The Indie Bookshop Mystery

As Corkie looks around her little book shop she smiles brightly. She has owned the shop for a few years now and in that time she has made it a point to surround herself with employees that love to read as much as she does and that they are as avid readers as she is so that they can help the customers and give them as much information as possible. She takes pride in her store and those who work in it. She strives to make the community feel at home in her shop with all the couches, chairs, pillows and blankets they can use to snuggle up with a good book. Not to mention the fireplace for the winter as well as a small cafe on each floor. She even commissioned a local artist to supply all of the art for her advertisements for books on the walls and tables and a local sculpture to make all of the metal and crystal chandeliers and lamps around the shop as well. She has always been a firm believer in supporting all local businesses no matter the business. In her cafes they get the coffee beans freshly roasted from a local company each day and the pastries and snacks from a local woman and her daughter who run a small bakery in town.

When she bought the shop she had been brand new to the book shop business but had fallen desperately in love with the shop the instant she had stepped inside. It wasn’t until several months after her near constant visits that she found out the shop was even for sale. The original owner, Mrs. Georgie Fergesan, had opened the store when she had been young with her husband, Paul. When he died earlier in the year she really had no desire to run the place anymore and when she saw how much Corkie loved the shop and came in at least twice a day she knew that Corkie would take care of the shop as she and her husband had. That’s why one day she offered to sell the shop to Corkie. She only had one request before doing so. There was a book that must never be sold and must be protected at all cost. It somehow held the answers to a years long cold case.

The promise had been easy to keep. Corkie never put the book out on display and always had it locked in a glass case at the counter where she or her staff could keep an eye on it. There was also a camera trained on the counter at all times. She had entertained the idea of keeping it on the second floor but worried that all the extra security around it would draw more attention to it but by keeping it at the counter where they checked out guests the camera made sense and didn’t draw attention to the book.

It stayed safe in the glass case at the counter for some time but that all changed when a stranger came asking about it. The timing was very strange because she had just gotten word that Georgie, the previous owner had passed, then all the sudden a stranger appeared asking about the book. He even offered to buy the book for an ungodly amount of money. She was instantly leery of the stranger and feared he might try and take the book at some point. She decided to exchange the book with another. She exchanged the dust covers and switched out the books. She had never truly looked closely at the book as its title wasn’t written on the outside cover so she hoped the man would be fooled if he came back. She took the original home with plans of putting it in her own safe where she knew it would be safe but she also planned on looking through the book at some point to see if she could figure out why the stranger had wanted it so badly. She knew that it was part of a cold case as well and she wanted to know everything she could about the book just in case.

That was a week or so ago. The book is safely at her house locked in her safe.

Just before she was set to leave her house this morning she got a call from Angie Miller, her assistant who opens every once in a while. She was frantic when Corkie answered the phone. She didn’t greet Corkie but just said, “Someone broke in and stole the book! I don’t know when it happened. I just came in and there was glass all over the counter and the book was gone. I’ve called the police and they are on their way.”

Completely shocked at the news and especially glad she had switched books Corkie tells Angie she is on her way then hangs up. She tells her Corgis, Poe and Brontë, goodbye after filling their food and water bowls and giving them hugs and scratches. She has a doggy door so they can come and go as they please so she doesn’t worry about them too much while she is gone. She does make it a point to come home for lunch every day so she can see them and comes straight home when she closes up shop at 6 every night then she's home all day on Sunday when the shop is closed.

As she drives he thinks that the hours between when she had left after closing and when Angie opened up this morning had allowed for ample time for someone to break into the bookshop and take the book. She will call a security company at some point today to see about getting an alarm put in. She hadn’t done so before now because she didn’t think she had to worry since she lived in a small town. She learned that lesson the hard way today and would rectify it soon enough.

When she arrived the police were there already. She headed inside and gasped as she saw the glass all over the place as well as some books and knickknacks. Thankfully when she rushed to her office nothing in there was disturbed and Doyle, the gray striped tabby cat that calls the shop home, was sound asleep in one of the overstuffed chairs she keeps in her office. “Thank god!” She exclaims as she grabs up the sleeping cat and hugs him close. She places him back in the chair after a moment and goes in search of the officer in charge.

She finds him speaking with Angie, who is in tears at the destruction. She clears her throat and squares her shoulders before saying, “Hello officer. I am the owner. How can I help?”

The officer turns towards her and replies a little gruffly, “Hello ma’am. I am Detective Hank Thurman. You are Coraline Greer, the owner?”

Corkie cringes inwardly, she has always hated that name and as soon as she had been old enough she had insisted people call her Corkie. It is a fun name and makes people smile when they hear it. She had a feeling that would not be the case with Detective Thurman so she simply said, “Yes that’s me but people call me Corkie I prefer that.”

Detective Thurman simply grunted in response to her preferences and replied, “I will be with you in a moment as soon as I’m finished with Ms. Miller. Have a seat over there.” He absently pointed her towards one of the chairs then turned back to speak with Angie.

A few hours later when the police had taken their statements and forensics had finished their evidence gathering Corkie sent Angie home. The day had been so traumatic and there was tons of cleaning to do so she decided to close the shop for the day as well. She posted a sign on the door and sent out messages on the shop’s social media accounts about the closure with a promise to be open tomorrow morning at the usual time.

By the time she was done cleaning and arranging for a security company to come by in the next few days it was well past 2 in the afternoon. She checked all the doors and windows to make sure they were still in working order then decided to call it a day when everything appeared to be ok. Whoever had broken in had not broken any of the doors or windows to do so. As she locked the back door and was walking back up front turning off lights and checking windows again a thought occurred to her, “They must have picked one of the locks. I’ll have to get key pads installed.” She also decided that she needed to look at the mysterious book as soon as she got home to see if she could figure out what clues it could possibly hold.

Once home she greets her pups then fixes everyone a snack before she settles down with the book, a blanket and tons of pillows to cushion her as she reads. Once comfortable she looks over the book. She has never once taken the book out of the case she had put it in and its plain brown cover reveals nothing of what is inside. She is a little nervous about opening the book but she has to know now what is so important about protecting it. She takes a deep breath and opens the cover. She instantly giggles when she sees that the book's title is “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”. Shaking her head she murmurs, “Only Georgie would hide something important in such a wonderfully silly book.” As much as she would love nothing more than to read such a treasure again she must do her best to search the book for any clue as to why it needed to be guarded.

An hour later she is beyond frustrated that she hasn’t found anything to offer any clues or its role in a cold case. When she is just about to give up she notices a small flaw in the front inside cover, a slight bump in the otherwise flawlessly bound book. At first she does nothing. She is too afraid of what she might find plus she doesn't want to damage the book in any way but then again she must know what it is hiding.

After talking herself into and out of doing it a dozen or more times she finally takes the plunge so to speak. She gets up to grab her small blade to try her best to separate the page from the cover without damaging the book. She takes the book and blade to her dining room table to do the delicate operation. With both feet firmly planted on the ground, the overhead light bright and her nerves steeled, she begins the process of slowly and delicately removing the paper. What she finds inside makes her blood run cold. Inside she finds a note, a confession of sorts from a man that she is sure she has heard of before but has never met in person. She has a feeling that he is the same man that visited her shop and he was the one asking about the book. He must have thought that since Georgie was gone he had a chance to get ahold of the book that hid his confession to murder. She must go directly to the detective with this information. He can surely do something about the man. He can surely make sure that he pays for his crimes. She rushes to her phone to call the detective to come to her house. She doesn’t trust leaving the house and risking the man coming here to steal the letter and hurting her babies so she’ll stay here until the detective can come to her.

As she dials her fingers are shaking but after messing up once she dials the correct number and waits as it rings. “Detective Thurman.” is his only curt response when he answers the phone. Corkie is a little breathless and is unfortunately unable to speak for a moment.

After taking a deep breath she says, “Detective this is Corkie Greer from the bookshop. I need you to come to my home as soon as possible. I have some information about a cold case that can not wait and I dare not leave my house. I think the man that broke into my store is the same man that committed the crimes in the cold case.” She waits for the detective to respond. It seems to take a lifetime before he replies to her.

“Ms. Greer, what case are you speaking about? We have a couple that would fit that bill.” he finally replies. Corkie has a feeling that he knows exactly which case she is speaking of but she plays his game just the same.

She takes a deep breath and replies matter of factly, “The Redding murders from about 30 years ago I believe. I have the written confession to the murders in my possession right now. You must come.” She waits for him to call her crazy and berate her for wasting his time but he does not. He simply says “Be there shortly.” then hangs up the phone without another word.

As she waits for the rather rude detective she paces around the entire house once then just as she is beginning the second round there is a knock on her door. As much as she would love nothing more than to rip the door open immediately she checks out the window first to make sure it is indeed the detective before opening the door. When she is sure that it is in fact the detective she does rip the door open and give him an ear full for taking so long in getting to her house. In truth it probably wasn’t long but it felt like a lifetime.

Detective Thurman takes his scolding in stride. He waits until she is finished before responding, “My apologies Ms. Greer. I was detained longer than I had planned. It could be unavoided. What is this evidence you have regarding the Redding case?”

Corkie turns to lead the man into her living room but before they make it two steps her Corgis are there to investigate him. They do not bark but they are very alert and sniff him every which way they can before allowing him to pass further into their domain. The detective surprises her when he first allows them to sniff his hand then proceeds to pet them both. Her pups are putty in his hands after that. Each vying for his attention as they all move into the living room. “I am amazed. They usually don’t like strangers so quickly.” Corkie says, then walks to the book to get the confession. “Here it is. I found it in the real book I had moved here before the break in. I had an uneasy feeling about the man and decided it was safer here.” she finished as he sat down to read the confession.

She waits, sitting without saying a word as he reads then re-reads the confession. Her heart is pounding in her chest with anticipation. Finally when he is done after the third reading he stands up. “I need to make a few calls and get an arrest warrant. If this man is indeed responsible for the murders of Patrice Redding and her daughter Gracie then we must act fast before he tries something to get this confession again. We must protect you and those that work in your shop. Call everyone and have them meet us at the police station. Bring your Corgis too, it’s better to be safe.” He then leaves the room to make the calls he needs to while Corkie does the same.

Once all the calls are made and the Corgis are packed in her car, with everything everyone needs they head to the police station with Detective Thurman following close behind in his police car. Corkie is petrified but glad that she has the ability to put a murderer behind bars. She can’t help but wonder why Georgie nor her husband hadn’t done the same thing years ago when the confession came into their possession.

Six months later at his trial Carson Douglas gave answers to why he had killed poor Patrice and her daughter Gracie but not why the Fergesan’s had never turned him in. Corkie wondered if he even knew.

He had come across Patrice and Gracie in the park on a very beautiful spring day. They had ventured outside for some sun after a particularly cold week. Patrice had been a very beautiful young woman with jet black hair, dark blue eyes and a light sprinkle of freckles across the bridge of her nose and cheeks. So he had made a point of interrupting the pair as they walked along the path but Patrice had rebuffed his advances and he had not taken kindly to that. He attacked her, dragged her into the trees and took advantage of her. Then he had killed her to keep her quiet and then turned his evil to the screaming child. Gracie had only been two at the time and was naturally scared and confused when her mother was being attacked. He smothered her in his coat to quiet her then left them together in the trees embracing each other in death.

He was sentenced to death and death he got. Justice finally came for Patrice and Gracie. Finally they could rest in peace.