Murder of a Bookstore Babe

“But I should still locate Darleen.” A flicker of impatience crossed Wally’s eyes, but his voice was unruffled. “Right?”

“It would help.” A corner of the priest’s lips turned up.

“Even though Darleen and I weren’t married in a church and I’m not Catholic?” Wally wrinkled his brow.

“Yes,” Father Burns answered. “The Catholic Church views all marriages with respect and presumes that they are valid and binding. Consequently, it requires even non-Catholics to have any previous marriage annulled.”

Wally’s expression was skeptical.

“I understand that this must seem like a lot of nonsense, but without it your marriage to Skye will not be valid in the eyes of the Church. And I know Skye well enough to say without a doubt that this will trouble her greatly, now and in the future. For you to do this is a great act of self-giving love.”

Both men turned to Skye, and she nodded.

“I’ve waited a long time for her.” Wally gave Skye a loving look. “If this is what it takes to make her happy, I can wait a little longer.”

“Thank you.” Skye caught her breath at the raw emotion in his voice.

Wally squeezed her hand, then asked the priest, “Is there anything we can do in the meantime?”

“Make sure the people you’ve chosen who are familiar with your marriage to Darleen have filled out and returned the questionnaire you gave them.” Father Burns rose from his chair and ushered them to the door.

“I’m sure praying wouldn’t hurt,” Wally teased gently.

“True.” The priest nodded. “But God has three answers to your prayers, and people generally like only the first one, which is ‘yes.’ The other two—‘not yet’ and ‘I have something better in mind’—take a little more faith.”

“They certainly do,” Skye murmured.

“Just remember, the nicest thing about the future is that it always starts tomorrow.”

As they walked out to the parking lot, Skye asked Wally, “Was what you said about knowing you didn’t feel the way toward Darleen that you felt toward someone else, and wanting to back out of the wedding, true?” All that he’d told her previously was that his and Darleen’s marriage had been rocky from the start.

He stopped. “Every word.” Tugging her under a huge old oak tree that hadn’t started losing its leaves yet, he pulled her to him.

As she gazed into his warm brown eyes, Skye saw the heartrending tenderness of his gaze, and a tiny part of her blew out a sigh of relief. She had always wondered what he felt for Darleen and whether she had been his true soul mate.

“And was that person you felt more for . . . Was that me?” Skye slipped her arms between his jacket and shirt, caressing the planes of his back.

“Yes, it was you,” he whispered. “It’s always been you, since I first saw you.”

His breath was warm against her face, and her heart raced. “Is it awful of me to be glad?”

“No.” His lips brushed against hers. “Not if you love me as much as I love you.”

“Once I turned eighteen, I always wondered if you’d ask me out sometime.” She could feel the heat of his body pressed against the length of hers.

“I was twenty-four years old and you were still in high school. It wouldn’t have been right.” He rained tiny kisses all over her face. “Then after you went to college, you rarely came home.”

“A huge mistake on my part.” She raised herself on tiptoe, cradled his cheeks between her two hands, and pressed her mouth to his.

Wally gathered her closer, and his tongue stroked the soft fullness of her lips.

Skye shivered in delight, and at first she didn’t hear the sound of a throat clearing. Then abruptly she stiffened and stepped out of Wally’s embrace. He gave her a puzzled look, then blew out a sigh of resignation.

Officer Zelda Martinez stood a few feet away, her olive completion a dusty pink. “I’m sorry to bother you, Chief, but you’ve got your cell switched off and we’ve had a break in the case.”

CHAPTER 13

Brave New World

“At approximately four forty-five p.m.,a Ms.Judy Martin, who claimed to be the director of the Scumble River Public Library, phoned the PD.” Zelda stood at attention and focused her gaze over Wally’s right shoulder. “Ms. Martin stated that she had important information regarding the Tales and Treats burglary but refused to give the dispatcher any details and insisted on speaking directly to the chief.”

“And when she was told I was unavailable?” Wally asked when Zelda didn’t continue.

“Ms. Martin declared that she would wait for you at the library.”

“Thank you.” Wally nodded, dismissing the officer. Once Zelda was gone, he said to Skye, “This has got to be about the stolen books. We sent out a list to other rare-book dealers in a three-hundred-mile radius and to Internet brokers, but why would a librarian be involved?”

“I don’t have a clue.” Skye put both hands up in a “who knows?” gesture. “But Judy isn’t prone to exaggeration or drama.” As a frequent patron of the library, Skye knew the librarian well. “If she says her info is important, I’d bet it is.”

“Then we best get over there and hear what she has to say.”