“You’re sure?” I said. I could hear my pulse thudding in my ears again.
“Positive,” Sandra said. “It was my mother-in-law’s birthday. My husband and I drove into Minneapolis after work to celebrate with the family.”
Leo had received the mysterious key the day before he was killed. Was that important? Somehow I had the feeling it was.
• • •
Maggie called midmorning to see if we could have lunch so she could show me the proposed layout for the photo exhibit. We agreed to meet at Eric’s at one thirty. She was already inside when I got to the café, seated at our favorite table, going through the little ritual she followed when she made her tea.
As soon as I sat down Nic appeared at my elbow seemingly as if by magic and poured me a cup of coffee without even asking if I wanted one because we both knew I did. “Do you need a menu?” he asked.
Maggie shook her head.
Nic grinned. He put two fingers to his temple like a sideshow psychic. “Let me see,” he said. “I think you would both like a big bowl of . . . chili and . . . a plate of cornbread.”
I smiled at his mind-reading routine. “Please,” I said.
“It’ll just be a few minutes.”
“Are we getting too predictable?” Maggie asked.
“No,” I said, slipping out of my jacket. “We’re consistent.”
“We’ve had chili the last three times we’ve been here for lunch.”
“It’s not our fault the chili is so good. If we didn’t order it we might hurt Eric’s feelings and that would be wrong,” I said solemnly.
“Well, I wouldn’t want to hurt Eric’s feelings,” she said. Then she laughed.
“So show me what you came up with,” I said.
Maggie pulled a brown envelope out of the messenger bag slung over the back of her chair. Inside were three sketches she’d made of three different layouts for the exhibit. We quickly settled on the second one and she spent the rest of the meal telling me what different people were doing with their frames.
“I have another idea, although I don’t know if it’s workable,” she said as she pushed back her empty bowl.
“What is it?” I asked, scooping the last bit of cornbread from the bottom of my dish.
“The post office gave the library those photos, right?” Maggie asked.
I nodded. “We’re becoming the repository for things people think the town needs to keep but that they don’t want to be responsible for. That’s how we got all the old yearbooks and the herbarium.”
“So you don’t have any obligation to keep all the photos?”
I leaned back in my chair. “No.”
She smiled. “Great. Then why can’t we auction off some of them to buy new books for the library? There are several gorgeous shots of the bluff.”
“I’d have to run it by Everett and the board,” I said slowly.
“We could put the framed photos up on the co-op’s website—I’m sure Ruby would agree. That would get you a wider audience.”
“I like it,” I said, grinning across the table at her.
We talked about the auction idea for a few more minutes and then Maggie looked at her watch. “I need to head for the store.”
“Lunch is on me,” I said.
She shook her head. “No.”
“Yes,” I said. “This was library business.” I got to my feet and reached for my jacket.
“I’ll get you photos of some of the frames that are already done, and I’ll talk to Ruby.”
I hugged her and she headed for the door while I went over to pay the bill. When I stepped outside I remembered what Mia had told me about her memory stick possibly coming from the bookstore. I had time. I decided I’d stop in and see if I could find one of the Hershey bar ones for Sara.
I was about to step inside the bookstore when the door opened and Victor Janes came out. He smiled when he caught sight of me. “Hello, Kathleen,” he said. “How are you?”
“Hello, Victor,” I said. “I’m well, how are you?”
“Under the circumstances I’m . . . I’m all right.”
He looked so much like his brother and yet I never would have confused the two. Where all the lines on Leo’s face had seemed to go up so that it looked as though he was smiling even when he hadn’t been, Victor, I’d noticed, had a bit of a dissatisfied expression on his face, like a toddler who had just been told no. As soon as I had the thought I felt guilty. Victor seemed to bring out that emotion in me, guilt because I didn’t like him, guilt because, for a moment I’d actually entertained the thought that he’d killed his brother. The man had a serious illness and had just lost his only sibling. Why wouldn’t he feel unhappy with the world?
I was about to move past him into the store when he put a hand on my arm. “Kathleen, would you have a moment?” he asked.
“Of course,” I said.
We moved away from the doorway.
“Simon told me you were the one who found my brother,” Victor said.
An image of Leo Janes’s body slumped on the floor flashed across my mind. I swallowed and nodded.
“I don’t want to cause you any more distress than you’ve already been through, but I’m wondering if you can . . . tell me what you saw.”
I hesitated. What was there to tell him? I’d seen Leo dead, blood on the back of his head.
Victor pressed his lips together for a moment. I noticed his complexion seemed pale. “Kathleen, I know it sounds gruesome, but Leo was my twin and we always had a connection, even during all the years we didn’t speak. I had this feeling that something was wrong that night.” He shook his head. “I keep thinking that if I hadn’t ignored it . . . maybe Leo would still be alive. Please. Whatever you tell me can’t be worse than what I’ve been imagining.”
“There isn’t really much to tell you,” I said slowly, trying to choose my words with care. “Your brother was on the floor and I don’t think he suffered. I think his death was . . . quick.”
Victor exhaled slowly. “I was hoping that somehow he’d left me a message. I know that doesn’t make sense.”
I shook my head. The conversation was making me very uncomfortable and it was hard not to back away. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t see any kind of note or message.”
“Well, you’ve put my mind at ease, at least,” he said, reaching out to touch my arm again. “I wouldn’t want Leo to have suffered. Thank you.”
I nodded.
He headed down the sidewalk and I turned in the direction of the library. I didn’t feel like going into the bookstore anymore. I felt bad for Victor Janes. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to lose Sara or Ethan. But it was hard to like him, unlike Leo, who had made me smile from the first moment I met him. I wondered if my opinion of Victor was colored by what I knew about his relationship with Simon’s mother and how much pain that had caused Simon. I didn’t like thinking I was that judgmental, but maybe I was.
• • •
When I got home after work Hercules was waiting for me on the back steps. “Hey, handsome,” I said, leaning over to stroke his fur. The top of his head was warm from the afternoon sun. “What are you doing out here?”
He looked up at the sky. “Ah, yes, grackle patrol,” I said. “Isn’t that over for the season?”
Hercules looked at me as though he were surprised I was asking. I held up one hand. “Sorry,” I said. “I just thought the grackle would have flown south by now. Though, now that I think about it, I’m not sure they do fly south.”
I unlocked the door and Hercules followed me inside. “Where’s your brother?” I asked. I glanced over at the basement door. “Down in his lair in the cellar?”
Hercules looked up at the ceiling.
Owen was upstairs somewhere, probably poking around in my closet. “I better not find a chicken head in my new boots,” I said.
“Mrr,” Hercules replied, which likely meant “Don’t count on it.”