Миранда Джеймс - Twelve Angry Librarians

“If there are a lot more people than you expect,” I said, “I will bring him home. He did fine at the retirement party last month, though, and there were about thirty people at that.” One of our senior librarians had retired after forty years at Athena, and her one special request was to have Diesel at her going-away party. Diesel had seemed to enjoy all the attention.

“That’s fine,” Lisa said. “I won’t tell people that he’s going to be there in order to keep the numbers down, how’s that?”

“Good plan.” My idea about having a party with all of Gavin’s party guests in attendance forced its way back into my consciousness. Should I simply wait and see if any of them turned up? Or should I make an effort to get them there? I figured Randi and Marisue would come if I asked them, but I didn’t know about the others.

“Thanks, Charlie. I’d better get going,” Lisa said. “Can you and Diesel be there by seven thirty?”

“Yes,” I said. “Look, Lisa, can you do me a favor?”

“Sure, what is it?”

“If you happen to see any of the people who were at Gavin’s party on Thursday, could you tell them how much you would like them to come to your suite tonight? Don’t sound too effusive, but see if you can get them to show up.”

Lisa didn’t respond right away. Finally she said, “I guess I can do that. What exactly are you up to, though? I have to tell you, you’re making me nervous.”

“I’d like to talk to them,” I said. “Nothing more. Maybe having them in a party situation again will stimulate their memories, and we could learn something that’s pertinent to the murder investigation. You never know.”

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Lisa said. “All right, I’ll make sure to talk to any of them that I happen to see. Now I’ve really got to go.”

I put my phone down feeling both excited and apprehensive. I hoped I hadn’t set up a possible disaster. Perhaps I should make Kanesha aware of my little plan. I’d have to think about that. I would have to be particularly vigilant, and I’d definitely have to keep a close watch on Diesel. That shouldn’t be too hard, because he would probably stick close to me in a group like that. If he showed any signs of stress from the gathering, I would of course take him home right away.

Probably I’d be lucky if even half of the people on my short list showed up tonight. The lure of more food and drink at someone else’s expense might suffice, if some of them were on tight travel budgets. They might rather save their per diem and pocket it, rather than spend it on a restaurant if they could get enough to fill them up at the two parties tonight. I remembered times when I attended conferences outside of Houston when I’d had to stretch my travel allowance as much as I could in order to avoid dipping into my own pockets. Particularly in the days when I had two young children who seemed to outgrow their clothes and shoes every couple of months.

My phone rang, and I saw that Helen Louise was the caller. She must be taking her midafternoon break, I reckoned. The time was a few minutes past three thirty.

“Hello, love, how are you?” I asked.

“I’m doing fine, love.” Helen Louise sounded tired, but she rarely ever would say that, at least during the workday. “We’ve had a really good day today so far. I must say, all your librarian colleagues seem to have made the bistro their favorite place to eat. Business has boomed since the conference started.”

“I’m not surprised,” I said. “The food of course is fabulous, and your prices are reasonable. They can afford to eat good meals and not worry about running their expenses up.”

Helen Louise chuckled. “All I have to say is bless them . Hungry librarians are a good thing.” She paused for a moment. When she continued, her tone was more serious. “What time do you think you might be through with the conference today? Or tomorrow? I know you said it runs through noon tomorrow.”

“Yes, it does,” I said. “I’ve got to be at a reception the library is having for attendees at the hotel from seven thirty to probably around nine or nine thirty. What’s up?”

“I want to talk to you about something,” she said. “I’m just wondering when will be the best time for us to sit down and talk when neither of us is distracted.”

“When is best for you?” I asked. “I’ll make my schedule work around yours as much as possible.”

“Thank you for that, sweetheart,” Helen Louise said. “I don’t want to impinge on what you need to do for the conference, though. I don’t think I’ll feel up to it tonight after we close, and I don’t imagine you’ll feel like talking then, either. So how about tomorrow afternoon sometime? Before Sunday evening dinner?”

“That should be fine,” I said. My curiosity about what she wanted to discuss was growing every second. Several possibilities danced around in my mind, but the one that made me terrified was the thought of illness. I knew she’d been to see her doctor the previous week for a routine checkup, and so far she hadn’t shared the results of that with me. I prayed I wasn’t going to hear devastating news about her health. “Can you give me any idea about what this is you want to discuss?”

She probably heard the note of fear in my voice. “Don’t worry, sweetie, I promise you it’s nothing terrible or scary.” She hesitated a moment. “I guess I might as well tell you now, so you can be thinking about it when you have time. I’m considering turning over the running of the bistro to Debbie and Henry and stepping back, taking more time off.”

TWENTY-FIVE

I was too surprised by Helen Louise’s announcement to respond right away.

“Charlie, are you still there?” Helen Louise asked.

“Yes, sorry,” I said. “What brought this about?” At the back of my mind I was still worried that she was ill and wasn’t telling me.

“I know what you’re thinking, and I promise you I’m not sick,” Helen Louise said. “But I have to face the fact that I’m not thirty-five anymore, and I need to slow down a bit. Otherwise I will wear myself completely out before I’m sixty. And that’s not nearly as far away as it ought to be.” She paused for a breath. “As much as I love what I do, I need more time off than what I have now.”

“I can understand that,” I said. “I’ve been thinking about that myself.”

“I know, love,” she said. “You’ve got this big decision to make, and I don’t want to add to the stress. But I also thought I should tell you this now instead of waiting until later.”

“I’m glad you told me now,” I said. “This definitely affects my decision about the job at the library. If you’re not going to be working as much, I want to have the time to be able to spend with you. Not to mention time with the grandchildren who are on the way.”

“Yes, they’re on my mind, too,” Helen Louise said. “I decided I didn’t want to be working all the time while they’re babies. There are too many moments in their lives I would miss.”

Helen Louise had never married and had no children. I knew she loved Sean and Laura and would love their children as well. Sean and Laura loved her, too, and had already accepted her as their stepmother, even though we weren’t married.

“We have a lot to talk about on Sunday,” I said.

“Yes, we do,” she replied. “Let’s leave it at that for now. We both need time to think about all this.”

“All right,” I said.

We talked for a few moments longer, then said good-bye. I put my phone down and turned to Diesel. He was staring at me intently, and I knew he understood that my emotions were running high right now.

“Everything is okay, sweet boy,” I told him. “Nothing for you to worry about.”