“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 façade 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’sMiddlemarch?”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 introuble, 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.”
