Chapter 13
SARA LEE
The walk home from the diner felt different. Sara Lee's mind kept circling back to those fragments of conversation, the worried huddle of the four sisters needing to be "on the same page."
About what?
Nana June was quiet beside her. That thoughtful silence meant her grandmother's sharp mind was processing, cataloging, connecting the dots that Sara Lee couldn't quite see yet.
Nana June opened the front door and called out. "Pippi! Come here, girl."
The scruffy dog came trotting from the kitchen, ears bouncing at odd angles, tail wagging with enthusiasm.
Her grandmother clipped on her leash while Sara Lee grabbed Mister Smee's special backpack from the hall closet.
It was a soft-sided carrier with mesh windows that the cat tolerated with regal dignity.
"You want to go to the library?" Sara Lee asked the wide-eyed cat as she scooped him up. The orange ball of fur settled into the backpack without protest, blinking at her solemnly.
"Pippi needs her afternoon walk anyway," June said with practicality. "And Mister Smee loves the library. I have a feeling we might need his particular expertise today."
Sara Lee adjusted the backpack straps across her shoulders, feeling the cat's warm weight against her back.
It should have felt ridiculous… a twenty-eight-year-old woman carrying a cat in a backpack.
But somehow, with Nana June leading the way and Pippi trotting beside her, it just felt like another day in their increasingly strange investigation.
The library was quiet when they entered. Only a handful of patrons browsed the stacks. A few teenage girls roamed the romance section, and several young mothers with kids in tow were perusing the children’s book area.
But the circulation desk was empty.
Nana June approached one of the volunteers, who was shelving books in the biography section. "Where's Diane today?"
The volunteer looked up, her expression troubled.
"She called in sick this morning. Said she wasn't feeling well and needed today off. I assured her that we could cover the library’s needs, even with Tasha out on vacation.
" She lowered her voice. "Between you and me, Ms. June, she sounded terrible. Very hoarse.”
Sara Lee wondered about Diane, who'd looked so terrified when Raymond confronted her at the festival. Now, she was calling in sick. The hoarse voice could have come from crying.
The volunteer smiled. "So you've got the place mostly to yourself, if you need anything from the back office."
June's expression remained pleasantly neutral, but Sara Lee saw the gleam in her grandmother's eye. "Thank you, dear. We'll just do some research. Let me know if you need any help with those shelves."
They moved toward the back of the library, Pippi's nails clicking on the hardwood floor. Mister Smee peered out from his backpack with alert interest. June led them to her old office… technically, the head librarian, Tasha’s, office now. But June still had keys.
"Nana June," Sara Lee whispered. "We can't just go through personnel files. That's—"
"Necessary," Nana June finished firmly. She set down her purse and moved to the filing cabinet.
"Raymond used the name 'Diana' at the festival…
not Diane. That suggests either he knew her from before or he knew something about her identity.
If we're going to understand who might have wanted him dead, we need to know who Diane Russo really is. "
Sara Lee set the cat backpack on the desk and unzipped it.
Mister Smee emerged with a stretch, then immediately jumped down and wandered out of the office, his tail held high.
She walked over, then plopped down in a chair.
“Honestly, I can’t remember if he called her Diane or Diana.
And even if he did, he probably just mispronounced her name. He was slurring his speech by then.”
“Perhaps.” June pulled out a file labeled "Russo, Diane" and spread it open on the desk. Sara Lee moved closer, guilt warring with curiosity as they read.
The application was five years old. Diane Marie Russo. Previous employment at a library in Richmond. References from colleagues there. Education credentials included an associate's library science degree from an online college. Everything looked normal, professional, unremarkable.
From across the office, Mister Smee made a small meow that sounded like a bird.
One of his many types of meows. They looked up to see him sitting on a bookshelf just out of the office that held some of Nana June's personal recommendations of mystery novels, his paw resting thoughtfully on the spines, but not pulling any down.
He looked at them, blinked his enormous eyes, then returned his attention to the books as if considering his options.
"Looking for the right clue, boy?" her grandmother asked affectionately.
The cat's tail twitched, but he didn't select anything. Just sat there among the mysteries, contemplative and patient.
Nana June returned the personnel file to its proper place and closed the cabinet. "We need to find out more about what Raymond knew. About Diane… Lucy… about Bob's business dealings. All of it. Everyone he insulted.”
They left the office and moved to the research area, settling at one of the long tables. Sara Lee pulled out her laptop while June gathered reference materials, including old newspapers on microfiche, town directories, and public records indexes.
"You mentioned the edge of a newspaper in his pocket," Sara Lee said quietly, glancing around to make sure no one was close enough to overhear. "Do you think the sheriff would tell us what he found?"
Nana June's expression was thoughtful. "Sheriff Gordon is treating this as an accidental death until proven otherwise. He won't share evidence with civilians, even if one of those civilians is trying to help."
Sara Lee couldn't help but smile at that image.
“Raymond could have been threatening someone with an old article. Maybe multiple someones." She lifted her thin shoulders. “But then, that’s purely conjecture at this point.”
“Do you think he was blackmailing someone?”
“Maybe.” Nana June’s brow furrowed as she pondered.
“But he was going to get a lot of money soon from his inheritance,” Sara Lee protested.
“Blackmail would certainly jive with what Horace said about Raymond wanting his money now. Perhaps he truly couldn’t wait.”
"So we need to figure out who he might have been blackmailing and what he knew."
"Exactly." Nana June pulled out an old microfiche reader and began loading reels of old Meadowlark Creek Gazettes. "Let's start with twenty-five years ago. The Carter girls and Lucy were born and raised here. Twenty-five years ago, they would have been in high school."
Sara Lee opened her laptop and pulled up the library's newspaper database. "Nana June, this will be so much faster online. Watch. Oh, what was Lucy’s maiden name?”
“Bernley."
She typed in search terms—Lucy Henderson, Lucy Bernley, Meadowlark Creek. Within seconds, results populated the screen. The wedding announcement they'd seen before. A few mentions of committee work. But then, going back, Sara Lee clicked on an article. "Look at this.”
It was a grainy photograph of cheerleaders at a football game. The names were listed under the photograph. Among them were Petunia Carter and Lucy. “They were classmates and cheerleaders together.”
Nana June nodded. “Petunia, her sisters, and Lucy were all close in age. Pretty girls. Never heard anything bad about any of them.”
Sara Lee kept going. She found a copy of an old yearbook, but Lucy’s photograph was missing. “Did she move away?”
Nana June’s brow furrowed. “Her family didn’t. I have no idea why she's not listed there.”
“Not in the yearbook, not listed in any clubs, sports, or cheerleading.” She kept going and went on to the next year. “This would have been when she was a senior, and she’s in this one. It’s like a year is missing.”
They continued searching. Sara Lee's fingers flew over the keyboard while June cross-referenced with physical records. Gradually, a picture began to emerge.
Lucy Bernley went to college, then came back and was with a young man, Orville Henderson. “So that’s what our mayor looked like when he was younger,” Sara Lee said, grinning.
“Oh, yes… I remember when they got married. Quite the handsome couple. He worked at the bank in town.”
"And Lucy was very much a part of Meadowlark Creek society," Sara Lee observed. "Making herself visible, respectable, connected."
"Why she was gone that year, I simply don’t remember hearing anything about it." Nana June nodded slowly. "Not impossible. But if she had been a young teen running from something, I can only imagine Raymond ferreting out her secrets."
Sara Lee thought about Lucy's perfect appearance, her careful social status, and the way she'd become exactly what a mayor's wife should be.
But what happened in that missing year?
They shifted focus to Bob’s lumber business next. Nana June searched through business registrations and tax records while Sara Lee pulled up newspaper archives.
"Here," Sara Lee said, finding an article from several years ago. "Cordell Lumber facing financial difficulties. Owner Bob says economic downturn affecting sales… considering loan options to maintain operations."
Nana June found the follow-up in public records. "Large loan taken out in the next year. But look at this… it was paid off entirely by the end of the next year. That's unusually fast for a business that was struggling."
"Where did the money come from to pay it off?" Sara Lee wondered aloud.
"That's a good question." Nana June tapped her pen against her notebook. "Bob gets a large loan. A year later, it's paid off, and business is booming enough that he can invest in Barb's coffee shop. What happened in between?"