“Of course you may,” she said. “And I’ll send word down to the sanctuary to bring any other vehicles we can scrounge up. Damn, but this is crazy. How can the lender do this without giving people some kind of notice?”
“According to what we just found out, they did give Mayor Pruitt notice, months ago,” Ms. Ellie said. “Not that the mayor told anyone, of course, except for a few of his cronies. He says he’s been working to find a solution, but you know damn well he’s only been sitting on his rear, assuming that they’d never go so far as to seize the county’s property.”
I winced slightly. Maybe the mayor had been counting on his eminent domain scheme to keep the lender at bay. Was this demand from the lender that we turn over the county buildings already in the cards, or had my call to Cousin Festus helped trigger it?
I heard a wail from the baby monitor, followed by a murmured “I’ve got it” from Michael.
The microwave dinged. I shoved my worries aside and made my cup of tea before anyone else arrived to preempt me.
And just in time, too. Randall Shiffley ambled into the kitchen.
“Want some tea?” Caroline asked.
“I’m fine,” he said.
I nodded. I hadn’t pegged Randall for a tea drinker.
“Beer and sodas in the fridge,” I said.
Randall opened the door and helped himself to a Coke.
“Ms. Ellie,” he said. “I just wanted to say that as soon as we finish down at the courthouse, we’ll come over to the library.”
“That will help,” she said.
“And Chauncy is sending over some boxes.”
Chauncy, I assumed, was the Shiffley in charge of the small family-run moving company.
“I don’t suppose we could get the use of Parker’s truck for some of this,” Caroline said.
“I already asked,” Ms. Ellie said. “The chief says it’s still part of his crime scene.”
“Understandable,” I said.
“I just better not see him clearing out the police station with it,” Ms. Ellie grumbled. “Meg, there’s just one more thing.”
I braced myself. I hated that particular phrase, and I had a sinking feeling I knew what was coming.
“We need a place to put the books,” she said. “Right now we’re just going to box them up, of course. We have to get through emptying the library first. We won’t even have time to think about reopening for days—maybe weeks. Not until we either find a new building or fix things so we can get back into the old one.”
Weeks might be conservative. If the whole issue had to go through the law courts, we were talking months or years.
“Can we use your sheds? And maybe the hay loft in your barn?”
“We’ll have the animals out in a few days’ time,” Caroline said. “Then you can use the whole barn.”
“I don’t suppose you could check with Mother and Dad,” I suggested. “They have a barn, too. And I can’t think of anything Dad would rather have in his backyard than a library.”
“I can,” Ms. Ellie said. “He already offered to let the chief use his barn for the temporary police station.”
I sighed. I hoped Dad and Chief Burke would both survive the proximity.
“Apparently barn space is at a premium right now,” Ms. Ellie said. “Not many people have barns that they don’t use for farming.”
“True,” I said. “Well, then mi casa es su casa. Or should that be mi casa es su biblioteca?”
“I’d like to make a suggestion,” Randall said. “An offer, I guess. A lot of people are going to be pretty unhappy if the county doesn’t have a library open. Kids’ grades could suffer, people on fixed incomes would have no access to books. If Meg and Michael will agree to host the county’s books in their library till we can get past this situation, I’d be willing to build those shelves we’ve been talking about at the cost of the materials. How about it?”
They all looked at me.
“I’ll have to talk to Michael,” I said.
“Good.” Caroline and Ms. Ellie looked optimistic. Randall seemed to consider it a done deal—had he already talked to Michael? Or did he just know how much Michael coveted the dream library for which Randall had already drawn up plans?
They all took their leave shortly after that. I went out to the barn—which was locked up tight. As I unlocked the door, I made a mental note to thank Rose Noire. I picked up my laptop and a couple of files from my desk, relocked the barn, and took my papers back to the kitchen. Then I fixed myself another cup of tea. Randall’s offer had driven sleep even farther away.