Deadly Notions - By Elizabeth Lynn Casey Page 0,55
he returned to the blanket with the police in tow.
When the time was right, she’d tell Milo the truth about his college flame. In front of the police wasn’t that time.
“So where were you?” Dixie demanded.
“I—”
“Ms. Dunn stopped by to talk to you about her schedule for story time,” Nina stammered by way of explanation. “It wasn’t on the calendar.”
“Patrons don’t follow a calendar. They’re to be assisted at any time during business hours and last time I checked”—Dixie turned her wristwatch for Tori to see—“now is definitely in that time frame.”
“And that’s why Nina is here.” Stepping behind the counter, Tori made short work of a stack of returns, her hands expertly sorting them into the correct piles. “But, since you seem to need to talk to me, let’s talk. I’m here now.”
“Shouldn’t we go to your office?”
She shook her head. “As you so nicely pointed out, we are in the middle of business hours.”
Dixie made a face. “But I—”
“So you’d like to talk about your schedule?” Pulling her stool over to the computer, Tori clicked a few icons until the branch calendar appeared on the screen. “Right now I have you down for each Thursday morning over the next three weeks. Would you like to take some of those off?”
“No, I—”
“Nina? Could you take next Thursday morning?”
“Of course, Miss Sinclair.”
She looked at the screen. “I could take the one after that, no problem.”
Dixie stamped her foot. “I’m not saying I don’t want to work them. I just wanted to talk about them.”
“What about them?” She forced herself to focus on Dixie rather than the smile Nina was attempting to hide.
“I was hoping I could do a story time on bullying.”
“Bullying?” she echoed.
“Based on what I saw recently, it’s sorely needed. Even if the biggest culprit of all is no longer under the influence of her adult counterpart.”
Her fingers left the keyboard. “What are you talking about?”
“Bullying needs to stop. It hurts a child’s confidence in so many ways.”
She held up her hands. “Dixie, I agree one hundred percent. But what was that about the biggest culprit and her adult counterpart? You lost me.”
“I had a little girl wander into the children’s room during story time a week or so ago. And while I was reading, I watched this little girl be ridiculed by the nastiest child I’ve ever laid eyes on. Before I could put a stop to it, the little girl ran from the room in tears.”
She heard the gasp as it escaped her mouth. “Wait. Where was I?”
“You were meeting the board for lunch.”
Nina pointed at Dixie. “See? I told you Ms. Dunn would be the perfect person to ask.”
Ignoring her assistant, Tori focused instead on the elderly woman who stood just inside the circular counter-top that denoted the information desk.
“The perfect person to ask about what?” Dixie groused.
Tori glanced around the room, her gaze skimming across the handful of patrons either perusing books at a table or wandering down the aisles in search of a particular title. “Nina? Can you handle things for just a few more minutes? I’d like to talk to Dixie in my office after all. It won’t be long.”
“Go ahead, Miss Sinclair. I’m fine up here.” Nina stepped around the counter and headed toward the bank of computers near the side wall.
Dixie led the way down the hallway, her penny loafers shuffling along the carpet. “I don’t want you to think I was negligent in not stepping in to stop the nastiness that day but, by the time I realized what was happening, the little girl had run off.”
Closing the door behind them, Tori motioned toward the two wicker chairs by the window. “It never dawned on me to think you’d been negligent, Dixie. I see how you are with the children every week. You’re wonderful.”
The elderly woman beamed at the praise. “Why thank you, Victoria. It’s nice to know my efforts are noticed.”
“It would be hard not to notice. Especially when the children in your story time sections always look so happy.” When Dixie was settled into the chair with the lavender cushion, Tori followed suit, claiming the yellow-cushioned chair as her own. “But I would like to know what happened that day. Just so I can have a better understanding.”
Without so much as a moment’s hesitation, Dixie launched into the story. “I had a slightly larger than normal group that day on account of a playdate one of the children was having. That child’s mother asked if it would