A Quandary in Quarantine

Chapter Eighteen

“I want to go with you,” I said to Drew as his officers took Eliisa away in the police cruiser.

I fleetingly thought about asking Drew if he wanted to try Luce’s movie date idea, but thought better of it.

Focus, Keene, I told myself.

First, we catch the murderers.

Then, we can go on a date.

“No, Libby, you shouldn’t put yourself in harm’s way like that, we still don’t know why Susan or Sally’s part in this was, exactly, and they could be dangerous.”

“Well, I was the one who figured out the connection between Eliisa’s and Irene’s family, and found out the real story behind their families’ feud. I should go, because I will be able to ask the right questions to get them both to talk.”

“I understand, but I just can’t let you - I would never forgive myself if you were hurt in some way. Besides, they could even come after you eventually.”


“They’ll be in jail, if we do this right. Drew, please.”

It wasn’t as much a question as a statement. I knew I needed to be there when he questioned Susan and Sally.

“How about this,” I tried another tactic. “I will stay in the car, and we’ll use the same cell phone trick I used when I went into the Local History Room with Eliisa - but, we’ll know we’re on the line together so I can listen in. Then, I’ll flash the headlights or something if you’re going down the wrong path? How does that sound?”

“I know you won’t take anything less than a yes as an answer, so - okay, we’ll try it your way.”

He smiled, but I could still see the current of worry coursing through his handsome features. I had gotten pretty lucky with this guy, I thought to myself. And, of course - I appreciated his concern. But, let’s be honest - I wasn’t kidding when I said I was the one who’d actually cracked most of this case.

Drew drove his police cruiser over to Sally Hellman’s house. Neither she nor Susan actually lived in town. They both had houses just outside of town, that overlooked the wide rolling hills of the land that used to be all farmland less than 100 years ago. Now, with more and more farmers struggling to make profits, or getting too old to continue the work - this verdant farmland was being sold for housing. I suppose we should count our blessings that they weren’t all turning into preplanned communities, like in Arizona - but still it made me sad to see that transition away from the deep midwestern connection to the land.

We chose to go to Sally’s first, because I suspected based on my knowledge of her and what I had overheard in the conference room the day Irene was killed, that she was the actual mastermind behind everything. She had been the one to befriend Eliisa and to draw her into sharing her family’s history, and according to Eliisa, had been the one to stir up the old feelings surrounding the feud. From everything I’d seen, it seemed that Susan was Sally’s lackey - or her intimidator, since she had been the one to harass Annie Bea the other day as well.

Sure, this was all mostly based on a hunch, but we didn’t have much to go on. We needed to speak to both of them, and we had to start somewhere.

As we pulled up to Sally’s white and brown-trimmed gingerbread style house, every window was dark. Not a good sign. Deputy Drew killed the lights on his cruiser, and looked at me.

“Libby, I want you to stay here, no matter what, will you promise me?”


“I promise,” I said.

Drew pulled out his cell phone and dialed my number. I accepted the call, and set the sound to come through the speaker at set it on the dash. I looked at Drew, and nodded.

Drew opened the door to the car, stepped out and closed it as quietly as he could. I saw him slip his phone into the breast-pocket of hi police-issued overcoat.

“Libby, can you hear me?” He asked, testing out the sound quality on our makeshift two-way radio connection.

“I can hear you,” I whispered. Then I shook my head at myself - I am not sure why I was whispering, I was inside his car, there was no one there to hear me.

I watched as Drew walked up to the door, and ring the bell. After a moment, I saw him knock, too. No one was answering. Drew looked back and me and I shrugged.

“Try the door handle?”

“The door handle? I can’t be breaking and entering, Lib, I’m the police."



“Yeah, and you’re trying to get into the house of a suspected accomplice to murder, Drew - I think it’s warranted.”

“Oh, I guess,” he said. Men.

I saw him test the door handle, and it gave. I saw the hesitation in Drew’s demeanor, but he pushed open the door.

“Okay, I’m going in,” he said into the phone.

“Be careful, she could be here - “ I said.

I knew he was a professional, and this was not his first rodeo. But, now he was also someone I cared about. I tried not to let my newly budding feelings for the deputy cloud the fact that we were there to catch a potential murderer.

“Sally Hellman?” Drew called into the seemingly empty house. 

“It’s Deputy Andrew James, from the Elsewhere Police Department. I have a couple questions for you. Are you here, Ms. Hellman? I found your front door standing open. I am coming in.”

Drew was doing his best to let Sally know that he was there, so there were no surprises. I wish I could see into the house. If we were both in there, then I could watch out for him, too.

“Okay, Lib, I’ll try to talk through what I’m seeing for you, but I’ll have to keep quiet too, I need to listen for anyone who might be here in the house,” Drew said, his voice crackling over the line.
“I don’t think anyone is here, but I’m going to take a look around.”

There was near silence for awhile, periodically I could hear his footfalls on old staircases or the sound of a door opening, but mostly all I heard was the sound of the fabric of his coat rubbing on the cell phone’s microphone.

Exciting stuff.

Then, I heard what sounded like a dull thud, then the sound of someone falling. Then, everything went muffled. I think Drew was laying on the cell phone - meaning he was face down on the floor.



“Drew!”

I grabbed the cell phone off the dash and looked into the screen, hoping to find answers. What was happening in there?



“Well, that will take care of him.”

I heard a female voice crackly down the phone line. I couldn’t be totally sure, but I didn’t think it was Sally Hellman. Was that Susan Taylor’s voice? Was it possible they both here at Sally’s house together?

And, what had they done to Drew?

I needed to know he was alright. I made a split second decision to break my promise to Drew and leave the car. I just had to know if he was okay.

I opened the door and got out. Following Drew’s queue, I closed the door as quietly as I could, but even the smallest sound echoed in the wooded countryside, and sounded like nothing more than a bomb going off to my ears.

I crept up the steps to the front door of the house. Drew had closed it behind him, but it was still unlocked when I tested the handle. Okay, so far, so good.

I eased the door open and looked around. The front door opened on a Victorian-era formal sitting room, consistent with the Gingerbread style of the house. Sally had decorated with a mix of period-style pieces, and some modern touches that actually worked pretty well together. I noticed the wonderfully ornate carvings and rich luxurious looking fabrics accenting the pieces.

Looking to the other side of the space, I saw a beautiful eight-seat dining room table in a dark wood. I thought it looked like either mahogany or rosewood.

Okay, so Sally had good taste. But, I codlin’t take too much time admiring the house - I needed to find Drew. Fleetingly, I thought about the scene I might be walking into. I knew it was likely that both Sally and someone else - possibly Susan - had somehow injured Drew, at least enough so that he was no longer speaking.

Should I call for backup? I didn’t want to disconnect the call that was still open, just in case I heard something useful, but I may have to.

I saw a grand staircase which wound up and curved away leading to the second floor. I carefully set one foot on the first step; the last thing I wanted to do was set the stairs to creaking and alert Sally I was coming.

I made it up to the second floor and still couldn’t hear anything that indicated where they might be. This was taking way too long - I needed to find Drew and fast.

When I crested the top of the staircase, I saw that the stairs actually continued up another flight. Odd, I didn’t think I’d seen other levels from the outside - it looked like it was just a two story house from there. But, since I didn’t think that anyone was on this level, I figured I must continue up. The second flight was short, and the ceiling abruptly lowered as well. Ah, I thought - this must be the stairs that led to some sort of of attic or small room created by the dormer windows, not a true third floor.

As I reached the top of this second flight of stairs, I saw a small doorway - about half the size of a regular door. There was a softly glowing light emanating from the seam at the bottom of the door. This had to be where Sally was holding Drew. I wondered what else I would find behind this door. I shuddered to think.

Taking a moment to listen for any sounds, I stood in the cramped hallway, hunching over slightly because of the low ceiling.

Just then, I heard two voices. I was sure now - it was definitely Sally Hellman and Susan Taylor.

“I can’t believe Eliisa was so stupid. She went to the library? It was like she was asking to be caught.”

I could hear Sally rummaging around with something in the room.

“Do you think she was feeling guilty?”

Now Susan’s voice was apparent. It sounded like she was sitting maybe to the right of the door.

“Well, if she was - it was a sign of weakness. She was only avenging her family.”

“I’m not so sure, Sally - you know we withheld that key bit of information…”

“Be quiet, you idiot! We don’t know if he can hear us.”

Sally’s harsh words cut through the stillness. I was surprised she spoke to Susan like that, I never heard her be so verbally abusive - though, I knew the persona people project in private and the one they show in public is often very different.

“Ugh, my head…” Drew’s voice now came through the closed door. It sounded like Sally or Susan had really hurt him.


“Be quiet, or we’ll make sure you never talk again,” Sally intoned.

That was it, I had to call for help. I quickly pulled out my phone again, and paused - but - what if the police took too long to come? What if Sally or Susan forced the same poison into Drew’s mouth that had killed Irene? I couldn’t chance it - I needed to act. 

In a split second decision, I unlocked my phone and quickly dialed the number for the Elsewhere Police Department’s emergency line - then placed the phone on the ground, hoping beyond hope that whoever picked up would be able to hear what was going on and send help quickly using the cell phone’s Geo-locating signal to pinpoint our location. If not, both Drew and I could be in serious trouble.


Acting on pure adrenaline, I burst through the door and tackled the nearest person to me. I quickly realized I had tackled Susan, and that the force of my impact had knocked her out. Thank goodness, I hadn’t really considered what I would do if hand-to-hand combat had been required. That was not something they had covered in much detail in library school.

After I realized I had taken care of Susan, at least for the time being, I glanced up to see where Sally was.

She stood at the other side of a room much larger than I had expected to find. The room was completely filled with pinboards and each seemed, at quick glance, to contain photos that were connected with red strings. What in the world had I stumbled into, here?

“Agatha Elizabeth Keene,” Sally slowly intoned. “Goes by Libby. Your mother’s name is Rebecca Claire Keene, your father is Lee Alexander Keene. Your parents were divorced when you were very young - two years old, I believe, but they are both living in Arizona. Your mother is in Scottsdale, and your father resides in Prescott - I believe.”

“How do you know that?” I broke in.

“Your grandparents on your father’s side are James and Elsie Keene. Your mother’s parents Michael and Darlene Byrne. All deceased. Great-grandparents on both sides were originally from Ireland, but all emigrated before the turn of the century.”

Okay, this was getting creepy...

Sally started a slow circuit of the room, which gave me the opportunity to take in the contents of the pinboards in a bit more detail. I had seen that they contained photos, but on closer inspection, those photos were laid out into family trees. I glanced at the bottom lines of a few that were nearest to me and realized - these were the family trees of most of the people who lived in Elsewhere.

“Sally, what….” I trailed off, unsure of exactly what to ask. What was she doing?

“Do you like them?” She asked. “I thought you might appreciate them, though I never expected to be able to show off my own genealogical skills quite to this extent. You see, I started my little project here years and years ago - probably before you were even born, actually.”

Here she paused, as if in silent commentary - again - about my age. Would this never get old? It didn’t seem that it would.

“Anyway,” Sally continued, “initially my project was completely innocent and self-serving. I had become interested in my own family’s history and fell in love with the thrill of the search. You understand that, of course. You feel the same rush during the chase for those documents, those connections. Well, after some time, I realize that I was more interested in that process and that process extended beyond my own family. I could help others search and find those long lost connections! I started offering my genealogical research skills to others, and helped many people in our town track down their own family’s stories. The good parts along with the bad…”

At this, she paused and shrugged. Under other circumstances, I knew I would commiserate with this statement. You really never did know what you might uncover when you started digging into the past. But, I had a suspicion the ‘bad’ she mentioned ran a lot deeper than what my research had found.

“Okay, that’s all fascinating, I’m very glad you found your passion - but, I don’t understand how that connects to encouraging Eliisa to murder Irene. Or, what part Susan played, for that matter.”

“Oh, Susan,” Sally said. “She is such a good little gopher. She would do whatever I said. Her part was that of the doting sidekick. Nothing more. Not even worth discussing.” 

Hmmm, well then, it was pretty unfortunate for Susan that she was now lying senseless on the floor.

“Now, as for my motives. That might not seem apparent to you, but to me it’s crystal clear.”

The tone she was using had shifted to something quite sinister, and I didn’t like it.

“You see,” she continued, “those bad stories I found? I started storing them away. I started building my webs you see here - I tracked the connections of who had wronged who in what shady business deal, who’s husband had has extramarital relations with who’s wife… you know, the good stuff.”

Alright, so our opinion what constituted “good stuff” differed pretty significantly. Good to know.

“Are those all these red strings?” I asked, I was trying to keep her talking. I wanted to give the Police Department a chance to realize what was going on and to get enough officers over here to Sally’s house.

“Well that makes you a very clever librarian,” said Sally. I wondered if she knew she was quoting Lestat from Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles. I guessed she probably didn’t know, and wouldn’t care. Alex Trebek could call me any time, though.

“The red line are lines of opportunity. Eliisa took advantage of her opportunity. I think other people in this town will, too.”

“If they have to murder their neighbors for it, I doubt they will.”

“Well, of course, not all these stories would end that way, in murder…” Sally walked to the wall of pinboards closest to her, and pointed.


“Here, this one for example,” she lightly ran her finger along a blood red string that connected two sets of photos, each set appearing to be a set of identical twins.

“The two Loren sisters tried to confuse the two Miles’ men by switching up who would show up for dates with which brother. Kind of cute, if you think about it. Good old fashioned fun. Eventually, they all married each other - but no one was ever quite sure if they ended up with the right brother, or right sister for that matter.”

I recognized the name Miles. Sarah Miles had been the director of the Elsewhere Public Library before Maggie took over. In fact, Sarah had been a mentor to Maggie.

She continued to walk along the wall, touching a random red string here or there. This whole thing was very creepy. Where in the world were the police?

“But, of course, I like the ones that involve more gruesome motives. The Douglass family versus the Aherns, for example,” Sally moved to another of her many pinboards. “Regular Hatfields and McCoys - these two, let me tell you. The Douglass family head, Albert sought to go into business with a cousin of the Aherns. Everything seemed on the up-and-up, all the way until the day the shop opened. Then, seemingly out of the blue, Charles Ahern shows up at Albert’s house and lures him outside and shoots him. Turns out, he and the cousin conspired together to plan and execute the murder so Ahern could be the sole proprietor and make all the money. They set it up so it looked like Ahern shot Douglass in self-defense. Got away Scott-free. Until now. I have a plan to share this with the Douglass descendants, and see what they’d like to do with the new information.”

“Really?” I asked. “You want to see if the great-great-grandchildren of these two families, who have - since those events - coexisted quite amicably in this tiny town of Elsewhere, Wisconsin might just up and decide to rekindle a hundred year old feud with very little opportunity for any personal gain, except maybe an up close and personal look at what the justice system might look like?” I was incredulous, Sally was completely off her rocker. 

But, at the moment, I was stuck in a room with her. Maybe I should be more careful.

She suddenly rounded on me, with a fire in her eyes that had not been there before.

Uh, oh.

She came toward me and lunged. I squeezed my eyes shut and braced for an impact, or a bottle of poison, or …. Anything.

But nothing came.

I pried open my eyes and saw a stunned look on Sally’s face as she fell to the ground.

I looked down at her, in surprise, and then glanced up - and saw Drew’s hand holding a clump of the red string, which he had handily used to trip Sally. On her way down, she must have smacked her head. She was out cold.

Just then, we heard banging on the door, and heard the welcome call of, “Elsewhere Police Department, open up!”

“We’re up here,” I squeaked, knowing full well that they’d never hear us way up here in this attic room.

“This is Deputy Andrew James, come in?” Drew said into the radio receiver that was clipped to his shoulder. “We’re upstairs, third floor. There are two suspects up here with us, but they’ve been subdued. Please get up here and cuff them.”

Drew’s eyes found mine, and he smiled. I smiled back. This nightmare was finally over.