“You got here really quickly Sheriff, must be a quiet day!” suggested Ed as they caught up.
“No Mr Saunders, it’s actually quite a busy day, what with the fire and all, but my office is just across the street and poor Mrs Phillips sounded real upset on the phone so I came right over.”
“What fire is that? I heard sirens earlier but didn’t give it much of a thought.” Linda enquired. Rosen turned to Linda, a hard-edged smile playing on his lips.
“Damn shame, big blaze over at a storage unit on the outskirts of town, from what I hear, the whole of the Tribune’s files and history have gone up in a big ball of smoke.”
Ed and Linda looked at each other, the knowledge of the fact that probably their last line of enquiry was now lost forever needed no words. Rosen stood rock steady, an enigmatic smile on his face. They waited in silence until Mrs Phillips reappeared, carrying the bunch of keys. She was still flustered and upset.
“Sorry, I had to tell a couple of people to leave, then I closed the library, I think its best, in the circumstances.” Rosen looked down on her but said nothing, just held out a gloved hand. Jan Phillips looked down at his hand then back to his face, confused.
“I think the Sheriff would like the key to the storeroom now Jan.” Linda offered, breaking the silence. The realisation finally dawned on the aged librarian’s face and she fumbled for the right key but not before dropping them on the floor. Rosen stared at her impassively, patiently waiting until she finally found the correct key for the room. Finally, she sorted out the right key and handed it to the Sheriff. He deftly inserted the key in the lock and opened the door. Without looking he stretched out to his right and knocked the light switch to on.
“Mmm, quite a mess you got here” he drawled. The other three tried to squeeze in behind the Sheriff but there was little space as he had barely entered the room.
“We think whoever did this went into the computer too as the ones in the library aren’t working.” offered Linda. The law enforcement officer gazed a few moments longer around the room then abruptly turned around, almost bowling the other three over in surprise.
“Nothing much to be done here, no signs of forced entry, but I’ll get my deputy to come over when he’s finished at the fire, see if he can get any prints from anything. ’Til then leave the place as it is, you got that?” He switched off the light, closed the door behind him and locked the room.
“I’ll take this with me” he said as he slipped the key from the bunch and dropped it in a top pocket of his starched chocolate-coloured shirt.
Ignoring Jan and looking at Ed and Linda, the Sheriff said “I’ll be wanting to talk with both of you at some point so don’t go disappearing anywhere will you?” With that he marched back the way he came, beckoning Jan to let him out the main doors at the front. She bustled after him quickly leaving Ed and Linda in the corridor.
“Oh, that man gives me the creeps. You know he asked me out on a date just a few weeks after Ben died, can you believe that?”
“Really?” Ed looked astonished. “No one is that insensitive are they?”
They stared at the door that Rosen had just left by.
“It’s just a thought”, he said, “but did you see how he went into that room. He switched the light on without looking for it. You did too, but you’ve been in there a million times, right? How did he know where the switch was?
“What are you trying to say, Rosen trashed our store room and computer?”
“I’m not saying anything, but… well, he did know where it was, and he seemed pretty pleased with himself when he told us that storage place belonging to the Tribune was on fire.”
“Well he does know the alarm code of all the municipal buildings and whoever got in never set the alarm off, but why, why would he do this?” she asked.
“That Lieutenant is the right question.” He said almost to himself.
“What? Lieutenant?
He was deep in thought but replied, “Oh, it’s just a line from a movie, never mind.”
Linda stared at him, a confused look on her face. After a few moments Ed broke the silence, “Will Smith? Oh never mind. So that’s it then, we can’t do much else can we?” he asked.
They wandered back to the staff room and sat opposite each other in two worn-out armchairs glumly drinking their coffee. Linda looked perplexed, after a few minutes she sat bolt upright. “That’s it!” exclaimed the librarian, “Come on!” She banged her near empty mug down on a side table and almost dragged Ed out of his seat. “What?!” he asked, completely startled by her sudden drive. “I’ve got an idea!” she said with a beautiful sexy smile on her lips.
Linda started to walk back to reception, her turn to be deep in thought, Ed following close behind. Finally, she whispered “Well there is no way the fire at the storage facility is a coincidence. Whoever it is knows we are looking into it. I think we are going to have to be more direct. I think we should go and talk to Buster”.
“Gracie’s dad? Do you think that’s a good idea Linda? What we have to say will sound insane and it’ll only upset the guy”.
“We don’t need to tell him everything; we can leave out the weird stuff. I know Buster, he’s a lovely man, I think he’ll talk to us, tell us what happened back then. He comes in here sometimes so I’ll have his address”. “Won’t he be at work, at the gas station?”
“No, I’m pretty sure he only works the afternoon ‘til late shift. It would be better to talk to him at home, in private anyway”.
Ed looked doubtful. “Will you have his address still; didn’t you lose it with the rest of the computer stuff?” “Oh yes, maybe, but that’s my idea! She replied proudly, “We still have the old registration cards too. I’ll go see”. Behind the counter sat a beige metal cabinet with small drawers from top to bottom. Linda opened the top drawer marked A to C and skipped deftly through the filing system behind the reception desk until she found the B’s.
“Here we go, B… Beechey… Bell… Benedict…… Benjamin! Eugene Benjamin, Got it! 1241 North Acre Road. I know where that is”. She waved the small filing card triumphantly.
“I’m still not sure this is a good idea Linda”.
Worry was etched on Ed’s face. He could see that Linda was getting excited about joining the hunt, her enthusiasm making her eyes sparkle, the disappointment and shock of the break-in already forgotten.
“It’ll be fine, trust me! Your car or mine?” Capitulating to her excitement he gave in. “Okay, we’d better take mine if we want to get there. C’mon”. She thumped him gently on the arm in defence of her car as Jan unlocked the door once more and let them out of the library.
SIXTEEN
North Acre Road was set in a pleasant if slightly run-down suburb north of town. What had once been classed as the black side of town, but now there were just as many white families living in the area. As Linda gave directions Ed drove. Being on the opposite side of town than the one he had entered he recognised nothing. When she had first entered his car she did a quick look around at the interior, noting the mess.
“Not big on house-keeping then?” she quipped.
“What do you mean, this is modern art, and it’s a work in progress so don’t move anything!” he rebuked. “When I’ve finished this trip I hope to sell this car for a quarter million to some gullible art gallery curator.”
“Oh I can see it now, you mean like Damien Hirst’s dead cow? I think you’ll get more for it than that then.” They both laughed.