Jeanne Glidewell - Lexie Starr 05 - Just Ducky Read Free

the suites after the guests depart and prepare them for newly arriving guests.”
    “And I’d be happy to help out in any way I could,” Stone said.
    The Alexandria Inn, which my husband of just a few months, Stone Van Patten, had named after me, had been restored from an old Victorian mansion in ill repair into a thriving lodging establishment, a charming bed and breakfast in the small town of Rockdale, Missouri. We had both enjoyed the challenge and the hard work we’d poured into the project.
    My name is Alexandria Marie Starr, by the way, but I’m known simply as Lexie. At fifty years old, I was enjoying being a newlywed, having recently married Stone, the second love of my life. I’d also enjoyed the challenge of running the inn, efficiently and effectively, which had been filled to capacity nearly all spring and summer.
    But now it was late October, and business was waning as people stayed home and anticipated the approaching holidays. I felt like I was rattling around aimlessly in the huge inn, which encompassed half a city block. I liked the idea of getting an opportunity to use the skills I’d acquired as a volunteer librarian assistant in my old hometown. I’d had to give up that endeavor when I moved to Rockdale right before our wedding, because it would have been a long commute of over an hour each way.
    “You know, Stone, I think I might just see about putting in for that job. I’d be out of your hair and have something to do to fill my spare time. Obviously, I couldn’t apply for the permanent position, because of the nature of our seasonal business, but filling in during the interim would be fun and challenging. And the timing couldn’t be any better. They will surely have hired a permanent head librarian by the time we get busy in early spring. Are you sure you wouldn’t mind me being gone during the day?”
    “Of course not,” Stone said. “I know you’re happiest when you’re busy, and this opening at the library is the perfect solution. After all that happened this last spring, you could probably use something more tranquil and less nerve-wracking to do with your time.”
    “That’s for sure. Having Pastor Steiner killed just days before our wedding, and having to find a replacement in such a short time, while investigating his death, took a lot out of me,” I agreed.
    “And it, no doubt, took ten years off my life just from worrying about you,” Stone said. He had still not completely gotten over my insistence at becoming involved in the search for the pastor’s killer. I wanted to change the subject before we got embroiled in a debate about my reckless impulsiveness, a character trait I’d finally learned to live with, but one Stone was still trying to accept and get accustomed to. I’d surely given him plenty of opportunities to work on that lofty goal.
    “I think I’ll head over to the library this morning,” I said, just as Detective Johnston came in through the back door of the inn.
    I would soon find out there would be little tranquility to be found working at the local library. If only I’d known what I was about to get myself into, I may have just stayed home and rewashed those clean bedclothes, or spent the day watching the wallpaper fade in the parlor, while ingesting entirely too much caffeine as I was prone to do.

 
     
     
    Chapter 2

     
    While chatting with Detective Wyatt Johnston over one final cup of coffee, I mentioned my plan to apply for the interim head librarian position at the Rockdale Public Library.
    “I wondered when you were going to find something to do to cure the restlessness you’ve developed. I’ve gained ten pounds in the last two weeks,” he said, as he popped an entire oatmeal cookie into his mouth. Obviously, he had noticed my symptoms of boredom too. Even with no customers at the inn, I’d been baking enough pastries, tarts, cream puffs, and fruit pies to feed an army of Wyatts.
    “Speaking of which, I have a fresh pineapple