A Novel Idea Read online

  “None at all,” I said stoutly. “I never saw them speak with each other. But Linus generally keeps to himself, and so did Sally.”

  Wilson was looking restless, so Burton focused on asking him questions first. But it was quickly obvious that Wilson had been in his office on the phone and hadn’t seen or noticed anything at all. As soon as Burton finished asking him questions, Wilson hurried away to mingle with the patrons and apologize for their having to stay put.

  More police drove up then and Burton spoke with them for a few minutes before directing his attention to me. “I couldn’t help but notice when I was inside that there were posters of the victim’s face all over the library. She was there earlier for a program?”

  I nodded. “Sally gave a talk and had a signing today in the community room. She said she was working on a follow-up book, which is apparently why she was working in the library afterward. Linus is right—she’s definitely one to keep to a schedule. As far as I’ve been able to tell, she rigidly adhered to it.”

  “How did Sally appear during the talk? Did she seem concerned about anything at all? Could her assailant have possibly attended her talk?”

  I said, “Well, I was worried to start out with because Sally seemed sort of moody. Quiet. I wasn’t sure if she was going to be chatty enough to carry off a lecture and a Q&A session. But then she loosened up as soon as she started. She was animated and seemed to enjoy herself.”

  “And the audience?”

  I said, “They were paying close attention. Sally was a good speaker, and they were definitely onboard.” I paused. “I did notice that Sally seemed almost to be looking for someone when she arrived.”

  “Looking for someone?” Burton’s voice was hopeful.

  “That’s right. Sally arrived fairly late, which had worried me at first. I wondered if she was going to end up being a no-show. I had the feeling that she was looking for someone in particular when she was scanning the faces in the room. And, when she was speaking, she seemed almost to be directing her points to people in the back.”

  “Do you remember who was sitting back there?”

  I shook my head regretfully. “Sorry, no. I was paying more attention to making sure everything was running on time. I realized we had a good turnout, that there were regular patrons as well as newcomers there, and that Wilson seemed happy with the event. That was more of my focus.”

  “Was the event filmed? Photographed?” Here Burton looked hopeful again.

  “It was, yes. Both. Of course, the focus was on Sally, unfortunately. I had the camera zoomed in fairly close.”

  Burton’s face fell.

  “But I kept it running after the event wrapped up for a while. You might be able to see who was in attendance.”

  Burton nodded. “I’m going to need to get that video, I’m afraid.”

  “Of course.” The film was going to be a problem anyway since we clearly would not be able to air it as we’d previously intended. Not with our speaker murdered so soon after the program ended.

  “What did you make of Sally?” asked Burton.

  I sighed. “Well, I didn’t really know her, of course, so it’s a little unfair of me to say this. But she wasn’t very likeable, I’m afraid. Or, at least, I didn’t find her very likeable. She seemed to have something of a sour disposition. She didn’t interact with the staff.”

  “Not even with Luna?” Burton gave a wry smile. He’d dated Luna for a time and knew well how extroverted she was. She’d even pulled Linus out of his shell before he’d become so friendly with us.

  “Not even with Luna. As far as I’m aware, of course. You’ll have to ask her. She’s trying to help the moms corral their kids since the children’s section is her area.”

  Burton said, “I know we’ll get the video of the event and are going to be scrutinizing it from every direction. But what was your impression of Sally’s talk? Did she go off in any directions that were surprising to you?”

  I considered this. “I would have said it was basically a normal author talk. She spoke about her background, her interest in writing, and that sort of thing. Pretty normal stuff.” I paused. “I would say she did talk about the premise of her book for a little longer than usual. Authors ordinarily like to tease the audience more about the book to tempt them into buying it. But she basically laid it all out for them.”

  “I’m sure I’m going to start reading her book today. But could you give me a preview?”

  I said, “It’s a study on guilt.”

  Burton’s eyebrows raised. “Is it now? And you say she was looking for someone in the audience?”

  “She seemed to be, yes. But Burton, the book is supposed to be fiction.”

  Burton said, “Maybe it’s based on real-life, though.”

  “She did say she was starting a new book. And that one was to be nonfiction about a Southern murder.”

  Burton’s eyebrows now raised even higher. “Is that so? I’ll have to take a look at that manuscript.”

  “Her laptop is in the library with her,” I said. I felt a sudden wave of sadness thinking of Sally in her homemade scarf.

  We were interrupted by a rather nondescript young man. He was tall with stooped shoulders and brownish-blond hair. I felt as if I recognized him from the library but didn’t think I’d ever spoken with him.

  “Can I help you?” asked Burton, a bit brusquely.

  “What’s going on here?” asked the man. He gestured around him to the police tape, the people standing outside, and the general tension in the air.

  “We’ve had an incident in the library,” said Burton, still sounding short.

  The man frowned. “Okay. What kind of incident?”

  Suddenly, I realized I could place the young man. I’d seen him speaking with Sally at the library on more than one occasion. I said quietly to Burton, “I think this gentleman might know Sally.”

  Burton’s demeanor changed immediately. “You know Sally Simmons?”

  The man’s expression was irritated, as if everyone should know that. “That’s right. She’s my sister. I’m Steve Simmons.”

  Burton glanced around. “Do you want to have a seat so that we can have a talk? My police car is right there.”

  He shook his head impatiently. “No, I really just want to know what’s going on. I don’t have time for this. I’ve got to get back to my job. I’m on a break from the grocery store.”

  Burton said slowly, “I’m afraid I have some bad news for you. Your sister was discovered, dead, at the library. I’m very sorry.”

  Steve shook his head again. “That can’t be right. There must be some sort of mistake. I just spoke to Sally.”

  “When was that?” asked Burton, taking out a tiny notebook and a stub of a pencil.

  Steve rubbed his face, thinking. “I don’t know. Maybe it was an hour ago.”

  Burton quirked an eyebrow. “And you decided to come over to the library to see her, even though you just talked?”

  Steve seemed a little flustered. “There was something I needed to ask her.”

  “But not on the phone?”

  Steve shrugged. “Sally wanted to get back to work. She ended the conversation too fast. Sometimes she could be laser-focused like that. So I just thought I’d pop by the library before I went to work.”

  “And interrupt her?”

  Steve’s shrug now was impatient, as if he was trying to deflect Burton’s words. “I needed to talk to her, like I said. Anyway, why would I be here now if I’d done something to Sally? I didn’t know anything about this. I was at home before now, getting ready to go to work.”

  Burton continued pressing, after jotting down a note about Steve’s previous whereabouts. “Unfortunately, your sister’s death is suspicious. There are some routine questions I need to ask. What was so urgent that you needed to speak with your sister about it right then?”

  Steve’s stooped shoulders fell even more as he gave in. “Suspicious??”

  “I’m afraid so.”
/>
  Steve blew out a shaky breath. “Okay. I needed to ask Sally for a small loan to cover me until payday. My car needed to go to the shop, and I had to use my rent money for that. I wanted to ask her to make up the difference.”

  “And Sally would have done that?”

  Steve said, “She didn’t have a problem with that. Sally came into a lot of money recently.” He gestured to me. “She’ll know. Sally was giving a talk at the library today.”

  “You couldn’t make the talk?” asked Burton.

  I noticed a flash of irritation in Steve’s eyes. “It’s not my kind of thing. Besides, it looked like there were going to be tons of people there. I probably couldn’t have found a seat. Besides, I had to get ready to go to work.”

  “So Sally was doing well with her books,” said Burton. “Well enough to help you out, too.”

  “It’s not like she minded. Sally knew she had lots more advantages than I did growing up. I had to drop out of college because my folks ran out of money helping Sally with her education. They thought Sally had more promise than I did, so I guess they had to plan their investment.” This was said in a sneering voice.

  “What kind of work do you do for the grocery store?” asked Burton.

  “Whatever they need me to do. I can stock shelves, unload the truck, bag, ring up groceries. Maybe I’d have been in management if I hadn’t had to drop out of school, though. I’ve been thinking about doing something else, anyway. Maybe getting certified as a bartender and working at Quittin’ Time.”

  Steve had something of a defensive air when he talked about his job.

  “What do you know about your sister’s book?”

  Steve frowned. “What do you mean, what do I know?”

  “Have you read it?”

  Steve made a face. “It’s not really my thing, like I said before. All I know is that the book was based on something that actually happened.”

  Burton glanced at me. “I understood it was fiction.”

  Steve shrugged again. “Maybe she said that just so she wouldn’t get sued or something. Or maybe somebody gave her the idea for the book. I don’t know.” He came to an abrupt stop, probably not wanting to suggest that his sister’s book wasn’t actually her own work.

  Burton made some more scribbles in his notepad. “How was Sally lately?”

  “How was she?”

  Now Burton was the one who sounded a little impatient. I couldn’t blame him. It wasn’t easy pulling information out of Steve. “Did your sister seem to have something on her mind? Worried about something? That kind of thing.”

  Steve considered this. “Well, I wouldn’t say she was worried about anything. She just got this huge windfall of money, you know? She was excited about that, and she was happy that the book had come out and was doing so well. The publisher had given her this big advance, and she wanted to prove to them that the book would sell. And it did.” He thought some more. “Sally did just break up with her boyfriend, of course.”

  Chapter Four

  Burton poised the stub of a pencil over the notepad. “What’s his name?”

  “Jason Hill. They were together for a while, but then Sally dumped him when things started getting crazy for her. I guess she didn’t have time for a relationship while she was working on the second book and doing interviews and stuff.”

  Steve was sort of vague about the details of what Sally was actually up to. And, as I’d noticed earlier, Sally hadn’t actually done a lot of press for her book.

  “How did Jason take the breakup?” asked Burton.

  “Not great,” admitted Steve. “I think it made it look like she was using him. But that wasn’t Sally, you know.”

  “Using him? Was he supporting Sally or something?”

  Steve nodded. “That’s right. She was living with him, and he was helping her out while she was spending her days here.” He gestured at the library.

  “So was Sally using him?” Burton tapped the pencil on the paper.

  “No, of course not. Sally would never do something like that. She wanted the relationship to work out. She was always saying how smart Jason was and how he could do anything.”

  Burton continued tapping the pencil on the notepad thoughtfully. “This Jason—he’s a farmer, isn’t he?”

  “Yeah. He does all right with a kind of small farm. He’s got that farm stand where he sells free-range eggs, honey, stuff like that. I’m not sure Sally really pictured herself as a farmer’s wife, though. Jason thought they were a lot more serious than she did.”

  “Was he mad about the breakup?” asked Burton.

  “You’ll have to ask him that. But the impression I got from Sally was that he was furious. Nobody likes to feel like they’ve been used. And maybe Sally didn’t do the best job explaining why she was breaking up with him. That’s the thing about Sally—she was good with words when she was writing. But when she was talking, she got real awkward.”

  “Anything else you can tell me about your sister that might help us figure out who did this? What kind of person she was, what her interests were?” asked Burton.

  Steve was quiet for a few seconds. “I don’t know, really. I mean, she was pretty quiet. She didn’t have many friends. That’s why I was glad she was dating Jason. I didn’t like the thought of her being by herself all the time.”

  “Was it usual for her not to have friends, or did she fall out with some people recently?”

  Steve said, “It was pretty normal, unfortunately. Like I said, she could be really awkward. And she mostly enjoyed doing quiet activities, anyway. She’d go on walks, read books, listen to music. Sally didn’t spend a lot of time out of the house.”

  “What did she do before she started writing books? She had some income before then?”

  Steve said, “Sally worked in an office for a while. It was the front office for one of the mills around here. I don’t know exactly what she did for them, but I don’t think she liked it much. She told me that she had to write that book she was working on. She was driven.”

  Burton said, “Is there anyone else you can think of who might have had a problem with Sally?”

  “With Sally?” Steve sounded surprised.

  “You can’t think of anyone other than the ex-boyfriend?”

  Steve opened his mouth and then closed it again. “At first, I was going to reject the idea that anybody could have wanted to hurt Sally. Like I said, she kept to herself. How could you make someone upset if you just hang out in the library or at home? But there was this one woman that Sally was having issues with. She told me about it recently.”

  Burton’s pencil was poised over the notepad. “Do you know her name?”

  “It was Liz . . . no, Liv. That was it. I don’t know much about it because Sally didn’t mention it more than once or twice. But this Liv started bugging Sally right after the book came out and got big.”

  I knew a Liv from the library and had a feeling it must be the same one Steve was referring to. There couldn’t be more than one in a town the size of Whitby.

  Burton asked, “Bugging her? Like how?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. Calling her, I guess? Sending her emails? Anyway, she was being a pest for Sally to say something about it to me. That’s all I know, though.”

  Burton nodded, making another few notes. He also asked for Steve’s contact information. “Okay. Steve, I’m sorry again about your sister. We’re going to do everything we can to figure out who’s responsible for this.”

  Steve nodded and moved slowly toward his car, lost in his own thoughts once again.

  Burton glanced across at the crowd of people. “I’d better check in again with the other cops. See you later, Ann.”

  He moved away to speak with the forensics team, who had just arrived on the scene.

  Luna hurried toward me. “What a mess. I can’t believe this is happening at the library again. This is my safe place.”

  I nodded, knowing exactly how she felt. “I know. It feels like a violati
on, doesn’t it? I guess we shouldn’t be too shocked. After all, it’s a public place and whatever happens in the public can happen there. But it just feels wrong.” I looked around the crowd of patrons. “Wow, all the moms and kids are gone.”

  Luna gave a small smile. “Yeah. I told the state police they needed to get the kids out of there first thing. Of course, we were in the middle of a storytime when we got the announcement to leave the building. I grabbed a few picture books on the way out and read stories while the cops talked to the moms and got their witness statements.”

  “That must have been pretty quick.”

  Luna shrugged. “They wouldn’t have seen anything unless it happened before they were in storytime. Sally’s death took place completely across the building. And after all, no mom in her right mind is going to take little kids over to the quiet area of the library.”

  “No, I guess not.”

  Luna said, “What on earth happened? I mean, I know what happened, but I can’t figure out why it did. We had a perfectly nice event from everything I’ve heard. Then our speaker ends up dead shortly afterward?”

  I nodded slowly. “I get the feeling that it must have had something to do with what was said at the program. I’ve read the book now, of course, and Sally swore it was fiction. I’m wondering how much of it might have been based on real events, though. Plus, Sally said that she was working on a second book now that was nonfiction. On some sort of Southern murder or murders. Maybe someone wanted to stop her from doing that.”

  “Did you notice anybody acting weird during the program? Glaring at Sally or something?”

  “Not really,” I said. “There were a lot of people there—the room was packed. I was mostly focused on Sally and thinking about the questions I was going to ask her following the session. She’d answered some of them during her talk, so I was striking those out. Plus, everyone in the room looked pretty serious. Sally was a good speaker, but she wasn’t throwing a lot of jokes in there. Her book wasn’t exactly a light-hearted read, either.”