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The Librarian's Last Chapter: Book Three in the River Valley Mystery Series

By Cynthia Hickey

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1
“Don’t be so dramatic, Marsha Calloway Steele. It’s not like you’re facing a firing squad.”
It might as well be. Volunteering in the high school library isn’t my idea of a good time. How did I let my best friend, Lynn Marshall, talk me into such a thing? Wasn’t the PTO or Parent Teacher Organization enough torture ?
I scooted farther against my bed pillows, cradling the cordless phone to my ear. “Couldn’t I do something behind the scenes where I didn’t have to deal with other parents?”
Lynn laughed. “The librarian wants to do a big book donation rally with a book fair, snacks, everything. It’s a really big deal, and she needs your help. I volunteered you, not thinking it would be such a big inconvenience. You’re nothing but a big scaredy-cat.”
“Yep, and proud of it.” I grabbed several dark-chocolate M&Ms and popped them in my mouth. “You know I don’t have a lot of time to volunteer. Not with the store.” Being a co-owner of Country Gifts from Heaven kept me very busy. That and the occasional dead body I tended to stumble across every few months. I’d resigned myself to accepting the gift of finding trouble.
“Besides, Mrs. Grimes is very, um, not nice.”
“You can manage for a week or two. We need you. Bye.” She hung up on me.
Mrs. Grimes still had the same way of looking over her glasses and staring a person into submission as she had when I was in high school. The woman scared me, plain and simple, and now my best friend wanted me to work with the woman for two weeks?
I should never have filled out the volunteer paperwork and been fingerprinted. All it brought me was more work.
I crawled from bed and into the shower. If I was going to work at the library, there was no time to start like the present. Mom wouldn’t mind holding down the fort at the store for an hour or two while I found out exactly what Mrs. Grimes had in store for me.
The hot water helped to wash away some of the apprehension, and by the time I had my hair fixed and a five-minute makeup job done, I felt confident I could handle one old librarian well past retirement age.
Grabbing my purse off the foyer table, I headed to my blue Prius. After getting the okay from Mom to take my time, I punched in Duane’s number and set the phone to speaker.
“Hey, sweetheart,” his voice always made my inside quiver.
“I’m headed to the high school for a meeting. Can I bring you a coffee?”
“Sure, and one of those apple scones. I’ll be in the coach’s office for the next half hour before my first class starts.”
“See you in fifteen. Love you.”
“Ditto.”
I hung up, my face hurting from the grin that stretched my cheeks. Since we’d set a wedding date for three months’ time, I was almost afraid he might not be as excited to see me all the time. I was wrong. If anything, setting the date made our time together even more precious.
We weren’t planning anything elaborate, just a small ceremony by the lake. River Valley had a wonderful clubhouse that overlooked the water so we wouldn’t have to worry about the weather. I actually hoped it would snow and was having Mom make me a furred shawl, just in case.
A parking spot in front of the coffee shot beckoned as if it were waiting for me. I pulled in and cut the ignition, my taste buds eager for their first sip of a frozen mocha coffee. Duane preferred his coffee black. Blech. Chocolate made everything better.
I ordered my usual, Duane his preference, and two scones, one apple and one cream cheese. Treats in hand, I returned to my car and drove to the school. Parking was scarce, but I found a vacant visitor spot. Hands full, I entered the front doors and signed in, collecting my volunteer badge. Ugh. I hadn’t known they’d take the picture the day I did my fingerprints and I’d had on my trusty overalls and my hair pulled back into a ponytail. Sometimes, I was just too lazy to take the time to gussy up. And, I always ended up regretting those times.
When I reached Duane’s office, he rushed forward to keep me from dropping something. “Thanks. This will hit the spot.”
“Crazy morning already?” I sat in a plastic chair across from his desk.
He nodded. “School in session only a week and I already have a first string player ineligible to play the first game because of fighting.”
“But the first game is weeks away.”
“That the best discipline I could think of. After school detention doesn’t work for these guys. They sit and text under their desk where the monitor can’t see them.”
I nodded and sipped my drink, knowing from personal experience how ineffective detention was. Instead of texting, we passed notes. “I’m meeting with Mrs. Grimes about helping with the book fair.”
Duane winced. “My condolences. She’s worse than ever, but seems to be in a good mood today.”
“I hope you’re right.” I blew him a kiss and left his office. The library was positioned across from the administration office so I retraced my steps.
“Good morning, Mrs. Steele.” Principal Dean pushed his glasses up his nose. “Solved any murders lately?” He laughed, the sound more of a guffaw then anything.
“Not today.” I’d never liked the man. He should have retired years ago along with the librarian. Wasn’t there an age limit to working with kids? What this school needed was an up-to-date principal. Someone who knew the issues today’s students faced. Someone other than the Barbie doll of a vice-principal, Sheri Hopkins. I watched as Mr. Dean’s gaze followed the VP across campus.
I knew her type. She was more interested in being the kids’ friend rather than authority figure. There were bound to be several teenage boys with a crush on her. Who could take her seriously with her mound of blond hair and tight skirts?
I sighed and pushed open the door to the library, immediately taking a deep breath, pulling in the wonderful aroma of books. Large metal crates occupied the far section, book fair stuff most likely. I thought book fairs didn’t go past elementary school.
“It’s about time you showed up.” Mrs. Grimes stepped out of the back room, her arms full of pamphlets. “I need these sorted into class amounts and distributed into teachers’ mailboxes.
“Good morning to you, too, Mrs. Grimes. It’s been a long time.”
She peered over the top of her glasses. “You haven’t changed much, and your daughter is a chip off the old block.”
“Me or her father’s?”
“Both.” She thrust the papers into my arms, almost making me drop my drink. That would have been a very bad thing. “You can sit anywhere. Put them in stacks of thirty.”
“I thought I was here to help with the book fair.”
“Those are for the book fair. Open house is next week, and we need to be prepared. Families will be bringing their younger students, and they will want to buy books.” She sat at her desk, hiding behind a stack of books that looked too old to belong to the school library.
I shrugged. I’d heard she collected antique books. Maybe she did some of her collecting while at work. It was none of my business. I grinned. As if that ever stopped me from poking my nose where it didn’t belong.
The jingle of keys drew my attention back to Mrs. Grimes. She had a sly smile on her face as she placed a yellowed piece of paper in a drawer and locked it. She turned in a circle, the key in her hand. When she caught me looking, she ducked into the back room.
What was in the drawer? I sipped my coffee, my attention riveted on what could be in her desk. What was so important she felt it necessary to hide the key rather than keep it on the lanyard around her neck?
We pretty much ignored each other for the time it took me to count out the rest of the papers. When I’d finished, I told her I’d be back, and she grunted that she’d heard me. Whatever. I wouldn’t let her mood spoil my day. One more hour of volunteer time, and I’d be back at Country Gifts from Heaven. My home away from home.
“Mom?” Lindsey stopped so fast, the boy in back of her almost fell. “What are you doing here?”
“Volunteering in the library, didn’t I tell you?”
“You did not. Please pretend we don’t know each other.” With a scowl, she continued on her way.
I didn’t let her attitude bother me. She loved me, and I wasn’t about to embarrass her in front of her classmates. I hoped.
Four teachers sat in the teacher’s lounge, assorted beverages on the table in front of them. Lynn glanced up. “How’s it going?”
“Fine. Why is the high school having a book fair? Haven’t these kids outgrown this sort of thing?” I began slipping the assorted piles into cubbies.
“Mrs. Grimes wants to encourage the older students to read more. She said she’ll be carrying more age appropriate books and activities.” Lynn sipped a diet soda. “As an English teacher, I applaud her efforts.”
Another teacher, I believe she taught history, laughed. “That old bat just wants to draw attention to herself. I doubt it’ll do any good.”
“Marsha, this is Estelle Willis, our resident pessimist and budding author.” Lynn tossed her can into a recycling bin.
“You’ve heard what she’d involved herself in lately, haven’t you?” Estelle crossed her arms over her more than ample chest and glanced around the table.
“I haven’t heard anything. But then, I’m stuck in the band room most of my days.” A male teacher shrugged.
“She’s going around informing people that she’s uncovered a treasure. At our book club last night, she told us all that she found a map in one of the old books she bought. Seriously? A treasure map?” She stood and speared me with a glance. “Why don’t you see if you can get to the bottom of that, Ms. Super Sleuth?” With those words, she lumbered out of the lounge.
“What did I do?” I set the last of the fliers in the boxes. “I’m just minding my own business.”
“Don’t worry,” Lynn said. “Grimes and Estelle have been feuding for years.” She winked. “I think it’s over Mr. Dean.”
“Eeew.” My few hours a week at the school promised to either be disgusting or entertaining. I’d reserve judgment for now.
Not in a hurry to return to the library, I headed for the staff restroom. One can only stall for so long between taking care of business, washing hands, and fluffing hair. There was nothing left to do but head back to the library.
“Marsha?” Janet Snyder, PTO president, halted me in the hall. “What can I do to convince you to join the organization?”
“Absolutely nothing.” I continued on my way as fast as my legs would carry me.
She scampered after me in ridiculously high heels. “Think of the benefit to the school, to your daughter.”
“I’m volunteering time, that’s all River Valley High needs from me.” I paused with my hand on the door. “Are you seriously here to pester me?”
“Not just you.” She shook her head. “But our numbers are shrinking.”
I sighed and ducked into the library. Mrs. Grimes wasn’t at her desk. Good. I’d have a few minutes of peace before she gave me something else to do.
When thirty minutes passed and there was no sign of her, I decided to check the back room. After all, the woman had to be pushing seventy years of age. Maybe she fell asleep.
Sure enough, she sat at a battered old desk, her face resting on the wood. “Mrs. Grimes?”
Her head lolled to the side. She’d been strangled with her floral scarf.

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