Olivia bolted upright in bed. She glanced around her bedroom and wondered if Eva or Marie had returned with her. Was it possible Betty had returned to Frederickport?
“Am I alone?” Olivia said out loud. All remained silent. While she knew she couldn’t hear them even if they shouted, she figured if Marie was there, she would make herself known. “If you are here, Marie, knock on the wall or something.” Nothing.
Convinced she had returned alone, Olivia scurried from the bed to the closet, looking for something to wear. Thirty minutes later, she was dressed and heading downstairs to find help. Before stepping out the side door, she debated where she should go, to Heather’s house or to Marlow House? She decided on Marlow House.
A few minutes later, she hurried up the sidewalk to Marlow House. Instead of entering through the side gate, she continued to the front door. Hastily making her way up the front walk and about to step on the porch, she froze when the front door opened, and found Walt Marlow standing at the open doorway, smiling down at her. He wore gray slacks, a long-sleeved blue shirt, and a knit vest. Glancing down briefly, she spied the tips of his freshly polished dark leather shoes sticking out from the hems of his slacks.
Walt opened the door wider. “We’ve been waiting for you.” He stepped back, making room for her to enter.
Olivia walked into the entry hall. “I know who killed Betty!”
“Yes, I do, too,” Walt said calmly as he shut the front door behind them. “They’re all in the living room, waiting for you.”
“They?” Confused, Olivia followed Walt down the hall. When she walked into the living room, she found Brian and Heather sitting on the sofa with Danielle. Across from them sat Chris and Police Chief MacDonald, each sitting in a chair facing the sofa. Since she hadn’t noticed the vehicles parked behind Marlow House, she didn’t know the Marlows had company.
“Go ahead and sit down,” Walt said, motioning to an empty chair. “Now that you’re here, we can figure out how to expose the killer.”
Instead of sitting down, Olivia turned to Walt. “You said you know who the killer is. How do you know?”
“Because Betty just finished explaining it all,” Walt said.
“How could she have done that? I just left the funeral less than thirty minutes ago. Betty’s there with Eva and Marie.”
“No, they got here right after you left the funeral,” Heather said from the sofa. “Marie came to my house, where Brian was. He called the chief. We all agreed to meet here, and Betty explained everything before you arrived.”
“You might tell Olivia it’s been more than thirty minutes since she returned,” Marie said while glancing at the clock. “She left the church almost an hour ago.”
Still confused after Heather conveyed Marie’s message, Olivia took a seat and silently listened.
“Our killer is the last person I’d expect,” the chief said. “And I’m not sure how we’re going to prove the killer’s guilt.”
“You could find the list,” Betty said from the corner, where she stood with Eva and Marie. “The letter opener is on that list. And when you compare the items in the box—all of which are on the list—then it will be obvious who had the letter opener last.”
Danielle repeated Betty’s words for the non-mediums.
“We could get a search warrant for the library and possibly for the storage room. But that will take a little time. And even if we find the list and box, it’s circumstantial at best,” the chief said.
“If you get that evidence legally, it might be enough to get another warrant to search the computers our bomber had access to,” Danielle said. “How else does someone like that learn bomb making?”
“How long will a search warrant take?” Heather asked.
“There’s no reason to wait for a search warrant. I could get them for you now!” Olivia blurted.
“How could you do that?” Brian asked.
“I’ll bring you the list. Betty told us where she put it. I’m supposed to clean out Betty’s desk. And Josephine already gave me a key to the storage room.”
“Wouldn’t you need Josephine’s permission to get into the storage room?” Heather asked.
“I’ll be there next week, anyway. We’re finishing the inventory.” Olivia paused and then cringed. “But then we’d have to wait.”
“If that box hasn’t already been moved, I doubt it will be there next week,” Chris said.
“We’ll be right back,” Marie said. The three ghosts vanished.
“Where did they go?” Heather asked.
Brian glanced around. “Who?”
“Marie, Eva, and Betty just took off,” Danielle explained.
They discussed their options, and a few minutes later, the ghosts returned.
“It’s still there,” Marie announced. “We visited the storage room, and Betty showed me where to find it. I opened the box, and it was all there. All but the letter opener, of course.”
“Marie and the others are back,” Danielle told the non-mediums. “And the box is still there.”
“I have a key to the library. Let me get the list. And then I can go to storage before Josephine gets back from the funeral. They were going to the wake at Betty’s parents’ house after the service. So we have some time.”
“The only problem with that, we don’t have a search warrant,” the chief reminded them. “I understand you can bring us the list without one, but the box is another matter.”
“You don’t need one. When Josephine explained the storage room, she said as head librarian, I’m the one who has complete access to the room, and the one who can grant other library employees or volunteers permission to retrieve any of the boxes. So I don’t need a warrant to get the box. And I have the key to get in.”
Olivia convinced the others she didn’t need anyone coming with her to the library or to the storage room. After all, the only person to fear was out of town, attending Betty’s wake. Plus, it made Olivia uncomfortable having a ghost—one she could neither hear nor see—following her around. And she certainly didn’t need three ghosts trailing behind her. Knowing they were there but she could neither see nor hear them gave her the heebie-jeebies.
When Olivia pulled up to the library on Saturday afternoon, there were no cars in the parking lot. She pulled around to the back of the library and parked. From her purse, she pulled the keychain Josephine had given her and used one key on the ring to unlock the back door.
Once inside, she turned on the lights and locked the door behind her. She had to admit, there was something a little creepy about being in the library all alone. Olivia dropped the keychain back in her purse and made her way to Betty’s desk. Yesterday, Josephine had told her the not-yet-hired librarian taking over Betty’s old job would be assigned to Betty’s desk, and it would be Olivia’s job to go through it before the new employee started work. Olivia did not know if the killer had riffled through Betty’s desk, but considering where Betty hid the list, she didn’t think the killer would have found it even if they had gone through her files.
Now sitting at Betty’s desk, Olivia put her right hand into a file drawer, reaching to the rear of the drawer. Blindly feeling around, Olivia nibbled on her lower lip as she continued to grope along the inside of the drawer.
“Yes!” she squealed when her hand landed on what felt like an envelope. The next moment, she pulled an envelope from the drawer, taking with it some of the tape Betty had used to secure said envelope on the inside of the drawer.
She gingerly opened the envelope and pulled out a piece of paper. After unfolding the paper, she read what Betty had written. It listed a number of items. Betty had written a different date by each item. Olivia smiled and muttered, “Mission accomplished.”
“What are you doing here?” a male voice interrupted the silence.
Upon hearing the voice, Olivia slammed the piece of paper on the desktop, blank side up, and looked up to find Darren Newsome standing in the doorway, looking at her.
“What are you doing here?” Olivia blurted. The last time she had seen him, he had been sitting in a pew at Betty’s service.
Darren walked into the room and shrugged. “Just came back from Betty’s memorial service, but I didn’t go to her parents’ house with everyone else. I don’t know anyone. I drove by, saw a car parked by the back of the library, and wondered who it was.” He stepped to the desk and looked down at the envelope and paper sitting on the desk, Olivia’s hand resting on the piece of paper. “What are you doing here?”
She snatched up the paper and protectively clutched it to her chest. “I, uh, thought I would come in and get some work done while no one’s here. Josephine wants me to get this desk ready for the new librarian.”
“That was Betty’s desk.”
“Yes. I know.” Still clutching the paper to her chest, she picked up her purse. “I need to get going.” She rushed from the library, leaving Darren standing by Betty’s desk.
Ten minutes later, Olivia pulled up Josephine’s street and began looking at the addresses, trying to find where Josephine lived. When she found it, she parked down the street, not wanting any of Josephine’s neighbors to see her parked in the driveway.
Olivia tucked her purse under the passenger seat, got out of the car, locked it, and hastily made her way to Josephine’s garage door, keychain in hand. The garage had two doors. One a roll-up door, used for vehicles, and a second door, an exterior hinged door, commonly used to access the storage room from outside. One key on Olivia’s library keychain fit that door’s deadbolt and doorknob lock. After unlocking both locks, she entered the garage, turned on the overhead light, and closed the door behind her.
From what Marie had told the mediums, which Danielle had conveyed to her, Marie found the box on a worktable along the back wall. It took Olivia only a minute to locate the box. She removed its lid and looked over the items. Confident this is what she had come for, she was about to pick up the lid and return it to the box when she noticed a bucket shoved into the far corner of the worktable. Curious, she pulled the bucket to her and looked inside. It contained wire, random small tools, and a folded piece of paper. She picked up the paper and unfolded it.
After reading what someone had written, she muttered, “This is another list. A list for making a bomb.”
“What are you doing here?” a woman’s voice demanded.
Olivia dropped the paper she had been reading and abruptly turned to face Josephine, who had just stepped into the garage from an interior door, one connected directly to the house.
Eyes wide and speechless, Olivia stared at Josephine.
“What are you doing here?” Josephine repeated.
“I… I thought you were at the funeral?” Olivia stammered.
“That doesn’t answer my question.” Josephine moved closer to Olivia while keeping her right hand concealed at her side. But when she saw what Olivia had been looking at, noticing both the bucket and the box with its lid removed, she brought her hand up from her side, revealing the revolver she held, now pointing at Olivia.
Olivia stared at the gun. She swallowed nervously, licked her now parched lips and asked, “Umm, why are you pointing a gun at me?”
Josephine let out a sigh. “I obviously can’t let you leave. Not after you found everything.”
“I… I didn’t find anything. I’m just checking out the storage room. You said I could.”
Josephine shook her head. “I’m not stupid. I see what you’re looking at. There was always something that didn’t feel right about you.” Purposely raising the gun slightly, Josephine looked as if she was about to pull the trigger.
“Please don’t do this! People know I’m here!”
Josephine smiled at Olivia. Just as Josephine was about to pull the trigger, the pistol flew from her grasp, landing on a top shelf. Josephine screamed, and Olivia fainted.