And so it went. Areas for medical/legal advice, a TV/movie studio to ensure Maddington students had the skills to compete for entertainment and communication jobs, and maybe even bring movie production to Maddington. On and on. Each idea spawned four more.
Joy said, “Once the dam of ‘can’t do’ is broken, and we raise our vision of what a library could be, we’ve got a flood of ideas. Are you sure seven floors are going to be enough?”
Serenity looked at her and smiled. “Where did Miss Sunshine come from?”
Joy raised the glass in a toast. “Got cause for sunshine. To paraphrase old Ben Franklin, ‘A library, sir. If you can keep it.’”
“That may be the hard part,” said Serenity. “We’ve got somebody who wants their money back, and people who will try to stop us.”
Doom said, “So let’s get ahead of them. Let’s take some of their money and hire a PR firm to get articles in regional press, ‘Maddington: The City Built on Books.’ We can feature success stories about businesses coming here because of the library. Kids getting scholarships. And, lots of pictures of local and state politicians at groundbreakings and fundraisers.”
“We’re also going to have to start finding quiet ways to make contributions to those same politicians,” said Joy. “At the very least, we need the mayor and the district attorney in our pockets.”
“I don’t know if I want to get in bed with some of those guys,” said Serenity.
“That’s the way I saw it done when I was a cop in DC. Big dogs run together.” Joy shoved her glass back at Serenity for a refill. “We’re big dogs now. We may have to cross some lines we don’t want to.”
Doom raised her glass. “By any means necessary.”
Serenity set her glass down and put her finger in Doom’s face.
“I’ve had enough of listening to that shit. A man is dead. Dead! And now I’ve got to carry that to my grave, and even protect the killer, which makes me a part of this. Fine. I’ll do it. But no more damned bragging and pretending.”
Doom sat up straight. “I’m glad he’s dead. He was a Bentley worm trying destroy our library and… wait! You were part of it?”
The door opened with a crack and they turned to look.
“Hello, ladies,” said Joe.
fifty-two
the case of the distant librarian
“I THINK we’re done here,” said Serenity.
Doom hesitated, and Serenity said, “Go.” Doom and Joy quickly stood up and cleared out.
Joe slid into the booth opposite Serenity and picked up a wing. “That was fast.”
She looked at him. “The law can be intimidating.”
He looked back at her evenly and studied her for a long second. “Only to criminals.”
“See any here?”
“I’m a cop. I see criminals everywhere.”
Now she studied him. “Maybe you should look somewhere else and leave people who are trying to build something good for this community alone.”
There was a long pause between them.
“Let’s start over,” he said.
She nodded. “My turn. Let me ask you a question. I thought you were going to Rick’s. You just decided to drop in here for Jerry’s fine cuisine and warm atmosphere?”
“No. Stopped by Publix for a six-pack of Vapor Trail. Thought I’d drop one off for you. Nobody home, killer on the loose, thought I’d check on my partner.”
He picked up the rum bottle and studied it.
Serenity said, “Want some?”
He sat the bottle down and smiled at her. First smile of the night.
“I’m on duty, ma’am. Always.”
“Bullshit.” She pushed Doom’s mostly untouched glass at him and waited until he took a sip.
“How’re the Braves doing?” she said.
He set the glass down. “They’re not as interesting as the case I’m working on. ‘The Case of the Murder in the Suddenly-Rich Library.’”
Serenity laughed. It was more for a release of tension, but it was something. “Did you check the Hardy Boys? That sounds like one of theirs.”
“Nah, I thought I’d try talking things over with my friendly neighborhood librarian.”
“Sounds like a police thing. How’d you find me?”
“I’m a detective, ma’am,” he took a drink, “with the Maddington PD behind me. One call, five minutes, and a patrol car reported your car here.”
“Maddington PD.”
“Sees all, knows all.”
“Except who did this.”
“Except that. So, partner, give me a suspect.”
Long pause. “Bentley.”
“Bentley? You think the guy who hired Kendall sight unseen sent him down there so he could kill him? Did anyone even see Bentley in the library?”
“No.”
“So we don’t know his motive, he didn’t have the opportunity, and—unless the coroner says he was stabbed with a rectal thermometer—he didn’t have the means.”
“I know. But he’s involved somehow. He thinks he’s on a mission from God to destroy us.”
“Could be. On the other hand, I keep coming back to the advice from the book All the President’s Men: follow the money. I’m not saying the library’s doing anything wrong, but you’ve sure got a lot of manna falling from heaven these days.”
He waited for Serenity to offer something, but got nothing. Finally, she put the top back on the bottle. “Are you investigating the library or a murder? I thought we were partners trying to solve a murder.”
“Are. Sometimes you just scratch at what itches. And what itches right now is this: there’s only one man in Maddington County that I know of who has the kind of cash flow the library’s got right now.”
“Bentley?”
Joe snorted. “Bentley is someone who’s bought, not someone who does the buying. Told you, only one man with money in Maddington these days. Don Juan. North Alabama’s drug czar.”
“Why would he be interested in the library?”
“There’s only one thing I know of in the library that might be of interest enough for him to throw his money around. And, one thing important enough for him to kill to protect if Bentley sent someone to threaten it.”
Serenity said, “What? Large print books? Romance novels?”
Joe watched her eyes as he spoke. “They don’t call him Don Juan because he loves books. They call him that because he loves women.” He paused and watched her reaction. “The library has the hottest woman in Maddington—who has something she can’t tell her husband.”
Now Serenity stared at him, confused about how to act, and decided anger was the safest. “How dare you—”
He stood up.
“Yeah, I know. I’ve just paid you the horrible insult of telling you how you look to every man in Maddington. Including me. And that just makes you angry.”
He tipped his hat. “Maybe we should call this ‘The Case of the Distant Librarian.’”
fifty-three
the sound of one hand working
FRIDAY MORNING, three stories of MAD up, and Serenity had Joy in her office. “Cots put back, boss. Lost Boys off to their day homes. The original MAD is open for day business.”
Serenity raised her head and Joy looked at her. “Jesus, Serenity, what happened to you? Last time my eyes looked that red was… well, just a couple of nights ago. But that’s me. What happened to you?”
“Too much playing cop yesterday. Too much rum last night. Too little sleep. Too little real talking.”
Joy smiled. “Celebrating?”
“Oh yeah. Trying to keep the library and Doom running from the lawman who sleeps next to me. Most nights.”
Joy gave Serenity a quick head nod and a sad look.