I stood at my table feeling lost and confused. I had no idea who the people were.
2
The man who had just stood up joined Marcus and the woman. He was easily six feet tall with wavy blond hair that looked a little overdue for a haircut, and a rangy build. He and Marcus shook hands and then hugged in the quick way that men do with slaps on the back.
Marcus looked around for me then. I could tell from the half smile he gave me that he was uncomfortable. I felt certain of his feelings for me but even so, I was still learning about him, about his life. There was still a lot I didn’t know. Whoever these people were, they were important to him.
The second man walked over to join the little group. He was maybe an inch or two less than six feet, with the wide shoulders and muscled build of an athlete. His dark hair was cropped short and he wore black-framed glasses. He eyed Marcus with curiosity and at the same time seemed to be sizing him up. Nothing in his face or his body language said that he was as happy to see Marcus as his friends clearly were.
He offered his hand. “Marcus, it’s been a long time.”
“Hello, Travis,” Marcus said. I noticed neither man had said “It’s good to see you” or anything of the kind.
Marcus saw me approaching and his shoulders seemed to relax, just a little. When I reached his side he took my hand. I was a little surprised. He wasn’t one for public demonstrations of his feelings. I gave it a squeeze and smiled at his friends, because obviously that’s who they were.
“Kathleen,” he said, “I’d like you to meet Danielle, John and Travis. We went to college together.”
Danielle immediately held out her hand. “Hi, Kathleen,” she said. “Call me Dani.” She had long, slender fingers and I felt calluses on her palm. She was beautiful, tall and slender with high cheekbones and green eyes. Her blond hair was pulled back in a messy bun.
The tall, shaggy-haired man was John. He smiled and shook my hand as well. I watched Travis out of the corner of my eye. He was watching me and not trying to be subtle about it.
“Hello, Travis,” I said turning toward him. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“You too,” he said. He looked over at their table. “Why don’t you two join us? We can catch up and get to know you a little.” He looked at Marcus and to me it looked like a challenge in his dark eyes.
I gave him my best librarian-in-charge look. “Thanks, that would be great,” I said. I caught Claire’s attention and very quickly two tables were pushed together.
They seemed to be good friends, but why had Marcus never mentioned them to me before?
“So what are you doing here?” John asked, turning sideways in his chair and leaning one arm across its back.
“I live here,” Marcus said.
“You’re still a police officer?”
Marcus nodded. “Detective, yes.”
“What are the three of you doing in town?” I asked.
“You know there’s a development proposed for Long Lake?” Dani said, propping her elbows on the table.
I nodded over my coffee cup.
“We work for a coalition of environmental groups. We’re here to look at the land and see if there’s any reason to stop the project.” She hesitated. “I’m a geologist, Travis is an environmental engineer—”
“And John’s a biologist,” I finished.
Marcus covered his surprise at my seemingly psychic abilities very well. Actually, I’d just made a guess based on the Wildflowers of Minnesota Field Guide and the copy of Bird Feathers that were sticking out of the top of the messenger bag hanging from the back of John’s chair.
Dani nodded. “My job is to look at the land to see if there’s anything about the soil or the topography that precludes the developers’ plans for the site.” She gestured at Travis. “Travis will look at what the environmental impact will be on the area.”
“Possible air and water pollution, soil contamination, etcetera, etcetera,” Travis added.
“And my job is to determine whether there are any rare or endangered plants on the site,” John said. “Which reminds me, I heard Mayville Heights has a really extensive herbarium.”
“Yes, we do,” I said. The library had inherited the herbarium—which was a collection of dried, preserved plants—years before when a government plant research station had consolidated its work in St. Paul.
“Do you have any idea who I’d talk to about looking through the collection?” John pulled a small, hardbound book from his shirt pocket.
“You should talk to the head librarian,” Marcus said, turning to smile at me. “Which happens to be Kathleen.”
“That’s great,” John said. He gave me an inquiring look. “So could I?”
“Absolutely,” I said. “I can get you set up this morning if you’d like.”
“I would. Thank you.”
“Kathleen, you’re not from here, are you?” Travis asked. He waved a finger by his ear. “I can hear a little of the East Coast in your voice.”
I folded both hands around my cup and turned toward him. “You have a very good ear,” I said. “And no, I’m not originally from here. I am from back east, all up and down the coast actually, but most recently Boston.”
“How did the two of you meet?” Dani asked. She glanced at Marcus and gave him a smile.
“The library had a connection to a case I was working on,” he said. Under the table his hand brushed my leg for a moment.
“And he won you over with his charm,” Travis commented, a fine edge of sarcasm in his tone.
I nodded, keeping my gaze locked on Marcus. “Yes, he did.”
I knew it was wrong to make up my mind about someone I’d just met, but Travis rubbed me the wrong way. I thought of what my mother would say in this circumstance: You can put lipstick on a pig but it’s still a pig.
“So did he tell you how we all met?” Travis continued. It was almost as though he knew Marcus hadn’t told me about them and wanted to out him on that.
“I don’t think I ever asked,” I said. Which was true. “So how did a future police detective end up being friends with three environmentalists?”
Dani was sitting next to Marcus. She bumped his arm with her shoulder. “First year bio lab, remember?”
“Biology?” I said. Marcus’s undergraduate degree was in criminology with a minor in computer science.
He shrugged. “I was taking the course as an elective because it fit my schedule. The four of us ended up at the same lab bench.”
“And?” I nudged, knowing from the sound of his voice that there was more to the story. His face reddened. I raised an eyebrow at him à la Star Trek’s Mr. Spock.
“We were staining slides. We had to use a Bunsen burner for one of them . . . and then a fire extinguisher.”
“So the four of you bonded when you started a fire in the biology lab and then had to put it out with a fire extinguisher?”
Dani shook her head. “No, it wasn’t like that,” she said, laughter sparkling in her green eyes. “And technically it was the sprinkler system that put the fire out.” She held up a hand before I could say anything. “And it wasn’t our fault that the sprinkler system activated in the first place. That was because of Dr. Martindale’s hair.”
“You’ve lost me,” I said. “Who’s Dr. Martindale?”
“Bio prof,” John said, frowning as though the answer should have been obvious.
“And it was his hair that set off the sprinklers?” I was still lost.