CHAPTER 17
I used the phone in my office to dial Mildred Dorchester. I identified myself and launched right into why I was calling. I recapped what Brian had told me and let her know it wasn’t me who’d made the call.
“I don’t understand, dear.” The concern in her voice was obvious.
“It was someone else, Mildred. Someone pretending to be me.”
“Why would anyone do that?”
It was the same question Brian asked. I still didn’t have a decent answer. I didn’t have a clue as to Mimi’s motivations. Brian was right. Why would anyone want to steal my identity?
“I don’t know. But there’s this girl. We met by chance, and we got to talking because we look so much like one another. Have you ever met anyone who looks like you?”
“I don’t see what this has to do with the phone call, dear.”
I hesitated. Telling Mildred about Mimi suddenly seemed shameful. I don’t know how to explain it. Maybe I realized for the first time how ridiculous my explanation sounded to Brian, which meant it would sound equally absurd to Mildred. I couldn’t tell her the entire story. How could I ever expect a board member to understand that I may have stumbled upon the answer to where my runaway mother has been all these years?
I couldn’t tell Mildred any of that. She’d probably wonder which number to dial first. Should she call Brian and tell him to fire me as quickly as possible, before my insanity had a chance to reach library patrons? Or should she take the more direct route and call the nuthouse to tell them where they could pick me up? Forget about passing go and the lousy two hundred dollars. Grab a straitjacket and head on over to Tess’s house. Bag yourself a certified looney bird.
I couldn’t risk either, so I chose my words carefully.
“I think this girl . . . the one I recently met . . . I think she thought it might be funny to call you and pretend to be me. I’m sorry, Mildred. But that’s all I can come up with. I’m sorry she included you in her little practical joke. I’ll make sure she doesn’t call again.”
“But she introduced herself as you, Tess. She seemed to know so much about the library’s activities. I even asked about your father, and she assured me he was doing well.”
That should have been Mildred’s first clue. I mean, in all the years she’d been my father’s landlord, when had she ever had the opportunity to hear anyone describe him as well?
“And she had some not-so-nice things to say about Brian,” Mildred added.
“I understand that. Brian gave me the gist of your conversation.”
“How would someone whom you’ve recently met know so much?” Mildred paused. Her tone shifted. “Tess, did Brian tell you to call me with this foolish story? Are you being forced to make up this explanation in order to recant the concerns you voiced yesterday? You can tell me, dear. If you’re being coerced in any way, I don’t want you to be afraid. My twenty-year-old grandson likes to tell me he has my back. It’s an odd turn of phrase, but I understand his meaning. I have your back, Tess. If Brian’s forcing you to tell this story, let me know now.”
I liked this woman very much. If I’d been lucky enough to have a grandmother like Mildred, I’d have her back, too.
“It’s not like that at all,” I said. “I know it sounds crazy, but this woman is always geared up. Full of energy. Always looking for the next bit of excitement. Maybe you know the type. I feel bad about it now, but I guess I did talk a little too much to her about some gripes I have about things around here.” I flashed on Brian’s warning. “Maybe I was in a grumbling kind of mood and made things bigger than they are. I think she decided to play a prank on me and give you a call.”
“Are you saying you’re happy with the way Brian runs things?”
Mildred’s a sharp one. She’d smell a dodge a mile away. There’d be no use for sugarcoating anything. “I’m saying I love my job. I love the people who use this library. Brian’s very good about letting me do things around here that are outside my basic job description.” I recalled his wording. “He provides a lot of job enrichment for my position.”
Mildred was quiet on her end of the phone. When she did speak, I heard the skepticism in her voice. “Um-hm. I think I know what’s going on here. Is Brian there, dear? Put him on, please.”
Panic jumped into my chest like a five-hundred-pound gorilla leaping into a clearing and announced its presence by pounding on my rib cage. “Mildred, please. Don’t take the ramblings of this girl as proof of anything . . . indication of anything. It’s nothing. Everything’s fine here. Really.”
“Relax, dear. I’ll take care of this. Let me speak to Brian.”
For once I was glad he was off chasing whatever it was that occupied him all those hours he wasn’t here in the library.
“He’s not here,” I said. “He left for a meeting down in Janesville.” My throat was so tight I could barely speak. “I’ll leave him a message. Have him call you.” I swallowed hard. “Please believe me, Mildred. It wasn’t me who called. It was some stupid, foolish joke done by someone I wish I’d never met. Someone I doubly wish I hadn’t taken the time to vent my frustrations to.” I realized I was making matters worse. I wanted to end the call, but I needed her not to follow up with Brian. I couldn’t afford to be without a job.
“Please believe me,” I said. “I wasn’t the one who called.”
“I understand, dear. You’re saying it was someone you met. She looks like you. Sounds like you. She wanted to play a prank and posed as you.” Mildred didn’t sound like she believed me one bit. “Perhaps you can clarify one thing for me.”
“Of course.” I hoped I could. The problem was, I wasn’t that clear on things myself.
“I’ve been on the library board for years. You know that.”
“Yes. Yes, of course I do. And I’ve benefited from your years of service. The entire community has.”
“I conduct a lot of business for and with the library. I like to keep myself fully available to the staff.”
Where was she going with this? “You’ve been there for me, Mildred. I’ve always appreciated that.”
“I have the contact information for the library stored in the phone my grandson got for me. I typically don’t care for all this new technology, but I’ll admit it makes it so much easier when I need to call someone.”
“They don’t call ’em smartphones for nothin’.” I grimaced as that triviality left my mouth. I couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“That’s why I picked up the phone yesterday afternoon, dear. I was here with my bridge club, holding a winning hand. My partner and I were set to eviscerate that smug Pansy Gold-mueller and her sycophant nephew whom she lugs around like a little purse dog. There are precious few things that could pull me away from a moment like that.”
I told her I understood, even though I didn’t.
“But when I saw it was the library calling, I stepped away from dealing Pansy and her pimply little puppy the final blow and took your call.”
In that moment Mildred’s meanderings became crystal clear.
“She called you from here,” I whispered.
“Yes, dear. I want you to know I wasn’t surprised to hear your . . . or should I say whomever it was who called? I wasn’t surprised at all at the list of concerns regarding Brian. I’ve been harboring more than a few of them myself. Carry on with your day, Tess. And don’t worry about a thing. Do have Brian call me immediately upon his return, will you? He and I have a great many things to discuss.”
I promised I would and hung up. Then I sat down before I fell down.
Mimi had been there. She had posed as me. In my library.
It took me a few minutes before I could be sure my legs would hold me. I stood and shuffled to the door, holding on to any object I passed to steady myself. I called out to Rosie and wasted no time warming up to the subject when she walked into my office.
“Rosie, I called you yesterday and asked you to cover for me, right?”
“Don’t worry about it. I was happy to do it for you. But you still owe me the deets on your date with Mr. Cutie.” She looked back over her shoulder to make sure no patrons were at the front desk. “And I want to know everything Brian was shrieking about, too. You okay?”
“How’d it go yesterday? Everything run smooth without me?”
“It’s a neighborhood library branch, Tess. Not the control room of a nuclear reactor. Like I told you when you came in. There’s no need to worry. You didn’t have to check in. A day off is a day off.”
I leaned against my desk. The room seemed suddenly smaller.
“When I came in? You told me when I came in?”
She blinked in bewilderment. “Yeah. When you dashed in here. Don’t you remember? Early afternoon yesterday. I told you to get back to your date. We didn’t require any babysitting.”
“And did I?”
“Did you what?”
“Did I leave and get back to my date?”
“Of course. Right after you used the phone.”