Pictures, in the wallet, of the dead man and a young woman with long blond hair. Lots of it, like a Persian cat he'd known once. Penny flipped to the next picture and it was a picture of the red-haired woman smelling of fire and smoke that had been here just a few minutes ago. Penny held the wallet out to David
"Look at this. She was here earlier, but who is the girl in this picture? Their daughter?"
David made a whistling sound. "If that's his wife, what was she doing here? Did she say anything about her husband?"
Penny shook her head. "She just wanted to pick up a book."
"You didn't tell her?" David asked.
"No, I didn't know who she was. Haven't you already contacted the families?"
"Not her. We haven't been able to get a hold of her." David flipped back to the first photo. "But that girl isn't their daughter. They don't have a daughter. We already checked with the school."
"Oh."
David dropped the wallet into the baggy. "This might just be the clue we needed. Thanks!"
Penny shook her head. She reached out and scratched under Dupin's chin. He closed his eyes with pleasure. "It was Dupin that found the wallet."
David coughed. "Yes, I guess so. We've got some barcodes to look at?"
First Penny wanted to clean out the book drop bin before she put it back inside. Dupin stretched out on the warm metal drop and snoozed while she worked. When she finished he jumped down and inside first, as soon as she opened the door. Dupin stopped and looked back but the humans were moving so slowly. Penny laughed at something David had said.
Dupin recognized the signs of human courtship. Penny had, on occasion, dated various men. None of whom were good enough for her, a fact that she had quickly realized when Dupin had made his displeasure known.
Penny walked quickly across the library. So quickly that Dupin barely avoided being trod upon, escaping at the last moment by springing up onto the circulation counter once more. David followed at a more leisurely pace. Penny turned around, facing him with her hands resting on the counter behind her.
"I've got it!" Penny announced.
Dupin walked up behind her and rose up, rubbing the side of his face against her shoulder.
"What have you got?" David asked.
"I know who committed these crimes." Penny's voice turned colder. "I know who killed Camille."
David tapped the list on his hand. "How could you possibly have figured it out?"
Penny shrugged. Dupin rubbed against her other shoulder. Then he sat down and stared at David.
"Well, if the red-head was Mr. Wilson's wife and the girl in the other picture wasn't, she must have killed them both. Jealous rage, over the affair."
David shook his head. "That might be the case, but we don't have any evidence of that."
"Maybe we do?" Penny turned and gestured at the key sitting in its island of fingerprint dust and Camille's binder. "I thought you might want to look at these. Dupin found key beneath one of the keyboards. It's to the book drop outside."
"Okay, we shouldn't have missed that, but go on."
"We also found Camille's folder with her financial aid forms that needed to be filed today. I think she came back to get the forms. While she was here she decided to empty the book drop and got in the middle of Mrs. Wilson killing Mr. Wilson! Mrs. Wilson came back today because she realized that she had left this key and was afraid it would lead back to her."
"We haven't established that Mrs. Wilson was here, and why wouldn't she have waited until her husband left the library? Why kill him and Camille?"
Penny frowned. "I don't know. Maybe she didn't think it through. Maybe she assumed that Camille was also sleeping with her husband."
"I'm not ready to discount anything."
Dupin rubbed against Penny's arm. It was a good idea, but David had a point. Thumbs and the ability to speak, that'd make all of this much easier. So would tuna. He walked to the edge of the counter and meowed.
Penny shook her head. "Not now, Dupin."
David lifted the paper. "Let's take this one step at a time. Could you get me the list of people I need?"
"Do you want to wait while I pull it up?"
David shook his head. "No, thanks. It may not pan out, but I do need to talk to Mrs. Wilson before she finds out about her husband from someone else. Just email me the list, my card is there."
"Oh, okay."
"I'll take the key and have it tested. And the folder." David pulled a couple more bags from his pockets. He bagged the key in a small baggy and then the folders in a larger one. "If you find anything else just leave it where you find it and give the department a call. Believe it or not, we'll figure this out."
Dupin crouched and stared at David, his tail flicking back and forth. David noticed and edged back. "Thank you, Ms. Copper."
As David left, Dupin got up and rubbed Penny's arm again. She turned around and scratched his neck, then ran her hand down his back through his long fur. Almost as good as tuna, but he couldn't quite forget the empty knot in his belly.
"I'm going to figure this out," Penny said. "For Camille."
Penny went into her office. Dupin followed and crawled into his bed beneath her desk. While she typed on the computer he busied himself cleaning his fur again.
It took longer than Dupin thought was possible. Twice he woke from short naps when the drone of the keyboard keys ceased, but each time Penny started typing again. On the third time she pushed her chair back from the desk. Dupin lifted his head and yawned.
Penny peeked beneath the desk at him. "I've finished the list. It's very interesting."
Of course. Dupin stretched out his legs and did a deep back bend.
"David identified the books that were underneath Mr. Wilson, and those on top of him. They kept track of the layers of books so we have an idea of when books were put in, in what order. There's not a lot of names on the list."
Dupin stretched his back legs out. She must have a point with all of this.
"That guy from earlier? Rod Allan? He turned in books that were beneath Bill Wilson. There was also a book checked out to Mr. Wilson. And that older couple, they came by yesterday too. I recognized the names when I saw it. Sullivan and Madeline Winters, they returned books that were right on top of the body."
Dupin walked out from under the desk. Interesting. And all of them showed up the next morning? Maybe because one of them wanted to return for their kill? Did humans eat things they killed? They must, because they had things like tuna. Dupin's stomach rumbled. He really needed to eat something.
"I'm going to call David, tell him I've emailed the list. He needs to know who came by today." Penny picked up her cell phone and dialed quickly. She leaned back in the chair.
Dupin jumped up onto her lap so that he could hear the conversation better.
"David."
"It's Penny Copper. I just emailed the list you wanted."
"Great, thanks."
"You need to know, the man whose books were right beneath the body, Rod Allan, he came by earlier today. He was here when Bill Wilson's wife was here."
"Really?" Dupin heard the excitement in David voice even with the phone pressed up against Penny's head.
"And there was an older couple today, the Winters. They had returned books that were on top of the body."
"They're regulars?"
"Yes. I recognized them. I didn't place their names until I saw the list, but yeah, they're in most days."
"Good work. You said the other guy was Rod Allan?"
"Yes? Does that mean something? He offered to help clean the drop."
"Really? Well, that's interesting. We just found out that the picture in Wilson's wallet, of him and the girl? That's Lenore Allan. She's a student in Wilson's class."
Penny ran a hand along Dupin's back. "So he might have gone after Mr. Wilson because of his daughter. That sounds like a motive to me."
"And with his books right beneath the body he might as well have signed a confession.
I love it when cases solve themselves!"
Dupin felt water drip on his ear. He flicked it and looked up at Penny. Water flowed from her eyes. As much as he didn't care for the water, he knew her well enough to know what she was thinking. It was Camille. If this man killed Bill Wilson, then he must have killed Camille just because she saw something. If she hadn't gone back for her folder she would have been fine.
"Thank you, Ms. Copper. We'll —"
"Penny, please."
"Okay. Penny. Thank you. I think I need to go have a chat with this Allan fellow."
"Alright, bye." Penny hung up the cell phone and put it down on the arm of the couch. Dupin batted at it. Penny snatched it away and stuffed it in her pocket. "Stop that, you're always redialing people. "
Penny pulled a tissue from the green Kleenex box on her desk and dried her tears. She tossed it into the plastic wastebasket beside the desk.
Penny stroked Dupin's back. "Looks like we've solved the crime. Thanks to you. You found the folder, and the wallet. Plus that key! And all without your tuna."
Dupin jumped down to the floor and turned in a circle. He meowed. Penny laughed and stood up. "Okay, okay! I'm sorry. It hasn't been a typical day."
Dupin was in the middle of his after-eating cleaning when the library phone rang. Penny picked up the extension on the end table beside the couch.
"Reed Moore Library, Penny. How may I help you?" Dupin noticed the change in her expression and paused in his cleaning. He couldn't quite make out the voice on the other end.
"So he didn't do it?" Penny asked after a moment. "But what about the picture?"
Dupin got up and padded over to the couch. He jumped up beside Penny and bumped her arm holding the phone.
Dupin heard David's voice. "—pretty upset about it, but his alibi checked out. He was giving a business presentation at the time the murders happened. You don't have any way to determine when he dropped the books in the drop, do you?"
"No. His books were just beneath the body."
"Could he have hired someone to do it?"
"Maybe, we'll check into it, but either he's an excellent actor or he was surprised about that picture."
"What about the wife?" Penny asked.
"She checked out too. Fell apart when we told her, was also shocked about the photo. She's been taking evening classes and we've confirmed she was in class that night." David was quiet for a minute. "At this point we don't have much. We got a fingerprint off the key you found but I'm waiting for search results. Forensics are starting to come in but it's starting to look like there might have been more than one assailant. Sorry I don't have more."
"That's okay. Thanks for letting me know." Penny hung up the phone. She stroked Dupin. "I guess we didn't solve it after all."
Penny picked Dupin up in her arms and stood. She kept stroking his back so he didn't mind. "He said there might have been two people. That makes sense. Camille and Mr. Wilson died differently. The key might turn up a match, but what if it didn't?"
He’d already gotten his tuna. As far as he was concerned David was welcome to figure out what really happened. He lay slack in Penny’s arms as she walked out of the staff room. She carried him back to the counter and put him down on top. She pressed her hands together. "Okay, Dupin, let's work through this. Camille comes back to the library to pick up her folder. She decides – because she was like that – to go ahead and empty the book drop while she was here. She goes out to empty the drop and Bill Wilson is still out there. One person stabs him while the other goes after Camille. She tries to get away or call for help by coming in the library. The killer outside shoves the dying Mr. Wilson into the book bin and then pushes it into the book drop, closes and locks the drop. Their partner strangles poor Camille inside and lets the other in, who tosses the key on the counter where it slides beneath the keyboard. They put Camille in the drop in here and then leave."
It made sense but Dupin's eye noticed something beneath one of the padded chairs. He jumped down from the counter and walked over to the chair. He crouched down and inhaled. The minty-smelling letter still lay where he left it. Dupin reached in and scratched at it. He managed to pull the envelope partway out.
Penny stooped down and picked it up. Dupin rubbed against her legs. Penny's breath caught. She stood very still for several seconds then looked down at Dupin. "Do you know what this is?"
He had a pretty good idea.
"I recognized the Winters, they come in all the time." Penny blew out her breath. "And she's always checking out those serial killer books, from the 364s. This letter is addressed to them. They must have dropped it! What if they're serial killers, working together? They could have dropped the letter when they —"
Penny slid the letter into her pocket and started walking towards the door. "Come on, Dupin. We're going to go talk to them!"
Dupin didn't move. Somehow the idea of talking to a pair of potential killers didn't have much appeal. Plus he'd just eaten all of that tuna and it sat like a lump in his belly. A nap was the order of the moment. A long nap to allow the tuna time to digest.
"Dupin?" Penny stopped in the doorway. "Here, kitty. Come on. There's nothing to worry about. We'll just be helping David out, see what they say when I ask if they saw anything. Maybe they'll let something slip."
Dupin yawned.
Penny marched towards him. He thought of dashing away, but he hated running on a full stomach. Penny scooped him up and held him close. She pressed her face to his back and he smelled the apples in her hair.
"I need you with me," she said. "Come on."
Dupin rolled on his back in the seat beside Penny and tried to bat at the phone again. She moved it away.
"We're almost there now," Penny said.
David was on the phone. "Wait for me. My people can look at the letter. We found hair on the inside drop and I have people checking the fingerprints on the books against the book drop key. We'll get them."
Penny didn't answer as she turned the steering wheel and slowed. Dupin rolled over and stood up. "I'm on the street now. I need to know why they did it."
"Damn it! Wait! I'll be there soon and I'll handle it."
The car slowed. "Too late."
"Don't hang up," David said. "At least stay on the line."
Penny slipped the phone in her pocket without saying anything.
The house sat back from the road with fir trees and bird feeders along the fence line. Penny stopped the car. Small brown birds flitted around the tree branches. Dupin perked up his ears. The house itself looked like a lot of human dwellings, yellow and white, mostly uninteresting. The old couple was out front in the yard, the woman pruning rose bushes with a pair of snips and her husband digging in another flower bed with a trowel, when Penny lifted Dupin out of the front seat and carried him up the cracked concrete walk.
"Sully?" The old woman called. "Look who it is?"
The old man looked back and squinted so much that only one pale blue eye stayed open. Against his side Dupin felt Penny's heart thumping away like a mouse caught beneath his paws. She was scared but she marched straight up the drive towards them. She stopped across the chain-link fence from the woman.
"Mrs. Winters?"
"Call me Maddy, dear. Don't mind my Sully, he's grumpy as usual." The old woman looked at Dupin and smiled broadly. "You'd better keep a good grip on that cat. Wouldn't want him to go after a bird or something and get squashed by a car!"
Penny's arms tightened. "No. I'm helping the police with the murders at the library, and I thought maybe you could tell me something?"
"Murders." Maddy pressed her hands together and her smile widened to show bright teeth. Dupin didn't like the way she looked at him. "Why would you think we know anything about those poor people?"
"Books you returned were on the body." Dupin felt Penny take a deep breath. "The police took a fingerprint from the books and matched it to the one on the book drop key. They've also found your hair in the inside book drop where you stuffed
Camille."
Dupin blinked. That wasn't exactly what David had said. He tensed. If the old woman tried anything she'd find out how sharp his claws were.
Penny pulled out the letter. "And if that's not enough, you dropped this when you murdered Camille!"
Maddy stared at Penny for several seconds then chuckled. "Sully? You'd better come here. We've got a bit of a problem."
Penny took a step back. "Why? Why did you do it?"
At the other flower bed Sully rose and came towards them with his dirt-covered trowel. Maddy snipped her pruning snips closed. "Opportunity. We walked to the library to return books and there was that man talking to that young girl. No one was around." She opened the snips and snapped them shut again. "As far as motive, well dear, it was our anniversary and we always try to do something special."
Sully had nearly reached the gate. Penny backed away towards the car. Dupin's fur stood up and he growled deep in his throat. Maddy laughed.
"Run, if you like, but if you're here the police haven't linked any of that evidence to us. Not yet, at least. We'll disappear and find you another time, dear."
Sully leered at Penny. "By a route obscure and lonely, haunted by ill angels only."
Penny shoved the letter back in her pocket and pulled out the cell phone. Dupin heard the sirens coming towards them. Penny said, "Detective? Did you hear all that?"
"Yes, Ms. Copper." Dupin heard David's voice coming from two directions and turned to see the detective step around the trees along the front into the driveway. He had a gun in his hand. "Mr. and Mrs. Winters, put the tools down and come out here with your hands up."
Penny slipped her phone in her pocket and moved back over to her car as David walked up and several squad cars pulled up in front of the drive.
"I'm glad you called, but you should have waited. We'll confirm the evidence, but with her confession that'll be icing."
Penny shook her head. "I didn't call. Dupin stepped on the phone in the car. He redialed the last number."
"Huh, his timing couldn't be better if he did it on purpose." David held out his hand. "And I'll need that letter as well as a statement on finding it."
The Murders in the Reed Moore Library Page 3