“Marty, what do we do about the Society now? We don’t have a leader-well, practically speaking. Who’s next in line to take over? How will we handle day-to-day operations?”
Marty swallowed, then said slowly, “I can’t say we’ve ever had to deal with something like this-as far as I can recall, we’ve always had an orderly transition, with someone waiting in the wings. I think the first step is to call a special board meeting-at least get the Executive Committee together. And get our lawyer there. And our insurance carrier. Jimmy, can you be there?” He nodded. “How about you, Nell? Since you started this whole thing, you should be there, too, to fill in any blanks.”
“Sure.”
Marty looked at her watch-it was after ten. “Too late to call them tonight-I’ll get on it first thing in the morning, see if I can get a quorum together in the next day or so. We need to start doing some damage control here.”
“Sooner rather than later,” I agreed. “Listen, can I tell the staff tomorrow that Charles has been asked to resign? I know they’ve been picking up rumblings, and they deserve to know what’s going on. I don’t have to go into the details.”
“Good point. I say yes.” Marty stood up. “Guys, I’m beat. I’m going home. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. And thanks, both of you.” She wrapped her coat around her and headed out, leaving James and me alone at the table.
I realized I felt good. The buzz from the wine had not quite dissipated and I was well-fed; Marty no doubt would apply her considerable energies to sorting out the mess at the Society. Charles would be disgraced, even if only in his own eyes, and I felt proud of having ended our stunted relationship with a shred of dignity. The Society could move forward, somehow. I wasn’t quite sure what form it would take, but I felt hopeful for the first time in days.
And most important, we had solved Alfred’s murder.
It occurred to me that James hadn’t said anything for a while. I looked at him to find him studying me again. I tilted my head at him, in question.
He gave an apologetic half smile. “Sorry-was I staring? I was just thinking that you’ve handled yourself well. You sure you don’t want a job with the FBI?”
That made me laugh. “I’ll consider it, if things don’t work out at the Society. But I know I can be useful there while all this is shaking out. And I’m glad we found Alfred’s killer. I always counted Alfred as a friend. I respected his abilities, and I never wrote him off as unimportant, although I know a lot of other people did. Funny how he and Doris-two people who most of the staff never gave a second thought to-came so close to bringing the place down.” I sighed.
The check materialized, and James slipped out his credit card.
“So, dinner’s on the FBI?” I asked as I gathered my bag from the floor and stood to put on my coat.
“No, on me.” He reached to hold my coat as I slid my arm into it.
I stopped for a moment and looked him straight in the eye. “Thank you-for everything.”
He didn’t say anything immediately. Then he nodded. “Where’s your car? I’ll walk you to it.”
We didn’t have much to say as we walked to the parking garage, but it was nice to feel safe on the streets of the city after dark.
It didn’t take long to get to the garage.
“Well, this is it,” I said. Really bright comment, Nell.
“All right, then. Take care.”
For an awkward moment, I wondered if we were supposed to shake hands or something. In the end, I just turned and walked toward the stairs of the garage. As I entered the stairwell, I caught a brief glimpse of him, standing where I’d left him, watching me.
CHAPTER 34
The next morning when I arrived I posted signs on the entry doors announcing a quick staff meeting-déjà vu time. I waited for the troops to gather in the boardroom. People appeared quickly, no doubt apprehensive about the rumors that had been swirling around over the past few days. Gossip travels fast in a small place.
When it looked as though everyone was assembled, I began to speak. “I know you all want to know what’s going on, but I only want to say it once. Is anybody missing?” People turned to look at each other and shrugged as one. “All right. I’ll give you the short version, and then you can ask questions. Charles Worthington has resigned from his position as president of the Society, effective immediately. There will be an ad hoc board meeting tomorrow to formally accept his resignation and to begin a search for his replacement.” I debated briefly whether to tell them about Doris ’s role in Alfred’s death and decided against it. Let Alfred rest in peace, at least until the press got hold of Doris ’s arrest. “Any questions?”
Of course there were. The impromptu meeting with the staff eventually ended only because we knew there were patrons lined up at the door, fuming, and we couldn’t afford to antagonize any of our supporters. Nobody mentioned anything about missing documents, not that many people knew about them. Had we really managed to keep that quiet? Or would staff members seek me out one at a time to get the real story? As I had told Marty, our staff were good people, by and large. I hoped they would stick around through whatever was coming, because we needed them, now more than ever. I hoped that they had enough trust in those of us who were left to be patient, and we wouldn’t be seeing a mass defection. I would be saddened to see some of these people go, and they were important to the Society if we wanted to keep operating as usual through the stormy days ahead.
I wasn’t particularly happy about the lack of leadership going forward. I remembered the search process from the last time and shuddered. If attracting qualified candidates and making a decision had been difficult then, what was it going to be like now, with Charles’s abrupt departure? But that wasn’t my problem: Marty was dealing with the board, and I knew she could handle whatever questions they pitched at her.
She’d managed to assemble the board in record time, or at least enough of them to make decisions. I don’t know what she told them to get them to show up at the Thursday meeting, beyond the bare facts of Charles’s defection. Since they shared some liability for what went on at the Society-and a fair number were lawyers- she had probably had to tell them more than that. In any case, they had all promised to come to the meeting.
Marty had asked me to be there, too, so I had dressed carefully, putting on my grandmother’s pearls again, and keeping them on this time. As I walked through the lobby, then the catalog room, I got more smiles than frowns from the busy staff members, so I assumed that they weren’t in panic mode. Yet.
The meeting had been scheduled for late afternoon, to accommodate professional schedules. Just before four, I wended my way to the boardroom on the second floor. It looked as though most people had already arrived. Marty was clearly in charge, back to her former no-nonsense self, and when she spied me she came over quickly.
“Nell! Glad you’re here-we’ve got a lot to get through. Jimmy’s coming to explain the legal side of things, and then the board is going to have to vote on a couple of things. I think it’ll be all right, but you never know. Listen, there’s something-”
She was interrupted by the arrival of the board chair, Lewis Howard, followed closely by James, and the three of them conferred as a few stragglers wandered in. Marty directed one last comment to the chairman, who cleared his throat and called the meeting to order. People drifted to their seats, sat down, and looked expectantly at him. I took a seat against the wall so I could watch the proceedings, since I didn’t have an active role in the group.
“Gentlemen-and ladies,” the chairman began, casting a conciliatory smile at the few women in the gathering, “we meet today under extraordinary circumstances, in the face of a crisis that threatens to undermine the very foundations of this noble establishment…”