Read Online Death Overdue (Librarian Mysteries) by Mary Lou Kirwin - Free Book Online Page A

irritated by the wrench she was throwing into the works.”
    “I’ve been told that you were the last person to be in the library that afternoon. Is that correct?”
    “Yes, as far as I know. I had started organizing Caldwell’s books. I was working on them when Sally arrived.”
    “And Mr. Perkins told me that the door to the library is usually kept locked.”
    “Yes, there are many valuable books in there, first editions and whatnot. But I think I forgot to lock the door when I ran to let Sally in.”
    “And you never went back to the library.”
    “No. It was a very upsetting day—what with her wanting the B and B back and her lover showing up—and I simply forgot.”
    “Who knew about the library?” he asked.
    “What do you mean?”
    “Who knew the library was there?”
    “Well, I guess just about everyone did—except Alfredo. But he might have too. Sally could have told him. The library was no secret. Caldwell just didn’t want people going in there without him. He had collected many first editions worth many hundreds of pounds.” I didn’t feel I needed to mention the very valuable book Caldwell had just found; it could have nothing to do with this death.
    “Why do you think Ms. Burroughs went into the library? Odd to do it in the middle of the night.”
    “I have no idea.”
    “Might she have been there to take one of these valuable volumes?”
    “That’s a possibility, but I doubt it. I don’t think she knew which ones they were. She had so little interest in books.”
    “Caldwell wouldn’t have told her when they were living together?”
    “You’d have to ask him, but I doubt it. He has said that she was rather jealous of his books, all the attention he paid to them. I’d be surprised if he brought them up much at all.”
    “Tell me what happened that night,” he said.
    “Well, Sally and Alfredo went out. Caldwell and I ate in. Penelope went to her room. Caldwell and I went to bed rather early. We always read in bed together. We both fell asleep. A while later I heard Alfredo and Sally coming up the stairs. They were rather loud and sounded like they were drunk. I went back to sleep. Then there was a huge crash.”
    I stopped for a moment to remember and felt a wash of fear sweep over me again. “Since Caldwell wasn’t in bed I was afraid something had happened to him. I ran out into the hallway and saw him standing in the open doorway of the library. Horror was on his face. You know the rest.”
    “When had Caldwell left your bed?”
    I closed my eyes and shook my head. “That I can’t tell you because I’m not sure. I didn’t wake up.”
    “When did you first notice he was gone?”
    “When I heard the loud crash.”
    “So he could have been gone for some time?”
    “I guess.”
    “Do you know why he left the bed?”
    “I would have assumed he went downstairs to get a glassof juice—or even more probably, to pee. He does that sometimes in the night.”
    “Who appeared next on the scene?”
    “I think Penelope. She was right down the hall. She helped us lift the bookcase off Sally. Then Bruce came into the room, but he wasn’t much help. He kept wanting to look at the books. Brenda appeared and screamed. I think all the noise we were making awakened Alfredo, because he came stumbling out of their room, looking very sleepy.”
    The inspector was taking notes. “And what is the relationship of all these people to each other?”
    I was surprised he was asking me these questions—didn’t he already know the answers? But maybe he was checking what each of us said against the others. “Penelope was Sally’s sister, Alfredo was her fiancé, Brenda worked for Caldwell and had known Sally quite well, and Bruce was just a guest, a book collector who had heard of Caldwell’s collection online.”
    “What about you and Mr. Perkins? Is it true that you are considering being more than business partners? Life partners, shall we say?”
    “We haven’t decided. I love my job,