The Murders in the Reed Moore Library (4 page)

"We haven't established that Mrs. Wilson was
here, and why wouldn't she have waited until her husband left the
library? Why kill him and Camille?"

Penny frowned. "I don't know. Maybe she
didn't think it through. Maybe she assumed that Camille was also
sleeping with her husband."

"I'm not ready to discount anything."

Dupin rubbed against Penny's arm. It was a
good idea, but David had a point. Thumbs and the ability to speak,
that'd make all of this much easier. So would tuna. He walked to
the edge of the counter and meowed.

Penny shook her head. "Not now, Dupin."

David lifted the paper. "Let's take this one
step at a time. Could you get me the list of people I need?"

"Do you want to wait while I pull it up?"

David shook his head. "No, thanks. It may not
pan out, but I do need to talk to Mrs. Wilson before she finds out
about her husband from someone else. Just email me the list, my
card is there."

"Oh, okay."

"I'll take the key and have it tested. And
the folder." David pulled a couple more bags from his pockets. He
bagged the key in a small baggy and then the folders in a larger
one. "If you find anything else just leave it where you find it and
give the department a call. Believe it or not, we'll figure this
out."

Dupin crouched and stared at David, his tail
flicking back and forth. David noticed and edged back. "Thank you,
Ms. Copper."

As David left, Dupin got up and rubbed
Penny's arm again. She turned around and scratched his neck, then
ran her hand down his back through his long fur. Almost as good as
tuna, but he couldn't quite forget the empty knot in his belly.

"I'm going to figure this out," Penny said.
"For Camille."

Penny went into her office. Dupin followed
and crawled into his bed beneath her desk. While she typed on the
computer he busied himself cleaning his fur again.

It took longer than Dupin thought was
possible. Twice he woke from short naps when the drone of the
keyboard keys ceased, but each time Penny started typing again. On
the third time she pushed her chair back from the desk. Dupin
lifted his head and yawned.

Penny peeked beneath the desk at him. "I've
finished the list. It's very interesting."

Of course. Dupin stretched out his legs and
did a deep back bend.

"David identified the books that were
underneath Mr. Wilson, and those on top of him. They kept track of
the layers of books so we have an idea of when books were put in,
in what order. There's not a lot of names on the list."

Dupin stretched his back legs out. She must
have a point with all of this.

"That guy from earlier? Rod Allan? He turned
in books that were beneath Bill Wilson. There was also a book
checked out to Mr. Wilson. And that older couple, they came by
yesterday too. I recognized the names when I saw it. Sullivan and
Madeline Winters, they returned books that were right on top of the
body."

Dupin walked out from under the desk.
Interesting. And all of them showed up the next morning? Maybe
because one of them wanted to return for their kill? Did humans eat
things they killed? They must, because they had things like tuna.
Dupin's stomach rumbled. He really needed to eat something.

"I'm going to call David, tell him I've
emailed the list. He needs to know who came by today." Penny picked
up her cell phone and dialed quickly. She leaned back in the
chair.

Dupin jumped up onto her lap so that he could
hear the conversation better.

"David."

"It's Penny Copper. I just emailed the list
you wanted."

"Great, thanks."

"You need to know, the man whose books were
right beneath the body, Rod Allan, he came by earlier today. He was
here when Bill Wilson's wife was here."

"Really?" Dupin heard the excitement in David
voice even with the phone pressed up against Penny's head.

"And there was an older couple today, the
Winters. They had returned books that were on top of the body."

"They're regulars?"

"Yes. I recognized them. I didn't place their
names until I saw the list, but yeah, they're in most days."

"Good work. You said the other guy was Rod
Allan?"

"Yes? Does that mean something? He offered to
help clean the drop."

"Really? Well, that's interesting. We just
found out that the picture in Wilson's wallet, of him and the girl?
That's Lenore Allan. She's a student in Wilson's class."

Penny ran a hand along Dupin's back. "So he
might have gone after Mr. Wilson because of his daughter. That
sounds like a motive to me."

"And with his books right beneath the body he
might as well have signed a confession. I love it when cases solve
themselves!"

Dupin felt water drip on his ear. He flicked
it and looked up at Penny. Water flowed from her eyes. As much as
he didn't care for the water, he knew her well enough to know what
she was thinking. It was Camille. If this man killed Bill Wilson,
then he must have killed Camille just because she saw something. If
she hadn't gone back for her folder she would have been fine.

"Thank you, Ms. Copper. We'll —"

"Penny, please."

"Okay. Penny. Thank you. I think I need to go
have a chat with this Allan fellow."

"Alright, bye." Penny hung up the cell phone
and put it down on the arm of the couch. Dupin batted at it. Penny
snatched it away and stuffed it in her pocket. "Stop that, you're
always redialing people. "

Penny pulled a tissue from the green Kleenex
box on her desk and dried her tears. She tossed it into the plastic
wastebasket beside the desk.

Penny stroked Dupin's back. "Looks like we've
solved the crime. Thanks to you. You found the folder, and the
wallet. Plus that key! And all without your tuna."

Dupin jumped down to the floor and turned in
a circle. He meowed. Penny laughed and stood up. "Okay, okay! I'm
sorry. It hasn't been a typical day."

#

Dupin was in the middle of his after-eating
cleaning when the library phone rang. Penny picked up the extension
on the end table beside the couch.

"Reed Moore Library, Penny. How may I help
you?" Dupin noticed the change in her expression and paused in his
cleaning. He couldn't quite make out the voice on the other
end.

"So he didn't do it?" Penny asked after a
moment. "But what about the picture?"

Dupin got up and padded over to the couch. He
jumped up beside Penny and bumped her arm holding the phone.

Dupin heard David's voice. "—pretty upset
about it, but his alibi checked out. He was giving a business
presentation at the time the murders happened. You don't have any
way to determine when he dropped the books in the drop, do
you?"

"No. His books were just beneath the
body."

"Could he have hired someone to do it?"

"Maybe, we'll check into it, but either he's
an excellent actor or he was surprised about that picture."

"What about the wife?" Penny asked.

"She checked out too. Fell apart when we told
her, was also shocked about the photo. She's been taking evening
classes and we've confirmed she was in class that night." David was
quiet for a minute. "At this point we don't have much. We got a
fingerprint off the key you found but I'm waiting for search
results. Forensics are starting to come in but it's starting to
look like there might have been more than one assailant. Sorry I
don't have more."

"That's okay. Thanks for letting me know."
Penny hung up the phone. She stroked Dupin. "I guess we didn't
solve it after all."

Penny picked Dupin up in her arms and stood.
She kept stroking his back so he didn't mind. "He said there might
have been two people. That makes sense. Camille and Mr. Wilson died
differently. The key might turn up a match, but what if it
didn't?"

He’d already gotten his tuna. As far as he
was concerned David was welcome to figure out what really happened.
He lay slack in Penny’s arms as she walked out of the staff room.
She carried him back to the counter and put him down on top. She
pressed her hands together. "Okay, Dupin, let's work through this.
Camille comes back to the library to pick up her folder. She
decides – because she was like that – to go ahead and empty the
book drop while she was here. She goes out to empty the drop and
Bill Wilson is still out there. One person stabs him while the
other goes after Camille. She tries to get away or call for help by
coming in the library. The killer outside shoves the dying Mr.
Wilson into the book bin and then pushes it into the book drop,
closes and locks the drop. Their partner strangles poor Camille
inside and lets the other in, who tosses the key on the counter
where it slides beneath the keyboard. They put Camille in the drop
in here and then leave."

It made sense but Dupin's eye noticed
something beneath one of the padded chairs. He jumped down from the
counter and walked over to the chair. He crouched down and inhaled.
The minty-smelling letter still lay where he left it. Dupin reached
in and scratched at it. He managed to pull the envelope partway
out.

Penny stooped down and picked it up. Dupin
rubbed against her legs. Penny's breath caught. She stood very
still for several seconds then looked down at Dupin. "Do you know
what this is?"

He had a pretty good idea.

"I recognized the Winters, they come in all
the time." Penny blew out her breath. "And she's always checking
out those serial killer books, from the 364s. This letter is
addressed to them. They must have dropped it! What if they're
serial killers, working together? They could have dropped the
letter when they —"

Penny slid the letter into her pocket and
started walking towards the door. "Come on, Dupin. We're going to
go talk to them!"

Dupin didn't move. Somehow the idea of
talking to a pair of potential killers didn't have much appeal.
Plus he'd just eaten all of that tuna and it sat like a lump in his
belly. A nap was the order of the moment. A long nap to allow the
tuna time to digest.

"Dupin?" Penny stopped in the doorway. "Here,
kitty. Come on. There's nothing to worry about. We'll just be
helping David out, see what they say when I ask if they saw
anything. Maybe they'll let something slip."

Dupin yawned.

Penny marched towards him. He thought of
dashing away, but he hated running on a full stomach. Penny scooped
him up and held him close. She pressed her face to his back and he
smelled the apples in her hair.

"I need you with me," she said. "Come
on."

#

Dupin rolled on his back in the seat beside
Penny and tried to bat at the phone again. She moved it away.

"We're almost there now," Penny said.

David was on the phone. "Wait for me. My
people can look at the letter. We found hair on the inside drop and
I have people checking the fingerprints on the books against the
book drop key. We'll get them."

Penny didn't answer as she turned the
steering wheel and slowed. Dupin rolled over and stood up. "I'm on
the street now. I need to know why they did it."

"Damn it! Wait! I'll be there soon and I'll
handle it."

The car slowed. "Too late."

"Don't hang up," David said. "At least stay
on the line."

Penny slipped the phone in her pocket without
saying anything.

The house sat back from the road with fir
trees and bird feeders along the fence line. Penny stopped the car.
Small brown birds flitted around the tree branches. Dupin perked up
his ears. The house itself looked like a lot of human dwellings,
yellow and white, mostly uninteresting. The old couple was out
front in the yard, the woman pruning rose bushes with a pair of
snips and her husband digging in another flower bed with a trowel,
when Penny lifted Dupin out of the front seat and carried him up
the cracked concrete walk.

"Sully?" The old woman called. "Look who it
is?"

The old man looked back and squinted so much
that only one pale blue eye stayed open. Against his side Dupin
felt Penny's heart thumping away like a mouse caught beneath his
paws. She was scared but she marched straight up the drive towards
them. She stopped across the chain-link fence from the woman.

"Mrs. Winters?"

"Call me Maddy, dear. Don't mind my Sully,
he's grumpy as usual." The old woman looked at Dupin and smiled
broadly. "You'd better keep a good grip on that cat. Wouldn't want
him to go after a bird or something and get squashed by a car!"

Penny's arms tightened. "No. I'm helping the
police with the murders at the library, and I thought maybe you
could tell me something?"

"Murders." Maddy pressed her hands together
and her smile widened to show bright teeth. Dupin didn't like the
way she looked at him. "Why would you think we know anything about
those poor people?"

"Books you returned were on the body." Dupin
felt Penny take a deep breath. "The police took a fingerprint from
the books and matched it to the one on the book drop key. They've
also found your hair in the inside book drop where you stuffed
Camille."

Dupin blinked. That wasn't exactly what David
had said. He tensed. If the old woman tried anything she'd find out
how sharp his claws were.

Penny pulled out the letter. "And if that's
not enough, you dropped this when you murdered Camille!"

Maddy stared at Penny for several seconds
then chuckled. "Sully? You'd better come here. We've got a bit of a
problem."

Penny took a step back. "Why? Why did you do
it?"

At the other flower bed Sully rose and came
towards them with his dirt-covered trowel. Maddy snipped her
pruning snips closed. "Opportunity. We walked to the library to
return books and there was that man talking to that young girl. No
one was around." She opened the snips and snapped them shut again.
"As far as motive, well dear, it was our anniversary and we always
try to do something special."