Chapter Six
After taking Arlo back home, Sam headed to her car to speak with Gerald.
Her house was near the front entrance to the subdivision, but she took the long way to drive through Maple Hills.
Sometimes, catching people who were out doing yardwork or walking their dogs was the best way for her to see her neighbors.
Since she was the homeowner association president, she liked being able to touch base with as many people as she could and make sure there weren’t any problems.
As she rounded the corner onto Cedar Lane, she spotted Alfred up on a ladder, adjusting something on his porch overhang.
His new roof gleamed in the afternoon sun.
There was no more blue tarp, as there had been months ago after an errant hurricane had detoured through the mountains.
Mandy stood at the base of the ladder, one hand steadying it.
Sam pulled over and rolled down her window. “Looking good!”
Alfred glanced down, then carefully descended. “Not bad for an old guy, right?”
Mandy swatted his arm. “She means the roof.”
“The roof too,” Alfred said with a grin.
“It really does look good. The tarp is finally gone.”
Mandy said, “Thank goodness for that.” She came closer to Sam’s car, lowering her voice conspiratorially. “Between you and me, I was starting to think the tarp was permanent.”
“She wanted to paint it to match the house,” Alfred said.
“I did not!”
Sam laughed. “Well, glad it all worked out. Good seeing you both. I’m on my way to the bank now, but let’s catch up soon.”
The Mountain Trust Bank occupied a historic brick building on Main Street.
According to a small sign in the front, it was built in the 1920s during Sunset Ridge’s early prosperity.
It had a red brick facade with limestone trim and Art déco details around the entrance.
There was a small parking lot on the side.
And, sure enough, Gerald Parker was seated quietly on a stone bench, reading a tremendous book that surely must be the book club selection.
He had the slightly rumpled look of someone who’s been fighting a losing battle with stress.
Gerald wore a very bank-appropriate outfit of a white shirt (somewhat wrinkled), conservative tie, and khaki pants.
“How’s Middlemarch?” asked Sam lightly as she walked up.
Gerald put his hand up to shield his eyes from the sun as he glanced up from the story. His immediate reaction was one of suspicion, but it eased as he recognized Sam. “I’m liking it so far. George Eliot really knows how to write characters. I’m sixty pages in. Have you started reading it?”
“I’m on page 214,” Sam admitted. “I had trouble sleeping last night, so I read instead.”
Gerald’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re kidding. Book club, like, just happened.”
Sam felt her cheeks warm slightly. “I know. It’s a long book, so I wanted to get a head start.”
“A head start,” Gerald repeated, looking both amused and slightly intimidated. “Right.” He gave a longing look back at the book, clearly eager to resume his lunch break reading. He quickly said, “I’m afraid the bank is closed for lunch. It’ll open back up at two.”
Sam said, “Really? Wow, I really messed that up. If it’s okay, I’ll just hang out with you until it opens again. I’ll keep forgetting to deposit this check unless I do it now.”
He was getting a resigned expression now. “There’s an app that works amazingly well. For future reference, you know. It’ll save you a trip.”
“Oh, I prefer going to the bank. I figure it’s a good way to provide the tellers with job security.”
Gerald gave a small sigh and put his book down after carefully slipping in a bookmark. “True,” he said. He frowned. “Listen, I’m sorry about the first book club meeting going sideways like that. I promise it’s not always that way.”
“I was sure it wasn’t. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be any members left.”
Gerald gave a small smile at this. “I meant more about Margaret’s behavior. She was kind of over-the-top at the meeting. But you’re right—the club wouldn’t be around for long if we kept losing members at that rate. Poor Margaret.”
The last bit had been said almost as an afterthought. And Sam noticed again that word of Margaret’s demise had spread like wildfire. “It was fine. I like being around different types of people, and I heard she always made interesting points during the book discussions. I’m sorry she’s gone.”
Gerald tilted his head to one side. “Someone told me you were there when Margaret was discovered. Was that true?” His eyes were a bit suspicious as if Sam had deliberately joined book club with the sole purpose of murdering Margaret Brennan during the meeting.
“It was. Charlotte and I are friends. She’d invited me to come to the shop when she opened to help revamp her social media presence for Twice-Told Tales.
Unfortunately, we never got that far.” Sam made a mental reminder to check back in on Charlotte.
Not only had she taken Margaret’s death hard, but she also needed to see if she wanted to try to work on her social media again.
Gerald said, “And you and Charlotte found Margaret there. How did Charlotte miss her? Didn’t she check around the shop before she closed up?”
It was almost as if Gerald suspected Charlotte of having something to do with Margaret’s death.
“No, Margaret was in the back room, where the meeting had been. I guess when everyone got up to purchase their books and head out, no one noticed she was left behind. Charlotte mentioned that everyone does a good job cleaning up after themselves so she’d planned on cleaning up anything remaining the next morning. ”
Gerald frowned. “Okay. Still sort of weird that Margaret was in there overnight.” He leaned forward, lowering his voice as if someone might somehow hear them in the deserted parking lot. “Has anyone mentioned Charlotte’s financial situation?”
He definitely appeared to be trying to implicate Charlotte.
Sam felt naturally defensive since Charlotte was a friend.
Sadly, she wasn’t surprised to hear Twice-Told Tales might be going through some tough times.
After all, the store had weathered a hurricane, and the repairs hadn’t been cheap.
She remembered Charlotte had said there was no flood insurance on the shop, so she’d had to pay for a lot of the repairs herself.
Still, she tried to keep an open mind and hear Gerald out. “Is Charlotte’s store in trouble?”
“I don’t know if it’s in trouble, but it’s struggling. The book club is a way for her to drive traffic and sales to the shop. Not only do we order the club’s books at her shop, a lot of us will buy another book or two while we’re over there.”
Sam said, “What does this have to do with Margaret’s death?”
“Margaret kept scaring people away. Charlotte tried to talk with her about it, but she refused to change. I heard Charlotte tell Claire that if Margaret kept it up, there wouldn’t be a book club to run.
Not everyone was as tolerant of Margaret’s behavior as you were, especially as a new member.
” He pushed his glasses up. “Could you tell how she died?”
Sam quickly shook her head. “That’s something forensics is looking into.”
“It’s just that Charlotte had the most opportunity, didn’t she? She would have been at the store after we all left, to close up.”
Sam said, “The police weren’t convinced it was foul play. Of course, they had to treat Margaret’s death as suspicious. But she might have died from natural causes.”
“Oh, okay. Well, maybe that’s a possibility, then. Margaret did have a heart condition.”
Sam said, “She did?”
“Definitely. You should have seen her at last month’s meeting.
We read The Cardiac Protocol. It was this medical thriller.
Not a bad book. But Margaret found all kinds of reasons to hate it.
Although she’d said the medication part of the story was accurate.
She over-shared about her heart medications and blood pressure prescriptions. ”
Sam nodded. Maybe it had been a natural death, after all.
It sounded like she’d had a hard time regulating her blood pressure.
She’d see if Aiden had more information from his police source later on.
Surely by this point, the medical examiner should have been able to glean more information about Margaret’s death.
“Well, I’m sorry she’s gone. And Charlotte seemed very upset, too. ”
“I’m sure she seemed that way. But her life will be a lot easier with Margaret out of the way.”
Sam said, “If it was actually foul play, who do you think might have been responsible? Any ideas? I’m sure you must know everyone pretty well.”
“I can’t really picture anyone doing it. And you know I’m not saying Charlotte had anything to do with Margaret’s death. She was always very congenial with her.”
Sam said, “Did anyone in the club have an especially tough time with Margaret?”
Gerald considered this as he munched what looked like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. “I guess I’d have to say Sofia always acts a little shifty.”
“Shifty? I thought she was just shy. She seemed very friendly, though.”
Gerald said, “Yeah, she’s probably shy. But she was especially uncomfortable around Margaret. Like she wanted to talk to her but didn’t want to at the same time.”
“Maybe she thought Margaret had good feedback? Could she have just been interested in her insights on the selections?”
Gerald shrugged again. “Who knows? Maybe.” He looked back again at his book.
Sam said, “Did you notice anybody lingering behind at the shop after the meeting was over?”
“Nope. That’s because I didn’t linger, myself. I don’t have any idea who might have stayed behind. The police have already asked me about that.” He made a face. “I guess they need to talk to everybody at book club.”
Gerald gave a regretful glance at his watch. “Well, that’s the end of my break. If you want to come back in, I’ll open up my window again. We’ll get that check of yours deposited. But you really should consider online banking. It’s so much more convenient.”
Sam totally agreed.