Borrowed Time

by Elizabeth Spann Craig

  I was still processing this and realizing I was going to have to go to Burton with the information when Kyle gave me a beseeching look. “I had a question to ask you.”

  “Sure.”

  “You were talking with Felicity about a nonfiction book club when we were at the party. She said she was going to try to make it there. Could you tell me which club it was? I looked online and there seemed to be a couple of them.”

  I tried to remember which one I’d recommended to Felicity. “I believe it was one that focused on short nonfiction reads for busy people.”

  “Sounds perfect,” said Kyle wryly. “When does it meet?”

  “Once a month on Mondays. I think the next meeting is next week,” I said.

  Kyle looked cheerful. “Thanks for that.” He paused. “It’s just that the way you described the club made it sound very appealing.”

  Right. So appealing that he couldn’t even remember which club it was. I just nodded and gave him a wave as he headed out the door, practically skipping away.

  Chapter Twelve

  I locked up the community room and headed over to the circulation desk since there was usually a little rush over there after film club wrapped up, with most of the members being good readers, too. Sure enough, five or six of them came over with books and conversation and we chatted for a while. I noticed Mona was hanging back with an eye on Wilson’s office.

  She came up to talk after the others had filed out.

  “Did you enjoy the movie?” I asked.

  “I loved it! It had a little bit of everything. Great story.” She glanced over toward Wilson’s office again and whispered, “Any sign of him today?”

  I shook my head. “Honestly, he hasn’t been out much. He’s really excited about this gift the library got.”

  Mona nodded. “Luna was telling me about that. And about your lunch.”

  I grimaced. “I just realized—what did you do for lunch? You’ve been here all day.”

  She chuckled. “Oh, I brought my lunch, too. That’s my usual routine. Luna packs her messy veggie stuff in her box and I make myself a sub sandwich to put in mine. I can’t eat in the breakroom, of course, but usually she and I will take a short walk to the park and sit on one of the benches there and eat.”

  “I see. I’d never really thought about the logistics of how you two handled that—I guess because Luna and I are usually eating lunch at different times.”

  “Except today for the special lunch,” said Mona, eyes twinkling. “I’m amazed, after all you probably ate, that you didn’t doze off in front of the movie.”

  “Oh gosh, I know. Believe me, I probably ate enough for several days. And I still brought a take-out container for supper tonight.”

  “Well, I’m glad you two were able to do something nice today after the weekend you had. What a dreadful discovery. And Luna had been so excited that you were finally going to relax and have a fun weekend.” Mona made a face.

  “It was a shock, for sure. But the weekend wasn’t all bad. I’m sure Luna gave you some of the highlights.”

  “The ship and the food. Oh, and the amazing house. Grace certainly did well for herself after leaving Whitby,” said Mona.

  “Her family wasn’t wealthy?”

  “Goodness, no. They lived a very modest life. Both of them are gone now, you know. Her mother passed away from cancer some years ago and her father from a heart attack,” said Mona. She stopped abruptly upon hearing a sound from the direction of Wilson’s office. “Is he finally emerging?”

  I glanced over. “It appears so. Want me to find an excuse to flag him down?”

  “Would you? I’m trying so hard not to be a pest that I’m hardly speaking to him at all.”

  So I lifted my hand to signal Wilson and he hurried over.

  “I spoke with Grayson at the paper and have already got my first assignment. It’s going to run in the next few days,” I said to him.

  “Excellent,” beamed Wilson. “That should give us some nice coverage.”

  “Besides the column, I’m going to add in some of the upcoming programs. Have there been any changes to the ones that are currently posted online?”

  A trumped-up excuse or not, it was good I’d asked because apparently there had been some program changes. Wilson knew them by heart and I jotted them down as he went over them.

  Mona was looking nervous and I quickly said, “Wilson, have you made it to the breakroom at all today? I know you’ve been busy in your office figuring out how best to manage Grace’s gift.”

  Mentioning the gift might have been a mistake. I could see by Wilson’s expression that his thoughts were already drifting back to his spreadsheets and lists. He said absently, “No, as a matter of fact, I haven’t. I’d packed a lunch and ate it in my office.”

  I said, “You’re missing out, then. Mona brought by Rice Krispy treats this morning.”

  His eyes lit up and he turned to Mona. “Did you? Those are my favorites, actually. I’ll definitely be stopping by the breakroom now.”

  Mona smiled shyly at him and said, “And have plenty. I’m sure Luna would have already broken into them by now, but she’s so stuffed from her lunch that I’m wondering if she’ll ever eat again.”

  Wilson looked distracted again by the mention of the lunch, but managed to rein his attention back to Mona. “That was very kind of you to bring them by.” He hesitated. “Did you go to the film club meeting? You usually make those, don’t you?”

  She nodded. “The Princess Bride.”

  Wilson said, “I’ve heard that’s very good, but I’ve never seen it.”

  “Oh, you must! It’s probably streaming somewhere. You should definitely watch it.”

  Wilson said wryly, “The problem is that I haven’t subscribed to any streaming services. I just have plain cable. And I lost my remote a couple of weeks ago and haven’t even taken the time to find it. I’ve been buried in books instead.”

  Mona said, “Maybe you should try one of the lower-priced tiers of service and see if you’ll actually use it, then. I was skeptical at first because of the cost and because it was just . . . different from television. But Luna convinced me we should subscribe to Netflix at least. She said when we’re watching cable, we’re tied down to whatever is on the schedule. But with streaming, we can look up films and shows we actually would like to see and watch it on our own time.”

  Wilson nodded slowly. “She makes an excellent argument. I’ll have to consider that. Thank you.”

  He headed away, but in the direction of the breakroom this time. I winked at Mona.

  It was quiet enough that I was able to quickly knock out the column for Grayson. I handed it over to Wilson to glance over for typos or for general quality. He was still buried in research for how to spend Grace’s donation. “It all looks good to me,” he said with a bemused smile. “Don’t worry about having me look at any of the other columns.”

  Which was a definite dismissal, but at least he liked the direction I’d gone in for the article. I supposed. It was hard to tell without feedback. I sent it along to Grayson and later received an enthusiastic email in return, so I’d apparently at least hit the note he was hoping for.

  I was deep into the library calendar and looking for open dates for Wilson’s volunteer appreciation day when I heard someone clearing his throat. I glanced up and saw Linus there.

  I startled a little. “Linus! I’m so sorry, I forgot all about you.” I glanced around, still thinking Wilson might be somehow lurking around to listen in as we discussed the contraband dog. “What’s the update on the dog situation? Luna told me you’d been kind enough to buy a harness and leash for him. I can pay you back for that.” I dug around on the shelf behind the circulation desk for my purse.

  He quickly stopped my fumbling. “Please don’t; I was happy to help out.”

  I straightened back up. “How is she? It is a she, isn’t it?”

  He smiled at me. “She. And she seems to be doing well, although she
doesn’t have a microchip.”

  I frowned. “Oh, that’s too bad. Well, we’ll see if we get any response from the community. Maybe someone will realize she’s their dog or will recognize her as their neighbor’s. Luna put up some posters, didn’t she?” I glanced around vaguely, the volunteer appreciation event still occupying my thoughts.

  “Luna did. And she said she even put some notices up on the library’s social media,” said Linus.

  “Well, with any luck, she’ll be back with her family soon,” I said in an upbeat tone. But I noticed a slight shadow cross Linus’s face. Was he interested in this stray? “Where is she now? She couldn’t be back outside the library or Wilson would be fussing about her.”

  Linus chuckled a little. “I figured that would be the way. The vet offered to hold onto her for a night or two. She said they had plenty of room in their kennels. She also said if we didn’t find an owner that she would spay her and give her vaccinations for free.”

  I smiled again at the pleased expression on Linus’s face, although I was surprised to see him have so much enthusiasm. He’d always been so quiet and stayed so emotionally level, no matter what chaos was going on in the library. I couldn’t tell if Linus was interested in taking the dog home himself or not. I figured he’d offer up the information if he wanted to. He was such a private and quiet man that I didn’t want to push him. “Well, thanks so much again for all your help. Luna and I will keep you updated on what we find out about a potential owner.”

  “And I’ll keep you updated on the dog. I gave the vet my phone number as a contact.” He hesitated. “Hope that was all right.”

  “More than all right,” I said firmly. “It’s very appreciated. Wilson would have been tearing his hair out if we were getting phone calls from the vet here all day.”

  He gave me a shy smile and disappeared into the stacks just as quickly as he’d appeared.

  The next couple of days were gratifyingly normal. I worked, did some yardwork in my off-hours, and hung out with Fitz and a book at night. It was so quiet that I startled when the phone rang. Luna said, “Hey, I just found out Scott’s funeral is tomorrow.”

  “I don’t think I should attend, Luna. I didn’t know him like the rest of you did. You all knew him from when you were growing up and I’d only just met him. And, honestly, not had the best of impressions.”

  “Of course you didn’t! He was being vile. But I think we should go. Grace would probably be happy to see us there . . . you know she’s going to attend. And if Grace is there, Wilson will want us to be there.”

  “What time is it?”

  “It’s at lunch. I’ve already asked Wilson about it and he urged us to go.”

  “Of course he did,” I said wryly.

  “And apparently, he’s interviewing someone for a full-time position tomorrow, so we won’t be as short-staffed soon as we have been.”

  I said, “He’s moving quickly on that. I didn’t think he’d get around to interviewing people for another couple of months. Especially since he’s been trying to figure out how he wants to spend the new library windfall.” I paused. “Okay, of course I’ll go. I’ll make sure to wear something suitably solemn tomorrow to work.”

  “I didn’t even think about that. Ugh.”

  Luna’s wardrobe was many things, but solemn wasn’t one of them. You could definitely quickly find her in the library with her colorful, mismatched clothes. And the children in her section absolutely loved seeing the palette of color she displayed on a daily basis.

  I said, “I know you have some black. I’ve seen you in it.”

  “I have a black, long-sleeved top that I wear with purple pants.”

  “And don’t you have black slacks?”

  “I do. That I usually wear with a chartreuse top,” said Luna.

  “Then just wear the black top and the black pants together.”

  The next morning at the library, Luna did look very solemn in her all-black ensemble. The morning passed quickly with a rush of patrons mid-morning. Then Luna drove us over to the cemetery where Scott’s service was going to be held.

  I was glad when we arrived that I’d come. There was just a small scattering of people there . . . mostly the other guests from the party.

  Luna said in a low voice, “Scott’s mother and his brother are over there. I recognize them from years ago.”

  “They don’t still live here?”

  “No. They’re in other states, although I can’t remember which ones. Wow, I’m glad we’re here. You’d expect to see more people here, especially with a funeral for a younger person.” Luna grimaced.

  We hung near the back of the group. Grace gave us an acknowledging smile. Kyle was there, shifting awkwardly from time to time and looking uncomfortable. He paid close attention as another car approached and Felicity got out and walked over. A few minutes later, Roz and Kelly arrived. Roz’s face was solemn and Kelly’s eyes were red from crying.

  The service was fairly short. The minister read some Bible verses, we sang a fairly somber hymn, and there were no eulogies. Perhaps the family didn’t want them or perhaps no one had wanted to give them. As soon as the service was over, we joined a line of others to speak with Scott’s brother and mother.

  Kyle stood next to us as we waited. Luna murmured, “I feel so bad for his family. His brother looks wrecked.”

  He did. He must have been a little younger than Scott, but looked so much like him it was almost eerie. He was very pale and looked as though he was going to need to sit down at any time.

  Kyle nodded. “And now they’re going to have to settle his debts. And they’ve never had much money, themselves.”

  “Debts?” Luna stared at him. “But Scott made all that money with his dot-com.”

  Kyle looked sad for a split second at the mention of the business. Then he quickly said, “He did. He made a ton of money. But Scott also spent a ton of money. And he was remarkably bad at investments for somebody with a decent head for business.”

  He quickly stopped speaking as it was his turn to speak with the family. Luna and I shared a look at the news of Scott’s finances.

  When we’d given the family our condolences, Scott’s brother said to us, “We’re inviting everyone here today to go to the café downtown for a bite to eat with us. They have a private room at the back that they’ve set up for us and they’ll have some sandwiches and drinks. Just a modest spread. We wanted to have a funeral reception, but being from out of town, it’s hard.”

  I hesitated, feeling a bit like a fraud for having these folks spend money on my lunch, especially since I didn’t know Scott well and hadn’t even particularly liked what I’d seen of him. But Luna quickly accepted for the both of us.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Ten minutes later, we were back in Luna’s car and following the others to downtown Whitby.

  “Hope you don’t mind,” said Luna. “I just felt bad that there aren’t more people here.”

  I said, “No, I agree. I just hate for them to have to pay for my lunch, especially from what Kyle was saying.”

  “But they’ve already ordered the food and it’s going to be out there whether you’re in attendance or not. Besides, we haven’t had time to eat, ourselves,” said Luna reasonably.

  We parked the car and followed everyone inside and to the back room of the small café where there were tables and chairs and a buffet with a variety of sandwiches, potato salad, fruit, chips, and drinks.

  We filled our plates and then sat down at one of the tables. Felicity spotted us and sat down with us as Kyle looked disappointed about missing his opportunity.

  She gave us a smile and said in a low voice, “It’s nice of you two to be here. I don’t think Scott knew many people here and of course his family’s friends live out of town. I’m glad they let you leave work for his service.”

  Luna said, “We wanted to come.” She glanced at me. “I didn’t think about it before, but maybe this is a little bit of closure for us, in a way
.”

  I didn’t think there would really be any closure until Scott’s murderer was caught and the police wrapped up the investigation. Technically, we were all suspects. I didn’t think Burton seriously considered Luna or me to be viable candidates for Scott’s murder, but we had to be suspects, just the same.

  Felicity nodded. “I know what you mean. What a weekend.” She blew out a sigh, looked down at her plate of food and pushed it slightly away. “I don’t think I can even eat a bite. I’m not sure why I even got food. My stomach has been in knots since I left Grace’s house. I don’t know what Grace was thinking, putting that particular group together. It was a recipe for disaster.”

  I said, “She must have originally thought she was doing the right thing. After all, Kelly would have wanted Scott to be there. And she seemed to think it would be nice for your group to catch up with each other.”

  “Was it, though?” asked Felicity wryly. “It didn’t work at all.”

  “You were all close growing up, though, weren’t you?” I asked.

  “Well, sure. But it’s a different time, isn’t it? And here in Whitby, you have a very limited body of people to choose to be friends with. If we’d all gone to school in a bigger town, maybe we’d never have even chosen each other as company. Besides, I don’t think we needed a reunion. I mean, it was nice to see Grace. She’s the one we haven’t seen for a while. But it wasn’t as if we had this lovely, idyllic time when we were in high school.” She grimaced.

  I asked, “Is Grace the same as she was in high school? She’s just so confident now and it’s hard to imagine high schoolers being that self-assured.”

  Felicity shook her head. Lowering her voice she said, “Money can do that for you. Grace was a very different person in high school. Very socially awkward. Quiet. She followed our group around and just kind of inserted herself. And she seemed to have the biggest crush on Scott. Whenever he was around, she’d just gape at him.”