On Borrowed Time (3 page)

“I
f you'll follow me, Mr. Schwartz,” Lindsey said. “I know that having a senior member of the community present will be very helpful in our current crisis.”

“Crisis?” Mr. Schwartz asked. He puffed himself up and walked beside her toward the back room. He shot Officer Kirkland a nasty look. “Well, anything I can do to help the police with their job.”

Lindsey glanced over her shoulder at Kirkland. He gave her a small smile, and she wondered if they had a course about dealing with difficult people at the police academy, and then she wondered if she could audit it.

*   *   *

O
nce they were gathered in the room, Lindsey let Officer Wilcox take over mediating the situation. She assumed there was a police protocol that he would follow to let the people know what was happening without causing them to panic.

Meanwhile, she huddled in the corner with her staff.

“All right, Lindsey, spill it,” Beth said. “What's going on?”

Ms. Cole and Ann Marie completed their circle, and Lindsey gestured for them to shuffle to the side out of earshot of the rest of the people.

“After our crafternoon meeting today, I went into the back room, where we usually meet,” Lindsey began. She closed her eyes to steady herself as she recalled the horror of what she'd found. With a sharp exhale, she finished by saying, “When I opened the door, I found the window open and a dead body facedown on the floor.”

“What?” squawked Beth. “You found a body in the library?”

“
Shh
,” Ms. Cole hushed her and then glanced around to make sure no one had heard.

Beth gave her an annoyed look, but lowered her voice. “I just don't understand how it's possible. That door is always locked unless there is a meeting under way.”

“Who was it? Was it a patron?” Ann Marie put her hand to her throat as if to steady herself.

“No, it was a stranger,” Lindsey said. “I didn't recognize him nor did Chief Plewicki.”

The other three visibly relaxed. And Lindsey understood that in a community this small there was a sense of looking out for each other, even for pesky people like Peter Schwartz.

“What's going to happen now?” Beth asked. “And why do they want us all in this room?”

“I think the chief wants to make sure no one knew the man,” Lindsey said. “Also she probably wants to know if anyone saw anything suspicious.”

The others nodded. Officer Kirkland was taking down the names of all the other people in the room. He had just finished when the doors opened and Chief Plewicki walked in.

The room immediately erupted with questions, but she held up her hands, motioning for everyone to be quiet.

“Thank you all for your cooperation,” she said. “Due to the nature of the event that has taken place out front, my officers and I will be taking you out of the room individually, starting with families first.”

Mr. Schwartz's face screwed up into an unhappy knot, but Emma froze him with a look.

“Unless, of course, you'd rather we keep the children in here even longer.”

As if on cue, a baby began to wail, and everyone agreed that its family should be the first interviewed. Lindsey and her staff were excused to return to work with the understanding that they would be interviewed last.

When Lindsey arrived out front, it was to see the medical examiner wheeling the stranger's body out in a body bag. She went directly to her office and called the mayor's right-hand man, Herb Gunderson, to let him know the situation.

Herb was a meticulous dot every
i
and cross every
t
man, who ran the town's department head meetings with a precision that left them all napping; still, she preferred breaking the bad news to him rather than the mayor.

“Herb Gun—” That was as far as he got before Lindsey interrupted.

“Herb, it's Lindsey, we have a situation at the library,” she said.

“What sort of situation?” he asked.

She knew without seeing him that he had just sat up in his chair and smoothed his tie with the palm of his hand. He did that every time he was addressing an issue.

“Chief Plewicki is here with two officers as well as Dr. Griffiths, the medical examiner,” Lindsey said.

“The ME?” Herb gulped. “Just what the heck is going on over there?”

Lindsey sighed. There was no gentle way to put this. “We . . . I found a dead body in the library.”

“What? Where? When?” He fired the questions with the same sharp report as bullets out of a gun.

“Dead body, meeting room, half an hour ago,” she returned fire.

“Who is it?” he asked.

“No idea,” Lindsey said. “I'm just giving you a heads-up. I'm sure Emma will call with a full report as soon as she's done talking to the patrons and staff here.”

Herb was silent for a moment as if meticulously choosing his words or maybe processing the bomb Lindsey had detonated on him.

“Is there anyone there that I should know about beforehand?” he asked.

It took Lindsey a second to get his drift and then she got it. “Peter Schwartz is here.”

“Ah,” Herb said. In one syllable he managed to convey the tortured anguish of the public servant when faced with a terminally whiny member of the public.

“I know he's quite the letter writer,” Lindsey said. “He leaves us lots of helpful notes.”

“Well, after this, I imagine he'll have enough to fill a book.”

“Did you just tell a joke, Herb?” Lindsey asked in surprise.

“You know, I think I might have,” Herb said. “Forgive me, obviously I'm not myself.”

“No, it was funny,” Lindsey said with a chuckle. “And quite appropriate.”

“Unless you need me for anything else, Lindsey, I imagine I need to get the mayor up to speed.”

“Good luck with that.” She hung up feeling a bit sorry for Herb and the meeting he was about to walk into, then again, that was why he made the big bucks.

Lindsey took a moment to check her cell phone. There were no incoming texts or calls from Jack. She then called her apartment. Maybe Jack had gone there and hadn't had a chance to tell her. No one answered, so she hung up and checked her messages. There was one automated sales call for a home security system, but that was it. There was no word from Jack.

Despite the victim having been found in the library, Lindsey felt that ultimately the dead body was going to be Emma's problem more than hers, which was fine, because finding her brother was her number one priority.

Lindsey left her office to find the library cleared and Officer Kirkland talking to Beth while the other officer talked to Ms. Cole and Ann Marie. Emma Plewicki was talking on her cell phone, and Lindsey suspected by the set of her jaw that she didn't like what she was hearing.

“Fine, but call me the minute you learn anything,” Emma said into the phone. She pressed the front of her phone and shoved it into a holder on her belt.

“Bad news?” Lindsey asked.

“Griffiths says there's a backlog of bodies at his office,” she said. “Mine is in the queue but it may take them longer than usual to ID him.”

Lindsey glanced around the library, noting that it was all but empty. It appeared that everyone but Mr. Schwartz, who had resumed his seat with his paper, had fled. She couldn't blame them. There was a part of her that wished she could escape the building, too, but then again, she wanted to be here in case Jack turned up.

“You ready for a few questions?” Emma asked her.

“Sure, fire away,” Lindsey said.

“Why did you have your crafternoon meeting in a different location today?” Emma asked. Her tone was abrupt and no nonsense, and Lindsey had the paranoid thought that maybe Emma knew about Jack and was testing her. But no, that couldn't be.

“Um . . . it was cold in there, you know, our usual room,” Lindsey said. She hated lying, but given that she had already told the same fib to her best friend, she couldn't really bust out the truth now, could she?

“Was the window open when you went in?” Emma asked. Her sharp brown eyes were studying Lindsey's face, making her feel uncomfortable.

Logically, Lindsey knew that Emma was just encouraging her to try and remember all that she could, but knowing that she was being less than truthful made Lindsey's skin prickle and she felt as if she had guilt written all over her face.

“Yes,” she said. She rationalized that Jack had told her the window was unlocked, so it could be construed as being open and was therefore not a complete fabrication.

“Then what did you do?” Emma asked.

“I decided to switch the location for our meeting and locked up the room, planning to check back later,” Lindsey said. Truth. “And when I went back, I found the body.” Also, truth.

Emma frowned at her. “The first time you were in the room, did you close the window?”

Lindsey refused to lie as it could only lead to more lies so instead, she went for vague, which judging by the politicians she saw on the news these days, was probably the best way to handle it.

“I don't know,” she said. “I meant to, but it must have slipped my mind what with rushing off to change rooms and such.”

Emma didn't look convinced and Lindsey couldn't blame her. An awkward moment passed between them, which mercifully was interrupted by the front doors sliding open and two men rushing into the building.

“Lindsey!” they cried her name in unison and hurried forward.

Emma glanced from them back to Lindsey and then grinned at her. In a teasing voice, she said, “Yeah, well, I could see how you might forget to shut a window when you have so much on your mind.”

Lindsey gave her a weak smile in return and had to squash the urge to hug the stuffing out of both Robbie Vine and Mike Sullivan as they hurried toward her. They were saving her hide more than they would ever know.

“Are you all right?” Sully demanded. He reached her first and hugged her close.

“We heard there was a nasty incident in the library,” Robbie said as he waited for Sully to release her and then hugged her himself. When he would have lingered, Sully pulled him off by the back of his collar.

“No taking advantage of the situation,” Sully said to Robbie. “We agreed.”

“Sorry, mate, it's in my nature,” Robbie said in his charming British accent.

“Change your nature,” Sully said. It sounded more like a threat than a suggestion.

Lindsey glanced between them and frowned. “What do you mean, you agreed?”

“We were both having lunch over at the Blue Anchor,” Sully began.

“Not together,” Robbie added.

Sully rolled his eyes and continued, “When Terry Lucas said she heard a man was shot while trying to rob the library, we agreed to come over together but not promote our own agendas, didn't we?”

“Not my idea,” Robbie said, pouting. “I say when a bloke sees an opportunity, he should exploit it.”

“Nice,” Sully said in a tone that made it clear that it wasn't.

“Shot?” Lindsey asked. She glanced at Emma, who shook her head as if she was not at all surprised that the story had been warped from traveling on too many tongues.

“That's a ridiculous rumor. Who would rob the library?” Ms. Cole asked with an indignant sniff.

Lindsey had to give her that. She didn't know anyone who would take on Ms. Cole over her cash drawer, not willingly.

The two officers had finished questioning the other staff, and Lindsey looked at Emma. “Did you have any more questions?”

“Not right now,” she said. “But I'll be in touch if I do. The room has been cordoned off, and it goes without saying that no one should go back there until we take the crime scene tape down.”

“Got it,” Lindsey said.

“Crime scene tape? Well, blimey, Lindsey, if you weren't robbed, what happened?” Robbie asked.

L
indsey looked at Emma, who gave her a small nod. Obviously, now that the preliminary investigation was done, the facts could be revealed.

“A man was found dead in one of the back rooms,” Lindsey said. “We don't know who he is yet, but it does appear that he was murdered.”

Sully's gaze narrowed on her face. Nothing much got by Sully, and he asked, “You found the body, didn't you?”

A shudder rippled from the top of Lindsey's head all the way down to her feet. For as long as she lived, she was never going to forget the chilling moment she realized the man was dead.

“Oh, love, you poor thing,” Robbie said. He opened his arms wide as if to scoop Lindsey close and comfort her. Sully blocked him, intercepting his move and leaving Robbie hugging him instead.

Robbie dropped his arms and stepped back with an irritated twist to his lips. “Now was that necessary?”

“Yes,” Sully snapped.

In spite of the trauma of the day, Lindsey felt the corners of her mouth curve up. This sort of thing had been going on for a while, ever since Robbie had arrived in town to help Violet with her community theater production of
A Midsummer Night's Dream
a few months before. The play was long over but Robbie remained.

Tall, with reddish-blond hair, green eyes and a pair of roguish dimples, Robbie Vine, a famous stage and film actor from England, had charmed his way into the Briar Creek community and made it more than plain that he was interested in Lindsey.

Meanwhile, Sully, a local boat captain with a sailor's strong build, sea blue eyes and a head of thick reddish-brown curls, had alternately won Lindsey's heart and then broken it. Not one to quit, however, Sully was now in the process of trying to win her affection back.

Lindsey adored them both, but she had declined any offers of a romantic nature, wanting to have more than a passing acquaintance with her own feelings before she made any rash decisions. It had made for an interesting few months with both men under foot, and just as Emma had noted, it had certainly kept her mind occupied.

“Unless the mayor tells me otherwise, I'm going to close the library to the public for the rest of the day,” Lindsey said. “Staff can stay and catch up on clerical work if they choose, but I think it will be easier for the investigators if we close.”

“I can call the mayor and request it,” Emma said. “It certainly would make our job easier.”

“Let's do it,” Lindsey said. She put one hand through Sully's arm and the other through Robbie's as she began to walk them to the door. “Thank you so much for checking on me. It was very considerate of you both.”

“She's giving us the boot, isn't she?” Robbie asked Sully.

“And how,” he agreed. “Are you sure there isn't anything we can do to help?”

“I can't think of anything,” Lindsey said. “But I'll let you know if I do.”

She gave them a gentle push out the door and then stepped back as the automatic doors whooshed shut.

Beth strolled over to her side. “Decisions have to be made.”

“No, they don't,” Lindsey protested. “I don't know what I want yet. Honestly, aren't I allowed to take my time and figure it out? I mean, is there some invisible relationship countdown clock of which I'm unaware?”

“Um, I was talking about whether I should cancel the teens' party tonight or not,” Beth said.

“Oh.” Lindsey puckered her lips. “Since it's not in the library, I think you should forge ahead. There's no reason for the teens to miss out on wearing their steampunk gear.”

“Excellent,” Beth said. “They've all worked so hard, I'd hate to disappoint them. I'll send out a status update on our social media page that we're a go.”

She disappeared into the children's department while Ms. Cole and Ann Marie manned their positions at the circulation desk. Lindsey scanned the library one more time, futilely looking for her brother with no success. Where could Jack have gone?

This was only one of many questions plaguing Lindsey. Had Jack been in the meeting room when the man came in? What happened between them? Or was Jack gone before the man entered? If so, who had strangled the man to death?

Lindsey felt her stomach knot up. If it was someone else who harmed the man, and it had to be because she knew it couldn't have been Jack, then where was that person? And was he looking for Jack? Or even worse, had he found him?

“Lindsey, are you all right?” Emma paused beside her and studied her face.

“Yeah, I'm good,” Lindsey lied. Again.

“You know, what you saw in there would make a veteran police officer puke on his shoes,” she said. “It's okay to be rattled.”

“Oh, I'm more than rattled,” Lindsey assured her. “But I'm still functional.”

Emma nodded. “Let me know if you need to talk.”

Lindsey squeezed her friend's arm in silent thank-you. She watched Emma go back to the crime scene while Officer Kirkwood escorted Peter Schwartz out of the building to much complaining.

She took the opportunity to go back to her office, hoping that this time she'd find a message from her brother on her phone. No such luck. Lindsey hovered by her office phone and her computer for the rest of the day, but there were no messages or calls from Jack.

The police cleared out an hour before closing, so it was just Lindsey and her staff meeting at the back door to exit the building.

Beth came running down the hall in her steampunk aviator costume with a big paper bag in her hands. As Lindsey set the alarm, they stepped out of the building into the bitter December air.

Ms. Cole gave them a stiff nod as she headed to her car while Ann Marie waved and gave them a small smile, her usual cheeriness subdued by the events of the day.

Being environmentally minded, Lindsey and Beth usually rode their bicycles to work even in winter, so they headed toward the bike rack at the side of the building. Lindsey was wrapping her scarf about her face and making sure her gloves reached up under her coat sleeves so a sneaky chill couldn't creep in between her layers.

“I think you should come to the Blue Anchor tonight,” Beth said. “In fact, I insist.”

Lindsey gave her a tired smile. “I would, really, but I'm just not up for it tonight.”

Beth held a folded piece of paper out to her. “No, really, you need to come.”

Lindsey frowned and took the paper. She opened it and caught her breath as the familiar scrawl of Jack's handwriting filled the small space.

Meet me at the Anchor tonight. Love, J

“When? How?” Lindsey asked. “Is he okay?”

“He was fine, a little mysterious, but fine.”

“Why didn't you tell me earlier?” Lindsey asked.

“He asked me not to,” Beth said. “I went into the storage area about an hour ago to gather my steampunk stuff, and there he was. He said he has to talk to you and that you'll know what it's about.”

Beth gave her an assessing look. She may play with children all day, but Beth was no one's fool. She had to suspect that the dead body and Jack's arrival were not unrelated.

“He's not in trouble, is he?” she asked.

“I don't know,” Lindsey said.

She could barely focus, given the relief that was pounding through her. Jack was okay. Only now could she admit to herself that she'd been dreading the worst, that somehow Jack was involved with the dead man and that he was hurt or harmed or had even been killed.

Lindsey clutched the paper to her chest and sucked in a gulp of the frigid evening air.

“What's going on, Lindsey?” Beth asked.

“I wish I knew,” Lindsey said. “I only saw Jack for a few moments today and then he disappeared. I won't know any more until I talk to him. So it looks like I'm going with you.”

“Excellent,” Beth said. “I figured you would and, of course, you'll need this to fit in.”

She opened her bag and rummaged through it. She pulled out a black top hat that was covered with knobs and gears and a purple lacy scarf. She glanced at Lindsey's wool skirt and lace-up boots and nodded.

“Unbutton a few buttons on your blouse and you'll look like a nice Victorian steampunk chick,” Beth said.

“I don't get to be an adventurer?” Lindsey asked. “I wanted jodhpurs and a monocle.”

“Beggars can't be choosers,” Beth said. She clapped the hat onto Lindsey's head and draped the lacy scarf around her neck. “Besides, Jack already helped himself to my cool gear.”

“Jack's in costume, too?” Lindsey asked.

“Yes,” Beth said. She looked delighted. “He was so enthusiastic when I mentioned the party. Much more so than you. He even kissed me.”

“What?” Lindsey asked.

“Don't worry. It was very sisterly,” Beth said and wrinkled her nose, letting Lindsey know that it was a disappointment. “Why didn't you tell me he was coming to town early?”

“I didn't know,” she said. “You know how uncommunicative he is.”

At least, that was the truth. She tried to ignore the sparkle in Beth's eye. Beth had fostered a crush on Jack since the first time she'd met him when she and Lindsey had been in grad school in New Haven.

When it came to Jack, whom she loved, and her friends, Lindsey always felt like she was standing out in a storm wildly waving to oncoming cars that the bridge was out. It never worked. Every friend she had ever had, had plunged headfirst over the abyss that was falling in love with Jack Norris.

So far, Jack had not stood still long enough for Beth to lose her heart to him completely, but Lindsey knew the signs. The giddy smile, the blush that colored her cheeks, the wild light in her eyes, yeah, Beth had it bad. Oh, no.

They climbed onto their bikes and pushed off the curb toward the Anchor. Lindsey's hat was heavy and she tipped it back so that she could see. With her lacy scarf blowing in the wind, she had to admit she felt a bit like a Victorian lady and, boy howdy, did she ever feel sorry for them.

They parked their bikes by the café, locking them up on the rail at the side of the building. The faint strains of Charlie Peyton's band could be heard through the door. Judging by the full parking lot, it was a rocking good time at the Blue Anchor tonight.

Lindsey and Beth blew into the building with a strong wind at their backs. The restaurant was standing room only, but Beth's teens had already taken over the corner by the band. Beth grabbed Lindsey's hand and hustled her across the room to the waiting group.

The band finished their song to much applause. Lindsey saw Charlie, her downstairs neighbor, standing off to the side with his guitar. She'd seen him play a million times, but every time, she was amazed at his skills and his natural affinity for the stage. Catching her eye, Charlie pointed at her and winked.

As she hurried by, he yelled, “Nice lid.”

Lindsey adjusted the enormous hat on her head and gave him a rueful smile.

“Okay, now that the ladies are here,” Charlie said into the mike, “it's time to slow things down a bit.”

The band broke into a ballad and the teens they had just reached surged past them. Dylan, one of their older teen workers, grabbed Beth as he went past and Lindsey found herself alone, facing a youth in an explorer's jacket, a pith helmet and a monocle. He winked at her with his available eye.

“Jack?” she asked.

“Shh,” he said. “It's Sir Tarryton at the moment.”

He held out his arm to her, and much to Lindsey's bemusement, her brother led her out onto the dance floor amid the throng of similarly clad teens. To Lindsey, it appeared to be a crush of cogs, gears, wool coats, flouncy skirts and fancy hats.

She had to admit there was a certain appeal to the tricked-out clothes, but at the moment, she was much more concerned with her brother and the dead guy in her library.

Jack spun her into the funky waltz the teens were all attempting, and when they were face-to-face, she began her interrogation.

“What happened to you today?” she asked. “When I went back to check on you, there was a dead man on the floor.”

“I heard,” Jack said. He adjusted his monocle before putting his hand back on her waist. “Are you okay? That must have been horrible.”

“Not as horrible as it was for him, I'd imagine,” she said.

She thought over the past two years and the number of bodies she'd seen, and she hated to think she was actually getting desensitized to it, but there was no question that today's corpse hadn't rattled her nearly as badly as it would have a few years ago.

She noticed Jack studying her face as if curious about what she meant, and she shook her head.

“Enough about me. What about you? What happened in there? You didn't . . . it wasn't . . . oh, Jack, what happened?”

Jack leaned in close to her and whispered, “You know I had nothing to do with that man's death.”

He said it like a statement and Lindsey nodded. She knew that. She did. All the way down to her soul, she knew her brother could never harm another living being.