Death in the Stacks Page 7

  “What was that noise?”

  “Oh my God, is that blood?”

  Everyone in the building came running toward them, shouting questions. Lindsey felt her heart pound in her chest, and her ears were ringing. She was struggling to process what was happening, and the crowd rushing at her made it even more difficult.

  “Stop!” She held up her hands to ward them off. She spotted Sully in the crowd.

  “Call the police and an ambulance,” she said to him. “Olive Boyle has been stabbed.”

  “Are you all right?” he asked. He snatched his phone out of the inside pocket of his suit jacket.

  She gave him a jerky nod to let him know that none of the blood was hers. He spun away from the gathering crowd to speak into the phone.

  “What happened?” Kim demanded.

  “Is she dead?” LeAnn pulled Amy away from the shelf and wrapped a protective arm about her.

  “Yes, I think so,” Lindsey said. Her voice wasn’t much more than a puff of breath.

  The three of them stood silently in front of her, their eyes wide as they took in the horror of the scene before them. Lindsey glanced over her shoulder and noticed that Paula wasn’t there. She had slipped away before the crowd arrived. Lindsey wasn’t sure what to make of that, but she suspected it was a wise decision.

  The staff members were all talking at once. Lindsey raised her hands to get their attention, but when she remembered the blood on them, she lowered them.

  “Can someone please go unlock the front door?” she asked. “We’re going to need to let the EMTs in.”

  Beth and Aidan hurried back through the library. They passed Robbie and Emma, who were just stepping out of the break room, looking decidedly mussed.

  “What’s the ruckus?” Robbie asked.

  “Emma, I need you!” Lindsey cried out, relieved to see the chief of police was still on the premises.

  Emma snapped to attention immediately. Her cop’s sixth sense must have alerted her that something was very wrong.

  She dropped Robbie’s hand, lifted the hem of her gown and broke into a run. Robbie followed her, looking faintly bewildered. Emma elbowed her way through the remaining staff and Olive’s friends.

  “Police! Move aside,” she said.

  Everyone stepped back, and Lindsey knew she had never been so grateful to see Emma in her life.

  “This way,” she said. She hustled Emma back toward Olive.

  From a distance Olive looked to be a pool of glittering black. In the dim nighttime lighting, her dark beaded gown blended with the blood that saturated the carpet beneath her.

  Emma bunched her skirts around her knees and knelt down, examining Olive. Lindsey saw her stare at the bloody knife lying on the carpet and then at Olive. She did the same vitals check that Lindsey had. When she sighed and glanced at the delicate gold watch on her wrist, Lindsey knew she was marking the time of death as best she could.

  “When did you find her?” Emma asked.

  “Just a few minutes ago,” Lindsey said. She didn’t mention that Paula was actually the one to discover Olive. She would tell her, but not here, not with all of these people listening.

  “What have we got here, love?” Robbie joined them, kneeling down beside Emma.

  She shook her head at him. “I’ve got the victim of a homicide. You have nothing except an errand. Could you grab my purse from Lindsey’s office? I have a pair of gloves in there.”

  “Right.” Robbie stood and hurried away.

  “Tell me exactly how you found her,” Emma said to Lindsey.

  “Just like this,” Lindsey said. “I put my hand on her chest to see if she was breathing, but she wasn’t. No heartbeat either.”

  “Let me see your hands.” Lindsey held them out, and Emma nodded. “Tell Sully to keep everyone here in the building, then go wash up. I’m going to call in a crime scene unit.”

  Lindsey nodded and turned to go.

  “Oh, and Lindsey,” Emma called her back. “I hope you’re going to stick to the promise you made a few months ago not to investigate crimes anymore. I know it will be especially challenging since it’s on your turf and all, but I’d like your reassurance that you’ll stay out of it.”

  “Don’t worry about me,” Lindsey said. “I’ve learned my lesson. This case is entirely yours.”

  Lindsey had Sully take watch over the staff and their guests who remained in the library while she went to clean up. She went to use the unisex staff bathroom that was adjacent to the break room but found the door locked.

  She knocked. No one answered, as if whoever was inside hoped she would just go away. There was only one person it could be.

  “Paula, it’s Lindsey. Let me in.”

  Seconds ticked by before she heard the door unlock and it was pulled open. It was Paula. She looked wrecked. Her hair was mussed, her eyes were puffy and the end of her nose was red. It was clear she’d been crying.

  “Are you all right?” Lindsey asked.

  “No, not even a little.”

  Lindsey smiled at Paula’s usual candor.

  “I’m going to wash up, okay?” she asked.

  Paula nodded and stayed in the room with her while Lindsey scrubbed the remnants of Olive’s blood from her skin. As the water turned pink and swirled down the drain, Lindsey felt the saliva in her mouth pool beneath her tongue. The urge to throw up was almost more than she could shake off.

  “Barfing helps,” Paula said.

  Lindsey expelled a breath that was somewhere between a grunt and a laugh.

  “I’m sorry I ditched. I just couldn’t—”

  “It’s all right,” Lindsey said. “The first time you see a body like that, hell, anytime you see a body like that, it’s bound to take you out at the knees.”

  “Yeah,” Paula said. She glanced away while Lindsey used a paper towel to dry her hands.

  “Paula, did you see anyone or hear anything before you found Olive?”

  “No, there was no one, just her,” she said.

  Lindsey studied her tear-ravaged face. She believed her. She stepped forward and put a hand on Paula’s shoulder.

  “Take as long as you need, but I’d better get back,” Lindsey said. “You’ll need to talk to Chief Plewicki and tell her exactly how you found Olive. Will you be okay to do that?”

  Paula nodded. It was a lie. They both knew it, but Lindsey didn’t have time to push her. She needed to get back to the crime scene and help Emma in any way she could, minus any investigating. That she would not do.

  When she returned to the main part of the library, she found the library staff and Olive’s friends sitting in the new book area where there were comfy chairs. Sully was standing beside the doors, making certain no one left without Emma’s okay. When he saw Lindsey, he opened his arms and she stepped into them.

  Engulfed in his warmth, it was the first time she realized how icy cold her skin had become. He must have felt it, too, because he shrugged out of his jacket and slipped it over her shoulders.

  He rubbed her arms while he studied her face. “Are you all right?”

  “Not really,” she said. “I know Olive and I had our differences, but I never would have wanted anything like this to happen to her.”

  “Really?” Amy Ellers asked. She rose from her seat and approached Lindsey and Sully, looking like she was spoiling for a fight.

  “Yes, really.” Lindsey stepped back from Sully and stood straighter. She understood Amy was hurting, that her friend was dead, but Lindsey wasn’t going to be harassed.

  “I find it very convenient that you were the one to find her,” Amy said.

  LeAnn and Kim rose from their seats and flanked Amy. All three stood with their arms crossed over their chests, looking like they were standing in judgment of Lindsey.

  “‘Convenient,’” Lindsey
repeated. “That’s not the word I would use.”

  “Yeah, try traumatizing,” Beth said. She rose from her seat and moved to stand beside Lindsey.

  “Or horrific,” Ms. Cole added.

  Much to Lindsey’s surprise, the lemon moved to stand on her other side. She was oddly touched to have her staff stand up for her even though it wasn’t likely to help the current situation.

  “Given that Olive humiliated you at your own gala, I’d say that gives you a motive,” LeAnn said. She tossed her head, making her severe chin-length bob emphasize her words.

  “To kill her?” Lindsey gaped. They were serious.

  “Everyone knows she was planning to have you replaced,” Kim said. She planted her hands on her curvy hips and narrowed her eyes at Lindsey. “Killing her would have saved your job, plus how did you know exactly where to find her body?”

  Lindsey felt her eyes go wide. What?!

  Both Beth and Ms. Cole began to sputter in her defense, while Sully tried to calm everyone down, but only one voice could be heard over the outrage.

  “Lindsey didn’t find Olive’s body. I did!” Paula shouted.

  The room went still, and Lindsey felt her stomach drop into her feet. She turned to find a very distressed Paula, standing off to the side with her hands clenched into fists like she was preparing for a fight.

  “Lindsey, Paula, I’d like to speak with you both in private.” Emma interrupted the altercation, looking from one group to the other as if daring anyone to try anything. No one did.

  9

  Lindsey led the way to her office. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Paula duck her head and hug her arms into her belly. She looked terrified.

  Emma sat on Lindsey’s desk while Lindsey and Paula sat in the visitor chairs facing her. Emma looked pale and tired, and Lindsey remembered that tonight had been her night off, but then a public servant was never really off duty.

  “I need you both to tell me exactly what happened,” Emma said. “Paula, since you were the first to find Ms. Boyle, I’d like you to go first.”

  Paula nodded. “Her friends showed up looking for her while we were cleaning.” She paused to look at Lindsey, who nodded. “We all split up, and I took the fiction collection, thinking there was no way she’d be back there.”

  Emma held up her hand. “Why look in a place you didn’t think she’d be?”

  Paula looked at Lindsey, but this time Lindsey didn’t nod. It was up to Paula to decide what to tell Emma. The truth would come out, and Lindsey hoped Paula would choose wisely, but she wasn’t going to take the decision away from her.

  “Olive Boyle had it in for me,” Paula said. “Those remarks she made at the dinner tonight about Lindsey hiring someone from outside the community who wasn’t qualified? Yeah, she was talking about me.”

  “Oh,” Emma said. She waited, clearly letting Paula think through what she wanted to say.

  “I was trying to avoid bumping into her again,” Paula said. “Instead, I found her body. Some irony there, huh?”

  “Was she already dead?” Emma asked.

  Paula turned a sickly shade of green and nodded. She closed her eyes for a second as if she could will the grisly discovery away and then opened them with a sigh, obviously resigned to the fact that she could never unsee the horrible discovery.

  “I knelt beside her, and something dug into my knee,” Paula said. “I picked it up before I realized it was a knife, a steak knife, and that whoever had killed her had probably used it to stab her.” Paula swallowed hard before continuing. “That’s when Lindsey arrived.”

  Emma turned to look at Lindsey with her eyebrows raised. “Lindsey?”

  “Yes?”

  “When I asked you to tell me how you found her, you said, ‘Just like this.’”

  “Yes.”

  “You didn’t mention Paula.”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because you asked me if that was how I found Olive,” Lindsey said. “You didn’t ask me if I found anyone with her.”

  Emma pinched the bridge of her nose as if to ward off a headache. She turned to look at Paula.

  “We bagged the knife,” she said. “Picking it up will mean it likely has your fingerprints on it.”

  Paula looked stricken. “I didn’t think about that.”

  “Didn’t you?” Emma asked.

  “No!” Paula cried. She looked panicked, and Lindsey reached over to take her hand in hers.

  “It’s okay,” Lindsey said. “Mistakes happen.”

  “Especially when people who have no business being near a crime scene blunder into one,” Emma said.

  She sounded mad. Lindsey couldn’t blame her, but at the same time, it wasn’t Paula’s fault. There was no way she could have known that someone would murder Olive.

  “There’s nothing we can do about that now,” Lindsey said. “Paula had to check on her to make sure she was okay. I’m sure she couldn’t comprehend what had happened until it was too late.”

  Emma nodded. “You’re right. Sorry. Okay, I want you both to tell me everything you remember from the time her friends showed up looking for her until you found the body.”

  There wasn’t much to tell. Both Paula and Lindsey had been cleaning the library with the others when Amy, LeAnn and Kim arrived, looking for Olive. The staff had separated to search for her, and only a few moments passed before Paula found her and then Lindsey found Paula with her.

  “And where did you say you were when the friends arrived?” Emma asked.

  “I had just locked the front door,” Lindsey said.

  “And I was picking up the circulation desk, you know, cleaning it up since it was the beverage station,” Paula said.

  Emma studied them both. She looked as if she was choosing her words very carefully.

  “So, it seems that Olive Boyle’s speech tonight was directed at you two, and she made it sound as if she had a grudge against you both. Why?”

  “No idea,” Lindsey said. “When I confronted her, she pretty much admitted that she hated me, and she called me a husband stealer, which I’ve never been.” She paused to collect her thoughts before adding, “As far as I know, neither of us ever had anything to do with her that would cause her to want to take our jobs.”

  “I haven’t,” Paula agreed. “I barely even know the woman. The only thing I could figure was that she didn’t approve of my hair or my tattoos.”

  Lindsey waited for her to add something more, such as Olive fabricating stories about her past, but Paula didn’t say anything. Lindsey wondered if Paula even knew the length Olive had been prepared to go to with her lies.

  “Trying to get you sacked over tattoos and purple hair dye seems a bit like overkill,” Emma said. Then she cringed. “Sorry, I can’t believe I just said that. There was this crew of Londoners at the dinner tonight, and they, well, never mind.”

  “Punny, were they?” Lindsey asked.

  “Yes, along with being a bit obsessed with my boyfriend,” Emma said. She met Lindsey’s gaze. “It was quite a turnout tonight. Do you happen to know if we have a list of all the people in attendance?”

  “No, we don’t,” Lindsey said. “We only have the names of the guests who purchased the tickets.”

  “Were any tickets bought with cash?”

  “Just by some of the staff,” she said.

  “I’ll need the list then,” Emma said.

  “Carrie Rushton was in charge of the ticket sales; I’ll see if I can get the list from her.”

  “Did Carrie have any altercations with Olive Boyle?”

  “Not that I know of, but I wouldn’t be surprised. It might be simpler if you asked who didn’t have a beef with Olive,” Lindsey said. “She told me herself she made it her place to know everyone’s secrets and to use them to get what she wanted.”


  “Was she threatening you?”

  “Is it a threat or a warning when someone tells you they’re going to replace you?” Lindsey asked. “I didn’t take her very seriously, but I can’t think I was the only one she felt this way about. She may have threatened the wrong person.”

  Emma’s boobs began to vibrate. Both Lindsey and Paula stared at her and then at each other.

  “Hang on. I need to take this,” Emma said. She reached into the top of her dress and pulled out a smartphone. She studied the screen before she slid her thumb across the display, held it up to her ear and said, “Chief Plewicki.”

  “Yes, sir,” she said. There was a pause, and she said, “No, sir. Absolutely, I’ll call you when I know something.”

  She ended the call and looked at both Lindsey and Paula. “You’re free to go. The state police’s crime scene unit is here along with Detective Trimble. I need to brief them on what’s happening.”

  With that she rose from her perch on the desk and made for the door. Lindsey and Paula both stood and walked with her.

  “Is this the part where you tell us not to leave town?” Paula asked.

  “It is,” Emma said. “And just so we’re clear that this is coming from me and my office in an official capacity—don’t leave town, either of you.”

  Paula and Lindsey watched her walk away in her swishy black satin dress. Paula staggered back into Lindsey’s office and slumped onto a chair, looking like she might pass out.

  “Stay with me, Paula,” Lindsey said.

  She patted her arm and then raced to get a cool cloth for the back of Paula’s neck and a cold glass of water. Poor Paula. As if finding Olive wasn’t traumatic enough, being questioned by Emma and realizing she had inadvertently compromised the crime scene had to have her rattled as well.

  As Lindsey returned to her office, she found Paula sitting forward in her chair with her head hanging between her knees.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I can’t seem to shake this woozy feeling.”

  “You’ve nothing to be sorry for. Tonight has been extremely traumatic.”

  She put the cloth on the back of Paula’s neck and set the glass of water on the desk for when Paula might need it.