Out of circulation, p.26
Out of Circulation,
p.26
“If I find I have a free hour between working and setting up my new home and attending council meetings.”
“We’re in for it,” Sally said darkly. “Carrie’s always coming up with new ideas.”
I opened my mouth to say something, but it had already been said. Somehow I’d agreed to become a Wise Woman.
Dylan tapped me on the shoulder. “I hate to break up your meeting, but Victor wants to make an announcement, and he’d like you to return to our table.”
“Excuse me,” I said as I stood.
“Enjoy your honeymoon,” Sylvia said. “We’ll talk when you’re home again.”
“What was that all about?” Dylan asked as we walked back to our table.
“They convinced me to join the Wise Women’s Circle.”
He laughed. “Why am I not surprised?”
As soon as I sat down between Dylan and Victor, Victor stood and clinked a spoon against his glass. “Could I have your attention, please?”
A minute later, our remaining guests were all seated and looking at him expectantly. Victor loved talking to groups, so I imagined he wanted to say a few words about Dylan and me.
“Last night you heard me toast Carrie and Dylan, our newly wedded couple. Today I want to say a few words about myself. I came to this country fifteen years ago from my native war-torn country. While I was fortunate to have been a successful businessman, I wasn’t as lucky with my personal life. I lost my second wife shortly after coming to Clover Ridge, and frankly, after that, making friendships wasn’t a priority, especially since my business and my art collection occupy so much of my time.
“But friendship and a sense of community are just as important as earning a living and appreciating art. Through events that most of you know about, Carrie and Dylan proved my innocence, and in the process we became very good friends.” He looked around. “And I got to know many of you.”
Victor smiled down at Babette. “At the same time, Babette and I began to date. We fell in love. And suddenly, I was the luckiest man.” He winked at Dylan. “One of the two luckiest men.”
Everyone chuckled.
“And so, as Carrie and Dylan’s wedding festivities come to a close, I thought it most appropriate to announce that I have asked Babette to marry me, and she said yes!”
The tent roared with cheers and applause. Dylan and I hugged Victor and Babette.
“I’m so happy for you both,” I said.
“Me too,” Babette said.
“You’re crying,” I told her.
“So are you.”
Everyone came over to congratulate the happy couple.
Dylan wrapped his arm around me and drew me to his side. “Now we’re the old married couple,” he joked.
“I kind of like it that way.”
My husband glanced at his watch. “I’ve settled everything with the caterers and the rental company. It’s time to say our goodbyes.”
Tears streamed down my cheeks when we said goodbye to my father and Merry. Jim took me in his arms.
“Caro, honey. What’s wrong?”
“I won’t be seeing you for a long time.”
“It doesn’t have to be a long time. You and Dylan will visit us; we’ll visit you.” His face brightened. “We’ll come very often once I’m a grandpa.”
“Stop rushing things,” I told him.
“I’m just saying.”
I kissed Merry. “We’ll be in touch,” she said.
I nodded, then went into my mother’s open arms.
“Carrie, darling. You’re always welcome to visit us, you and Dylan.”
“We’ll come see you and Tom,” I said as I hugged Tom goodbye. And we would. I had always wanted to visit Hollywood.
Finally, we were in Dylan’s BMW, heading back to the cottage. A hired car was picking us up in an hour and a half.
“So, what do you think of married life, Mrs. Avery?” Dylan asked.
“So far I like it, Mr. Avery.”
Author’s Note
Verity Babcock’s diary never existed because Verity Babcock is a character I created based on what I’d read about people who were accused of being witches when witchcraft was a capital offense in the Colony of Connecticut. Between 1647 and 1663, of the forty-three cases of witchcraft, sixteen resulted in executions, mostly hangings; or at least thirty-four were accused of witchcraft and eleven were hung. Numbers vary somewhat because, in the words of Benjamin Trumbull in his 1818 History of Connecticut, “the history of witchcraft in Connecticut is difficult to track, owing primarily to the lack of documentation from the accusations, trials, and executions.” This began over forty years before the first case in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692.
Why were people accused of witchcraft? Many, like Verity, were different in some way from the other residents of their tightly knit communities, which were bound by strict and rigid rules. Women were often victims in this patriarchal society, though a few men were also accused and convicted of being witches. For years the Connecticut Witch Trial Exoneration Project was actively trying to get pardons from the state for those accused and executed as witches. In May 2023, while I was writing this book, both the Connecticut House of Representatives and Connecticut State Senate voted in overwhelming numbers to exonerate twelve people who were convicted of witchcraft in the seventeenth century. I was delighted that this long overdue wrong had been righted, but for the purpose of my novel, I took literary license and continued to write it as though the victims had yet to be pardoned.
Sources: Wikipedia, and Wetherfield’s Historical Society’s article “Connecticut’s Witch Trials” by Chris Pagliuco: https://www.wethersfieldhistory.org/articles/connecticuts-witch-trials/#:~:text=In%20all%2C%20Connecticut%20heard%2043,their%20neighbors%20and%20their%20times.
Acknowledgments
I am delighted that the eighth and final book of the Haunted Library series is now available to readers. It’s also bittersweet bidding adieu to Carrie, Dylan, Evelyn, and the rest of the gang whose lives and adventures have played out in this series. Now Carrie’s story arc is complete, and it’s time for me to write about other characters in other stories.
I want to thank everyone at Crooked Lane Books who had a hand in making these eight books professionally presented and appealing to cozy readers: my great editor, Faith Black Ross; Claudia Griesbach-Martucci for my wonderful covers; Jill Pellarin for her careful editing; and Rebecca, Dulce, and Thai for answering my many questions. And Mikaela and Mia. It’s been wonderful working with you all!
Also available by Allison Brook
The Haunted Library Mysteries
Overdue or Die
Dewey Decimated
Death on the Shelf
Checked Out for Murder
Buried in the Stacks
Read and Gone
Death Overdue
About the Author
A former Spanish teacher, Allison Brook writes mysteries, romantic suspense, and novels for young readers. She loves traveling; reading; knitting; doing sudoku; and visiting with her grandchildren, Olivia and Jack, on FaceTime. She lives with her feisty red cat, Sammy, on Long Island, where she writes her charming Haunted Library mysteries.
This is a work of fiction. All of the names, characters, organizations, places and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to real or actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2024 by Marilyn Levinson
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Crooked Lane Books, an imprint of The Quick Brown Fox & Company LLC.
Crooked Lane Books and its logo are trademarks of The Quick Brown Fox & Company LLC.
Library of Congress Catalog-in-Publication data available upon request.
ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-63910-845-9
ISBN (ebook): 978-1-63910-846-6
Cover design by Claudia Griesbach-Martucci
Printed in the United States.
www.crookedlanebooks.com
Crooked Lane Books
34 West 27th St., 10th Floor
New York, NY 10001
First Edition: August 2024
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Allison Brook, Out of Circulation
