A Quandary in Quarantine

Chapter Five

“Even though this tragedy has befallen us, we do need to keep our eyes on the library’s patrons and continue to serve them the best we can. Libby will be the point person now that Irene… is…”

Maggie fell silent. She was clearly at a loss for words. All thoughts of the Library Board meeting and the agenda had left our minds, for obvious reasons. But, as we waited for our turn to give our official statement, Maggie decided to give board members Sally, Joe, Eliisa, Denise, Mark, John and Susan a quick run down of our plans to offer virtual reference services. While she began to walk around the room, handing out the simplified version of the proposal we had created, I quickly recalled what I knew about each of the Library Board members. I had only been in town for a short while, so I was only starting to get to know the Library Board members personally, but they each had pretty strong personalities that came out at each meeting.

First there had been Sally Hellman. Sally had made a point of coming into the library and ‘introducing’ herself to me in my first week. That introduction was really all I had needed to know about her.

I remembered the day well. I had come in before opening, and was just setting up my computer for the day. My email had been filing up with responses from potential adult programming contacts in the community, and I had been very eager to start getting events on the calendar. Even though my position was mainly intended to staff the reference desk, I also helped our Adult Programming Librarian, Carson Jones, out a bit. He, like Luce, focused more on the programming aspects of library service. He ran the book discussion groups, and taught the computer classes among other things. I planned to take over the database instruction courses from him since that fell more in the reference department’s court than his.

I had been three emails deep when Sally walked in, full of the self-assuredness that comes with perceived power. She was a petite woman, barely 5 foot 3, but she filled up a room. Or maybe, it was more like she sucked up all the extra air so you felt squished. One of those two. Sometimes it was hard to tell.


“So you are the new librarian, Lizzy - is it?”

“Libby,” I croaked. I had been warned about Sally by Luce, who had become my fast friend. “Well, my name is actually Agatha, but I go by a nickname derived from my middle name - Elizabeth, instead. People call me Libby.”

“Hmm,” she said. Clearly, she either thought this was stupid, or she just straight up did not care - it was hard to tell, but I think it was probably the latter. Internally, I chided myself - who cared that Libby was derived from my middle name? Geez, get it together, I told myself.

“Anyway,” Sally said the word on a long and quite exasperated sounding exhale, like she was speaking to a particularly slow single-celled organism, rather than an information professional. “I trust you know this, but my name is Sally Hellman. I am the most vital member of the Library’s board, since I have my finger on the pulse of what this community truly needs. You young librarians, with the ink still drying on your diplomas, might think you know all the new tech and what’s cool or hip or trendy since you came from California -“

“Arizona,” I corrected. I didn't really mean to say it out loud, but I couldn't help it. Luckily, I was able to keep the fact that I had gotten my degree over ten years ago to myself - it was pretty clear Sally lumped anyone under the age of 40 together in sub-human category. I did not feel any strong urge to test that theory further.

“Arizona, then,” she looked at me with growing contempt. “Anyway, I know I can trust Irene to keep you in line - we do not need your new brand of loud library in this town, molded after a theme park or other nonsense. Elsewhere is a very traditional town, with traditional values. You will not be the one to meddle with our ideals.”

With that, she had turned on her heel and stalked out of the reference department.

Man alive, I was so glad in that moment that the Library Board had not been involved in the interview or hiring process for librarians - I was sure I would still be sitting in my old Sunbelt library, dutifully checking the job boards and dreaming.

Irene, though she had been resistant to change, had yet to be down-and-out mean to me yet. I had stolen a glance through the small window cut out of her office door, once Sally had made a full departure. It looked to me like Irene had been deep in something on her computer screen, and had not heard the exchange. I had made a mental note to bring up verbal abuse of staff members with her in our next one-on-one, though, just to be on the safe side. But, that had been months ago, and needless to say, that was still on the ’To-do’ list. I guess I had missed my chance, now.

Back in the conference room, my gaze shifted to another long time library board member, Susan Taylor. She was middle aged, with a very sophisticated air about her - which was sometimes hard to do in the winter in Wisconsin, but she pulled it off. Her silver blond hair was cut in a sleek bob, which ended just below her sharply angled chin. Her piercing blue eyes were often only slits, as she was most often found narrowing her eyes at whomever she was talking to. Luce had given me a rundown on what to expect from her. She and Sally Hellman were like two peas in a pod, Luce had said. Even though the reference sounded like something from one of her story times, I knew this meant I should be wary of her. Susan was one of those silent but deadly types in meetings. When her ice-cold gaze fell upon you, you knew instantly if she approved of what you were saying or not by how thin of a line her lips made. Right now, I was not sure if she even had lips - they were pursed so tightly together. She was not happy with the situation.

The next library board member was Joe, who was sitting next to long-time board president Denise. Joseph-Alan Damon, or Joe for short, was one of my favorite board members. He and Denise Bloch were both like the grandparents I never had. Denise was the current president of the Library Board. She was easily north of 90 years old, and had lived in Elsewhere for all her life. She had been married before World War II but her husband Harold had served on a Naval troop and equipment carrier called an LST and had been killed in the South Pacific. She had never remarried, or had had any children. It seemed she had thrown herself into community engagement as a way to fill her life. She and Joe maintained a calming presence in most of the Library Board meetings for which we were usually grateful. I secretly hoped they would get together, I thought that everyone deserved happiness.

I didn't know much about Mark Jones or John Edmonts, yet. But, from what I had seen they were easy going local business owners who listened thoughtfully at meetings, but very rarely said anything too contrary. Honestly, I was a bit surprised they had lasted as long as they had on the library board; they, as well as Joe and Denise, seemed to have found a way to happily co-exist with the stronger personalities on the board. Good for them, we needed a balanced board to get anything of real value done.

Eliisa Nurmi was another story. She was more of a closed book than anyone else who served on the Library Board, no pun intended. But, honestly, she was so very mysterious. No one in town knew very much about her, except that she had some to the area from Europe (no consensus on which country, though her white-blond hair and crystal blue eyes belied one more northern in geography) ten years prior, and had immediately started coming to the Library Board meetings as a community member. When a spot had opened up the following year, she had run unopposed and was voted onto the Library Board proper. I had heard a rumor that she also made sizable donations to the Friend’s group, but they were always kept anonymous. In board meetings, she was generally very quiet, but she tended to vote conservatively on any initiative, favoring keeping things old-school-library. In other words, she would still shush people, when she walked through the stacks. She, Sally, and Irene had made an impenetrable wall of the-way-it-has-always-been-done that Maggie had been battling against the whole time she had been at the library. Luckily, Joe, Denise, Mark and John were more moderate.

Then, I heard my name spoken in the conference room, and I was pulled from my memories. I tuned back into the conversation going on around me.

“Libby’s idea to being promoting our virtual library services, including offering a new chat reference service, could not have come at a better time. It is likely that, due to the town’s pandemic response, we will be drastically altering the method by which we deliver services to our patrons and other stakeholders. I am glad we could get ahead of this; if there is any silver lining, that’s it.”

“We’ll see how that goes,” said Sally, clearly asserting her opinion on the matter. Well, at least I would get to move forward at least in a trial run. Luce and I glanced at each other - small victories, said the look we shared.

*****

True to his word, Deputy Andrew James interviewed each of the library’s staff members and the Library Board members that had been present while whatever had happened to Irene, had transpired.

When it was my turn to give my statement, a junior office who I had not yet met collected me from the conference room and took me to Maggie’s office. She’d graciously agreed to allow the Deputy to conduct his interviews there. It was a comfortable space, clearly decorated for a person who loved books and reading, complete with an overstuffed armchair in the corner that was draped with what looked like an arm-knitted lap blanket. Seeing it always made me think of home. Though when most people think if Arizona, they don't usually think of small homes surrounded by pine stands and or any need at all for a cozy fire in the winter, that was what life in Prescott had afforded me. There was even a lady in town who, as a way to combat some symptoms of a nerve issue, sold blankets similar to the one that was thrown over Maggie’s armchair, through an online store. The junior officer brought me to the office, then nodded at Deputy Drew before leaving, closing the door on her way out to give us privacy. I was sure she stayed nearby though, in case - what? Someone else keeled over? I shuddered.

“Libby,” Deputy James half-stood as I sat, a vestige of that Midwest-nice I’d heard so much about. “I am really sorry to have to ask you, but - can you please go over the events of the evening again, from your perspective?”

I sighed, of course I was prepared for this, or rather I had expected it. But, I knew reliving the night again, and again, was definitely taking its toll.

“Well, it’s Wednesday,” I started, “So, we began our closing procedures at 4:00 pm so we could ensure everyone would be out in time for the Library Board meeting.”

“Which usually starts at 4:30?” Deputy Drew was scribbling notes on a standard yellow legal pad as I spoke.


“Yes, well - that is, the meeting was scheduled for 4:30 tonight because we have started new hours as a response to everything that’s going on with the Coronavirus. We think we’re being proactive, Maggie had expected to share with us the town’s safety measures at the meeting and finalize the library’s response with the Library Board. Part of that was reducing our hours, so we could ensure we had enough staff to do more regular cleaning - wiping down high-touch areas, and that sort of thing. We also planned to announce new ways for our patrons and the community to ask us for help - research as well as book recommendations and that sort of thing - without coming into the library in person.”

“Ah, yes, Maggie mentioned that - you came up with the idea for the chat reference service, I think she called it?”

“I suppose it was my idea, but really I was just trying to get the library up to speed with what other libraries our size are offering.” I honestly did not want to sound like I was bragging about these new services. I was actually a bit embarrassed that I had had to suggest them, deep down. It seemed so obvious to me, having come from a much bigger city and library system. But, Deputy Drew was not a librarian and he probably did not really see the importance of that nuance.

“Seems like you were pretty keen to make a lot of changes here, were you not?” He leveled his gaze at me, as he placed the pen carefully at the top of the pad.

“What are you implying, Deputy James? I did not hurt Irene to get ahead! I was hired for my ideas, and Maggie welcomed them. I do not like what you are insinuating with that observation.” I had a nasty habit of going on the defense when I felt threatened. I should really work on that.

“Whoa now, relax. I was not insinuating anything of the sort, Libby. Do you think that I should think you had something to do with this?”

His deep brown eyes and shock of thick, slightly curly brown hair caught the light.

I sighed in frustration. He was focusing on completely the wrong things.

“So, what was in that vial you found?”

“We're not sure yet, our lab will have to run tests. But, even if we did already know - I would not be able to share the contents with you. Libby, you’re a civilian - you cannot think I would share the details of an ongoing investigation with you, would you?”

“No, I guess you probably wouldn't share those confidential details.”

“That is all for now, Libby. If we have any more questions, I will let you know.” 


Deputy Drew motioned to the other officer waiting in the hall and I was escorted back to the conference room. Once the officer had left again, I turned to Luce. We whispered together in hushed tones, so no one else overheard.

“Luce, I think Deputy James thinks I was involved in Irene’s death somehow.”

“You do? I would be surprised if he would jump to that kind of conclusion. He’s a pretty good guy.”

“Well, he found a small glass tube on my desk - which I had never seen before. I know it was not there before I left to help close the library. I have no idea how it got there, but I think whatever was in it is what killed Irene.”

“I’m sure he will have the crime lab techs run all the tests they can on the contents, and probably look for fingerprints too. I have known Drew a long time, Luce. He would have to have very good evidence before he points a finger at you.”

“Did he grow up here in Elsewhere, too?” I asked. I knew Luce had lived here most of her life. She did move to Madison for a few years after graduating from high school to attend college and graduate school at the University of Wisconsin, though.

“Yes, he grew up here just like I did. In fact, we were in the same class.” Luce told me.

“You were?”



“Yeah,” she laughed quietly at the memories that were no doubt flooding her mind now. “We even dated.”

“You dated Andrew James, Deputy of the Elsewhere Police Department?” I asked, incredulous. From what I knew of Deputy James, he was not Luce’s type. He had no sense of humor, he was not warm or fuzzy, and I could not even be certain he had ever read a real book. Luce dated him? No way.

“Well, he wasn’t Deputy Andrew James back then; he was just Drew.”


Luce got a sort of soft glow about her at this. I needed details.

“So, what happened? Don’t leave me hanging like that, Luce!”

“Ha,” she laughed. It was enough to draw a few looks from Ruth and some of the other board members. We both gave apologetic shrugs, and I motioned for Luce to continue.

“Okay, fine, I guess I will tell you - it’s not like we’re doing much of anything else right now, right? So, Drew and I started dating the first time during our Freshman year of high school. He and I sat next to each other in our home room by chance on the first day - we got to talking, and of course, since we already knew who each other was, it was an easy way to start a friendship. Eventually, just after we got back from, he asked me out to the movies. You know how dates go that early in life - we sat next to each other during the movie, and shared a tub of popcorn. His mom had driven us to the theater, and she was actually sitting about two rows behind us, so you can imagine how uncomfortable that was. Anyway, we went to see this really horrible movie called You Drive Me Crazy, with Melissa Joan Hart? Do you remember it? I remember we were going back and forth between that movie or Superstar. We probably should have gone with Superstar, thinking back on it.

We dated all throughout high school, everyone thought we would end up together. But you know, at some point we realized that though we loved each other, we were not in love with each other. Does that make sense?

Anyway, we graduated, and that summer we decided to part ways. He headed down to Milwaukee for undergrad, and I went to Madison. He got his Bachelor’s of Science in Criminology, and then went to the Police Academy. And I, well, you know what I did - I stayed in Madison for grad school. By the time we both ended up back here, we were very different people. But we’ve remained friendly. Maybe not close - but I do know he’s a good guy, and that he really does have the community’s best interests at heart.”

I smiled at her. She was right, I thought, deep down Deputy James just wanted to catch the bad guy - or gal, but right now I think what little evidence he thought he had was sending him in the wrong direction - straight towards me.

“What do you think about that glass tube they found at my desk. We’ve got to somehow figure out what was in there,” I said.

“How are we going to do that?” Luce asked me. “It’s not like the police will let us see the reports once they come back from the lab.”

“I know,” I said, pondering. “I am still working on that part.”

*****

When I arrived at work Wednesday morning, I was admittedly on edge. I immediately woke up the computer on the reference desk, the one Irene had been using, but there were no documents or search engine screens open. Darn it. I tried the browser history next, but it was hard to discern any searches Irene might have done with any I myself had done yesterday. Lastly, I checked the printer. It had a flashing a red light illuminating its dialog screen. Hmm. I opened the corresponding dialog box on the computer screen to check the error. It was out of paper. Maybe Irene had sent something to the printer before… well, before.

I went to our supply cabinet and took out a new ream of paper. I opened the printer drawer and put in about half the ream. The printer we had at the reference desk was finicky, and even though the tray was big enough for the whole thing, it would jam if you put in more than about half a ream of paper each time you refilled it. It only took me once to learn that one. Once I refilled the paper and pushed the door closed again, the printer immediately sprang to life. Three printed sheets came out in quick succession. First, a two-page scan of an old newspaper article entitled “Finns Win! Finland declares independence from Russia” dated December 7, 1917. The second print out was what looked like an old land deed of transfer. I scanned the page, looking for any easily identifiable address or location - maybe Irene had been caught in some legal battle? But, the old spidery writing was hard to decipher. I could barely make out the person’s name - Martinnen. There was that name again! Irene had been doing genealogical research on that name, too. Was it in some way connected to her murder?

*****

For the rest of the day, I found myself looking over my shoulder every time I left the desk, whether there were people around or not. I guess it was probably an expected side effect of knowing that who ever had killed Irene had likely been in the library with us yesterday afternoon.

In between patrons, I pondered everything that had happened, and tried to suss out any clues I might have missed.

Here’s what I knew:

1. I knew there had been three female voices arguing about something in the conference room prior to the Library Board meeting the day Irene died.

2. I thought I recognized one of them as Sally, but I could not be totally sure who the other voices belonged to.

3. Irene had been doing a lot of research about a family named Martinnen. I needed more time to figure out how that could be connected to her demise, or if it was at all.

3. I knew Deputy Drew had sound some small glass tube at my desk, that had not been there earlier when I had sat at the desk myself. Whatever had been inside that tube was likely connected with Irene’s demise.

And… that was about it. Not much to go on.

How could I find out what was in that glass tube? I racked my brain, but I just could not come up with any possible solutions. I needed some inside information.

As I sat there pondering, Carson, our Adult Programming Librarian walked a patron over to the shelves containing the call number range 641.5. Even from across the room, I knew exactly where he was headed - the cookbook section.

A smile briefly played at the corner of my mouth, surprising me with a memory. Back in Arizona, my coworkers and I used to quiz each other on our knowledge of the Dewey Decimal Classification System, which most public libraries used to organize the books on the shelves in the non-fiction section. There had been one librarian, Renee, who had spent a lot of time working in academic libraries, where they used the Library of Congress classification system, so she would often answer with that call number instead of Dewey. Secretly, I thought it was pretty cool that she knew both that well.

When he was done helping the patron, Carson walked over to my desk.

“How you holding up, Libby?” He asked, his face full of concern.

“Okay, you?”

“I mean, it’s strange is it not? It feels like she’s just on vacation or something - I’m not sure it’s fully sunk in yet that she’s gone. Though, I’m sure it feels a bit different over here in reference, huh? I was talking to my cousin, she was one of the paramedics that responded that night, I think you talked to her? Stephanie? Anyway -“

“Wait,” I cut him off, “Your cousin was one of the paramedics that came to the library that afternoon?”

“Yes, Stephanie - she was the one you asked to take a look at Maggie? It was good you did, Steph told me Maggie was actually suffering from mild shock, so they were able to give her a mild sedative and instructions on how to care for herself.”

“So, she works with the Fire Department, then? They share a complex with the Police? And the crime laboratory is located in the same building right?” My rapid fire questions had caused a look of confusion to mask Carson’s face, but I pressed on. “Do you think she would be privy to the results of any tests done at the lab?”

“Well, that’s not really her area of expertise, but I could ask her. I know she’s friends with some of the lab techs. But, Libby, I think the more important thing to keep in mind is - we’re just librarians. Why would she share it with us, even if she did see those results? And - remember, I’m saying this as your friend - why are you even asking? Let the police do their jobs, and we can do ours.”

Carson motioned around the library. I followed his gaze at all the regular patrons, some quiet browsing our collections, some using our computers, the children running from the large interactive touchscreen computer with the early literacy games to the low shelves filled to overflowing with wonderful children’s books all hand selected by Luce. I sighed, I knew exactly what he was driving at - why was I so transfixed with trying to insert myself into this investigation? I wanted Irene’s killer to come to justice, of course - but why was I so certain that the police might not be able to catch whoever did this?

“Carson, I’m really sorry,” I started, “I know you’re right, of course, I got carried away when I heard you knew someone who worked so closely with the police department. I mean, you have to understand - I just want whoever did this to be caught as quickly as possible. I do feel very close to the case because I keep getting the impression that Deputy Drew thinks I was involved - because I was trying to vie for her job, or some such nonsense. So, if I can figure out who really did hurt her, I can prove my innocence, too.”

“I understand wanting to do that, but if you know you did not have anything to do with her death, then you should be able to trust the police to find the truth.”

I nodded, and attempted a weak smile, which seemed to satisfy Carson. He gave me a reassuring squeeze on my arm, and headed back out of the reference department. I knew he was right, I should leave the police work to the police, but I could not shake the feeling that if I could just figure out what had been in that glass tube Deputy Drew had picked up at my desk, I would be able to figure out who had killed Irene.

Suddenly, an idea struck me. I quickly picked up the reference desk phone and dialed the internal number for Luce’s desk, over in the children’s department.

“Luce!” I burst out as soon as she picked up. “You’re off at 4 today, too, right?”

“Yes…” she said, warily.

“Up for a road trip?”

“Um, maybe? Where are we going?”

“I want to drive to Madison. I need to get into the State Historical Society archives, and if we leave right at 4 o’clock, we should be able to get there before the reading room closes at 8:00 pm. I’ll explain on the way.”

I needed to see if I could find the other half of that letter. I hoped it held some clues.