“He was that kind of person,” Harrison said. “And he’d be proud of that granddaughter of his today.”
“Mia’s mother died when she was a baby, didn’t she?” I asked. Neither Mia nor Simon ever spoke about Mia’s mom.
“In childbirth.”
I glanced over at Simon, talking to Brady Chapman. “I had no idea.”
The old man nodded. “She and Simon were just teenagers. There were some kind of complications with the delivery.” He leaned on his cane and looked across the room at Simon. “Her parents tried to take the baby. Simon dug his heels in. He wanted to raise her himself. Lord knows what Leo must have thought, and he’s the only one who ever did because he backed that boy one hundred percent. The whole thing ended up in court.” He gestured with one deeply veined hand. “You know the rest.”
“I had no idea,” I said.
“Most folks don’t.” He rubbed his chin with one hand. “That man of yours know who did this?”
“He’s working on it,” I said.
“No offense intended, but it probably wouldn’t hurt if he had some help.”
I stood on tiptoe, put one hand on the shoulder of his black suit and kissed his cheek. “You’re not subtle,” I said.
He gave a snort. “I’m too old to be subtle,” he said.
I looked at my watch. It was getting late and I needed to get to the library. I promised Harrison I would be out soon for supper and headed over to say good-bye to Mia.
“Call me or text me anytime,” I said. “I mean it.”
“I will,” she said. She hugged me tightly.
Simon put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m just going to walk Kathleen out. I’ll be right back,” he said.
“I’m okay,” Mia said. Simon caught Denise’s eye and she nodded. I knew she’d keep a close eye on Mia. Like me, she’d been doing that all morning.
I didn’t realize how warm it was inside the funeral home until we stepped outside.
“I didn’t know he knew so many people,” Simon said as we crossed the pavement toward my truck.
I thought he looked tired, the lines around his eyes pulling tighter than they had when we’d first arrived for the service.
“It’s not just your father all these people care about,” I said. “They care about you and Mia as well.”
We reached the truck and Simon pulled at his tie, loosening it a little. “My father loved this place,” he said. “After my mother died we moved to Green Bay and then Milwaukee. Dad went back to school and got his PhD in math. He taught for twenty years at Marquette University.” He swiped a hand over the top of his head. “He loved math the way some people love the New York Yankees or Star Wars movies.”
I smiled.
“And he loved to play blackjack and poker. Would you believe Dad was banned from a couple of casinos?” He kicked a rock, sending it skittering over the pavement.
I thought about the smiling man I’d met who doted on his granddaughter. It was hard to imagine Leo as a card shark. “What did he do?” I asked.
Simon gave me a wry smile. “Your guess is as good as mine. He always claimed he didn’t cheat. He said the odds were stacked overwhelmingly in favor of the house and he was just evening things up a little.”
“I wish I’d gotten to know him better,” I said.
“You would have liked him.”
I nodded. “I already did.”
“Thank you for everything you did for Mia today,” Simon said.
“She’s special,” I said, turning to look back at the funeral home for a moment.
“She’s not the only one.” He leaned over and his lips brushed my forehead, then he turned and headed back across the lot.
• • •
Abigail was working the front desk when I got to the library. “How was the funeral?” she said.
“Sad,” I said.
“And Mia?”
I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. “She got up and spoke and she was so grown-up, but underneath all that she’s still a little girl who misses her grandfather.”
Later that afternoon I was pushing an empty book cart back to the front desk when Harry Junior came in. He lifted a hand and I joined him.
“I just took a look at the loading bay door and it definitely needs a new seal. That’s where the rain’s getting in.”
“That’s better than a whole new door,” I said. “How do we get a new seal?”
“That’s what I wanted to tell you,” he said. “Thorsten thinks there’s one at the town depot. I can go over and check if you want me to.” He pulled off his Twins cap and smoothed a hand over his mostly bald scalp. “Do you need me to write you up a requisition for Lita?”
“I will,” I said, “but I have enough in the repairs budget, so if they’ve got it, get it and go ahead and install it. There’s rain in the long range for the first of next week.”
“I’ll get right on it.”
“I talked to your father at the service. He’s looking hale and hearty.”
Harry smiled. “As much as I hate to admit it, this new romance of his seems to be agreeing with him.” He pointed a finger at me. “And if you tell him I said that, those blackberries you like so much from my backyard might mysteriously disappear.”
I held up both hands. “I didn’t hear anything.”
He smiled.
“It was good of you and Larry to come to the funeral as well,” I said.
He suddenly looked uncomfortable, shifting his weight from one side to the other. “Leo Janes and the old man were friends a long time ago. It was the right thing to do.” He shrugged. “I better get over and get that seal. I’ll let you know when the door’s fixed.”
I watched him go, and Harrison’s nudge that I should get involved in the investigation into Leo Janes’s death came into my mind. I flashed to Simon in the funeral home parking lot and to Harry Taylor just now. I had no idea who had killed Leo Janes, but I did know that at least two people were probably hiding things.
chapter 6
Saturday morning I had a meeting with Ruby and Taylor King at the library. We’d gotten a small grant from the state to offer a summer reading club for elementary school kids. Ruby was going to run the program with help from Taylor. Ruby had lots of experience with that kind of thing—she’d been doing various art programs in the local schools for several years. Taylor had helped with the Reading Buddies Halloween party and I’d seen firsthand how good the teen was with little kids.
We went over what I was hoping to accomplish with the program. Both Ruby and Taylor had some good suggestions to improve my ideas and when we wrapped up just before ten thirty I felt satisfied that when the time came, the summer reading club was going to be a big success.
I was just coming back downstairs from grabbing a quick cup of coffee around eleven thirty when Elias Braeden walked in the front door. I raised a hand in hello and he smiled and walked over to me.
“Good morning, Kathleen,” he said. “I was hoping I could take you up on your offer of a tour of the library. Is this a good time?” He was wearing a black quilted jacket with a standup collar over a gray sweater.
“All I was going to do was shelve some books,” I said. “So yes, it’s a good time.” We headed over to the front desk, where I introduced Elias to Abigail. “I’m going to give Elias a tour of the building,” I said.
“I like old things,” he said with a self-deprecating shrug.
“Me too,” Abigail said, smiling up at him. “They always have a story.” She gestured toward the entrance. “Make sure Kathleen tells you the story behind our sun.”
“Why don’t we start there?” I said. We moved a few steps closer to the entryway. A carved and pieced wooden sun, more than three feet across, hung above the door frame. Above it were stenciled the words “Let there be light.” A carving of the sun and those same words were over the entrance to the very first Carnegie library in Scotland.