A Quandary in Quarantine

Chapter Fourteen

By the time the Stay At Home Order went into effect on Wednesday, people in Elsewhere seemed pretty used to the idea. I think that could be directly attributed to the fact that Wisconsinites were used to basically not leaving their houses for months at a time over the winter. They were like bears, hibernating for the winter.

This did not stop them from reaching out to the library, though - for which I was very happy. The AskElsewhere service was becoming very popular and I was glad to be able to share the shifts with Carson and Luce. The triage system I had set up automatically routed the children’s and teen related questions to Luce, and Carson and I basically split the remaining questions into two categories - true reference questions, those that required database use or additional research on our part, went to me. Questions about adult programs or general library questions primarily went to Carson.

Finally there was a break in the action, and I took the opportunity to call Deputy Drew. I dialed the non-emergency number, and waited.

“Hello, Elsewhere PD, this is Officer Summers. How can I help you?”

“Officer Summers, this is Libby Keene from the library. I would like to speak to Deputy Drew James if he’s available.”

“Sure, I’ll see if he’s available. Can you hold, please?

“Yes, I can wait.”

Officer Summers sent my call to hold, and I listened to the music play while she went to find the Deputy. I mused how funny it was that every place used the same music to entertain people while on hold. You had to pay attention or you’d forget who you’d called and expect to hear your doctor’s voice, or the insurance guy if you weren’t careful.

Finally, Deputy Drew’s voice came on the line, “Deputy Drew James, how can I help you?”

Hoping to remind him he liked me for at least a second, I decided to use the nickname he told me to call him.

“Deputy Drew, it’s Libby - from the library? Wait, wait!” I said quickly as I could hear his exasperated sigh come down the line. “I know, you probably don’t want to talk to me, but please, hear me out. First of all, I know you’re probably still upset with me for following Eliisa the other day, I know that was probably a bad idea. But, you don’t get to hear the whole story. After I saw Eliisa’s car leave the property, I turned in to take a look around.”

“That, surprisingly, does not help your defense, Libby. Come on, you’d think you would know that!” The Deputy’s voice had an edge to it that I didn’t like.


“Hey now, do you want the info I have or not?” I countered.


“Yes, I do, but I need you to know how reckless you’re being,” he said.

“Okay, fine, you’ve made your point. Now, be nice.” I knew he was right, but it was kinda fun pushing his buttons, I found.

“I’m waiting,” he said.

“Right. First, did you know that Eliisa’s ancestors are the Morton’s who owned Morton Farms?”

“No, but really don’t see how that’s relevant to the case.”

“Well, I did not know it at the time, but Luce and I found that out on a research trip down to Madison.”

“Please, get to the point, Libby. I know you and Luce are excellent librarians - that fact doesn’t really matter right now.”

“Ouch.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Fine, I know not everyone appreciates the fine art of information science.” I couldn’t help the smile that played across my face, I was enjoying goading him more than I should be.

“So, what all are your lab techs screening for on the sample you found in that glass tube on my desk?”

“Libby, we know how to do our jobs -“

“I know you do, but I want to know if the tests would cover things like local poisonous plant matter?”

“No, not typically - unless we had some indication that that might be warranted. Since Irene died from heart failure, we would typically screen for things that could present that way. Why?”

“Well, when I saw Eliisa leave, I took the chance to poke around her family’s property. It was covered with Red Baneberry bushes. I had recently helped a patron with research on that plant, and it turns out eating berries can cause the same issues Irene experienced. I would hazard a guest that if a lot of the juice from the berries was concentrated it would be very fast acting. I would recommend they test for a concentrated version of the poison found in those berries.”

“Libby, okay - I’m impressed, I have to say it. Who knew that basic reference would possibly blow this case open!”

I could tell his response was genuine, as he rushed to get off the phone so he could pass along this new information to the lab techs. I hoped they found results that would help us put Eliisa away for Irene’s murder. I hoped other town departments moved quicker than the library.

*****

But, lo, it seemed that all town departments moved as slow as the library. Not to be overly dramatic, but as Thursday rolled on without hearing back from Deputy Drew, or Stephanie, I became a bit despondent. I guess I did watch too many murder mysteries on television - the really world did not have cut scenes, apparently.

That afternoon, just as I was about to log off the AskElsewhere service for the day, my cell phone buzzed indicating a new call was coming in. I picked up my phone and saw a number I didn’t recognize. I shrugged and picked it up anyway.

“Hello?” I said into the receiver.

“Libby!” Deputy Drew’s voice surprised me. I had expected him to call back from the station’s phone if he had heard anything from the crime lab tech. “I’m so glad I caught you. Guess what?”

His almost childish enthusiasm caught me off guard. I guess he did open up a bit when you were under suspicion of murder…

“What?” I said.

“Well, you were right to push me and Stephanie to have the crime labs tech test for other poisons - the substance in the glass tube was a highly concentrated version of the red baneberry juice. And, the quick tests confirmed that the poison would cause heart failure, if it was ingested in large or highly concentrated quantities by a human.”

I really did not want to find out HOW exactly that would be tested, so I skipped over that part.

“Oh, wonderful! So, are you on your way to arrest Eliisa?”

“Well, that’s the one bit of bad news. There’s still nothing to tie her directly to the murder. I mean, yeah - you said you found a lot of red baneberry bushes on her property, but honestly, those things grow in every slightly shady corner of this county. We can’t prove that Eliisa concentrated this juice, or that she used it to kill Irene. I’m so sorry I don’t have better news.”

“Ugh,” I said. Yes, that was amazingly unprofessional of me, but what did anyone expect? I thought for sure this would be enough to make the police arrest Eliisa.

“I know how you feel. But, it was a really good tip, Libby - I’m serious.”

“Well, thanks for that, at least,” I said, hoping to mask my disappointment at least a little.


“Hey, there’s actually something else I wanted to ask you,” Drew said.

“What’s that? You know, if you have a reference question it would be best if you called the library’s line, then we could more easily capture the statistics,” I said.

“Oh, um, it isn’t a library question,” he said. “I, uh, well, I wanted to ask you if you’d have dinner with me?”

“What?” I said, stupidly. I had heard him, of course, I was just so surprised by his question. “I thought you hated me.”

“I do not hate you - not even close, Libby. Why would you think that?”

“Well,” I said, “Because you accused me of murder, for one.”

“I have to follow the evidence! Libby, I’m sorry about that, truly I am. At the time, all we knew was - you would be next in line for Irene’s job if she was out of the picture, and it was a logical line of thought. And, to set the record straight, I never actually accused you of murder.”

“Well, that’s purely semantics…” I said, stalling.

“Okay, well now that you know I don’t think you're a killer, will you have dinner with me?”

I had to laugh, of course, as if it were that easy. But I could not deny it, Drew was growing on me. 


“Yes, I’ll have dinner with you,” I said. “How do we do that, though? You know - there is a global pandemic going on.”

“You just leave that part up to me,” he said. “Is Saturday okay?”

“Oh, well, let me quickly check my calendar - yup, looks like I’m free! Good thing you caught me; my dance cards really filling up fast these days,” I joked.

“Ha, yeah, I’m sure,” he said. I could hear the smile in his voice.

“Okay, then, Saturday,” I said.

“Saturday,” he replied.

With that, we both ended the call. I clutched my phone to my chest and heaved a big sigh. I was excited about the recent developments with Drew, mostly because he no longer considered me a suspect. But, the weight had not been lifted by any stretch of the imagination. How could I prove Eliisa’s guilt, now? I had already played the card I thought would do it.