Twelve Angry Librarians

“I think figuring out when the killer got the poison into the water bottle is the key to solving it,” I said. “Once Kanesha knows that, she can probably isolate the suspects and figure out who did it and why.”

“Plus find out where they got the cyanide in the first place,” Stewart added. “I’m curious about that part.”

I nodded. “Me, too. I think I know when the killer had the best opportunity to poison the bottle.” I told Stewart about the party Gavin hosted in his suite. “That must be when it was done.”

“Probably,” Stewart said. “But wasn’t the killer taking a risk that someone else might have gotten hold of that bottle instead?”

“I hadn’t thought of that,” I said. “Depends on when during the party it was done, I suppose. Gavin wouldn’t have wanted to share his particular favorite brand of water with anyone else, and I’ll bet the others at the party knew that. I’ll have to ask Lisa if she remembers whether there was other water available.”

“The other thing that strikes me is the fact that this guy drank from the poisoned bottle during the luncheon. If the killer poisoned the water in the suite, he or she had no way of knowing exactly when the victim would actually drink it and die.”

“That’s true,” I said. “Well, Kanesha will have to figure all that out, if she can.”

I got up to refill my coffee, and I suddenly heard a ruckus coming from the direction of the stairs. Stewart and I looked at each other and grinned. Diesel and Dante were playing one of their favorite games, running up and down the stairs, taking turns chasing each other. Dante barked occasionally, and Diesel meowed loudly. The game usually lasted about five minutes, by which time they had expended enough energy and were ready to rest for another round later. The early stage of the game wasn’t noisy. The longer they went at it, however, the louder and faster they got.

Stewart and I waited for about a minute, and the two racers came trotting into the kitchen, breathing hard.

Stewart glanced at his watch. “Time for me to get ready for the gym. Come on, Dante.” The dog trotted over to him, panting, and Stewart scooped him up. “We’ll see you later, guys.” Dante licked Stewart’s face as the two exited the room.

Diesel stretched out on the floor by my chair and started grooming himself. I prepared a small bowl of cereal and popped two pieces of bread into the toaster. Once I finished my cereal and toast, I contemplated another couple of pieces of toast, but decided on an apple instead. Every once in a while I made a healthier choice.

My thoughts turned to Laura and Frank. I badly wanted to call Laura to find out what was going on. Had they made a decision yet? Was there still a chance they might choose to stay in Athena?

I knew I shouldn’t call. Laura knew I’d be stewing over this, anxious to know the outcome. She would talk to me as soon as she and Frank were ready to share their decision. I had to be content to wait. Patience, in matters like this, was never my strong suit.

I forced my mind to the conference schedule. I had that panel on cataloging to do. Would someone step in to take Gavin’s place? I wondered. I also speculated, somewhat uneasily, how technical the other librarians on the panel would get. With the change from the old Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, known fondly to catalogers as AACR2, to the newer standard, Resource Description and Access, known as RDA, the world of cataloging had changed. Though I was familiar with RDA and some of the important changes, I didn’t have a complete grasp of it by any means. I didn’t want to appear ignorant if the others started spouting rule numbers that meant nothing to me.

Too late to worry about that now. I would have to wing it and hope not to come off looking like a complete fool. Given everything else going on in my life right now, this panel was a minor thing.

That realization made me feel better. I put my dishes in the dishwasher, made sure the coffeepot was off, and then Diesel and I headed upstairs. I needed to get ready to face the outside world.

Half an hour later I was prepared to leave the house, dressed in a suit but without the tie. Five days a week were enough with a tie around my neck, I decided. Most of the men I had seen at the conference yesterday weren’t wearing them, and I might as well go with the trend.

Before I went to the Farrington House, however, I had to deliver Diesel to Melba Gilley’s house. She had volunteered to take care of him today so that I wouldn’t have to leave him at home with only Dante for company. Both cat and dog tended to make mischief when left without human supervision, and I didn’t care to come home and find every shoe I owned dragged out of my closet and left with teeth and claw marks. Lesson learned.