The Silence Of The Library

Kanesha rubbed a hand wearily across her eyes. “Let me talk to Mrs. Gilley and hear this message for myself. Then I’ll decide what to do.” She expelled a sharp breath. “I’m not about to let anything happen to her if I can help it, but first I have to determine whether there’s a legitimate threat. Understood?”

I nodded. “Certainly. Do you want me to leave now so that you can talk to her alone?”

Kanesha hesitated, obviously torn. I figured she would love to tell me to go home and mind my own business, but she might also have been thinking that Melba would find it easier to talk with me there.

“No, you can stay if Mrs. Gilley wants you to.” Kanesha shook her head. “Even if you didn’t, I’m sure she’d be on the phone to you the minute I walked out the door.”

“Good morning, Deputy.” Melba sounded more like her usual self when she entered the kitchen. She also looked more like her usual self. She had dressed in jeans and a sweater, combed her hair, and applied a little makeup. “Would you like some coffee? I think there’s still some in the pot, or I could make some fresh.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Gilley, but I’m fine. Mr. Harris told me earlier this morning that you were a close friend of Mrs. Taylor’s, and I wanted to talk to you about her. First, though, let me tell you how sorry I am about the death of your friend.” Kanesha’s sympathy sounded sincere, not the rote words of a stranger observing the social niceties.

“Thank you.” Melba resumed her place at the table, and I chose the chair to her left. Diesel gave up his close observation of the deputy and stretched out on the floor between Melba and me. “I’m glad you came by. There’s something I want you to hear.”

Melba picked up the cell phone and played the eerie voice mail message for Kanesha. I found it even more affecting than I did the first time I heard it. If anything, my fears for Melba’s well-being increased.

Kanesha sat stony-faced until the message ended. “Can you forward that message to me, Mrs. Gilley?” She pulled a business card from her pocket. “Here’s my number at the sheriff’s department.”

“Certainly,” Melba said as she picked up the phone. “I’ll do it right now.”

Kanesha and I waited until the task was complete and Melba set the phone aside once more. In the meantime the deputy had pulled out her notebook and pen and jotted something down in it.

“Was that the only contact you had with Mrs. Taylor yesterday?” Kanesha asked.

“Yes,” Melba said. She went on to explain the reason why she hadn’t taken the call. “I did talk to her the day before, but offhand I can’t think of anything she said to me that could have any bearing on this.”

“Please think carefully about the conversations you had with her recently, and if there’s any odd detail you remember that could be connected, let me know.” Kanesha flipped back a couple of pages in her notebook. “Mrs. Taylor mentioned having people over last night. Her neighbor Mrs. Crocker told us she saw a couple of people going in the front door around eight last night. She couldn’t see them clearly but thought they might have been two women. Any idea who they could have been?”

Melba frowned as she considered the question. “It could have been some of the ladies from church, I guess. Carrie was real involved in church work the past couple years. You might check with Althea Sprayberry. She and Carrie worked together lately on raising money for foreign missions.”

Kanesha wrote in her notebook. I hesitated to interrupt, but I had a suggestion as to the identity of the two female visitors. “Deputy, I have an idea you might also want to follow up.”

Kanesha glanced at me and nodded, so I continued. “It’s possible that the visitors were Marcella Marter and her mother, Mrs. Electra Barnes Cartwright.” I described the meeting at the library yesterday. “Perhaps Mrs. Cartwright wanted to talk to Mrs. Taylor about the newsletter she put out, or maybe her collection of material related to Mrs. Cartwright.”

“Mrs. Cartwright and her books were some of Carrie’s main interests,” Melba said. “I can imagine how thrilled she was to meet her favorite author.” She paused. “I wonder why she didn’t mention her in the message, though. I’d have thought she’d be chattering all about it.”

“We’ll follow up on both those leads.” Kanesha tapped the notebook with her pen.

My cell phone rang, startling me. “Sorry,” I muttered as I pulled it from my pocket. Teresa Farmer was calling. “Excuse me. I need to take this.” I wondered whether she had heard the news yet about Carrie Taylor.

Kanesha and Melba nodded as I stepped out of the kitchen and walked a few feet down the hallway. I answered the call.

“Charlie, sorry to bother you,” Teresa said. “But I thought I should let you know that Winston Eagleton would like to get in touch with you. He asked me for your cell phone number, but of course I couldn’t give it to him without your permission.”

“Thanks,” I said. “Did he say why he wanted to talk to me?”