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I briefly closed my eyes. It was Tanya. And I had a feeling I knew what she was calling about. “Yes, this is Ann.”
“It’s Tanya James. I’m sorry to bother you; I know you’ve had a busy day. I meant to try to talk to you at Carmen’s funeral, but I was caught up in a conversation when you were leaving.”
“It’s no problem at all, Tanya. What can I help you with?” I figured I should figure out her reason for calling before the library was descended upon again.
She said briskly, “It’s the books for the Friends of the Library sale again. The forensics investigation is all finished now. I see the books and they’re making me sad when I look at them.” Her voice was hard as if she was angry anything could make her feel that way. “It’s silly. It’s simply because we were on our way to send them to the library sale when we found Howard. Regardless of how silly it is, I’d like them out of the house. Now.”
The library began buzzing with activity again, right on cue. But I knew Wilson would rather pitch in himself than have Tanya James upset no one from the library was giving her a hand. “Of course, Tanya. I totally understand. I’ll let Wilson know and run right over there.”
“Thank you for understanding,” she said rather stiffly before hanging up.
I hurried back to Wilson’s office, tapping briefly on the door before letting myself in.
He gave me a weary look. “What now? It really can’t get any worse, can it? Jonathan just went home sick, so now we’re down another librarian.”
I grimaced. “Bad timing. The library is getting really busy again. Plus, Tanya James called me and wants me to run over there and collect those books.”
“Now?” Wilson blinked.
“Yes. She said that looking at the books is reminding her of Howard. She asked if I could go right over.”
Wilson made a shooing motion with both hands. “Then go right over! I’ll hop out there on the desk for a while. And maybe those volunteers can jump in and help out.”
I winced. The volunteers had experienced a very rushed training with me and I wasn’t even sure they’d remember how to do any of the things I showed them. But I nodded and rushed out of the office to my car.
A few minutes later, I pulled my car up into Tanya’s driveway and as close to the house as I could. I wasn’t sure how many books Tanya was talking about, but I wanted to make sure the task was as easy as possible.
I knocked on the door and Tanya immediately answered, a cool smile on her face. “Thanks again for this, Ann.”
I smiled back at her. “Happy to help.”
She led me inside and helped me carry a few bags of books to the car. She snapped her fingers. “You know, there are a few more from upstairs I could donate. If you’ll wait for me a minute, I’ll throw them into a bag and you can take those, as well.”
I followed her inside and waited downstairs while she gathered the books from somewhere upstairs. Their dog, Valentine, nuzzled me and I absently stroked him while I glanced over their collection of signed photos in the downstairs hallway. There was one in particular that kept drawing my interest and I wasn’t sure why. I studied it carefully. It was a sort of photo montage of a climber on top of a craggy mountain and the bottom photo was of Tanya, Blake, Howard, and the climber here at the house over dinner. The climber had signed both photos. All of them were grinning toothy grins.
I was startled when I heard Tanya’s voice behind me and calling my name, now even a bit chillier than earlier. I jumped a little and turned around, automatically holding out my arms for the bag of books Tanya was clutching. She looked displeased or disappointed, as if I’d been snooping somehow. But, after all, surely the photos had been placed on the wall to show off how many famous and interesting people the couple knew.
She carefully handed it over. “Here you are, Ann. I promise this is the last time I’ll recruit you for this.”
I smiled at her. “I hope that doesn’t mean you won’t be buying any more books.”
Tanya smiled back, a bit warmer this time. “Actually, I think it does mean that I won’t be buying more books. At least, I won’t be buying printed copies. I’m making the switch to ebooks. And I’ll be supplementing my reading with books from the library. So I’ll be seeing you there, I’m sure. I won’t keep you any longer—thanks again.”
When I returned to the library, it was just as busy there as it had been earlier. It wasn’t until I took my break that I realized how much my feet hurt. I slipped off my shoes for a few minutes in the breakroom and gave a sigh of relief. I glanced up as Luna popped in.
“Just needed to grab my juice from the fridge. I’ve started juicing again,” she said. “Kale, beets, carrots, celery, cucumber. Trying to be healthy.” She removed a rather scary-looking brew from the fridge.
“Is it good?” I asked doubtfully.
“Good for you,” said Luna. Her gold tooth glinted as she gave a big grin. She stooped to rub Fitz, who’d followed me into the lounge. “Maybe a little love from Fitz will be good for me, too.”
She paused, then continued in a deliberately offhanded way as she nonchalantly stroked Fitz under his chin, “Say, what do you know about Wilson?”
I frowned, confused by the question. “Not much. He doesn’t exactly share a lot of personal information.”
“Has he ever been married, or anything?” she asked innocently.
Now I stared at her. “Are you . . . you’re interested in Wilson?” I blinked at her. I supposed that Wilson wasn’t all that much older than she was, although he frequently seemed it because of his manner, his stiff decorum, and the formal way he dressed.
Luna stared at me, her eyes huge. Then she burst out laughing. “Me? And Wilson? Only on a desert island. Or maybe during the zombie apocalypse.”
I felt somewhat relieved at this. I couldn’t imagine the two of them together. “Well, they say opposites attract,” I offered weakly.
“Not to that degree,” said Luna with a snort. “So, was he married?”
I shook my head. “He had a longstanding relationship with one woman, but then she moved away for work. I guess Wilson must not have felt moved to marry her and the relationship broke off.”
Luna looked around and said in a low voice, “You’ve got to keep this under wraps. Mom might be interested in Wilson.”
I was nearly as surprised as when I’d thought Luna was interested in Wilson. “Really?”
Luna chuckled. “Yep. I was shocked, too. I mean, he’s a lot younger than she is. I guess he’s probably exactly in between my age and Mom’s. Anyway, she was just asking a lot of questions about him and I couldn’t answer them. So thanks.”
I guess Mona had given up on Linus. It was probably a good thing, since I had the feeling Linus was still in love with his deceased wife and wasn’t quite ready to move on yet. I didn’t want Mona getting hurt. But I also wasn’t sure Wilson was the best choice for Mona or anybody. He seemed married to the library to me.
The library remained busy the rest of the day and the day was a complete blur by the end. I had to close up that night, too, so I was the last one there. I made a tired sweep of the library, finding one patron asleep in an armchair near the quiet section. It took a few minutes for him to wake up enough to gather his things and leave . . . and then he decided to visit the men’s room before leaving.
I made sure Fitz was settled in for the night with some fresh food and water and gave him a rub before heading out the door and locking up.
I felt at this point as if I was running on autopilot as I got into my car. There was one last car in the parking lot that started up after I did and I sighed. Must be the sleepy patron trying to give himself a minute to be more alert before he drove back home.
I drove up to my house and parked the car, thinking over my supper options in the house. None of them sounded good but neither did going out to a restaurant and spending money. I fished my keys out of my purse and decided I’d just heat up some frozen meatballs and add it to the leftover pasta I had. That would make my leftovers a little more interesting.
I fumbled with my keys before getting to my door and dropped them somewhere on the brick walkway leading up to the little house. It was already dark outside and I peered at the ground, trying to spot them.
That’s when I heard an icy voice behind me and then heard the jingle of my keys as a hand swept down to retrieve them.
“I was hoping I’d find you here, Hi, Ann.”