Page 45 of Merry Murder Season
I scanned the page. It had a website and an email address for specific research questions. “This is great.”
“Are you ready?” Beth asked, now standing at my side.
I nodded and tucked the page into my tote. I could research it tonight when we got home.
“Sure. But first, Mary Ann has a parting gift for you.” I let the two of them talk. As we were walking out of the library, I paused. “Are you coming back before you leave?”
“I’ll probably write here for the next three days while you work. I find I get so much more done here than at the house. Emma keeps falling asleep under the desk and then she makes me tired.” Beth held the door open. “Besides, there’s just something about being on a college campus that makes it seem like anything’s possible. I think that’s why I’m so excited to start in January.”
“So you’re taking the offer?” We headed to the visitors’ parking lot where I’dleft the Jeep.
Beth glanced around the still-green quad area. Not a lot of students were here because of the holiday break, but the few who were out were reading or chatting. “I believe I am. I’m just going to hope that God gives Jim the insight he needs to understand my calling.”
“You will be amazing.” I unlocked the doors and started the engine, turning on the heater to full blast. Other people might not find the temperatures cold here, but I loved my days at seventy, seventy-five at best. Unless I was tanning on the beach.“Let’s go eat.”
By the time we got home, Greg was there, waiting. Emma was sitting outside with him and there was evidence of a steak being grilled along with a baked potato in the oven.
“I didn’t think you were coming home for dinner,” I said after Beth had excused herself to go work upstairs in her room and call Jim. “We could have made dinner here.”
“I know how to cook.” He looked up at the stairs where Beth had disappeared.“Is she okay?”
“She’s resigned to the fact that Jim’s going to be Jim. And she’s taking the job offer. We’re going to have a doctor in the family if your brother isn’t an idiot.” I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. “Do you want to go out to the porch and talk?”
“Sure. I have something I need to say, anyway.” He grabbed a water and we, along with Emma, went outside on the back porch. The sun had already set but the color was still hanging around. Greg turned on the back porch lightas we came out.
“Am I a pain?” I decided to start with the obvious. “Do I make your job hard?”
He sat next to me on the swing and put his arm around me after putting the water on a side table. “Every day of my life. And I love it. Amy told me you were upset about the talk she got about confidential materials, but that mostly came from Marvin. And it wasn’t about you. Marvin’s worried that someone, ahem, Amy will leak campaign information to his rivals. Of course, they always change since Marvin never really commits to running for anything else besides South Cove mayor.”
“I wasn’t as worried about that as the fact that she kept something personal from me. But I think she felt like it needed to stay between her and Justin. I realized I keep our stuff a little close to the chest too. I know you have an image to upholdin South Cove.”
He squeezed me. “I can take care of my image. And no, I don’t like you investigating but, Jill, you have a knack. And if you weren’t ninety-five percent devoted to your bookstore, I’d suggest you go to the academy. But that’s not you.”
“You’re lucky it’s not. How on earth would we stay married if we also worked together? I need alone time or I’d never get anything read.”
Chapter 18
Friday morning, my commuters kept me busy pouring coffee until long after nine, so I didn’t have time to check out the website that Mary Ann had given me. Andrew showed up at ten and I worked with him, setting him up for the day, before returning to my couchwith my laptop.
And of course, the agency or library stated that they had a blueprint but didn’t have a scanned copy online. Then a popup asked me if I wanted to donate time to get the backlog of materials scanned and available for use.
It wasn’t my cup of tea, but the headquarters of the place was only a few miles up the road, so I sent an email with the volunteer information to my staff. Not that I needed to lose anyone, but if they were looking for a chance to give back, this might work for the techier of them.
“My friend works there,” Andrew said behind me, pointing at my screen. “He’s getting his graduate degree in history and has an internship with them.”
“I’m looking for a blueprint for an older South Cove building. What’s the best way for me to go about getting a copy of it? It’s not on their website. Can you ask him?”
“Sure, hold on.” He pulled his phone out of his khakis and texted a message. The response came back quickly. “Huh. He says if you come today, he’s got some free time and he can help you search. Otherwise, sending an email request will get you an answer in a week or two. They prioritize people over emails.”
“Great. What’s his name? I can be there by one.” I had already checked directions in Google Maps, so as long as I left here on time, I should be able to make the appointmentI’d just made.
“His name is Jamal and he’ll meet you in front of the building. I guess the old stuff they haven’t scanned as a digital record is all filed by room. SouthCove has its own room. He told me that our town has a lot of interesting stuff. Did you know there used to be a mission here?” He looked up as someone walked into the bookstore. “I’ll get this and let you know if I have questions.”
From Beth and Deek’s report on Andrew’s first day, I didn’t think he’d have any questions at all. Evie was thrilled I’d hired both of her referrals. And she’d be even more thrilled if they stayed ninety days since I would give her a bonus for each hire. Getting solid referrals kept me from having to do much if anywork on hiring.
I slipped the flyer Mary Ann had given me into my notebook and took that and my laptop to the counter, tucking them into my tote. Then I grabbed the end-of-shift clipboard and started my to-do list. I wanted to be ready to leave on time since meeting up with Andrew’s friend seemed like the fastest way to get the information.
As I cleaned, I listened to Andrew chat with the customers. He was funny without being crass and attentive without watching over everyone’s shoulders. I thought he’d do very well. And if he didn’t, I’d makeEvie fire him.
