The Librarian’s Secret Scandal

by Jennifer Morey

  All four of the other men stared at him. Andy slid his drink from the bar, picking it up and carrying it with him. Dark liquid spilled as he set the glass down on the table and pulled a chair out.

  “I ain’t done nothin’ wrong.” He drained the drink and banged the glass down.

  That’s what everyone was saying to him. Wes kept his frustration to himself. “Mind if I ask where you were last night?”

  “Why you want to know?”

  “Just answer the question.”

  “Am I in some sort of trouble?”

  Was he expecting to be? “No. I just need you to answer a few questions.”

  “Maybe I should get me a lawyer first.”

  “Do you need a lawyer?”

  Andy fell silent. Then he turned his head over his shoulder. “Can I get another?” he called toward the bar.

  Wes kept his expression neutral as he waited for Andy to decide what to do. The bartender delivered another drink and Andy drank half of it.

  “I was home last night,” Andy said.

  “Where was your wife?”

  “She was home, too.”

  “All night?”

  He smirked. “Yeah. Where else would she go?”

  Wes wasn’t impressed with their relationship so far. “What did you do? Anything?”

  “No. Watched a game on TV and went to bed.”

  Wes looked down at the drink on the table and then back up at Andy. “Were you drinking?”

  Andy’s smirk grew more sardonic. “Why you want to know that?”

  “Were you?”

  “Yeah. I have a few every night after work. Helps me unwind.”

  Wes wondered what it did in the morning. “Did you fall asleep early?”

  “I was tired after working. Yeah. I fell asleep while my wife watched TV. She was next to me.”

  “When you fell asleep,” Wes finished.

  “Yeah. What about it?”

  Wes wanted to ask if his manhood was threatened. “Someone tried to burn the library down with Lily Masterson in it last night.”

  “Yeah? What’s that got to do with me?”

  “Your wife threatened Lily three nights ago. Did you know that?”

  “No.” Andy swore. “Serves that Masterson woman right, though. Worst mistake I ever made was sleepin’ with that whore. Been payin’ for it ever since.”

  Wes took a moment to jot down some notes. Had Andy felt strong enough about that to write it all over Lily’s truck?

  “So, you support your wife’s threat?”

  “She hadn’t done it, I might’ve.” Andy took a swig of his drink. “Shouldn’t have come back here, all the trouble she left behind. Damn near ruined my marriage.”

  Wes looked down at the near-empty drink and back up at Andy’s pasty face and wondered what Karen loved about him. And what he loved about her. It amazed him to see people let their lives dwindle to empty shells without doing anything to make them better. Nothing improved without effort. And strength. It didn’t appear Karen and Andy were capable of either. They settled for what they had and beat each other up for it.

  “Thank you, Andy. You’ve been a big help.” Wes stood.

  “You gonna arrest my wife?” he asked.

  “Not yet.”

  “Way I see it, Lily got what she deserved. Karen didn’t hurt her. Lily should listen to her and leave town. Nobody wants her here anyway.”

  Without acknowledging Andy, Wes turned and left the bar.

  Driving down Main Street, he saw a familiar truck in front of the sheriff’s office. Damien was there. He was driving his old pickup.

  Wes parked and walked into the building.

  “Damien’s here,” Deputy King said, standing behind the counter. He looked and sounded annoyed. “He went into your office.”

  “I know.” Wes saw Ryan approach, veering around a desk to intercept him.

  “I got what you asked for,” he said.

  Wes took the piece of paper Ryan handed him. It was a printout of a spreadsheet with a list of names. He stopped walking to read. Each row listed a woman’s name and the columns were filled with personal information. The year she had moved to Honey Creek. Her age. Her marital status. The year she’d married—if she’d married. Her address and phone number. Her profession.

  There were five women.

  He looked up at Ryan. “Good job.”

  Ryan smiled. “Damien asked me a lot of questions. I didn’t tell him anything.”

  Meaning he hadn’t told anyone about the list. Wes nodded and folded the paper, tucking it into his back pocket. “Okay.”

  He went to his office. Damien was sitting behind his desk, his fingers typing away on the keyboard in front of the computer.

  He looked up when Wes entered. “About time you got here.” He stood and came around the desk to stand before Wes.

  “Find anything good on my computer?” He was a little irritated that his brother had taken the liberty.

  Damien chuckled. “Relax. I was just checking out places to live outside Honey Creek.”

  “You’re serious about moving?”

  “Very.”

  “How’re you doing otherwise?” He didn’t want to talk about Damien leaving. After so many years without him around, he preferred to have him near.

  “Good. My house feels like a mansion and my refrigerator is my own private delicatessen. I have a little of everything. Mexican, Italian, American. Lots of chips and dips. Every kind of cheese you can imagine. Cookies. Brownies. Ice cream. Soda, juice, iced tea, chocolate milk. I didn’t realize how much I missed variety in my food.”

  “Don’t get fat,” Wes teased.

  And Damien chuckled again. “I drank beer with Duke, too. I tried a new pilsner. Sure is good to hang out with him again.”

  He seemed happy, and that made Wes feel good. “You come by just to tell me what you’re eating and drinking?”

  “No, I came by to see if you learned any more about that woman. Tina Mueller.”

  “Not yet. I have some people I’m going to talk to, but nothing definitive yet.”

  “Who’re you going to talk to?”

  Wes angled his head. He didn’t want to get Damien into a froth unless there was something to froth over. He’d check these women out and see if any of them were worth investigating further. “Just some women who might turn out to be Tina.”

  “I want to help.”

  “Let me handle this part of it. If I find out if we have something solid to go on, I’ll let you know.”

  “Why not tell me now what you’ve got?”

  “I don’t want to scare Tina away before I’ve had a chance to talk to her.”

  “I wouldn’t do anything rash. I’d ask her questions, just like you. Or I’d just go with you. I want to be involved.”

  “Let me do my job, Damien. Have a little faith in me, would you?”

  Damien stared at him a while and Wes could read his thoughts. There’d been times when he’d had very little faith in any of his family.

  “I can’t sit back and do nothing,” Damien said.

  Wes didn’t respond. He wished he hadn’t said anything about Tina Mueller. But this was Damien. He deserved to know what was going on every step of the way. However, it was too soon. Wes didn’t know enough.

  “Damn it, Wes.”

  “Put yourself in my shoes for just two seconds. What would you do?”

  He watched Damien think about that. And finally he relented. His eyes grew less perturbed. “Yeah. I can understand where you’re coming from, little brother. And I’d probably do the same thing, especially if I didn’t know much. You’re the sheriff, not me. Just promise me you’ll tell me when you know something.”

  “I’ll keep you updated. I promise.”

  Damien nodded and turned to leave.

  “And, Damien,” Wes said, catching his attention. “Tina might not have killed Mark Walsh.” He had to prove that first.

  Damien took a moment to digest tha
t before he said, “Don’t worry…I’ll be keeping my eyes and ears open for other possibilities.”

  “That’s the best thing you can do to help right now.”

  “Call me when you’ve talked to them.” With that, Damien left the office.

  Moving behind his desk, Wes pulled out the folded piece of paper and sat. He flattened the page.

  Margaret Jefferies. Forty-eight. Married twenty years. Housewife. That meant she’d moved here with her husband. Three kids. One in college. Unlikely that she was Walsh’s lover. The oldest child would have been about five when they moved here. Walsh hadn’t provided a new identity for an entire family. Only Tina.

  Audrey Damascus. Forty-five. Married ten years. Veterinary assistant. She’d have been thirty at the time of Walsh’s recording. Two kids, seven and nine. She was a possibility.

  Eileen Curtis. Thirty-eight. Divorced. Married seven years. Real estate agent. No kids. She was a possibility, too.

  Betsy Grant. Eighty-five years old! Widowed. Retired, obviously. Wes knew her, too. Definitely not possible. Mark Walsh would not have had an affair with a seventy-year-old woman.

  Amy Fordham. Forty-one. Divorced. Waitress. Married five years. One child, a ten-year-old. Another possibility. He had three women to question.

  Wes would begin with the veterinary assistant. Her job required no formal training and there’d be no background check required. She could easily slip into her new life without anyone knowing.

  He leaned back against his chair. He couldn’t call any of the three women a suspect, but it was a good start. Hopefully, Tina hadn’t left town.

  Checking the time, he put the paper into a folder and filed it in his drawer. He was supposed to stop by Maisie’s tonight. He’d much rather be with Lily. That kiss hadn’t left his mind all day. But she hadn’t wanted to go with him to Maisie’s. He’d have to be content with the memory.

  A Linkin Park song blared from a ton of tiny speakers spread out from an entertainment center. It was new and the sound was awesome. May was going to ask her mom why they didn’t keep up with the times. She smiled up at Levi as he led her from the throng of dancing teenagers. Even the unwelcoming faces she passed didn’t bother her. Some took notice of who she was with. That rocked.

  Levi found a space against the wall. She stood beside him.

  “I’ll go get us a beer,” he said.

  She’d never had a beer before. Her mom didn’t drink and had always told her not to.

  Alone by the wall, May watched a group of kids dance. Some sat on a couch. Most moved around and talked and laughed while they drank beer.

  Then she caught sight of Sherilynn. She stood beside two other girls, arms folded, face all pissy.

  May stared back at her. She wasn’t afraid. They weren’t at school this time. There’d be no meeting with the principal.

  As if reading her expression, Sherilynn turned away, saying something to one of the girls.

  Levi returned, handing May a cup of keg beer. She took a sip. It was bitter, but had a flavor that wasn’t unappealing.

  “Do you like it?” Levi asked.

  May nodded. “It’s all right.” She wasn’t sure she’d try it again, though. Levi smiled. One of his friends interrupted the moment by stopping in front of them.

  “Hey, Gavin,” Levi said.

  “You and Sherilynn break up?” Gavin asked, eyeing M ay.

  “Yeah.”

  Gavin eyed May again.

  “This is May,” Levi said.

  “I know. Hey, May.”

  May ignored him, not sure if he was another enemy or not. He still eyed her funny, checking her out, but not in a good way. He didn’t like her. She could tell. Jerk. He didn’t even know her.

  “I heard your mom and the sheriff were gettin’ it on.”

  May rolled her eyes. “What do you know?”

  “Gavin,” Levi said in a warning tone.

  “My mom said Lily got in a wreck with him after one of his trips to Montana State Prison.”

  “Get lost,” May sneered.

  “Was your mom at the prison, too?”

  May fumed inside. She was so sick of everybody saying bad things about her mom.

  “Was she visiting somebody? A guy?” Gavin laughed. “Maybe that’s why she never got hitched. She’s been pining over a dude in jail.” He laughed again.

  “You’re an asshole,” Levi said, which May appreciated but it wasn’t enough.

  “My mom testified at a hearing there,” May informed him.

  She felt Levi’s quick glance and saw Gavin’s surprise with the lift of his brow.

  “Why did she testify?” Levi asked. “What hearing?”

  Because he was the one who asked, she looked up at him and contemplated telling him. Maybe knowing would change the way everybody thought of her mom. She wanted that more than anything.

  “My mom was raped before I was born.” She turned what she hoped was a haughty look at Gavin. “That’s why she left Honey Creek. After we came back, she had to testify at her rapist’s parole hearing to try to keep him from being released. She met Wes right after that, when she was leaving the parking lot.”

  “Whoa,” Gavin exclaimed.

  Levi stared at her, stunned. “That’s awful, May.”

  “Is that who your dad is?” Gavin asked.

  And May felt her face start to heat. “No,” she snapped. “It happened way before I was born.”

  “Yeah, right. That’s what your mom probably told you. Guess what comes around goes around,” Gavin said, laughing, yet again.

  May couldn’t stand it anymore. She slapped him. His head jerked to the side a little but his smile went away.

  “Asshole,” she said, tossing her hair over her shoulder as she marched toward the door. Outside, she would have kept walking toward home, sure that Levi would side with his stupid friend.

  But he didn’t. She heard him jog up beside her.

  “I’m sorry, May. Gavin’s a friend but he isn’t one of my best ones.”

  Over and over again Levi was proving to be someone unlike many at school. “Now it’s going to be all over school that my mom was raped and she had it coming.”

  “I don’t know about that. I think it’ll make most people change their minds about her. See that she’s changed. It’s terrible what happened to her. I’m sorry, May. I really am.”

  May stopped and faced him. She moved closer, putting her hand on his chest. “You’re a nice person, Levi.”

  He stepped closer, too, and now their bodies touched. Excitement and apprehension fired through her. She’d never been kissed by a boy before.

  He leaned down. “I like you, May.” And he kissed her. He touched her mouth with his. It felt soft and warm and made her tingle all over.

  She stared up at him when he lifted his head.

  “Get in. I’ll drive you home.”

  She caught her breath and got in his car. Still feeling that kiss, engulfed with the memory, she turned to look out the window.

  A shadow caught her eye. Someone was standing in the trees in front of the house. She couldn’t tell who it was. Sherilynn, probably. That stupid girl kept hovering whenever she was with Levi. Fine. Let her. May wasn’t going to let her beat her down. Nobody would. She wouldn’t let them.

  Lily looked out the front window again. Still no lights. May had told her she was going to Peri’s house and would be home by nine, but she’d called there and Peri’s mother said Peri was home alone. May wasn’t there.

  Lily was worried sick. It was after ten.

  Wes was up at his sister’s house. He’d invited her, but she’d declined. The last thing she needed was to spend an evening with Maisie Colton. And she was still so out of sorts after last night.

  Confiding in Wes that way, and then that kiss. She could have gone to bed with him. After she had gone to bed alone, she’d wished she had slept with him. It was long past time for her to reclaim her sexuality. She hadn’t had good sex in so long, but she fe
lt as though she could have it with Wes.

  Trusting him was hard for her, though. Trust was hard for her with any man. But never had she come closer to trusting one than she was with Wes. It both frightened and excited her. What if it didn’t work out with him? What if he discovered he needed someone younger, or someone with less drama to carry around?

  What if it did work out?

  That’s the part that tickled her insides and made her breathless.

  Car lights appeared on the dirt drive that led to Wes’s log home.

  Lily waited. She kept the light off in the front entry.

  The car stopped and a boy got out. He opened the passenger door and May emerged from the car. The boy held her hand as they walked toward the door. There, Lily had a close-up view of them.

  The boy put his hands on May’s waist. May put hers on his shoulders, and slid them around his neck as the boy leaned in for a kiss.

  Lily wasn’t sure what to think of her fourteen-year-old daughter kissing a boy. What should she do? The boy didn’t look much older than her. Maybe fifteen or sixteen. But he was old enough to get her daughter pregnant.

  The kiss lasted a minute or two and then the boy said good night.

  He stepped back and watched May open the front door.

  Lily stayed out of sight until the door closed. May’s dreamy smile vanished when she saw her. “Mom.”

  “Where were you?” Lily demanded. She was mad as hell.

  “At Peri’s. I told you.”

  “You were not at Peri’s. You lied to me.”

  “I was, too.”

  Lily walked to stand right in front of her daughter. “I called there.”

  May’s mouth closed and she said nothing. What could she say? She was caught.

  “I knew you wouldn’t let me go out with Levi.”

  “Levi? Is he your boyfriend?”

  She put her hands on her hips. “Mom—”

  “Is he?”

  Her hands dropped to her sides again. “Yes. A-at least…I think so.”

  “How long have you been seeing him?”

  “Not long. A couple of weeks.”

  “Have you had sex with him?”

  May’s face colored. “No! Mom…!”

  Good. What a relief. Lily could see her daughter was telling the truth. Thank God.

  “Are you going to?”