The Book Waitress (Book 1, The Book Waitress Series) (4 page)

Shelving the last volume, she returned to her cart. “Aw,
now
come on! Where have all the books gone?
”
She’d been about to put away a
few
volume
s
of Money magazine, so she looked on the shelf. “Huh.” It was there
already
. She rushed over to the next area, the shelf for Fortune magazine
s
. “I’ll be damned.”
Those books
had been place
d
back in
their
place
s, as well
. “What the
hell
is going on around here?
”

She went through her list of books to be shelved
,
and each and every one of them had been put back
and in the right place
.
In her estimation, she’d
had an experience
with one malicious entity and one nice one. Or
there’s
one
spirit that’s mischievous and remorseful.
Either way, it warranted a conversation with the other women to see if
they’ve had similar encounters.

“Camille?”
Start
led, she spun around so quickly that
her hair pin flew out and clinked on the floor.

“Oh, Susan, hi.”
She bent down, searching for
the
hair fastener
. “Drat. Where did that thing go?”

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you. Here it is.” She walked a few paces and picked up the wooden stick. “My, but you have beautiful hair. If I were you, I’d keep those long curls flowing freely.”

“Oh, thanks.” Noticing her colleague’s short gray hair, she could see why. “It gets in the way, mostly. Susan, I’m glad you came down.”

“I
was
just
gonna tell you that Nancy and I are leaving for the night. Here’s the key to lock up the place. This master key lock
s all three locks on the front a
nd back doors.”

“There’s a back door?”

“Of course, silly.”

“Nancy’s only shown me my dungeon here. I haven’t seen the rest of the place.”
She laughed. Susan didn’t.

“Oh
, my. Y
es. She can get pretty single-minded and forget her manners. Come with me and I’ll show you
where it is
.
”

They climbed the stairs together and with each step, Camille
went from wanting to share what had happened with the books to keeping her mouth shut
.
Warning flags were waving madly in
her
face. Susan
, who lacked any sense of humor,
chattered on and on about Nancy
being a shrew. But she’d been there so long as supervisor, she didn’t think
the workhorse would
ever leave.
Susan impressed her as
a bit flighty
with her gossipmonger ways
,
the sort that wouldn’t know a ghost if it smacked her in the face with ooze.
S
he settled on keeping things to herself, for now, and hoped that tomorrow would be much less
exciting
.

“So here’
s the back door. We usually lock it up first, then lock up the front on our way out. We alternate who stays to lock up. It was Caroline’s day to lock up, so that’s why we gave it
to
you. Why mess with the schedule? You know?”

“Right. Luckily, I only have a small bag to unpack anyway when I get back to the house.”

“Ooh, I don’t think Nancy or I took that into consideration. I’m sorry.”

“
Honestly, I’m rather surprised she called me in. I mean, in my estimation,
there wasn’t anything
dire that needed immediate attention. At least not in my area. A bit insensitive, if you ask me, not that you
did
, but if you
were to ask, I’d tell you that. B
ut I need this job, so I think I’ll just stop talking now.”

Susan stood with mouth agog.
As if she hasn’t heard worse from Nancy?
Camille didn’t think so.

“Well, have a good evening then settling in. See you tomorrow.”
With pursed lips, she
squeezed
out a smile for Camille, th
en turned and left the library.

“What kind of freak show did you send me to, dear Lord?”

There was a reason Camille disliked people so much. The two people
she’d have to work with
supported it. People
didn’t
care about
each other
. They
were
ego-centric and narcissistic. She’d make sure to avoid speakin
g with them as much as possible. A
nd
then she’d
find a way to
get off this damnable island,
back
to
where she belonged.

She trudged back downstairs to finish up her work. Just to be sure there would be no funny business she called out, “No more
mischief
around
here
tonight. You hear
me
, Mr. I Think I’m a
Baddass
?
Go chase your tail or whatever you mean spirits normally do. But the nice one, I’ll call you
Sweetie
, you can stay and keep me company if you like.
”

Shutting down the computers
was next on her list of chores to be done
before turning out the lights and leaving. But these
intriguing
experiences piqued her curiosity. What
kind of
history
surrounded
this place?
What kinds of secrets
lay
buried
within
the walls of such a long-standing structure?
Finding the answers to these questions would shed much light on today’s disturbances. She shut down all but one computer, hers, and got to work.

Her
overstuffed
backpack
could wait, a
nd the rest of her belongings were coming over
in two days
. She
’d
go
t
t
en
lucky and her five boxes of
“
can’t-do-
withouts
”
were able to be lumped in with some other goods on a moving van.
Nancy would have to do without her for a day.
Poor thing.

When she typed in the library’
s name on its
catalog’s
search,
nothing came up.
No books, magazines, or newspapers.
She opened another tab and searched the internet.
“Whoa
, t
alk about a history,” she muttered.
A
page’s worth
of articles popped up
.
A mixture of amazement and annoyance tangled within her.
“Now, that’s odd. Why doesn’t the library have anything, but the internet does?
Sweetie
, are you thinking what I’m thinking? This here library is censoring itself. What exactly is it trying to cover up?
”

Camille
stared at the screen, flummoxed
.
No wonder Shelter Island Library purposefully kept its name out of it
s
catalog. A murder/suicide happened in the basement! That could definitely spell disaster for business. Seems a couple of librarians,
John
Stalworthy
and
Betina
Graves, were
both
married to other people and
conducted an illicit affair for months using the basement as their hideaway. He wanted them to divorce their spouses so they could marry each other. She did
n’t
. He went psychotic, killed her
,
and then
shot
himself
in the head
.
She died instantly while he lingered on for a day before
letting go
and joining her in death
.

“Wow,
Sw
…
Betina
. I’m so sorry it ended this way. I’m figuring it’s you helping me out here. And I guess the scary jerk is John. Well, don’t worry. You have a friend in me. As for John, he better watch his manners from now on or I’m gonna get someone to come and shoo him away for good.
”

Strangely, she felt a pressure on her left shoulder, as though someone had given her a reassuring pat. “Jesus!
” She
gasped and
bounded out of her seat, brushing off whatever had touched her.
“
Putting books away for me is one thing. Touching me, now that’s something else completely.
”
Sticking an authoritative finger in the air, she wagged it angrily.
“
Don’t ever
do that again.
If you understand me, make some kind of sound
.”

Three light taps immediately followed her request. “Holy mother of…
.
”
She twirled around a couple of times, trying to locate the sound, but couldn’t.
“I think it’s time for me to head on
home now. Yes, that’s what I’m gonna do. I’ll just turn off my
computer, the lights, a
nd I’m outta here.
This is just nuts.
Lots to
digest
in one day. Lots.”

Not waiting for her screen to go dark, Camille turned off all the lights and dashed up the stairs to lock the back door.
She
turned off the lights for the main level and locked the front door. The air
outside
was a subtle mixture of warmth and
then
sudden cool breezes. She breathed it in and
slowly let it out, forcing
the tension to
release
her body
from its stranglehold
.
What had she stepped into with this transfer? Nobody warned her about Nancy. No one bothered to mention the murder in the basement
or its ghosts
. Didn’t
anyone
have the least bit of loyalty or compass
ion?

Walking back to her house, she found she wasn’t alone on the streets. Couples and singles were out having a stroll, walking their dogs, or shedding their calories from dessert with jogging. She supposed
she might become one of them soon. Exercise and good health were important to her. Her on
ly vice were McDonald’s French F
ries. She laughed out loud as she recalled trying to persuade her professor to allow a study be conducted on the addictive nature of those beastly things. Of course, she’d said no, but Camille remained convinced that a secret ingredient held the key to her addiction.

Finally at her doorstep, she opened the door with her key and slunk inside.
Tossing
her purse and keys on the little
foyer
table
, she
threw herself onto the couch.
The cushions slowly absorbed her body, creating
a cocoon-ty
pe effect. Just what she needed. A hug
at the end of an excruciatingly difficult day. A grumbling, gurgling sound reminded her that she hadn’t eaten since lunchtime.
This schedule sucks! I must demand a dinner break be worked into the schedule
tomorrow
.
It’s how her old library operated, and
it’s probably a labor law anyway
. If need be, she’d look it up.

For now, she needed to find food. This island was
n’t
about
Pizza Hut or McDonald’s. It was all quaint places to meet and eat organically grown foods
.
The mainland could keep the commercialism and fast food chains
. Remembering the small grocery
store
she passed
on the way from the dock, she thought about going back out. She mulled it over long enough that
she fell
asleep
on the couch
.

Chapter Four

“You really sh
ould be nicer to her, you know.”
Susan cracked her window open slightly
and
fresh air
rushed in
.

“Susan, I want her outta here like we got Caroline out. The less people around the better. We don’t need a
nosy
busy
body with a
fresh set of eyes
in this place and you know it. No, if I make it very uncomfortable for her she’s bound to leave.”