Twelve Angry Librarians

The sun warmed my face, but it was not unpleasantly hot. A light breeze made for a pleasant walk around the square. I nodded a few times at people I knew and stopped once to chat briefly with a neighbor who lived three houses down from mine.

The conversation finished, I resumed my walk toward the bistro. My cell phone rang, and I pulled it out. Lisa Krause’s name came up. I was tempted to let it go to voice mail, but I knew I couldn’t do that to Lisa.

“Oh, Charlie, where are you?” Lisa broke into speech right away, not even giving me time to say hello. She didn’t wait for an answer to her question, either. “Wherever you are, I need you right away. I think somebody poisoned her, just like Gavin.”

NINETEEN

Lisa started sobbing, and I almost had to yell over the phone to get her attention. Passersby stared at me, and one woman made as if to approach me. I held up my hand and smiled to let her know I was okay.

“Lisa, you’ve got to calm down enough to tell me where you are,” I said. “I can’t help you if I don’t know where you are.”

I heard her draw a shaky breath. “Sorry, Charlie, you’re right.” She sniffled. “I’m at the hotel. Room 602. Can you come?”

I had already turned in the direction of the hotel and started walking back. “Yes, I’m on the way. Who is it you’re talking about? Are you sure she’s dead?”

Lisa sobbed again into the phone, but she caught hold of herself right away. “Maxine Muller. She’s dead. She looks so awful I can’t stand to look at her.”

“Have you called 911 yet?” I started moving faster, and my calves ached from the strain. I wasn’t used to this pace.

“No,” Lisa said. “I was so scared I called the first person I thought of. I guess I’d better call them now.”

“Yes, and then notify the front desk. I’m on the way.” I shut off my phone and stuck it back in my pocket. By now I was only about thirty yards from the hotel. I kept up the pace, despite the pain in my legs, and I almost ran into the front door of the hotel.

I made it through to the elevator without knocking anyone over, and I muttered under my breath while the agonizingly slow elevator doors opened to admit me. The elevator stopped twice on the way up. The moment the doors opened wide enough on the sixth floor I hurried out and looked for the sign that indicated the locations of the rooms by number.

Maxine Muller’s room lay almost at the end of the corridor to my right. I could see Lisa sitting on the floor in the hallway. She glanced up as I approached, then struggled to her feet. She fell into my arms when I reached her, and I patted her back awkwardly when she started crying.

“I know this is a horrible shock for you,” I said in gentle tones, “but I need you to get yourself together. The police ought to be here any moment, and the hotel manager, too. You did call, didn’t you?”

Lisa pulled away and fumbled in her bag. She extracted a tissue and nodded as she dabbed at her eyes.

“Good,” I said. The door stood open, and I resisted the temptation to go inside. “You’re absolutely certain that she’s gone?”

“Yes,” Lisa said. “She’s dead.”

“Before everyone else gets here, let me ask you a question or two.”

Lisa nodded.

“What were you doing here? Were you meeting her here?” I remembered that she left me earlier in the meeting room, saying she was supposed to meet someone and was late.

“No, we were supposed to meet downstairs,” Lisa said. “She’s going to be—was going to be—chair of the local arrangements committee for next year’s meeting, and we were going to go over a few things. But she didn’t show up. I thought I’d missed her because I was late.”

“Surely she could have waited five minutes or so,” I said.

“That’s what I thought.” Lisa frowned. “I tried calling her, but it went to voice mail. I left a message and waited a few minutes, but she didn’t call back. Then I sent her a text message and told her I’d catch up with her later.”

“Did she respond to either message?”

Lisa nodded. “She texted me a couple of minutes after I texted her and said to come up to her room in ten minutes. She had to talk to someone first, but then she’d be ready for our meeting.” She paused for a deep breath. “I waited like she asked me to, even though I was getting really irritated over the delay because I have so many things to check on today. But I came on up. Her door wasn’t closed completely. I knocked and waited. I didn’t hear any response, but I figured she might be in the bathroom. I pushed the door open and called out to her.” She shuddered.

“What happened next?” I glanced down the hall. I’d heard the elevator doors open, and several people stepped out and headed toward us.

“I s-s-saw her feet and legs sticking out between the beds,” Lisa said. That was all she had time for, because the hotel manager, along with a couple of police officers and another hotel staff member, had reached us now.