Sixteen

The next morning, I woke up with the early alarm to get ready for the early shift at the office since it was my turn to open. There was a text on my cell phone from Ava Grady.

Ava: All taken care of you. Got Abby in the right frame of mind. She remembered where and what happened. Obviously, didn’t kill the author. You owe me $400. I dropped her off at your friend Queenie’s house. You can find her there.

I gulped back the amount. It was worth it since she got Abby off. Instead of thinking anymore about paying Ava, I went ahead and Venmo’d the amount to her. It was a form of payment sort of like PayPal. I put the phone back on the nightside table.

“Are you ready to get up?” I put my hand on Fifi, who was sleeping on the pillow next to me. She was all curled up in a tight ball with her little eyes open. “I feel the same way.” I pulled the quilt up to my chin. “Just a few more minutes.”

A knock at the door ruined that thought. It made Fifi jump up with a yip or two.

“Do you think it’s Hank?” The excitement of the possibility it was him made me jump out of bed and dart to the door. I picked up Fifi first. If I didn’t do that, she’d dart out the door and that wasn’t going to happen, especially since I didn’t have on the right clothes to chase her in the snow.

“Hi. I’m Laura.” The young woman I’d invited to come to the library to meet Nadine White was standing at my door. “I heard the news about Nadine White and I just had to come here. I went to the office, but the note said to come here.” She shivered as she stood on the bottom step.

“Come in.” I opened the door for her. Fifi shivered after she stuck her little black nose out the door. She ran back into the bedroom where I’m sure she was snuggled up again on the pillow. “I just got up, but I’ll make us some coffee.”

If I remembered correctly in my morning brain fog, Laura was drinking coffee at the diner when I’d met her.

“Thank you,” she gratefully sighed. “I’ve not slept all night.”

“I heard Nadine was going to mentor you.” Valerie had mentioned that in hopes it’d make Nadine look a little nicer. I worked around the kitchen getting the coffee grounds in the maker and turning the button on for the coffee maker to brew. Within seconds, the RV smelled like the yummy aroma that started to wake up my senses.

“Yeah. I even dropped off my manuscript to her and I’ve been trying to get in touch with Valerie Young about it, but she won’t call me back.” Laura fumbled with the buttons on her wool coat. “I just went by the camper to stay there until she came out, but the car isn’t there and she’s not there either.”

“Valerie hasn’t been back in a day or so.” I was really starting to think she was the one who did kill Nadine. “Did you hear Valerie and Nadine argue or fight when you dropped off your book?”

“No, but Nadine did tell me that she and Valerie were parting ways. She said that Valerie was so mad at her for it. They were going to meet for supper at that The Red Barn and discuss it before Nadine took some sort of I’m sorry package to Abby, which by the way,” Laura lifted her hands to her chest, “I’m so happy to hear she’s no longer a suspect. Abby is one of the reasons I love going to the library. I can sit in there for hours and she’s so kind. She’s always bringing me coffee.”

“Speaking of coffee.” I grabbed two mugs from the hooks off the wall where they hung and poured me and Laura a nice big cup. “Cheers.”

“Here’s to finding out who killed Nadine.” Her voice trailed off with deep sadness. “Or at least finding Valerie so I can get my book back.”

“No doubt. Is it the only copy you have?” I asked.

“Yes. I’m very old school. I even use a typewriter.” She laughed with the mug up to her mouth. The steam of the hot coffee parted down the middle as her breath hit it. “I knew better than to give her the only copy, but it’s Nadine White. She offered, and I jumped at it.”

“At least you know she was interested.” I shrugged thinking how awful Laura must’ve felt to get so close to a famous author looking at her work. “Plus, I’m sure it’s hard to put all your heart into it and have someone critique it.”

“Yes. That’s the hardest part of trying to fulfill my passion to write. Getting thick enough skin to let someone tear it apart.” She took a sip. “But, then it only makes you a better writer. If you’re open to the criticism.”

“That would be hard,” I said and sipped more coffee.

We talked about her dreams and how she’d decided to become a writer. It was fascinating watching her talk. The passion she had for it poured out of her. She spoke about the written word and all the books that’d changed her life. It was nice to reassured there were still passionate people in the world.

“You’re going to make it. You are very determined.” I couldn’t help but notice her focus and drive.

“Thank you for the coffee.” She pointed to my notebook on the counter. “Can I write my phone number in case Valerie comes back or you find my manuscript in the camper?”

“Yes. No problem.” I opened the notebook to the back and ripped out a page for her to write down her number. “I’ll talk to Detective Sharp to see if it’s okay that I go in there, even though they’ve cleared it.”

I referred to Hank as the detective because it felt funny to even think along the lines of a boyfriend. Even at my age, was he a boyfriend? A companion? After last night and the few kisses, I’d like to think it was more than companionship. It was something that I needed to let unfold naturally and not push it. He was someone I really wanted to date and see where this thing would go, not run him off.

“That’d be great.” She scribbled down her number and grabbed her coat.

Fifi ran down the hallway back into the room. She scratched on the door.

“I’ll follow you out.” I put my feet into my snow boots before wrapping up in my coat and snapping Fifi’s leash on her collar. “Fifi needs to go out.”

I couldn’t help but look across the lake at the camper Nadine had rented. The outside Christmas lights were on, but the car wasn’t there and the camper was completely dark. I found that most campers who rented from me always kept a light on. They felt safer, at least that’s what they’d said.

Fifi didn’t take long to do her business. Within a half hour of Laura leaving, I’d gotten my shower and was dressed for the day. It was going to be cold and I knew I wanted to check out Reed on Facebook and see how I could find him. He and Valerie were two people I still believed had great motive to kill Nadine.

Nadine had a restraining order against Reed. She was a big pay day to anyone who could reveal what she was working on. If they only knew it was a cookbook. Then there was Valerie. She had the biggest motive between the two. Her entire income was based on her being Nadine’s agent. If Nadine didn’t keep her as her agent, Valerie’s income would drop, though she’d still have a steady flow from the past book deals she’d made for Nadine. Plus the assumption of Nadine’s worth going up after death, like Dawn had suggested, was a real thing. At least, real enough to have killed her for it.

I flipped open the notebook where I’d written all of it down. Everything Laura had told me about Nadine’s thoughts on Valerie were spot on with why now I knew it was more important than ever to find Valerie Young.