“Tried it the other day. It didn’t go well.” Which was an understatement. Coffee had gone everywhere—all over the burner, the counter, and the floor. Even coffee grounds had somehow gotten into the mix. “I’m a bit gun-shy to try it again so soon.”
“What were you daydreaming about just now?” he asked. “You looked a million miles away.”
“Oh, this and that,” I said vaguely. “You know how I get.” What I’d been thinking about was Bax Tousely’s bank tirade. After Mara had finished telling the story, I’d gently asked her why, once she’d learned that Rowan had been murdered, she hadn’t told the police. “I didn’t want to get anyone into trouble,” she’d said. “I mean, he was just venting, right? After his loan had been turned down. People do that all the time and nothing happens.”
I’d wanted to point out that something had, in fact, happened this time, but I’d smiled instead. Later that day, when I’d called Ash, he’d been very interested indeed and said he’d look into it. Whether or not he’d let me know what he found out was the big question.
Holly came into the break room and asked, “Have you done it yet?”
“Done what?”
“Not you. Him.” Holly pointed at Josh, who was leaning against the counter, sipping his coffee. “Time is ticking away. If he doesn’t act soon, all will be lost.”
I was the one who was lost. I’d once had my finger on the pulse of library gossip, but now that I was out on the bookmobile a third of the time, it was hard to keep up. “What are you talking about?”
“Valentine’s Day,” she said, huffing. “He needs to start making plans if he wants to impress his new girlfriend.”
“She’s not my—”
Holly didn’t let him keep talking. “Maybe not officially, but tell me this. Don’t you want her to be your girlfriend? Don’t you think she could be The One? Do you really think you will ever find anyone that suits you better than Mia Lacombe?”
“Well . . .” Josh looked at the floor, and dark red stained his ruddy cheeks.
On the inside, I was cheering wildly. Mia was Leese’s half sister and was adorable in every way. Sure, she had a few problems, but didn’t we all? A solid and nonvolatile relationship could easily be the best thing for her. And Josh could certainly use some social companionship that wasn’t on the other end of a computer. Of course, Mia herself was in IT and maybe all their romance would be in bits and bytes, but if it worked for them, did it matter?
Kelsey stopped in the doorway. “Well, rats,” she said, looking at the coffeepot. “Who made it? Minnie?” She sighed, but came forward anyway.
“Just the person we needed,” Holly said. “Minnie isn’t being any help. We need to help Josh plan his first Valentine’s Day with Mia.”
As Josh made a gagging noise, Kelsey nodded. “This is a critical event. It will set the tone for the rest of the relationship. Think carefully, Josh.”
“What I’m saying.” Holly pointed at Josh again. “Figure out where you want to set the bar. Low or high. Too low and you might lose her because she’ll think you don’t care enough. Too high and you could scare her into thinking you’re an over-the-top freak. Don’t be a Bax.”
I’d been edging out of the room but stopped dead. “Bax Tousely? What did he do?”
“You haven’t heard the story?” Holly squinted at me. “Hang on, I think it happened the February before you started here.”
“Everybody was talking about it,” Kelsey said. “Half the town thought it was the most romantic gesture ever. The other half thought he was a nutcase.”
Josh shot me a glance. “The halves were divided by gender. You can guess which went with the nutcase side.”
“What did he do?” I asked again. “Who was his girlfriend?”
“Anya Bennethum,” Holly said, and it was possible that my mouth dropped open. “She and Bax were a couple for years. It was the Valentine’s Day of their junior year and the entire town of Chilson woke up to a huge banner hung from the top of the steeple of the Catholic church, the tallest thing in town, a banner saying, HAPPY V D, ANYA. LOVE, BAX.”
“V D?” I asked, wincing. Even on Valentine’s Day, to me V D could only mean venereal disease.
“Yeah.” Kelsey grinned. “It was a vertical banner. There wasn’t room to spell out “Valentine’s,” so he used initials instead. They’d broken up by the end of the day.”
Poor Anya. How mortifying. And poor Bax, who’d shown a spectacular lack of . . . something.
“Moron,” Josh said, not unkindly. “I hear he won’t talk about it now.”
But I wasn’t talking, either, because I was suddenly thinking furiously. Leese said she’d seen Bax driving past the Bennethums’ house a number of times before Rowan died. And Jared, the hardware store guy, had told me Bax had been in the store the morning of Rowan’s murder, but had been acting oddly.
Was it possible that Bax had heard about an engagement of a Bennethum twin and assumed it was Anya? Had his love for her turned into obsession? Had he meant to kill Anya but killed Rowan instead?
Chapter 11
The next day was a bookmobile day. I got out of bed with a smile on my face and a song in my heart. “Good thing it was just in my heart,” I told Julia as we drove across the frozen tundra of Tonedagana County, “because otherwise you’d find out how horrible my singing is.”
“Can’t be any worse than mine,” she said. “There’s a reason I never did musicals. Like they say, you can make an actor out of a singer but you can’t make a singer out of an actor.”
I had no idea anyone had ever said that, but it made sense. Sort of.
Julia leaned forward to peer into the cat carrier. “Eddie, what do you think of your mom’s singing?”
“Mrr.”
She sat back. “He said he thinks it’s wonderful.”
“I’m pretty sure he said he wants treats and why haven’t we given him any this—” I came to a full stop.
“What’s that?” Julia asked, looking up at me sideways.
“Um.” I continued to stare out the windshield. First thing that morning, I’d called the sheriff’s office to ask about road conditions, and after listening to the deputies’ comments about drifting snow blocking some back roads, I was taking a different route to the first stop of the day, a route that was taking us past Rowan’s house. “There’s a car at the Bennethums’.”
“There is?” Julia sat up. “You’re right, there is. Isn’t Neil gone?”
“Far as I know. And he drives an SUV.”
The two of us studied the small sedan as we drove past. “That’s weird,” I said.
“Maybe a neighbor has guests and is using the drive for overflow parking,” Julia suggested.
I nodded slowly. Possible, but now that it was almost February, a need for extra guest parking seemed unlikely. Also unlikely were any of the other scenarios I was running in my head. “This afternoon,” I said, “we’ll loop around and come back this way. If you’re okay with getting home a few minutes late.”
She was, we did, and when we did, the car was still there.
After a moment’s hesitation, I turned the bookmobile into the driveway and parked behind the dark gray sedan. “You can stay here,” I told Julia, “but I’m going up to the house.”
“If you’re in, I’m in.” Julia looked down at the carrier. “We’ll be back in a few minutes, Mr. Ed, okay?”
“Mrr,” Eddie replied, and I was pretty sure I heard a little kitty snore by the time the door shut behind us.
As we approached the front porch, we saw that someone had shoveled it clear of snow. This was not normally a part of the service provided by plow guys, and a few seconds after I rang the bell, the front door was opened by Anya Bennethum.
“Wow, hello, Minnie, Ms. Beaton.” She looked over my shoulder. “And the bookmobile! Is something wrong?”