A Quandary in Quarantine

Chapter Seventeen

Eliisa had me cornered, literally.

The way she sat, with her back to the door, quite effectively blocked my ability to get out without her realizing I was leaving. I felt for my phone, which was still in my back pocket. If I could just get a call through to Drew ay the police station without Eliisa noticing or overhearing, I could alert him to what I had found out. I casually pulled out my phone, and held it against my side while I kept an eye on Eliisa.

She still seemed to be concentrating on the old copies of Finnish Worker’s Newsletter from our archive. For the time being at least. I decided to take a chance. I turned back to the shelving, and began putting materials away I turned my phone over and unlocked the screen. I stole a glance over my shoulder as I selected Drew’s cello phone number from the list of contacts. I hoped that this way, once the call connected he would have the presence of mind to realize what I was doing and just listen in until he had heard enough to sent backup.

Since this was my first truly clandestine activity, if you didn’t count my novice attempt at tailing Eliisa to the Morton Farm property, I was not sure what the protocol for such activities was - but I did not have time to research it now. I just crossed my fingers that this would work. As soon as I clicked on his name, I quickly pressed the volume button so when he picked up, his voice wouldn’t be audible from where Eliisa sat. I then put the phone face down on the top shelf of my book cart, hoping the microphone would be strong enough to pick up the conversation.

“So, you said your family was from Finland originally?” I was trying to keep my tone light and conversational, lest she realize I was trying to get her to incriminate herself.

I had made the connection between the baneberries she had growing on her family’s old farm in the country, and deadly poison that had killed Irene after researching the local flora for a question a patron had asked me right before we shut down the library. I recalled that she had been researching poisonous plants that were common in Wisconsin because she was worried her grandchildren would get into them and get sick. We had seen reference to the red baneberries and learned that the European variety was even more dangerous. At the time, it had had no tangible applications in my mind, but then when I heard that Irene had been poisoned by something that had quickly attacked her nervous system, ultimately causing the abrupt heart failure that had killed her. The crime lab tech had confirmed that suspicion, and named a concentrated version of the poison as the cause of Irene’s death.

“Yes, my family originally came here during the Great Migration near the beginning of the 20th century. Many Fins left our homeland at that time, and I guess we just kept going west until we found someplace as cold as the country we had left.”

“What an interesting heritage. I heard about a project some students were doing at the University of Wisconsin a few years back, interviewing folks who lived in the communities up North that still primarily speak Finnish - even though they’d moved here generations ago.”

“Yes… we Fins are very connected to our past.”

She eyed me, and I realized I should probably switch topics or she might think I was digging for information again. After a long moment, she looked back down at the items from the archive.

Fleetingly, I wished I could read Finnish - maybe there was something incriminating in those pages. But, that would be silly I chastised myself - the papers were old, the newest being from the late 1990’s... It was doubtful there was anything directly connected to Eliisa in those words, at least not in connection to Irene’s murder.

“There are a lot of families with ties to Finland right here in Elsewhere, I think. I read something in our old archived newspapers about a Finnish family a few miles outside of town that ran a pretty successful dairy called Morton Farms. Wasn’t your mother’s maiden name Morton? Any relation?”

I hoped my intimate knowledge of her family’s history would come across as purely academic, rather than creepy. But I didn’t have much choice.

“That would have been my great aunt and uncle’s farm, yes. Henri and Alma. They labored for years before they finally earned enough to buy that land. They wanted to keep their Finnish family name - Martinnen, but the executor on the land purchase changed it to Morton,” she scoffed at this, clearly still a bit bitter at the anglicization of her family’s name. “So, that’s how they were remembered.”

Ah, I thought. She really doesn’t know her own family’s history, does she? I needed her to go just a bit further down this path though, so I tried to keep her talking.

“That unfortunately happened to a lot of families, didn’t it?” I said. “Not that that makes it any better…”

I was trying to lead her into exposing the connection she’d found to Irene’s family. The same one I had found.

She laughed, a dark and mirthless sound.

“Yes. Well, I found out when I moved back to town that that one of the executor’s descendants was still in town.”

BINGO!

“Oh?” I said, trying to keep my cool.

“Yes. I knew what I had to do, too. I needed to right the wrongs that had been done to my family all those years ago… but, you - you clever librarian, seem to have already figured that out, huh?”


Uh, oh. Somehow, I had shown my hand. She knew I knew, now. I was in trouble. She slowly got up front the table and walked across the room. As she walked, she slipped her hand in her pocket.

Drew! Where was he? Was he hearing this?? If he didn’t show up soon, I wasn’t sure what would happen to me. I tried to think of what to say to stall her.

“Uh, I have no idea what you mean,” I fumbled. “I don’t know anything about that!”


“Oh, but you do. I know you do. You have been putting the pieces together since early last week. First there was the not-so-innocent phone call right before you and Maggie conspired to close the library -“

“We did not conspire! We were trying to be proactive, and to keep the town safe!”

“Whatever you want to call it…” she waved dismissively. “When you called me that day, I thought maybe you had started to figure it out, but perhaps you hadn’t. Maybe I gave you too much credit. But anyway, I knew for sure that you had found out the connection between my family and Irene’s when I saw you searching both our names in the ancestry database. That was a mistake.”

“Okay,” I admitted, “I was doing some research on your names. But, that was only because I had followed the groundwork that Irene had already laid.”

“Irene,” Eliisa spit out her name like it left a bad taste in her mouth. “It was her family’s fault, all of it.”

“What was her family’s fault?” I said, attempting to sound like a concerned friend. I wanted to try to offer her a shoulder to cry on, rather than a back to stab.

“Oh, they ruined us. That name change was the beginning of my family’s downfall. My Aunt and Uncle were shamed by the whole affair. Family wouldn’t even talk to them anymore - my uncle… his wife left him because of it.”

“Wait, are you talking about Daniel and Mirja?”

“You have done your research…” she said. A little half-smile quirking at the corners of her mouth. But it was not a smile that brought mirth. I watched as the lines that edged her face became hard and defined in disdain.

“Eliisa, do you know the whole story?” I asked, now almost hoping Drew would take his time. I felt compelled to share the truth with Eliisa, even though now the damage was already done.

“What are you talking about? The Savela family took everything from us. What’s more truthful than that?”

“Eliisa,” I said, as I reached for my phone and quietly ended the call. “Your mother, Mira? She was not Henri and Alma’s child. She was born to Daniel and Mirja. Irene found this out, and I believe she planned to share the whole story with you. Daniel had been the one to buy the land Morton Farms was founded on, and yes, Mr. Savela was the County Assessor at the time - and yes, the responsibility for the negligent misspelling of your family’s name does fall squarely on his shoulders. But, Daniel took it upon himself, all those years ago, to exact revenge on the Savela’s. He conspired to get Mrs. Savela committed to a mental hospital, where she died. She left behind her only child - Mr. Savela was forced to raise that child alone. Can you imagine that heartache? Mirja couldn’t reconcile with Daniel after she knew what he ad done. She left him, and sent her only child - Mira, your mother - to live with relatives. That’s how she came to be with Henri and Alma. What’s done is done, but that was all ancient history. Until you came and reopened old wounds.”

“I, I - “ Eliisa stammered, “I had no idea. I killed Irene, for… for nothing.”

Just then, the door to the Local History Room burst open again, and in came my knight in shining armor - even if he was a little late.

“Eliisa Nurmi, you’re under arrest for the murder of Irene Savela. You have the right to remain silent, everything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.”

“Libby,” Eliisa wrenched her body away from the strong arms of Drew’s officers and turned back to me. “I’m sorry.”

A sad smile crossed my lips, but it was short-lived. Luce barreled into me next, enveloping me in a bear hug. Pandemic be damned.

“I was so worried! When you didn’t come back, I came looking for you and I overheard part of your conversation with Eliisa. I tried calling the cops, but they said that Deputy Drew and his officers were already on their way. Super smart thinking with that open phone line, Libby!” She raised her hand and I gave her a half-hearted high five.

There was one thing yet that bothered me. I recalled that I had heard Sally Hellman, Susan Taylor and Eliisa Nurmi speaking in the conference room before the Library Board meeting. At the time, I though they had been referencing what Annie Bea had told us - that they believed we were padding our numbers.

But, why the comment about this not being an issue for long, then? Were they going to try to get one of us fired?

No, that didn’t make sense. They HAD to be speaking about Irene. Did all three of those women conspire together to kill her? Had Sally and Susan perhaps encouraged Eliisa’s actions?


If that was the case, then the other two women may also be to blame.

Quickly, before Drew carted her away, I said, “Eliisa, wait - I have some questions for you.”

Drew looked at me with a question in his eyes, but he seemed okay with me proceeding. I took this as a good sign.

“Eliisa, I have a bit of a confession. I overheard you speaking with Sally and Susan the day Irene was killed. At the time, I thought you were talking about how you all thought we were somehow padding our stats to get more money for programming. Like they accused Luce of doing, too. I’m sure now that that couldn’t have been what you three were discussing - or if it was, then I’m even more confused. They need to be held accountable for their part in this terrible tragedy, too. I need you to tell me what part Sally and Susan played in all of this. I know you discussed your plan with them, what I can’t figure out is why they even cared about your family’s history with Irene.”

“I guess I owe you that. And, you’re right - both Sally and Susan were involved in my plan. Can I at least sit down for this part, Deputy?”

Drew nodded his head and let go of Eliisa’s arm. He guided her to the chair closest to where she’d been standing. I noticed that he did not sit, rather he stood right behind her - as if he was worried she’d try to bolt. I understood, but I didn’t think she would - she seemed resigned to her fate, and physically had shrunk into herself, almost as if she had physically deflated in the past few minutes we’d been together.

“As you already knew, my family had been long time members of the community, but I needed a change after high school. I felt smothered by the history, and the smallness of our town. As soon as I could leave, I did. For awhile, I traveled. I went back to Finland and tried to reconnect with my roots. I was able to find some family members, who I thought were cousins, but now - because of what you’ve told me - I guess they’re actually aunts and uncles on my mother’s side of the family.”

She gave a subtle shrug, and continued.

“They knew even less about what had happed here than we did, of course. It wasn’t like there were easy means of communication back then, letters took weeks or even months to be exchanged. All they had known for sure was that my family was in America.

Eventually, I realized that even though Elsewhere was small and often stifling, it was the only place that I had any real connections. So, I came back. I was met with heartache. In my absence, my parents’ health had deteriorated and I had to move them into a retirement home when I returned. I couldn’t believe they’d kept their failing health from me.”

I had wondered about that, her family had to have still be around when she’d returned, but I knew they had passed away a few years ago from the research.

“But, the one thing they still knew was, the Savela family had ruined Martinnen family name. Or at least, that’s what they thought they knew. The only thing they were still sure of was the feud had not ended. I realize I should have dismissed what they said, but they were so sure. I felt like I owed it to them to believe them.

Then, I met Sally. She and I had been in high school together, but never friends. Now that I’d returned, she seemed keen on bringing me into the tight knit group she and Susan had formed. She was the reason I ran for the Library Board, in fact. I think she saw a similarity between us.

Eventually, I opened up to her a bit about my family’s history and the connection between them and the Savela’s. She was the one who suggested Irene was padding stats as a way to inflate her importance, and get unearned raises, as well as money for the library. Basically, she did everything she could to plant additional seeds of mistrust in me, against Irene.”

“I believe that Sally was working as a double agent, too, actually - I found a letter fragment in the conference room that seemed to indicate that your ancestor Daniel, had actually killed Irene’s grandfather over the mistake in the documents. Perhaps she was trying to pit Irene against you, too?”

“I don’t know, but I wouldn’t be surprised. She eventually brought Susan in on the plot - supposedly to help me get back at Irene’s family. Susan was the one who helped me distill the red baneberry juice down to make it concentrated enough to cause Irene’s heart failure as quickly as it did.”

“That does bring up another question for me,” I paused, and then continued.

“How exactly did you poison Irene? I know you, Sally and Susan were all already in the conference room that day - I heard you talking. The glass tube was found near her, at my desk. I doubt she would have just randomly swallowed an unknown substance.”

Eliisa looked at me for a long moment.

“No?” She finally asked. “Even with the immense guilt of thinking her family member had killed one of my ancestors?”

This gave me pause. Was it possible that Eliisa, Sally, and Susan had created such a strongly fabricated lie, based on one tiny scrap of evidence, that Irene had felt compelled to kill herself?

“I just don’t see her doing that. I may have not known her for very long, but I don’t believe she killed herself deliberately.”

I felt strongly about this, I believed her care for life, and the care she showed for the library - even if it was covered in a gruff facade - indicated she was a person who wouldn’t move to that last resort without reaching out for help. But, then again, who knows anyone, really?

“Well, to be honest, this is a point that I don’t have the answer to either. The plan was for us to make her do it herself - we provided the means, yes, but I know I did not directly force the poison on her. As far as I know, she drank it herself.”

Not exactly how I had pictured this day ending, but after another round of statements, Luce and I were free to leave.

We had called Maggie to let her know what had happened, and she wisely chose to stay away from the library.

I couldn’t relax though. Drew had said that he would go and question Sally and Susan, in light of what Eliisa had told us.

It seemed this story wasn’t quite over yet.