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Back The Silence of the Library
Chapters (50)
  1. COVER
  2. PRAISE FOR TITLES BY MIRANDA JAMES
  3. ALSO BY MIRANDA JAMES
  4. TITLE PAGE
  5. COPYRIGHT
  6. DEDICATION
  7. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  8. ONE
  9. TWO
  10. THREE
  11. FOUR
  12. FIVE
  13. SIX
  14. SEVEN
  15. EIGHT
  16. NINE
  17. TEN
  18. ELEVEN
  19. TWELVE
  20. THIRTEEN
  21. FOURTEEN
  22. FIFTEEN
  23. SIXTEEN
  24. SEVENTEEN
  25. EIGHTEEN
  26. NINETEEN
  27. TWENTY
  28. TWENTY-ONE
  29. TWENTY-TWO
  30. TWENTY-THREE
  31. TWENTY-FOUR
  32. TWENTY-FIVE
  33. TWENTY-SIX
  34. TWENTY-SEVEN
  35. TWENTY-EIGHT
  36. TWENTY-NINE
  37. THIRTY
  38. THIRTY-ONE
  39. THIRTY-TWO
  40. THIRTY-THREE
  41. THIRTY-FOUR
  42. THIRTY-FIVE
  43. THIRTY-SIX
  44. THIRTY-SEVEN
  45. THIRTY-EIGHT
  46. THIRTY-NINE
  47. FORTY
  48. AFTERWORD
  49. LETTER TO THE READER
  50. SPECIAL EXCERPT FROM BLESS HER DEAD LITTLE HEART

I was surprised that Kanesha hadn’t talked to Melba yet, but since I wasn’t privy to the details of the investigation, I had no idea what Kanesha was doing. She wouldn’t be happy that I talked to Melba before she did, but that couldn’t be helped. I certainly wasn’t going to turn my back on one of my oldest friends just to make the chief deputy happy. “I’m sure Carrie would be glad to know her dog will have a good home.”

“That’s the least I can do.” Melba shrugged and drank more of her coffee. “What I’d really like to do is get ahold of the bastard that killed her and beat the crap out of him with a baseball bat. But I know Kanesha won’t let me.”

That sounded like the feisty Melba I knew. “No, I don’t imagine she would.” I decided she was calm enough now for me to ask a few questions. “When you called, you told me you knew it was her involvement in the exhibit at the library that got her killed. What did you mean by that?” I thought she could be right, but I wondered what she might know.

“It had to have something to do with the exhibit.” Melba sounded convinced. “There was nothing else unusual going on in her life these days. As soon as the library put that notice on their website about Electra what’s-her-name, Carrie was beside herself, like a kid about to get the best birthday present ever.”

“She didn’t have any enemies that you’re aware of?” That sounded like a question Kanesha would ask. “From another aspect of her life?”

“No, she sure didn’t. She was one of those Golden Rule kind of people. She treated everyone like she wanted to be treated. She was always nice to everybody.”

Carrie Taylor hadn’t been particularly nice to Winston Eagleton, as I recalled. She also had a penchant for gossip, at least from what I had seen. Since Melba was herself an inveterate gossip, I wondered how to approach the subject tactfully.

Melba saved me the trouble. “Now, Carrie was curious about people. She did like to know what was going on in their lives.” She cut a shrewd glance at me. “Guess that’s one reason we got along so well. But there wasn’t anything malicious about it. You know me, Charlie, I talk about people, but I don’t go around spreading dirt just for the heck of it.”

That much was true. Melba liked to talk, but in general she didn’t bad-mouth people—unless they deserved it, in her estimation. Then she could be merciless.