The Murders in the Reed Moore Library
By Ryan M. Welch
Smashwords Edition
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
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Copyright © 2010 by Ryan M. Williams, writing as Ryan M. Welch
Cover Photo: © Scott Liddell
All Rights Reserved
Publisher's Note
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
On top of the hill, right above the green swath of lawn where C. Dupin liked to nap in the sun and watch the humans walk past, sprawled the Reed Moore library. Named, of course, after Reed Moore, the founder of the logging company Moore Wood, who built the long-house library for the town. The library sported massive logs that gleamed golden in the sunshine and a green metal roof. Soaking in the sunshine, the library looked like it enjoyed the warmth as much as a cat. Dupin stretched out a leg and took a long lazy lick off the long white fur on the back of his leg. He rubbed his leg across his face, then repeated the process on the other side.
There. Ready to go inside, just as soon as the librarian, Penny Copper caught up and opened the doors.
As she always did on sunny mornings, Penny had stopped at the fountain to read and eat an apple while Dupin lounged nearby. Sometimes she forgot all about opening the library and Dupin had to rub against her legs to remind her.
Today she remembered on her own and Dupin ran on ahead.
"Slow down!" Penny complained, but laughed.
Dupin sat down. It wasn't as if he hurried. She walked towards him up the concrete sidewalk, a typical enough human although more slender than most, with short blond fur on her head. The rest of her was so bare that, like many humans, she wore clothing. In this case a dark blue skirt, white shirt and a blazer that matched the skirt. As humans went she looked as neat as a cat, which was saying a great deal. Dupin closed his eyes. He stayed that way until his whiskers picked up the breeze of her passing and the faint scent of apple tickled his nose. Then he opened his eyes and followed along behind.
At the library doors Penny pulled out her brass key ring and stopped. "Would you look at that!"
Dupin curled around her legs and leaned against the back of her calves. It was time to get inside where she kept a can of tuna. Anything else could wait.
Instead Penny actually walked away from him towards the book drop that crouched beside the doors like a big green toad. Books stuck out of the drop's mouth and a few had fallen to the ground.
Dupin sat down. The end of his tail twitched.
Penny picked up the fallen books and pulled more out of the mouth of the drop. "If the drop is full, why not bring them back when we're open?"
Dupin closed his eyes. He knew the answer, just as he knew all the answers, but if Penny really wanted to know she'd have to figure it out herself.
Except when he closed his eyes Dupin smelled something almost as interesting as tuna. He opened his mouth slightly and breathed in. Yes, nearby. It smelled almost like a freshly killed field mouse but stronger and greasier. Dupin stood up and followed the scent. It was coming from the book drop where Penny was still pulling out books.
Dupin crouched right beside the metal door in the side. Yes, indeed. Right there, just a small pool of blood had oozed out from inside the drop. Dupin opened his mouth wider and breathed in deep. It made his fur stand on end. This wasn't a field mouse, gopher or bird. It smelled like a person. All sweat and chemicals with an under-scent of fire and smoke.
He backed away from the drop and a growl rumbled through his throat.
"Dupin? What's wrong, silly cat?"
Penny bent down to stroke him, tucking the books she had gathered into one arm, but Dupin flattened his ears and didn't look away from the blood. Finally she looked at the metal drop and saw the blood herself. Her hand went to her mouth.
"Oh!"
She stood up and hurried towards the doors, the keys jangled on the brass key ring and her shoes made sharp knocking noises against the flagstones.
Dupin followed right on her heels.
Penny unlocked the door and, as soon as it opened a few inches, Dupin darted inside. He immediately felt safer surrounded by the rich smell of the library. He padded quickly across the lobby to the polished cedar service desk, crouched, and sprang right up on top. He turned in a circle surveying the library as Penny followed him inside.
With the hanging lights out shadows draped the library. To Dupin's left was the children's end of the library with the short shelves and a large open area at the center where Penny told stories. On his right the taller adult shelving, comfortable chairs and, under the wing, the computer lab. At a cursory glance all looked as it should but Dupin still had the scent of the blood in his nose and it kept his fur up. He needed his tuna, and some water, and a good cleaning before he would feel completely calm.
It didn't look like Penny was getting his tuna. She put the books down on the counter next to a computer and picked up the phone instead.
Dupin padded across the counter, hopped over one computer keyboard, and batted at the coiled black phone cord. Penny shook her head and pulled the cord away from him!
That wasn't right. It was too late to do anything about the man — from the smell it had to be a man — in the book drop. But she could still get Dupin his tuna!
"Police?" Penny pressed a hand to her chest. "This is Ms. Copper, at the library? There's blood in my book drop."
Dupin sat down, tail twitching.
"Right. Blood, on the ground from inside. Like something was bleeding." Penny shook her head. "No, I haven't opened it. I was taking out books that were stuck in the opening and Dupin noticed the blood. Yes, my cat. I came inside and called you."
As if they could do anything about the man either, it was too late! Dupin stared at Penny. Tuna? Remember that?
"Yes, thank you. I won't touch it." Penny put down the phone and looked at Dupin. "What could it be? Do you think someone poured blood into the drop? Why would they do that?"
Dupin meowed and stood up. Time to worry about the tuna, and no, the blood hadn't been poured into the drop. Beneath the blood he had smelled the salty, sour smell of a man and a whiff of decay. Someone put a dead man in the book drop as if he was an overdue book. It was too late to do anything about him. The police could handle getting him out. Dupin turned in a circle and looked back at Penny. Tuna!
Penny reached out and scratched his head with one hand. Dupin forced down the purr. Not scratches! Tuna!
"We should look around," Penny announced. "Make sure nothing else looks out of place."
No, not a good idea. Penny walked away from the counter into the back work area, which took her closer to the tuna. Okay, maybe a good idea. Dupin jumped down to the floor and walked quickly after her. He caught up, walked through her legs and headed towards the door to the staff room.
Dupin walked around the workstations at the center of the work area, past the rows of Coroplast boxes full of books along the back wall, into the staff room. Home away from home. Not much of a room with an old green couch marked with his claws, and a wobbly table and tw
o scratched dark wood chairs. Dupin went to the cupboard where Penny kept the tuna and rubbed against the door. He arched his back and looked back at her.
Penny put her hands on the door frame and leaned into the room. Then she pulled back and walked away, her footsteps muffled by the short carpet.
He couldn't believe it. She left. Without getting the tuna. Dupin stood still in shock. She actually walked away without getting his tuna out. Looking around the library could wait, he couldn't!
Humans! If they didn't have thumbs they'd be no use at all!
Dupin ran after Penny.
He caught up when she flicked on the light in her office. He rubbed against her legs and twitched his tail to catch her attention. Instead she ignored him, looking around the office as if the glass-topped computer desk, or the pictures of Mt. Rainier from her climbs, held some secret. Everything looked as neat as ever, but more importantly, it smelled fine. Dupin circled her legs again.
She sighed and walked away from the office, out of the work area altogether. Dupin was trying to decide what to do about it when Penny screamed! He crouched down and flattened his ears.
Why had she screamed? She was standing just out of the work area, behind the circulation desk. She had her hands pressed to her face now. Dupin rose slightly and opened his mouth. He breathed deep and picked up a faint sticky scent of decay, but mingled with it a floral smell. That wasn't the smell of the man in the book drop.
Dupin padded up beside Penny. There, in the wood book drop beneath the counter he saw dark red curls, the top of some woman's head. Another dead person in a book drop? What was going on? He smelled salt and looked up to see tears falling from Penny's eyes. She sniffed and wiped her hand against her eyes. She took a deep breath and turned and headed back towards her office, nearly stepping on Dupin. Not that he'd be so slow as to let that happen.
He heard Penny in her office picking up the phone again. More calls to the police. Dupin walked closer to the drop and breathed deep. He didn't smell any blood. The woman didn't die the same way as the man in the outside book drop. Dead people in book drops, that wasn't right. His fur rose up and he growled deep in his throat. Not right at all. Who hid their kills in a book drop? There had to be better places. Whoever did this put the bodies there for a reason. They wanted the bodies found. Why?
Penny sounded upset, almost yelling into the phone. Dupin walked closer to the drop but he couldn't see inside. Just the dark red curls sticking up out of the drop. In the office he heard Penny put down the phone. He went over to the drop and rose up, putting his front paws against the wood. He opened his mouth and breathed in deep.
Death smells, he knew those from killing mice and birds. Stronger from the much larger human. It made him sneeze.
"Dupin!"
He tried to turn but he had been so focused that Penny was right behind him. She grabbed him before he could twist away and lifted him up into the air. Human thumbs! He didn't fight. He just went limp. She marched across the work area, turned right and then held him just with one hand. She opened the metal door in the back corner and set him outside on the concrete ramp!
Dupin shook himself and started to turn and dart back inside but at that moment Penny pulled the door closed. Dupin stared at the gray metal in shock.
She put him out! Without his tuna?!
Dupin reached out one paw and drew his claws along the metal. He waited a second, then did it again. Nothing. Twice more and no response. Annoyed Dupin sat down in front of the door and used both paws, alternating. Scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch!
Penny didn't come!
Dupin gave out a frustrated yowl and swiped at the door again. She actually put him out without his tuna because of dead bodies? Clearly she didn't have her priorities in order. Which meant she was going to need his help to put things right. Dupin gave the door a final swipe.
First things, first. How was he going to get back inside?
Sirens screeched through the morning air. Dupin flattened his ears and looked towards the road. Police. He bounded off the concrete path into the dark space beneath the rhododendron bushes. Dried leaves crunched beneath his feet. He padded quickly away from the back door, slipping from one bush to the next. He caught a whiff of squirrel but didn't stop. Out on the street the police sirens rang out again and again.
Dupin reached the corner of the building and broke into a trot as the police cars pulled into the parking lot. Uniformed bodies poured out of the cars. Vans pulled behind the cars and more people got out. So many people! He picked up the pace and made it to the front doors before any of the police or other humans even got close to the building. Dupin crouched beneath the bench along the left side of the walkway, near the black metal bike racks. It smelled of burnt tobacco beneath the bench and one stale bag of chips.
The library's front door swung open. Penny's shoes shuffled on the concrete as she edged away from the book drop. Dupin darted out from his place of concealment, like the shadow of a bird he flew across the concrete for the narrow open gap.
"Dupin!"
He sensed rather than saw her reach for him but she was far too slow. By then he'd already entered the library. He headed at first towards the counter area but that's where the other body was in the other book drop. He swerved and headed instead towards the heavy padded chairs and one of his favorite spots beneath. Enclosed on three sides, but with an opening beneath the back, he liked watching people come and go in the library.
Safe in the shadows beneath the chair Dupin, surrounded by his own scent markings, settled down and watched Penny at the door with the police. Another scent distracted him. Dupin sniffed around and found an envelope beneath the chair that smelled of mint. He rubbed his face against it, one side, then the other. Out by the lobby the police crowded around Penny but she didn't cringe or back away from them. She stood right up to the man who was in charge.
That man wore a long black coat that reminded Dupin of ravens. He tried to get some raven chicks once. Actually went so far as to climb the tree after the nest but the parents saw him and chased him away. Even after he was on the ground they kept coming after him with their harsh cries and nasty beaks. Dupin narrowed his eyes, wondering if that man was like the ravens.
Penny led the police into the library right towards Dupin's hiding place. He shrank back a bit further into the shadows. Penny's hand waved at the counter.
"The other one is over there, in the bin."
The man in the black coat stood close to Penny. Dupin could smell a fishy sort of smell about the man from where he was hiding. It made him feel a little better about the man, but reminded him that he still hadn't got his tuna. Even so he stayed concealed.
"Ms. Copper, you said the door was locked when you entered the library?"
"I thought so. I didn't check before I put the key in and turned it to open the door. I always do it that way, the door stays locked until you flip the little switch on the door."
"So it was possible that it wasn't locked?"
"I guess so, although I always double-check the locks when I leave."
Dupin eased forward a bit. That man was writing something in a notebook. Abruptly he looked down past his pad and fixed blue eyes on Dupin.
Dupin froze in place, staring back at the man.
The man pointed a pencil at Dupin. "That your cat?"
"Yes, detective Clemm. I can't understand why anyone would do this? Kill someone and put them here?"
The detective blinked first. Dupin yawned widely just so the detective got a good look at his fangs.
"Call me David, Ms. Copper. It's too early to speculate. When did you last close up?"
"Saturday. Four p.m., our usual time."
"And were you the last to leave?"
"No. Henry was with me. And Dupin, of course. We don't like to have people leave alone, even if it isn't dark. Just to be safe. We walked out together. I pulled on the doors to make sure that they were locked. I know I did."
"Okay, and this Henry can
confirm that? A last name?"
"Yes. Duvall."
"Who has access to the building?"
"It's a city-owned building, it was donated when the library was built. You'd know better than me who has access over there. All of my staff have keys. The city hires cleaning staff, so they must have keys too because they get in and clean the library after hours."
Dupin eased out of the space beneath the chair. He walked over to Penny and rubbed against her legs. He let a low purr rumble through his chest.
Penny's legs stayed anchored as if she had grown out of the floor.
"Do you have any enemies? Anyone with something against you? Or the library?"
Penny? Hardly. Dupin observed lots of humans and he knew better than most that everyone loved Penny. He'd even go so far as forgiving her for forgetting his tuna. Eventually. Bored, Dupin wandered away from Penny towards the circulation desk.
Teams of people had gathered around the desk while the detective talked to Penny. They had pulled the book return bin out from the desk. Dupin padded closer, edging around the end of the desk. He sat down beside one of the tall pillars where he could watch and still keep an eye on Penny. Just in case she decided to get his tuna.
They were all so busy about the dead people, it was like someone had stirred up a nest of yellow jackets. Another cluster of people buzzed around the book drop outside. They had that one open too and had pulled the bin partway out before it got stuck on books that had piled on top of the body.
"We'll have more questions later," the detective said.
"Can I go back to my office?" Penny asked. "I should call our staff and tell them we won't be opening today."
The detective shook his head. "Please stay here, until my people have a chance to look everything over." Blue eyes found Dupin sitting beside the pillar. "If you could keep the cat out of our way, that'd be good too."
Out of the way? Dupin closed his eyes just to show the man how important he was.
He heard Penny's footsteps approaching and looked up. Penny got close and Dupin let out a small meow. He arched his back, expecting a scratch but instead she scooped him up. She brought him close to her chest and wrapped her arms around him. For a second Dupin tensed, then he relaxed and breathed in her apple scent. No tuna. Yet.
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