Миранда Джеймс - No Cats Allowed

Cassandra jumped up at once and launched into her grievances over her “callous mistreatment at the hands of that incompetent idiot,” and it took Chief Ford a few moments to get her to shut up. Finally, she subsided, albeit with a resentful glance at the campus cop, and resumed her seat.

“Thank you, Ms. Brownley,” Ford said, and much to his credit, I thought, he sounded polite, rather than irritated. “Now, let’s talk about this calmly. You three all received letters saying you were fired, right?”

Lisa and Delbert nodded. Cassandra just glared. The chief turned to Penny Sisson. “Was HR aware of this?”

Penny shook her head. “No, we were not. We haven’t had any kind of communication from Mr. Reilly that he intended to lay off any of the library staff. I’d like to look at one of your letters, if I may.”

Delbert rose and again pulled his letter from his jacket pocket and handed it to Penny. Before she could grasp it, however, the chief said, “If you would, Mr. Winston, please open the letter and place it flat on the desk here. I’d rather no one else touch it for now.”

Delbert complied with the chief’s command and then stood back. Penny and Ford moved closer to examine it. After a moment, Penny turned to face the three fired librarians. “This is absolutely not the way this college handles the laying off of employees. I don’t know what Mr. Reilly was thinking, but this violates our procedures completely.”

All three of them looked relieved, even Cassandra, who forgot to glower for at least three seconds.

“Ms. Gilley,” Chief Ford said, “you’re the administrative assistant. Is it normally your job to type the director’s letters and mail them?”

“Normally, yes,” Melba said, “but Oscar certainly didn’t give me any letters like this to process. I don’t know anything about them.” She approached the desk in order to inspect the letter. After a moment she said, “That does look like his signature, though.” She straightened. “But it’s not the letterhead stationery he usually uses.” She pointed to the top-left-hand corner of the sheet of paper. “The library’s logo should be there, along with the phrase Office of the Director . This is just plain Athena College stationery.”

“I never noticed that.” Lisa Krause turned to Delbert. “Did you?” He shook his head. She glanced at Cassandra, who appeared not to have heard the question.

“This is all really strange,” Penny said. “What was Mr. Reilly thinking, to do something like this? It makes no sense whatsoever.”

“We don’t know that Mr. Reilly is responsible,” Chief Ford said. “Even though it looks like his signature, according to Ms. Gilley. I need to talk to Mr. Reilly and find out whether he knows anything about this.” He turned to Melba. “Where is he?”

“I don’t know,” she answered, then looked at me.

“If I could speak to you in private for a moment, Chief,” I said. “I need to talk to you about that.”

Ford responded with a curt nod and headed for the entryway. I handed Diesel’s leash to Melba and then followed the officer.

“What is it, Mr. Harris? Do you know where Mr. Reilly is?” Ford looked and sounded impatient.

“No, I don’t, and in fact, Melba and I are worried about him.” I quickly explained the situation.

Ford didn’t interrupt with questions. When I finished, he got on his radio and instructed his officers to start a search for Oscar’s car. Then he called the Athena police department and had a brief conversation with them, ending with a request for their patrol cars to look for the car as well.

Ford restored his cell phone to its holder. “You said Ms. Gilley noticed this stranger sitting in a car on the street outside this building for three days in a row?”

“Yes,” I said. “Four days, if you count today.”

“Why didn’t one of you report this to us?” Ford shook his head.

“Sorry,” I said, “but frankly I didn’t think it was that serious. I figured the man was simply waiting to pick up a student or a faculty member to drive them home. Something innocuous like that.”

Ford stared at me for a moment before he turned and walked back into Melba’s office. I felt foolish and resentful at the same time as I followed him.

Ford didn’t share with the others what I told him. Instead he said, “Ms. Krause, Ms. Brownley, do you have your letters with you?”

Lisa nodded and delved into the small handbag she had brought with her. Cassandra shook her head. “No, it’s on my desk in my office. You’ll have to send someone for it.”

I could tell the chief didn’t care for her patronizing tone any more than I did. His shoulders stiffened, but he regarded her with a bland expression. “Thank you, Ms. Brownley.” He asked Lisa to lay her letter, still in its envelope, on top of Delbert’s.

“Thank you all,” he said. “You can go back to work now.” He turned to Penny. “That should be okay, right?”

“Yes, of course,” Penny said. “You all are still employed by the college. Those letters are not legitimate. I would like to have copies of them, if you please, Mr. Ford.”

“I’ll arrange that,” he replied.

My three fellow librarians and Penny all began to move toward the door and out into the hallway while Melba, Diesel, the chief, and I remained in the office.

I heard the front door open, and I moved to a vantage point from which I could see who had come in.

Oscar Reilly stood just inside the door frame, glaring at Penny and my coworkers. He looked fine and completely unfazed by whatever had gone on between him and Porter Stanley since I had last seen them together in Oscar’s office.

TEN

“Why are you all here?” Oscar demanded in a harsh tone. “Shouldn’t you be actually working ?”

All three of the librarians began speaking at once, and Chief Ford ordered them to be quiet. “Mrs. Sisson, I think it will be helpful if you remain. The rest of you can go.”

Cassandra appeared angry at the chief’s words, but to my surprise, she didn’t argue. She swept out through the still-open door, brushing Oscar aside. Lisa and Delbert followed more calmly in her wake. Delbert pulled the door shut behind him.

“What’s going on here?” Oscar said. “I demand to know why all these people were here.”

“If you come into the office here, Mr. Reilly, I will explain everything.” Chief Ford maintained his calm, commanding manner, and Oscar subsided. He nodded and walked past the campus cop and toward his office.

“No, Mr. Reilly, this office, not yours,” Ford said. Oscar stopped and turned back toward the chief with a frown.

“Mrs. Sisson.” Ford indicated that Penny should precede him.

Melba and I had remained by her desk, silent witnesses to the scene. I was about to ask the chief whether he needed me any further, but he forestalled me by asking both Melba and me to remain. Diesel stayed out of sight under the desk.

Oscar glared at Chief Ford. “ Now will you tell me what the devil has been going on here? I come back from a meeting and find half the library here when they should be doing their jobs.”

Melba and I looked at each other. What kind of meeting had Oscar had with Porter Stanley? It seemed much more like a confrontation to me.

“Have you ever seen this letter before, Mr. Reilly?” Chief Ford indicated the paper Delbert Winston had placed on the corner of Melba’s desk earlier. “Please examine it, but don’t touch it.”

Oscar looked puzzled, but he complied with Ford’s request. He stared down at the letter, scanned it quickly, then exclaimed, “I never wrote this letter. This has got to be another practical joke.”

He sounded sincere, and I believed him. I didn’t think he’d written the letter, or the other two like it.