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“DEAD?” I ASKED, GASPING. “What, like natural causes?”
“She’s been murdered,” said Burton. “I have the state police coming over now. If you’ll excuse me?”
The salon employee, still tearful, had apparently been told to wait outside, too. Burton started securing the scene. The employee walked over to join me, apparently not wanting to be by herself. She, like Mary, had a golden tan. But, despite the tan, I could see she looked pale at her discovery.
“Do you know Mary?” she asked, her face wet with tears.
I shook my head. “Not really. As I matter of fact, I only just met her. Can you tell me what happened in there? The police chief told me Mary had been murdered?”
This threatened to make the employee start crying again, but she took a deep breath and nodded. “I guess so. I mean, yeah, there’s no other way she could have gotten hurt. Somebody did that to her.”
“Did what?” I asked.
The employee took another shaky breath. “Hit her over the head. It was with that heavy doorstop we always use on nice days to prop the door open. Sometimes we get foot traffic from other stores that way. Or, at least, people coming in to hear our prices and specials.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said. “It must have been such a shock to find her.”
The employee looked blankly toward the salon. “Mary didn’t really even want the morning shift today, but I had a doctor appointment scheduled. At the last minute, the doctor’s office called and said he’d been held up in surgery and would need to reschedule me. So I called the salon to tell Mary I could switch back out with her.”
I nodded. “Did she answer the phone?”
The girl shook her head. “Nope. And that wasn’t like Mary at all. Mary’s the kind of person who’s really on it. If she’s working, she’s working. She’s not messing around like some people. So, I thought that was weird. I mean, even if she was talking to a customer, she’d take a quick call, even if it meant putting the caller on hold. Then I tried her cell phone and she didn’t pick that up, either.”
“So you drove over to see for yourself?” I asked. “You must really have been worried.”
“It was just totally out of character for Mary. Yeah, I was worried. I didn’t think something like this had happened, but I wondered if maybe she’d had a heart attack or a stroke or something like that. I don’t think she was in the very best of health or anything. When I got here, the door was unlocked and there wasn’t any sign of her.” The girl swallowed hard.
I winced because I had the feeling I knew where the girl had found her. “And you looked for her.”
“Right. Because it didn’t make any sense. Mary wouldn’t leave the salon with the door unlocked. And she always answered her phone, like I said. Then I found her in one of the tanning beds.” She gave a shuddering sigh.
“And you said she’d been hit with the doorstop?” I asked.
She nodded. “I guess whoever did it walked back there and hit her over the head with the doorstop while Mary was checking the tanning beds first thing. Then I guess they shoved her in one so no one could see her from the door . . . maybe to give them some extra time? Anyway, the doorstop was still there on the floor next to the tanning bed.”
The girl gave a short laugh. “You know, I didn’t even really like Mary all that much. But I’d never have wanted something like this to happen to her. And I can’t imagine who’d do something like this. Mary isn’t married. Honestly, she can be difficult to get along with and I think that’s why she’s single. I barely knew her since she was a new employee, but the salon owner had us both working on the weekends for a while. She thought it would be busy then, but it was totally dead and so Mary and I had lots of time to talk. She mentioned she was married when she was very young and right out of school, but it didn’t last longer than six months. And she told me her parents were deceased and she wasn’t close to any of her other relatives. So I don’t know if this is some kind of crazy, random crime or what.”
I paused. “I’m going off the assumption this wasn’t a robbery and that it was personal, but maybe that wasn’t the case. Was there anything valuable in the salon?”
The girl said quickly, “Oh, there’s nothing missing. We wouldn’t have had any cash on the premises. Most of our customers are regulars and we draft their bank accounts or they pay with a debit card. Any cash in the store goes right to the bank right after we close every night. And unless someone can drag out a four-hundred-pound tanning bed, there’s nothing to steal in there except an outdated computer.”
“So it must have been a personal motive,” I said.
The girl shrugged. “Like I said, I didn’t really know her. But I do know she liked to gossip. Sometimes it seemed like Mary knew everything about everybody. I made sure I didn’t share any secrets with her, let’s put it that way. Maybe someone didn’t really like that.”
I said, “How has Mary been acting lately? Has she been her usual self, or a little different?”
Fortunately, the girl didn’t seem to mind the questions. In fact, her tone was gossipy, too. Maybe Mary was a gossip, but it sure seemed like her coworker was, too.
The girl said, “She’s really been stressed out lately, which is probably why she was such a pill to work with. I know a couple of times at work she got calls on her cell phone from debt collectors.”
I said thoughtfully, “Maybe she hadn’t cut back on expenses or her lifestyle after leaving her last job.”
“Yeah. She always bragged about her old job, which was annoying. I’m like, ‘if it was so great, why did you leave?’” The girl rolled her eyes.
“Did she say why she left?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Nope. But it sure wasn’t to make more money by working in a tanning salon.”
I remembered Mary had said her coworker had told her about Roger’s death. I said slowly, “I did have a conversation with Mary recently. She mentioned you’d told her about Roger Walton’s death.”
The girl looked blankly at me. “Who?”
“He was Mary’s coworker at her old office.”
The girl shook her head. “Sorry, I don’t know anything about that.”
Burton came back out of the building and motioned to the girl.
“Better go,” she muttered.
I figured the same thing. Instead of getting to the library early, I was going to be there right on time—if I hustled.
A couple of hours into work, I moved to the community room to host one of our book clubs. This one I particularly liked. It had a wide range of people in it—men and women, younger patrons and elderly. It made for interesting conversation and book discussions. Plus, Sadie’s mother was almost always there. I wondered if maybe her mom might have any thoughts about Sadie’s relationship (or lack of one) with Roger.
This time both Sadie’s mother and Sadie were there. Sadie had her toddler, Lynn, with her and wasn’t participating in the book club meeting, but she’d driven her mother there. This Tuesday book club was in the late morning. There were a few patrons who came during their lunch hour, but it was mostly retirees.
Sadie’s mom, Louise, was a retired teacher in her mid-sixties. She always wore colorful slacks and tops and a cheery scarf. She smiled at me as she entered the community room. Louise was the first one there, as usual.
“You’re here nice and early,” I said, smiling back at her.
“I’m excited about talking about the book,” she said. “I’d always heard good things about Pride and Prejudice, but I’d never actually read it. It wasn’t a popular book to teach when I was in school. Besides, Sadie could bring me here early today, so I took advantage of it.” She leaned in and whispered, “Bless her heart, she’s a horrible driver. I’m always clutching the door in fear of my life. But I’m so grateful she drives me around. My driving days are through as of a couple of weeks ago. I suppose I wasn’t such a wonderful driver, myself.”
“How is Sadie doing?” I asked politely. Naturally, I also had other motives for asking this question.
Louise sighed. “She is just totally overloaded, but thanks for asking. The poor thing. Her days are crazy. She drops Lynn off at daycare and then is running right off to work.”
“Where does she work again?” I asked.
“Sadie works over at the gym. She checks people in, makes sure the equipment is working, and even teaches a couple of the classes.” Louise shook her head. “It’s not a bad job, but she comes back home exhausted and sometimes she works really weird hours—later at night, very early in the morning, weekends, holidays. And I think working with the public and all the long hours really exhausts a person. Well, you’d know about working with the public!”
I smiled at her even though I found working with the public rather invigorating—most days. You never knew what people were going to do or say next and that’s what made the days so interesting. There was nothing repetitive about working at a library and there was always the element of surprise. The surprise could be anything from a no-show from the teacher of the library’s computer basics course to a patron who sheepishly realizes the book they heatedly insisted they’d returned to the library was actually in the back seat of their car.
Louise continued, “Then Sadie picks up Lynn at preschool and cooks supper. Half the time she cooks enough supper for me to have some too. Since I’m not driving, she and Lynn will pick me up and bring me to her house. We’ll eat, sometimes I’ll help read Lynn a story or help with her bath, and then Sadie drives me back home. She has a very busy life. But she wouldn’t have it any other way. That’s how it should be, though. We Stewart women would do anything for our babies.”
Her fierceness reminded me of my aunt, who would also have done anything for me. She effectively had her entire life turned upside-down when I came to live with her, but handled it beautifully. Not only had she given me the safety I was looking for, but she had made life fun again. She’d also encouraged me to step out of my shell as much as I could. Just the same, I wasn’t sure I was up to having a family of my own. I wasn’t sure I could live up to becoming the role model my aunt had been.
“That does sound really hectic,” I said.
“Plus, she has all of those medical bills. I know those keep her up at night. I don’t think she sleeps half the time, and that’s not good for her,” said Louise.
“Medical bills? I’m sorry, I didn’t realize she’d been ill,” I said.
“Oh, they weren’t for her—they were for Lynn. She had this terrible stomach bug a few months ago and the poor little thing became dehydrated. She spent several days in the hospital and Sadie was right by her side, of course. I don’t have a lot of money, but I’ve always tried to help pay for some extras for Lynn—a preschool art class, a few toys, that kind of thing. But I couldn’t even be of much help with those bills. They’ve been horrible, and they kept coming in the mail for longer than we thought. Really, she’s still getting bills months later. Sadie has been really struggling to keep up. She’s been so incredibly stressed. Every time I look at her, I see how exhausted and anxious she seems.” Louise paused and then laughed. “Sorry, I shouldn’t be unloading this on you. I sound like one of the Bennets from Pride and Prejudice, don’t I? If only there was a Mr. Darcy out there for Sadie.”
I said, “Is she in a relationship now?”
Louise laughed again, but this time it was harder. “No. She hasn’t had the time or the energy. Although I’d babysit for her, of course, if she had a date. Lynn’s a good girl and I love keeping her. But Sadie was really burned the last time she had a boyfriend. Roger.”
I said, “Roger Walton, right?”
Louise nodded. “Of course I feel bad such a young man would pass away. But I can’t say I’m grieving for him. He could be very unpleasant, and he didn’t help with Lynn whatsoever. Sadie could really have used the financial support. And she hated the idea that Lynn was going to grow up without really having a relationship with her father.”
I said, “That’s a shame. Roger was her dad, after all. You’d think he’d have wanted a relationship with Lynn. Would have treasured it.”
“He was only her dad in the technical sense of the word. He didn’t do a blessed thing to help Sadie out. He could have seen the child on the weekends or taken her to a doctor appointment. Even if he didn’t want any personal involvement, he could still have helped pay a hospital bill or even Sadie’s power bill. He didn’t want anything to do with either of them,” said Louise.
I frowned. “But surely he must have had some sort of legal obligations to help provide support for Lynn.”
“By the time Lynn was born, their relationship was over. As a matter of fact, it was over when Roger found out Sadie was pregnant. That’s the kind of man he was,” said Louise, her voice trembling a bit with anger. “Sadie didn’t even list him on the birth certificate. And to force him to help her financially would have meant a lawyer and court dates—she certainly couldn’t afford that, and he knew it.”
I absorbed this for a second. Again, the more I heard about Roger Walton, the less I liked him.
The door opened and several of our book club members came in, one of them calling out a greeting to Louise, who waved back at them. “Thanks for letting me unload like that. I think the gist of what I was trying to say was Sadie is such a good girl. With all she has going on in her life and with as little help as she’s getting, she still takes time to take care of me, too.”
After a few minutes where everyone visited, I started the book club meeting. For this club, I felt my job was simply to help move things along, pace-wise, to make sure we got in a full discussion and everyone who wanted to had the chance to participate. I started out by asking about the function of marriage in the book—how did different characters view it? How did it keep some characters (Lydia and Wickham) in line? The discussion started off with a bang and I didn’t really have to step in much for the rest of the meeting. Almost everyone seemed to have enjoyed Pride and Prejudice and the two that didn’t were good-humored about it.
When the book club time was up, I thanked everyone for coming and then stepped back out to the circulation desk, leaving the club members to continue catching up. Sadie Stewart walked up to me with Lynn and a stack of board books in her hands. She looked absolutely worn-out but still managed to smile at me. “Someday, I’ll have time to read again, myself.”
I smiled back at her. “Life is like that, isn’t it? There are times when all we can do is to just get through the busy days and then times when it slows down a little bit for us to do more of the things we want to do.”
Sadie grinned. “You must have been speaking with my mom if you know how busy I am! I forgot you’re the one who moderates the book club.”
“She’s a great lady. I love having her in the book club and she really appreciates you driving her here,” I said. “She was telling me about all the things you do to help her and how busy you are.”
Sadie said fondly, “Mom is my biggest cheerleader. Actually, my only cheerleader. But she helps me out too with Lynn. She would do anything for us and I can use somebody like that in my corner. I don’t know what I’d do without her help. Even though she stopped driving recently, she’s still able to help out a ton. Driving would help, of course, but first she had problems driving at night. Then it was driving in the rain. Finally, she lost confidence in her driving altogether. Actually, I need to help her sell her car, but I’ve been so busy lately. Mom does a great job keeping an eye on Lynn so I can run errands. And since she’s a former teacher, she can even provide Lynn with a little early childhood education. She certainly is doing a better job than Lynn’s father ever did.” The last words came out bitterly.
I said, “I’m so sorry he treated you both so poorly.”
Sadie nodded and sighed. “He did. I was just telling the police chief about it yesterday. He did know Lynn was Roger’s, but I guess that’s his job to track details down. I told him I was furious with Roger for not helping with Lynn but the last thing I would do is murder him. Then I wouldn’t have a hope of persuading him to part with any money.”
I said, “Did Roger seem as if he was going to come around and help you out? Louise was telling me about Lynn’s hospitalization and all the bills.”
Sadie gave a short laugh. “When it rains, it pours, right? The poor little thing was so sick. And then, later, I was so sick when I got all those bills and I knew I didn’t have a hope of paying them off by the time I was supposed to. I felt like Roger had some responsibility for that, you know? But I wouldn’t hurt him. When I saw him Friday, he was alive and well.”
I drew in a quick breath. “Sorry, but didn’t you say you didn’t see him on Friday?”
Sadie frowned and then said slowly, “If I did, I misspoke. I was briefly there to make a pitch for money . . . yet again. I’d received another big bill, and I really felt like I was drowning. I dropped by his house on the way to pick up Lynn at daycare.”
I said, “While you were there, did you see or hear anything that might give a clue as to who killed Roger?”
Sadie thought about this for a moment. “I did see Heather pull up in her car as I was leaving. I didn’t even think about that. I was in such a fog of anger when I left after Roger refused again to help out. But yeah—I recognized her car. It just didn’t seem important at the time at all.”
“By the way, did you hear Mary Hughes has been murdered?” I asked.
“What?” Sadie’s mouth dropped open a little, and she quickly snapped it shut. “The woman who worked with Roger? Murdered? Do the cops think it’s connected to Roger’s death?”
I said, “I don’t know, although I can’t imagine it wouldn’t be. Whitby isn’t exactly rife with murderers. And nothing was stolen from the salon, so it didn’t seem like a robbery.”
Sadie looked thoughtfully at Lynn, who was pretending to read the board books on the floor, her small finger tracing the words as she’d likely seen her mother do. Then she said, “This is getting crazy. I’m sure the chief is going to come back and talk to me again.”
“He might want to know where you were early this morning,” I said in an apologetic tone.
“Work,” she said with a sigh. “I had to cover for someone’s early shift today and the gym opens at five o’clock for all those folks who like to come in before work. So I’ll be able to tell him I was at work with lots of witnesses.”
“What do you do with Lynn that early?” I asked.
“Oh, there’s a nursery at the gym that the employees can use for their kids. It’s not all day, though, so I have her over there early and then I have to leave later to take her to daycare. It’s not ideal but then I don’t usually have the early shifts. So Mary was murdered early today?”
I said, “Early this morning, yes. Did you know her?”
Sadie shook her head. “No. That is, I felt like I knew her because Roger talked about her a lot. I guess you’ve heard by now that Mary wasn’t Roger’s favorite person.”
“I got that impression,” I said dryly.
“She blamed him for everything that was going on in her life. It really bothered Roger because she was so vocal about it. And you know—when people hear things like that, it could make them think of Roger as less trustworthy. And when you’re dealing with someone’s money, you want to make sure you inspire trust,” she said.
“So, Roger was upset about her bad-mouthing him around town,” I said.
“Yes. In fact, if Roger was still alive, I’d say he’d be suspect number one in Mary’s murder,” said Sadie. She looked across the room. “Looks like my mom is finishing up so I should go. Thanks again for the book club. It’s one of the highlights of her month.”