Софи Келли - A Tale Оf Two Kitties

“Yes, it is,” she said. “She lived to be ninety years old, you know, and she was sharp as a tack until the day she died. In fact, if she’d stayed off the roof of the barn when it was raining she’d probably have made it to one hundred.”

Mia and I exchanged looks.

“But that’s a story for another day,” Mary said, making a dismissive gesture with one hand. She flipped several pages in the album. “That’s your grandmother, Mia.”

Mia and I both leaned in for a closer look. Meredith Janes looked to be about sixteen in the photograph. She reminded me of Simon. She had the same challenge in her dark eyes.

“She was so beautiful,” Mia said softly.

“Inside and out,” Mary agreed.

We spent the next few minutes looking at the rest of the photos. There were several more of Meredith and one of Mary in a bathing suit with one hand on her hip and the other behind her head in a bathing beauty pose.

“Wow! Look at those legs,” I said admiringly. Harrison would have said Mary had legs up to her neck. In fact I recalled him using those exact words about her once.

“I’ve always been told they’re my best feature,” Mary said with a sly smile. She pulled an envelope out of her sweater pocket and handed it to Mia. “I made copies of the pictures of your grandmother. I thought you’d like to have them.”

“Thank you,” Mia said, her voice suddenly husky with emotion. She turned to me, both hands holding the envelope. “I’m just going to put these upstairs and then I’ll get started on the shelving.”

I nodded. “That’s fine.” I watched Mia head up the stairs. Then I turned to Mary. “That was really nice of you,” I said.

“I’m sorry she never got to know Merry. She really was special.”

“She must have been,” I agreed, “if she was friends with you.”

“You’re really shoveling it today,” Mary said, waving away my words with one hand, even as she was smiling at me.

About quarter to five, Victor Janes came into the building. I was dealing with a balky keyboard in our computer area. He stopped at the circulation desk to speak to Mia and I could see from her body language that she was uncomfortable. I got up and joined them.

“Hello, Victor,” I said.

He turned to me with a smile that seemed a little forced. “Good afternoon, Kathleen,” he said. “How are you?”

“I’m well, thank you. Could I help you find something specific?” I asked in my best friendly, helpful-librarian tone.

“I was hoping that Mia could help me,” he said.

I felt a surge of annoyance followed by a twinge of guilt. I didn’t like the man. Maggie would have said his energy was off and I felt the same way. On the other hand, I felt guilty for feeling that way about someone who had been fighting a serious illness.

Mia was so tense her shoulders were hunched up to her chin and Mary was openly looking daggers at Victor from across the room.

“I need Mia here,” I said. “But I can help you with whatever you’re looking for.”

Victor hesitated, then he nodded. “Thank you, Kathleen. I was wondering what you could recommend for some escapist reading. I like mysteries with some kind of historical connection.”

“I can think of several series you might like,” I said.

He glanced at Mia again. “I hope we can spend some time together before I leave.”

“School takes up a lot of my time, Uncle Victor,” Mia said in a tight voice.

I led Victor over to the shelves and showed him two different authors’ books. He chose one but since he didn’t even look at the back cover or flip through the pages I doubted that he’d really come for reading material. He seemed desperate to connect with what family he had left, which was understandable given that he’d just lost his only brother.

I wanted to tell him not to try so hard, but it wasn’t any of my business.

It wasn’t any of Mary’s business, either, but that didn’t stop her. Mia was gone when we got back to the checkout desk. Mary took the book and Victor’s temporary card and checked the book out for him.

“Victor, let the child be,” she said when she handed them back to him.

I shot her a warning look, which she ignored.

“She’s my niece, Mary,” he said.

“That you’ve seen how many times in the last seventeen and a half years?”

“And you know who prevented that.”

She nodded. “I know whose actions did.”

His jaw muscles tightened. He took a deep breath and let it out and then swallowed down whatever had been his first impulse to say. “I can’t argue that with that, Mary,” he said. “But I don’t exactly have a lot of time to right all the wrongs.”

Mary’s expression softened. “Don’t push, Victor,” she said. “It’s not going to get you anywhere.” She looked at me then. “I’m just going to straighten up the magazines.” She came around the desk and headed across the room.

Victor looked at me. “I’m sorry, Kathleen,” he said. “My family is . . . messy.”

“All families are messy,” I said.

“You’ve probably heard that I have some time constraints as far as fixing my relationships.”

I nodded. “I’m sorry.”

“I didn’t have enough time to fix things with my brother,” he continued. “I knew that could happen but I never thought Leo would be the one who would end up dead.” He gave his head a shake and held up the book. “Thank you for your help,” he said, and with that he made his way to the front doors.

Mary must have been watching for Victor to leave. She came back to the desk. “I owe you an apology, Kathleen,” she said.

“If you’re trying to apologize for looking out for Mia you’re wasting your time,” I said, “because there’s nothing to apologize for.”

She smiled and patted my arm. “I like you,” she said. She looked over at the front doors. “I don’t like Victor. I’m sorry he’s sick and I’m sorry he lost his brother but I can’t pretend I like him.”

“Were you ever friends?” I asked. “I mean when you were kids?”

She gave a snort of disgust. “No. To use an expression of my mother’s since we were talking about her, he’s always been as useless as a bag of smoke.”

“But you and Leo were friends.”

Mary nodded and brushed a bit of lint off the front of her sweater.

“You know, we actually went out for a bit. Nothing came of it and I’m glad we were able to stay friends because we were much better friends than anything romantic.”

I knew I could beat around the bush to try to find out what I wanted to know or I could just ask. It seemed easier to do the latter.

“Did Leo tell you that he was looking into his wife’s death?” I asked.

Mary wasn’t one for prevaricating, either. “Yes,” she said. She narrowed her eyes. “How did you find out? Did Simon tell you?”

I nodded. “Do you know what happened that made Leo think there was something to find?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. He said time has a way of catching up with you sometimes. I asked him what the heck did that mean? He laughed and said, ‘You might say I came upon a key fact that changed everything.’ That’s all he’d say.”

The phone rang then and she leaned over the counter to answer it.

Based on what he’d told Mary, Leo had found some new piece of information, something that had changed his opinion about the accident that killed his estranged wife. But how had he found that piece of information? And more important, what was it?

chapter 10

I headed home after work to change and have a quick bite of supper. I was meeting Maggie and Roma at Abel’s to look for a wedding dress.