The Silence Of The Library

“They both had the breath knocked out of them, but Eugene got the worst of it. Bates fell right on top of him, and he’s a big guy. The minute Eugene got his breath back, though, he started cursing. Funny how his voice suddenly dropped about an octave.” I recalled that moment at our first meeting when Eugene forgot and let his voice deepen briefly. That was my first clue, though I didn’t realize it until later. “The wig came loose in all the hullabaloo, but he didn’t realize that. He was still trying to make us believe he was his hundred-year-old grandmother.”

“He’s not all that bright, is he?” Helen Louise laughed, and I did, too.

“He has a certain kind of low cunning,” I said after the merriment subsided. “He just can’t seem to think things through clearly and consider the consequences. Otherwise he wouldn’t have done some of the lamebrained things he did. Searching Gordon Betts’s and Della Duffy’s rooms at the hotel was pretty stupid, though of course he tried to lay that off on Eagleton later. I still don’t know what he expected to find.” I paused as another memory surfaced. “He also tried to con me into thinking he was worried Eagleton’s demands would cause his poor granny to have a heart attack and die.”

“One mistake after another, like planting those manuscripts in poor Mr. Eagleton’s hotel room.”

“Exactly. He wanted to confuse things—and he did—but it was a dumb way to do it. It was obvious to Sean and Kanesha that Eagleton wouldn’t have done such an asinine thing.” I drank the rest of my brandy and put the snifter on the end table beside me. “Eagleton was grateful to Sean for his help, but he hasn’t coughed up the fee yet. Sean will probably end up writing it off.”

“That’s too bad,” Helen Louise said. “Speaking of Sean, any movement in the stalemate between him and Q.C.?”

“Not as far as I know.” I shook my head. “Sean inherited every ounce of my stubbornness and more besides. They’ll work it out eventually.”

“I hope so, because he and Alexandra are so good for each other, I think.” Helen Louise sighed.

I had to laugh. “Yes, she’s as stubborn as he is, and maybe they’ll wear each other down a bit and learn how to compromise.”

“Back to Eugene,” Helen Louise said. “We wandered off track again.”

“Kanesha picked up the wig and waved it in front of him, and that shut him up. He was mad, though, and I thought any minute he’d start hopping up and down like a temperamental child.”

“Where was his mother during all this?”

“Sitting in a patrol car out in the parking lot. The phone call was a ruse to separate her from Eugene. She walked out to the front desk, where a deputy waited for her. He hustled her out before she could cause a commotion. Apparently the minute he got her in the car, she started crying. She was terrified of Eugene because she never expected him to kill anyone. At least, that’s what she told Kanesha later.”

“Poor woman. I guess they needed money pretty badly, or surely she wouldn’t have gone along with a crackpot scheme like that.”

“They had Mrs. Cartwright’s social security and some investment income, but Eugene couldn’t hold a job, and Marcella couldn’t, either. They could get by, but just barely.” I explained how the plot of The Mystery at Spellwood Mansion mirrored the current situation, including the bogus Mrs. Eden, who turned out to be a penniless, greedy cousin of the real Mrs. Eden. Then I laughed. “Veronica actually snatched the wig off the impostor’s head to expose her. I thought about doing that to Eugene, but it wasn’t necessary.” Helen Louise laughed, too.

Diesel raised his head and yawned. He stretched and turned on his back, exposing his belly. That was a clear signal that Helen Louise and I should rub it. Of course, we did as we were trained to do. A rumbling purr rewarded our ministrations.

“Thank the Lord they hadn’t murdered poor Mrs. Cartwright after all.” Helen Louise shook her head.

“I don’t think Marcella would have allowed that,” I said. “She truly loves her mother, though she is worn down from having to care for her.” I had to chuckle. “Kanesha said that when the two deputies executed the search warrant and went through the house, Mrs. Cartwright and Yancy Thigpen were in an upstairs bedroom playing poker.”

Helen Louise snorted with laughter. “They didn’t have any idea what was going on?”

“Not a clue,” I said. “Yancy Thigpen was spending time with one of her clients, completely oblivious to the plot Eugene was carrying out. Even when Eugene insisted on parking her car in an old barn behind the house she didn’t think much about it or how odd that was.”

“Almost straight out of The Mystery at Spellwood Mansion.”

“That’s what tipped me off to the truth,” I said. “I was rereading it during all this, and it finally dawned on me what was going on.”

“How is Mrs. Cartwright doing?” Helen Louise asked. She continued to rub Diesel’s belly, and the rumbling increased in volume.