Chapter 31
Chapter thirty-one
My alarm pinged. Duty called.
I changed the sign on the library door from "Closed" to "Open" and had to jump back as Kyle rushed in.
"You're in a hurry," I said.
He apologized. "I didn't mean to startle you."
"You didn't. At least not much." I grinned at him. “You were in a hurry. I didn't expect the library to be this popular with your age group.”
"You've got a daughter, don't you?"
"Yeah."
"Doesn't she read?"
"She does, but mostly on her phone."
"I love physical books. There's nothing more relaxing than the solid feel and the rustle of paper as you turn the pages." He broke off.
I chuckled. A jock with the heart of a nerd. Then I stopped chuckling. Maybe he was only trying to appeal to me because he wanted something. After all, he’d taken Jake's car for a joyride.
Kyle went through to the library section. He stopped to stroke Cosmo, who was once again guarding the cookie jars. Cosmo gently touched the jars with his tail.
I gave him a quick nod. Message received.
"What kind of books do you normally read?" I asked.
"Whatever your aunt recommended. I'm a huge Terry Pratchett fan."
That was another point in his favor because so was I.
"And James Herriot. You know, the British vet? He's on TV too, or rather, his books are."
"I remember those," I said.
"Yeah, he was what kind of got me thinking about veterinary medicine. Your aunt gave me those books."
I smiled. "Did she also give you a cookie and a coffee?"
"Sometimes," he admitted.
"How about we keep up that tradition? I wouldn't mind having a coffee myself, and it's nice to have company and to hear about her.”
I prepared two mugs of coffee. One for me, one for Kyle.
For the boy, I added two cookies with the strongest mix. While he nibbled on one with a happy look on his face, I checked out my aunt's notes on him.
He did love the books he mentioned, and he'd been a regular customer. That showed he wasn’t lying.
I scrolled down. She had noted a few recommendations for his future reading.
I checked the shelves and found two of the books in the urban fantasy section.
Kyle had already finished the first cookie and was now toying with the second.
Putting the books down on the table in front of him, I said, "How well did you know my aunt?"
"Well enough," he said. "She was pretty cool."
"Yeah," I agreed.
"She never nagged or judged. You could just be yourself around her."
"Unless you screwed up," I said. "I remember that she could be really fierce if somebody crossed the line."
"Nothing wrong with that, is there?" He seemed relaxed.
"I'd say that depends on which part of that line you're on." I waited until he had finished the second cookie, before I pressed on. "Jake was a bit like that too, only much more of a stickler."
"Yeah." Kyle appeared pretty relaxed.
"I heard you're going to Yale or another Ivy League college."
Now his behavior shifted. He hung his head. "I hope not."
"What was that? Did you mess up?" I asked.
He shrugged.
"You like fast cars, don't you?"
I didn’t know why I came out with that question.
For my next interview, I needed to prepare better.
I could only blame it on Kyle’s unexpected visit, although he had mentioned dropping in.
Was I developing brain fog? I hoped not.
With a killer out there, or possibly right in front of me, I needed to keep my wits about me. I should remember that from now on.
Kyle surprised me. In a dreamy tone, he asked, "I guess you heard about my little stunt."
"What stunt?"
I crossed my fingers behind my back, hoping that the cookies would make him spill the beans.
And that afterward, he'd forget, or dismiss everything. At least that’s what this spice mixture in the cookies was supposed to do.
Cosmo told me that my aunt had only used it as a last resort, for trauma therapy.
Interviewing a potential murderer would hopefully be another permissible use.
If Kyle was innocent, he’d suffer no harm.
If he wasn’t, I’d prefer he wouldn’t realize I knew.
"I took out his car. Jake's car, I mean. It was a stupid thing to do, but it was there, kind of, and I didn't really know what else to do." He sheepishly hung his head.
"We all do stupid things as kids," I said. "Only, Jake wouldn't have seen it that way."
"He was cool. I mean, not totally fine with it, but he could have really chewed me out and made my life hell. He didn’t. When I came clean and told him what I'd done, we worked it out."
"You confessed?"
"Yeah. I dinged his car. Not bad, but... I had to tell him, right? You'd have done the same."
"Mm." I wasn’t sure what to say because I hadn’t expected this. "Then what happened?" I asked.
"We came to an arrangement. I was cleaning out the cabin in the woods. And I had to take on a few bird-watching shifts, you know, guarding the nests there. He looked after the ones in his yard." His voice faltered. "I can't believe he's gone. I can't believe they're both gone."
"Why would he send you to clean out the cabin?”
“Have you been in there? I'm not saying that people are trashing it, but somebody has been using it and not for birdwatching. I took a few things out that didn’t belong there, if you get my meaning."
I nodded. I was young enough to remember where teenagers around here went on cold and rainy nights for making-out sessions.
"I could tell that Jake was pretty peeved when he saw the trash that I took out. There were one or two things that surprised him though. He said he would stow them away safely, in his box.”
Kyle sank deeper in the chair. His eyes glazed over for a moment and then became bright again. The spell was wearing off.
"Hey, these are great books!" He pounced on the reading material I'd put on the table. "You've got great taste, just like your aunt."
"She left a few notes," I said. "Don't tell anyone else, Ok? I'm just learning the ropes and don’t want to get anyone’s expectations up yet."
He gave me a thumbs-up.
I shut the door behind him with a sense of relief.
I trusted the magic of the cookies. My gut also told me that Kyle was innocent.
Cosmo shared my opinion. That was all we had time to talk about before more customers came. They weren't exactly streaming in, but we kept quite busy until closing time.
I sold two new releases, both children's books. And eight other children's books, plus two romance novels, had been borrowed.
I only knew the last client, because the ones with the kids were not my generation.
Linda, though, was. I was wondering what had brought her here because I had never seen her borrow a book instead of purchasing the latest bestseller, in hardcover. I wondered if she read them at all or just displayed them.
Maybe she was trying to support the little guy.
She gushed at her choice. "I had seen that book pop up on social media a couple of times. Have you read it?" she asked. "This author is so popular, it’s like insane!"
"I haven't," I said.
"Oh, you have to! It’s a second-chance romance!"
I had enough of her digs. "Why?" I asked. "Are you thinking of moving on from your husband? Greener pastures and so on?"
She tittered. "I wouldn't dream of it. And he wouldn't dream of looking at anyone else but me, like I told you. Also, it's in the prenup. He strays, he pays." Her face changed color.
I pretended I hadn't heard anything. If she intended to get back at me with my ex-husband's indiscretions, I didn't care. To be honest, I hadn't cared for quite a while. Receiving his texts had helped a little with smoothing things over between me and Rick.
I stamped the book and passed it to her.
"Will I see you tonight?" she asked.
I was going to say no until I realized it might be a good idea to mingle a little more. "Where?" I asked. "What's going on?"
"The Badger Belles are taking on the big league. We are trying to rustle up as much support as we can to cheer the girls on at the bowling alley,” she continued.
"I'll see if I can make it."
She grasped my hands. "Please do, it would make such a difference." Was she really trying to be nice?
I freed myself discreetly. "That's lovely to hear."
She sashayed out of the library with her new book.
I sniffed my hands. There was a familiar smell on them, only I couldn't quite place it.
It would come to me, I thought, once I had a little break to digest all that I had learned this afternoon.