened her bag and rummaged through it. She pulled out a black top hat that was covered with knobs and gears and a purple lacy scarf. She glanced at Lindsey’s wool skirt and lace-up boots and nodded.

  “Unbutton a few buttons on your blouse and you’ll look like a nice Victorian steampunk chick,” Beth said.

  “I don’t get to be an adventurer?” Lindsey asked. “I wanted jodhpurs and a monocle.”

  “Beggars can’t be choosers,” Beth said. She clapped the hat onto Lindsey’s head and draped the lacy scarf around her neck. “Besides, Jack already helped himself to my cool gear.”

  “Jack’s in costume, too?” Lindsey asked.

  “Yes,” Beth said.
She looked delighted. “He was so enthusiastic when I mentioned the party. Much more so than you. He even kissed me.”

  “What?” Lindsey asked.

  “Don’t worry. It was very sisterly,” Beth said and wrinkled her nose, letting Lindsey know that it was a disappointment. “Why didn’t you tell me he was coming to town early?”

  “I didn’t know,” she said. “You know how uncommunicative he is.”

  At least, that was the truth. She tried to ignore the sparkle in Beth’s eye. Beth had fostered a crush on Jack since the first time she’d met him when she and Lindsey had been in grad school in New Haven.

  When it came to Jack, whom she loved, and her friends, Lindsey always felt like she was standing out in a storm wildly waving to oncoming cars that the bridge was out. It never worked. Every friend she had ever had, had plunged headfirst over the abyss that was falling in love with Jack Norris.

  So far, Jack had not stood still long enough for Beth to lose her heart to him completely, but Lindsey knew the signs. The giddy smile, the blush that colored her cheeks, the wild light in her eyes, yeah, Beth had it bad. Oh, no.

  They climbed onto their bikes and pushed off the curb toward the Anchor. Lindsey’s hat was heavy and she tipped it back so that she could see. With her lacy scarf blowing in the wind, she had to admit she felt a bit like a Victorian lady and, boy howdy, did she ever feel sorry for them.

  They parked their bikes by the café, locking them up on the rail at the side of the building. The faint strains of Charlie Peyton’s band could be heard through the door. Judging by the full parking lot, it was a rocking good time at the Blue Anchor tonight.

  Lindsey and Beth blew into the building with a strong wind at their backs. The restaurant was standing room only, but Beth’s teens had already taken over the corner by the band. Beth grabbed Lindsey’s hand and hustled her across the room to the waiting group.

  The band finished their song to much applause. Lindsey saw Charlie, her downstairs neighbor, standing off to the side with his guitar. She’d seen him play a million times, but every time, she was amazed at his skills and his natural affinity for the stage. Catching her eye, Charlie pointed at her and winked.

  As she hurried by, he yelled, “Nice lid.”

  Lindsey adjusted the enormous hat on her head and gave him a rueful smile.

  “Okay, now that the ladies are here,” Charlie said into the mike, “it’s time to slow things down a bit.”

  The band broke into a ballad and the teens they had just reached surged past them. Dylan, one of their older teen workers, grabbed Beth as he went past and Lindsey found herself alone, facing a youth in an explorer’s jacket, a pith helmet and a monocle. He winked at her with his available eye.

  “Jack?” she asked.

  “Shh,” he said. “It’s Sir Tarryton at the moment.”

  He held out his arm to her, and much to Lindsey’s bemusement, her brother led her out onto the dance floor amid the throng of similarly clad teens. To Lindsey, it appeared to be a crush of cogs, gears, wool coats, flouncy skirts and fancy hats.

  She had to admit there was a certain appeal to the tricked-out clothes, but at the moment, she was much more concerned with her brother and the dead guy in her library.

  Jack spun her into the funky waltz the teens were all attempting, and when they were face-to-face, she began her interrogation.

  “What happened to you today?” she asked. “When I went back to check on you, there was a dead man on the floor.”

  “I heard,” Jack said. He adjusted his monocle before putting his hand back on her waist. “Are you okay? That must have been horrible.”

  “Not as horrible as it was for him, I’d imagine,” she said.

  She thought over the past two years and the number of bodies she’d seen, and she hated to think she was actually getting desensitized to it, but there was no question that today’s corpse hadn’t rattled her nearly as badly as it would have a few years ago.

  She noticed Jack studying her face as if curious about what she meant, and she shook her head.

  “Enough about me. What about you? What happened in there? You didn’t . . . it wasn’t . . . oh, Jack, what happened?”

  Jack leaned in close to her and whispered, “You know I had nothing to do with that man’s death.”

  He said it like a statement and Lindsey nodded. She knew that. She did. All the way down to her soul, she knew her brother could never harm another living being.

  “I was asleep on the couch when I heard someone opening the window. I must not have locked it as well as I thought, but nothing good ever comes from people who use windows instead of doors,” he said.

  “Present company excepted?” Lindsey asked.

  Jack gave a small smile and nod. “Anyway, I rolled off of the couch and onto the floor and then scuttled my way behind one of the chairs in the corner.”

  “Who was the man? Why was he sneaking into my library?” Lindsey asked.

  Jack’s mouth was in a tight line, his expression grim. “When I woke up, I assumed he was after me. I was sure he was sent to kill me.”

  “Kill you?” Lindsey cried.

  “Shh,” Jack hushed her.

  She lowered her voice and asked, “But why?”

  “Would you believe for my love of coffee?” he asked.

  He was being cryptic and it was annoying. Lindsey opened her mouth to say so when she saw the front door open and Sully entered the café.

  “Is that the boat captain who broke your heart?” Jack asked, following the line of her gaze. He looked like he was going to go over and bust a Three Stooges eye gouge on Sully.

  “We’re friends now,” Lindsey said. “Stand down.”

  Jack made a growly noise in his throat and Lindsey huffed an exasperated breath.

  “Really?” she asked. “My broken heart is more of an issue for you than a man trying to kill you?”

  “Well, he didn’t,” Jack said. “Primarily because another man climbed through the window after him and the two of them started to fight. One of them yelled for me to run, and I didn’t need to be told twice.”

  “Did you see the man get murdered?” Lindsey asked. She was horrified.

  “No.” Jack shook his head and his too-large pith helmet swiveled on his head. Lindsey reached up to straighten it and met his gaze. He looked distraught.

  “I would have stayed and helped if I’d known it was going to go that way. One of the men was my contact, but having never met him, I didn’t know which one. I figured the best thing I could do to help would be to get away and then they’d have no reason to fight. Obviously, I was wrong and a man is dead because of it.”

  “Contact? What do you mean? Why were you meeting a contact here? Why is someone trying to harm you?” Lindsey asked. “You’re an economist; how is that a life-threatening occupation?”

  “I work for people who have a lot of money, a lot of power, and not that many scruples,” Jack said. “One of them might be the teensiest bit unhappy with me right now.”

  “Then they sue you, they don’t kill you,” Lindsey said. She was going to say more but Jack spun her away and then pulled her back.

  While spinning, Lindsey saw Sully leaning against the bar watching her. She felt her face flame hot at the thought that he might think she was flirting with teenagers. Then she shook her head. It really did not matter what Sully thought. Jack was obviously in serious trouble and her number one concern had to be helping him.

  As she was swept back into Jack’s arms, she frowned at him. “Tell me who’s after you.”

  “Sorry, Linds, it’s too dangerous,” he said. “The less you know, the better. In fact, I was planning to spend the holiday hiding out here, but now that they’ve found me, I’m gonna have to bounce.”

  “No, you need to go to the police,” Lindsey said. “Chief Plew
icki is amazing and she’ll help you, especially if you can help identify the dead man or at least give her a lead. I know she will.”

  The corner of Jack’s mouth turned up in a half smile. “Linds,” he began but she interrupted. She knew that look. He was about to completely blow her off.

  “No, Jack, you listen to me—”

  “Can’t,” he said. “You’ve got a new partner.”

  With that, he spun Lindsey right into Sully’s arms while he snagged Beth, who looked delighted, and twirled her away from Dylan. Lindsey kept her eye on them, making sure Jack didn’t disappear without telling her again.

  The fact that he had dumped her into Sully’s waiting arms when he’d wanted to stomp Sully just minutes before indicated to her that he was avoiding her suggestion to talk to the police.

  “Problem?” Sully asked.

  Good manners forced Lindsey to take her attention off Jack and look at Sully, whose blue eyes were narrowed with concern.

  “It’s not what you think,” she said. She returned her gaze to Jack, following Sully’s movements from sheer memory of the days when they had gone dancing while they were dating. Mercifully, not being a power dancer, Sully had always kept it to a simple two-step.

  “Should I be worried that you have such a fascination with one of Beth’s teens?” he asked. “I mean I really thought the flirting Englishman was enough.”

  Lindsey was only half listening. Jack leaned close to Beth’s ear and whispered something that made her eyes go wide and then she tipped her head back and laughed with abandon. Oh, no! He was not working his charm on her best friend. Lindsey frowned. If anyone was going to get a butt kicking tonight, it was going to be her brother Jack.

  “I’m not fascinated,” Lindsey said, still watching Jack. “Irritated, more likely, and he’s not a teen. He’s a big, grown-up jackass.”

  “And you’re irritated with donkey boy, because . . .” Sully prompted her.

  “I just . . . I don’t think he’s a very good influence on Beth,” Lindsey said. “She’s always had a soft spot for him and he’s, well, unreliable.”

  “Please do not tell me he is another ex-boyfriend,” Sully said. “Really, what is it about Briar Creek and ex-boyfriends?”