Chapter 38

The rest of the day passed without any hassles. In fact, a lot of people smiled at me in the hall or made a point to say hello. It would have been a perfect afternoon if only I could have come up with some idea of what I was going to do with the Dick problem. I checked my phone for the one millionth time. Still no message from Anita. I was going to have to talk this through with someone else.

I turned down a ride from Nate after school and walked over to the library instead. The cranky librarian was at her usual place, sort of hunched over the checkout desk, looking around waiting for someone to deface a book. She looked like the kind of person who liked to collect fines in the form of waterboarding. For the life of me I couldn’t figure out why the town paid to have two librarians on staff at all times. I’d never been in there when they were dealing with a crowd. It wasn’t like there was a long line of people all pushing and shoving to get their literary needs met.

I found Mandy in her usual spot in the stacks. She smiled when she saw me.

“You look happy,” she said.

“Today was one of those days that started off lousy, but ended good.”

“How are things going?” She turned her head to the side. It didn’t seem like an idle question. It felt like she was really interested.

I plopped down in a seat. I really needed to talk to someone who wasn’t involved in the situation. It felt like things were spinning out of control and I could use some help in figuring out what to do. I’d hoped Anita would have called, but she must still have been ticked. Mandy seemed like my best option, and with the librarian code of silence, I was pretty sure she wouldn’t blab to anyone. So much had happened since I saw her last that I wasn’t even sure where to begin. I explained how we’d tried to contact the ghost, but hadn’t had any luck at first, but then found the book with the documents in it. I told her how Nate and I suspected our parents had known each other before the accident, and that our big fear is that they may have been involved in what happened, but we didn’t have any way to prove it and I was certain Dick was putting plans in place to get rid of me. “And Nate wants to go to the police, but …” My voice trailed off.

“You’re afraid the police won’t believe you, especially since the Wickham family has so much money and prestige here on the island.”

“You’re going to tell me I’m being stupid and should trust the justice system.”

“No. You’re right. I know the Wickham family is responsible for a lot of things. When those girls disappeared, do you know what happened? They fell through a rotted well cover. The first girl was killed when she fell, but the other girl was alive. Scared, hungry, hurt, but alive. She called for help, and just when she was starting to give up hope, someone came. He looked down that well, saw her there, and then slid a new piece of wood across the top. He left her down there because he didn’t like anyone on his land, he didn’t want to be sued because the well cover hadn’t been fixed, and he knew he’d get away with it. And he did get away with it. By the time the police searched the property, she couldn’t call for help anymore because she was dead too. They never found those girls.” Her voice was low, but I could feel the waves of anger coming off in every word.

“Wait, how could you know all of that?”

She shrugged and looked out the window. “Only someone there would know, but that’s my theory.”

While I appreciated that she felt she could tell me things, I had enough mysteries to solve without worrying about if Dick had killed anyone else twenty years ago. I sighed in frustration. “I still don’t know what to do.”

“You need to get Richard Wickham to confess to what he did.”

“I know, but I don’t know how to do that. It’s not like if I ask him, he’s going to roll over and spill his guts, just because I asked. He’s not afraid of me.”

Mandy smiled. “I think you’ve put your finger on it. Everyone is afraid of something, and fear can drive people to do a lot of things they wouldn’t otherwise do. What is Richard afraid of?”

“I don’t know.” I sighed again. Mandy didn’t say anything. I knew this was one of those situations where I was supposed to come up with the answer on my own. I tried to think. “He wouldn’t be afraid of the police, because he’ll figure they’d believe him.”

“So who would he be afraid of? Who makes him nervous?”

I chewed on my thumbnail while I thought about it. I couldn’t really think of anyone. The one benefit of being as arrogant as Dick is that he assumes everyone loves him, and if they seem not to like him he chalks it up to jealousy. I’d never seen him be intimidated by anyone. The only person I could remember him talking about with any sort of awe was his mom. It was clear his mom wasn’t exactly the cuddly sort who met him after school with graham crackers and milk. She was more of the “whack you on the back of the hands with a ruler and tell you to suck it up” sort. She’d be a great one to help me, except for the fact that she’d been dead for years. Figures. I had one ghost to help me, but not the one I needed.

My mouth fell open. That was it. The idea was insane, but I was starting to appreciate a bit of crazy in my life. It was just crazy enough that it might work.

“I think I know what to do,” I said, clapping my hands together.

“Shh.” The cranky librarian was standing at the end of the aisle, glaring down at me. “You are aware this is a library, aren’t you?”

I shot a look over at Mandy to see if she would say anything, but she stayed quiet with a small smile on her face. I had the sense she was used to random outbursts of library rule enforcement.

“I’m sorry if we were loud,” I said.

“We?” She raised one eyebrow.

I managed to avoid rolling my eyes. “I meant sorry if I was loud. It won’t happen again.”

“The library is open to everyone, but if you continue to disturb patrons, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

She was acting like I had been practicing my bongo drums in the reference section instead of having a simple conversation with another librarian.

“I promise to keep quiet from now on,” I said, holding up my right hand like I was taking an oath.

The librarian stared at me for a few beats as if she were trying to see into my soul to determine if I was telling the truth or planning on pulling my bongos back out as soon as she turned her back. I did my best to look wholesome and silent. Finally she gave a stiff nod and marched back to her desk.

“She gives librarians a bad name,” I whispered to Mandy. “I’ve got to go. Thanks again.”

“You’re welcome.”

“I mean it. You’ve gone well above and beyond the librarian code to help those in information need. You’ve been a huge help to me.”

“One of these days, maybe you’ll be able to return the favor.”

“Say the word, whatever you need.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Mandy gave me a strange smile and slipped through the open door to the back.