Murder in the Library
Read Murder in the Library Online
Authors: Steve Demaree
Murder
In The
Library
Steve Demaree
In the third book in the Lt. Dekker/Sgt. Murdock
series, a man is found dead inside the locked library of his home. Surveillance
cameras show that no one other than the deceased entered the library, and yet
the man has been shot with a poisoned dart. The case means even more to the two
detectives than any of their previous cases, because the deceased was a mentor
to both of them when they were boys. The deceased had received a threatening
note, which the two detectives knew about, and he had promised to leave them a
clue if he was murdered. He did, but it turned out to be harder to decipher
than the detectives thought. The duo questions friends and foe of the retired
professor until they find the one clue that leads them to the guilty party.
Copyright © 2008
Steve Demaree
All Rights Reserved
This
book is dedicated to the two people I love the most and whose love I deserve
the least, my wife Nell and my daughter Kelly. May God continue to bless me
with their presence in my life.
This
book is also dedicated to Connie McBrayer and Wanda Cornish, both who have told
me that they cannot wait to get another Lt. Dekker-Sgt. Murdock mystery.
May
each of them and each of you enjoy this book.
Books by Steve
Demaree
Dekker Cozy
Mystery Series
52 Steps to Murder
Murder in the Winter
Murder in the Library
Murder at Breakfast?
Murder at the High
School Reunion
Murder at the Art
& Craft Fair
Santagelo
PG-Rated Mystery/Thriller Series
Murder in the Dark
Picture Them Dead
Body Count
Aylesford
Place Humorous Christian Romance
Pink Flamingoed
Neighborhood Hi Jinx
Croquet Anyone?
Non-Fiction
Lexington
& Me
Reflecting Upon God’s
Word
Table of Contents
Characters
Lt. Cy Dekker - The lead detective of the
Hilldale Police Department
Sgt.
Lou Murdock - Lt. Dekker’s partner
Col.
James Buckham Hardesty – A retired college professor and Cy Dekker and Lou
Murdock’s mentor when they were young boys
Martha
Hardesty – Col. Hardesty’s wife
Jennifer
McDaniel – The Hardesty’s oldest granddaughter
Trish
Owens – The Hardesty’s youngest granddaughter
Scott
McDaniel – Jennifer’s husband
Tom
Brockman – A teaching assistant who rents a room from the Hardestys
Joe
Guilfoyle – A retired college professor and Buck Hardesty’s best friend
Earl
Hoskins - A handyman who works for the Hardesty’s one day a week
Myra
Hoskins – Earl’s wife, a maid who works
for the Hardesty’s one day a week
Bob
Downey – A retired trucker who lives next door to the Hardestys
Tom
Johnson – A pest control technician who did some work at the Hardestys
Robert
Collins - A plumber who did some work at the Hardestys.
Michael
Belding – A high school teacher who says that Buck Hardesty caused him to lose
his job at the university
Daniel
Terloff – A former university student who disagreed with Buck Hardesty about a
grade he received
Carla
Bauerman – A former university student who claimed that Buck Hardesty kept her
from getting into graduate school
Carl
Bauerman – A former drama teacher who quit his job and moved away to become an
actor; father of Carla
Mark
Blakeman – A pizza delivery man who saw someone enter the Hardesty residence
Dick
Morrissey – A neighbor who lived behind the Hardestys who confronted a man
running from the direction of the Hardesty house on a few days before the
murder
Lt.
George Michaelson - A friend of Lt. Dekker and Sgt. Murdock and a fellow member
of the Hilldale Police Department
Frank
Harris - The medical examiner
Sam
Schumann- A policeman who does much of Lt. Dekker’s investigative work
Louie
Palona - The man at headquarters that Lt. Dekker turns to for technological
help
Officer
Dan Davis - A young policeman who helps Lt. Dekker and Sgt. Murdock from time
to time
Heloise
Humphert - Lt. Dekker’s irritating next-door neighbor
Twinkle
Toes - Heloise Humphert’s dog
Rosie
- The daytime waitress at the Blue Moon Diner
Thelma
- The nighttime waitress at the Blue Moon Diner
Betty
McElroy - A friend of Lt. Dekker’s whom he sometimes dates
Thelma
Lou Spencer - Sgt. Murdock’s girlfriend
Just in case this is the
first time you have wandered into our neighborhood, let me introduce ourselves.
I am Lt. Cy Dekker, longtime member of the Hilldale Police Department, and
one-half of the homicide department. The other half is my childhood friend and
police force partner for over twenty years, Sgt. Lou Murdock. A few months ago
Lou and I worked out an agreement with the department where we could work
during any homicide investigation, but ease into retirement during the other
times. Neither Lou nor I’ve a propensity for any other form of police work, and
since both of us had put in over thirty years with the department and were
eligible for retirement, we decided to opt for the best of both worlds.
+++
Seldom does anyone other
than Lou call my home, and few others know my number, so one day when the phone
rang I answered by saying, “Don’t tell me that you’ve decided to quit eating at
the Blue Moon?”
“I’ve never been there,
but I understand you, Cy, are mainly responsible for keeping that establishment
in business.”
“Colonel, is that you?”
“I’m surprised you still
remember me, since it’s been so long since you and Lou stopped by to visit.”
“I’m sorry, Colonel. It
seems like Lou and I stay so busy these days.”
“Really, I’d heard the
department finally got rid of the two of you.”
“So, you heard we’ve
turned over a new leaf?”
“You mean you’ve quit
eating between meals? Or have you reverted back to kindergarten and have nap
time each day?”
“Sometimes we take naps,
but we do other things, too. Lou and I’ve started reading.”
“Well, I’m glad. I
remember you never read for any classes you took in school. Anyway, Cy, it’s
good to talk to you again. I was wondering if you and Lou might be able to take
some time out of your busy schedule this afternoon to stop by and see me. I
would invite you to lunch, but I know how much that diner means to you. Plus, I
don’t think Martha could fix so much food on such short notice.”
“We’d love to stop by.
How does somewhere around 2:00 sound?”
“Sounds fine. Whenever
you feel you’ve eaten enough and gotten enough rest to drive the few blocks to
my house.”
“Looking forward to it,
Colonel. See you this afternoon.”
I hung up the phone.
Even with the Colonel’s jovial demeanor, I couldn’t help but think that
something was bothering him.
Lou and I had known the
Colonel since we were boys. One day the two of us were out walking, bored to
death because we had nothing to do. Neither Lou nor I were ever into sports,
and building or fixing anything never appealed to us. Our dads worked. Our moms
stayed home, and both of us left our houses for only two reasons. We liked
being around each other, and at least one of us had to leave home to make that
happen, and our moms kept after us to get out and get some exercise. How were
two boys who didn’t like sports supposed to exercise?
One day we decided to
walk through the neighborhood looking for an idea of something to do. We were
walking around, downcast, when we heard someone say, “Say fellas, what’s
wrong?”
Both of us turned,
looked up, and saw this man, somewhere around our dads’ ages, standing in front
of a house bigger than any I had seen in our neighborhood.
“Ain’t got nothin’ to
do,” I said.
“What about playing
catch?”
“We’re not much into
sports.”
“Do either of you have a
fort or a tree house?”
“Nope. Wouldn’t know how
to make one, either.”
“Well, have you got a
good, big tree in your backyard?”
“Nope. Our trees are all
on the puny side.”
“Well, I’ve got a big
one. Want to see it?”
Our parents had
cautioned us about going somewhere with strangers, but this guy seemed okay,
lived the next street over, and it wasn’t like we were going anywhere. He
wasn’t inviting us to go for a ride, or even inside his house. And he couldn’t
catch both of us at once. Well, more than likely he could have, as slow as the
two of us ran, but we decided to check out his backyard. Besides, the people
across the street were sitting on their front porch. I couldn’t imagine that
this man would try to kidnap us with witnesses around.
I turned to Lou and he
gave me the look.
“Okay, we’ll look at
your tree.”
Lou and I followed the
man around the house to his backyard, and sure enough, there was a tree that
was bigger than any tree I’d ever seen. It certainly looked big enough to hold
the two of us, if we were foolish enough to climb it.
After we stared at the
tree and looked at each other a few times, the man asked, “Well, what do you
think? Do you think this tree would make a good tree house?”
“I’d say you’d know more
about that than we would, Mister.”
He laughed, then offered
us a proposition.
“If you boys are
interested, I’d be glad to talk to your parents and see if it’s okay with them
for you to build a tree house in my tree.”
“It sounds like fun, but
I don’t think I’d want to climb up into anything I built.”
He laughed again.
“Oh, I’d build it. You
can be my helpers.”
And thus began our
friendship with the Colonel. The Colonel and his wife became friends with our
parents and a mentor to Lou and me. Oh, we both had good relationships with our
parents, but as we soon found out, the Colonel was a professor at the
university, and had summers off, which allowed him time to help us build a tree
house. And what a tree house it became. And what fun we had. The Colonel had
two daughters, neither of which was interested in a tree house, so he gave us
free reign over when we could use the tree house.
+++
The Colonel’s phone call
so distressed me that before I left the house, I meticulously unwrapped a
Hershey Almond bar and took a bite, rewrapped it, and put it where I could get
at it again. If it wasn’t for the Colonel, and picking Lou up so we could enjoy
lunch at the Blue Moon Diner, I would have started to think about computers
again. Wonder where Hershey is, anyway? Is it closer to Pittsburgh, or Philly?
Sounds more like something God put in the Garden of Eden. I’m not sure how I
would have reacted if God had told me that I could eat from any tree except the
chocolate bar tree. I bet there is no exercise equipment in Hershey, PA.
I picked Lou up and
drove to the Blue Moon. On the way, I informed him of the Colonel’s phone call.
He too sensed that the Colonel was in some kind of trouble, but he didn’t pull
out his bag of M&Ms. I wondered if that was because he had turned over a
new leaf.
No sooner had we arrived
at the Blue Moon and plopped down on our stools until Rosie, the daytime
waitress, accosted us.
“Okay, Frick and Frack.
What’s wrong today? Someone steal your feeding shovels?”
“No, it’s just that
we’re afraid a friend of ours might be in trouble.”
“Well, there’s one way
to find out. Go see him.”
“That’s what we plan to
do, as soon as we leave here.”
“Well, in the meantime,
get those glum looks off your faces, and act like you usually do when you come
in.”
“So, it’s okay to have a
food fight?”
“Neither of you would
ever throw a speck of food, because both of you know that each bite thrown
means one less bite in your stomach. So, what can I get you today?”