Deadly Notions - By Elizabeth Lynn Casey Page 0,39
I love it even more.”
Nina’s face grew a shade darker as she looked down and toed at the carpet beneath their feet. “I was hoping you would, Miss Sinclair.”
“You’re going to make a wonderful head librarian one day, Nina.” She stepped off the stool and pulled her assistant in for a quick hug. “Your instincts are right on the money.”
“Thank you, Miss Sinclair. Though, in this case, it’s really more a case of Duwayne’s instincts.”
“Did you like the idea when you heard it?”
“I loved it.”
“Then that’s your instinct that stepped up to the plate.” She turned back to the piles on the counter, her thoughts already picking through the books in their inventory that might serve as possible kickoff titles for a teen book club. “Shall we put out some feelers?”
“You mean at the high school?” Nina asked in a voice that was suddenly breathless.
She nodded.
“Oh yes! Yes! But”—Nina squared her shoulders with a rare burst of confidence—“can I try my hand at a few posters first? Something that can be hung up around the hallways to drum up the kind of interest an announcement over the P.A. might not accomplish?”
“I think that’s a wonderful idea but under one condition.”
Nina smiled. “What’s that?”
“I get to show it to the board before you hang them up. It’s high time you got some recognition by those men.”
Chapter 15
Melissa Davis was the epitome of the perfect mom—endlessly patient, always encouraging, and constantly smiling. The fact that she had seven children under the age of thirteen to mother didn’t change those qualities one iota.
Being a possible murder suspect, however, scratched two of those certainties off the list.
“Victoria, I was positively awful to Jake Junior this afternoon when the kids got home from school. He set his backpack on the counter to unload his papers and homework then left everything there for just a moment to go help Tommy pump up his bicycle tire.” Melissa sunk into the lattice-backed chair across from Tori and slumped her head onto the table. “When I walked back into the kitchen after getting Molly up from her nap, I saw his backpack still sitting there and no Jake Junior anywhere in sight.”
“Okay.”
Melissa popped her head up. “I called for him to come back to the kitchen and then told him to get his garbage out of the kitchen. His garbage, Victoria.”
She reached across the table and patted her friend’s hand. “If that’s the worst you say over the course of that child’s life, he’ll be okay. Trust me.”
“For some children, maybe. But my kids don’t have the manners they have because I bullied them. They have them because Jake and I made the decision long before Jake Junior came along that we were going to raise our children by example.”
“You have a lot on your mind.”
“That’s no excuse.”
Tori pushed back her chair and walked over to the cabinet that held various cups and glasses. Reaching past the colorful, plastic, teeth-nibbled offerings, she extracted a tall glass from the very back and filled it with ice water. “Here. Drink this. You don’t look very good right now.”
“I don’t feel very good.” Melissa took the glass from Tori’s outstretched hand and merely set it on the table, untouched. “As soon as I said what I said, his eyes got all big and his bottom lip quivered and, well, I felt positively awful.”
Tori claimed a chair closer to her friend. “Did you tell him that?”
Melissa nodded. “I did. I told him I was sorry. And I think he understood but I just don’t know.”
“Does he know what’s going on?”
“I suspect he does. I think he heard me and his dad talking about it last night after I got the call.”
“The call?” Tori leaned forward. “What call?”
“The one from Chief Dallas. Saying he wanted to stop by after the kids left for school.”
She felt her stomach lurch. “And did he?”
With a twist of her hands, Melissa removed the ponytail tie from her hair only to gather every last strand together once again and reposition it slightly higher on her head. “He did. He got here around eleven. Said his ten o’clock meeting ran a little later than he had anticipated.”
“Meetings are generally scheduled in advance and written on a calendar. His ten o’clock didn’t entail either.”
Melissa’s hand stilled atop her hair. “How do you know?”
“Because I was his ten o’clock and he didn’t schedule anything. He simply showed up.” She grabbed hold of Melissa’s water glass and took a gulp then repositioned it