“Yes, a few of them,” Kanesha said. “I like to read them and find all the mistakes in police procedure.” She shook her head. “His books were pretty bad in that respect. But I know what you mean about the women in his books. He didn’t like them.”

“Well, that wasn’t Godfrey. From what everyone says, Godfrey truly liked women. He just couldn’t settle down with one. It’s Willie who’s the big-time misogynist. You should hear him talking to female staff and students sometimes. He can be a real jerk.”

“Okay,” Kanesha said. “He’s a misogynist. I’d need more evidence than that, though. Even if he did write the books. I have to have something that links him to the actual murder.”

“According to Julia, he was at the hotel that day. He had to have gone there to talk to Godfrey.” I was feeling a bit deflated by her lack of excitement. I thought surely she would see the picture as clearly as I did.

But she was an officer of the law, and I was a librarian. This was her job, not mine.

“I will ask him about it,” Kanesha said. “But unless he admits to being there, I’m going to need more than Mrs. Wardlaw’s glimpse of him in a revolving door to go on.”

“Of course,” I said. “You need physical evidence for a stronger case.” I had read enough mysteries to know that. “But at least now you have motive and opportunity.”

“There are other suspects who have motives and who also had the opportunity,” Kanesha said, her logic relentless.

“Okay, you win,” I said. Here I thought I had come up with the answer, and she was refusing to accept it.

What if I was wrong? That was an unwelcome thought. There were things Kanesha knew that I didn’t—if her investigation had turned up any kind of evidence from the scene of the crime. I didn’t even know what the murder weapon was.

“You did help—a little. I found out some things faster because of your interference.” Her tone was grudging, but I knew better than to expect outright gratitude.

I nodded.

“But you’re done,” she said. “Back off now, and leave me to finish this.”

I saw the glint in her eye. “You know who did it, don’t you?”

Kanesha regarded me for a moment. “I do. I have a few more things to check, however, and I don’t want you getting in my way again.”

“I won’t, I promise,” I said.

“Good.” Kanesha stood and made her way out of the pew. She disappeared through the door into the meeting room.

I sat there, thinking about our conversation. Kanesha seemed awfully sure she knew who the murderer was. Was that because of what Julia and I had told her about Willie? Or had she known already?

Perhaps that meant Willie wasn’t the killer.