Chapter 9 - If She Stayed

As the formal discussion wound down, Kate noticed that several members were gathering their purses and saying their goodbyes, while others chose to linger. David Fletcher was among the first to leave, offering polite condolences to Eleanor and mentioning an early morning at work. He made a point to shake Kate’s hand and thank her for coming by, stating that he hoped she decided to join them. Jennifer Haynes followed shortly after, still dabbing at her eyes with tissues and promising to call Eleanor if she needed anything during this difficult time.

"Kate, please stay for some coffee and dessert," Eleanor said as she began clearing coffee cups from the circle of chairs. "A few of us usually hang around after meetings to chat, and I'd love for you to get a better sense of how we normally interact when we're not dealing with such sad circumstances."

Kate accepted the invitation gratefully, secretly pleased that Eleanor had thought of this creative way to have her hang behind and learn more. Sandra Morrison was already in the kitchen, arranging slices of what appeared to be apple pie on small plates while Carol Stevens helped Eleanor reset the living room furniture to its normal configuration.

"I brought the pie," Sandra said as Kate joined her in the kitchen. "It's my grandmother's recipe. I've been making it for book club gatherings for probably fifteen years now."

"It smells wonderful," Kate said, accepting a plate and fork. "I imagine you've seen a lot of changes in the group over that time."

Sandra's expression tightened slightly as she continued serving pie. "Oh yes, quite a few changes. Some for the better, some... " She paused, seeming to choose her words carefully. "Well, let's just say that maintaining the quality and focus of our discussions has become more challenging as we've grown."

Kate settled at Eleanor's kitchen table with her pie, noting that Sandra's tone carried an edge of frustration. "How so?"

"When Eleanor and I started this group twenty-two years ago, we had very specific goals," Sandra said, sitting across from Kate with her own slice. "We wanted serious literary discussion, members who came prepared and engaged thoughtfully with the material. We carefully selected books that would challenge us intellectually. Every now and then we try to have fun; we'll throw in a Stephen King or Sue Grafton, you know? But it always comes back to more serious literary discussions."

Carol Stevens joined them at the table, having overheard the conversation from the living room. "Sandra's being diplomatic. What she means is that some of the newer members don't quite meet her exacting standards."

"I'm not being unreasonable," Sandra replied, a defensive note creeping into her voice. "I simply believe that if you're going to join a book club, you should actually read the books thoroughly and come prepared to discuss them intelligently."

Kate took a bite of the excellent apple pie while considering how to probe deeper without seeming too interested. "That sounds like it might create some tension when new people join." She gave a chuckle that felt a bit too fake and said, "Like me."

"Exactly," Sandra said, warming to her subject. "Take Patricia Dunham, for example. She joined two years ago and admitted during her third meeting that she'd been getting plot summaries from the internet instead of actually reading the assigned books. Margaret and I were appalled."

"Now, Sandra," Carol said with a gentle laugh, "Patricia was overwhelmed by her first few selections. She's gotten much better since then."

"Has she, though?" Sandra's voice carried clear skepticism. "Just last month during our discussion of Great Expectations, Patricia made comments that clearly showed she'd only skimmed the final chapters.

Kate found Sandra's passion for literary standards intriguing, especially given her obvious frustration with group dynamics. "It sounds like Margaret shared your concerns about maintaining quality discussions."

"Margaret understood the importance of serious engagement with literature," Sandra said emphatically. "She had the same standards I do, which is why we often found ourselves aligned on selection disputes."

"Selection disputes?" Kate asked.

Carol Stevens shifted in her chair, looking slightly uncomfortable. "Sandra, I don't think Kate needs to hear about our internal disagreements. We want her to join the group, remember?"

"Oh, it’s fine," Sandra replied. "If she's considering joining us, she should understand how we operate.” She redirected her attention to Kate and said, “We vote on book selections, and sometimes there are strong differences of opinion about what constitutes appropriate material for our group."

Eleanor appeared in the kitchen doorway, carrying a tray of empty coffee cups. "Are you telling Kate about your campaign for more Conan Doyle?"

Sandra's expression immediately became defensive. "Arthur Conan Doyle is a foundational figure in detective fiction. The fact that this group has never done a proper study of the Sherlock Holmes stories is frankly embarrassing."

"Sandra proposed a three-month Doyle series last spring," Eleanor explained to Kate as she began loading cups into the dishwasher. "She wanted us to read A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of Four, and a selection of short stories."

"Which would have been intellectually enriching for everyone," Sandra said firmly. "Instead, the group voted for that ridiculous Louise Penny series that Jennifer had been pushing."

Kate noted the clear irritation in Sandra's voice when she mentioned Jennifer's influence on the selection process. "Someone mentioned Great Expectations…that’s not a mystery at all. So I take it you read more than just mysteries?”

“On occasion,” Eleanor said. “We’ll get into some literary fiction, maybe a clean romance here and there. But we always come back to classic mysteries.”

“Have the newer members been trying to change the types of books you read?"

"Sometimes, yes," Sandra said. "We've gone from classic mysteries and literary fiction to whatever happens to be popular at the moment. Jennifer's suggestions are particularly frustrating because she seems to choose books based on what's trending on social media rather than literary merit."

Eleanor's laugh had a slightly sharp edge to it. "Sandra, you're being unfair. Jennifer's suggestions have led to some excellent discussions."

"Have they?" Sandra challenged. "When we read Still Life at Jennifer's suggestion, half the group spent the entire meeting talking about the television adaptation instead of discussing the actual writing. That's not literary analysis, that's book club social hour."

Carol Stevens attempted to mediate. "Now ladies, every member brings different perspectives to our selections. That's part of what makes our discussions interesting."

"There's a difference between different perspectives and lowered standards," Sandra replied curtly. "Margaret understood that distinction, which is why she and I often found ourselves voting together on book selections."

Kate seized on this information. She also realized that at some point, someone had put a piece of pie in front of her, which she began to eat slowly. It was quite delicious. "So Margaret supported your preference for more classical selections?"

"Margaret appreciated intellectual rigor," Sandra said, using the phrase with a bit of pretension in her tone. "She wasn't swayed by popularity or trends. When I proposed the Doyle series, Margaret was one of the few members who saw the educational value."

Eleanor's expression had grown more tense during this exchange. "Sandra, Margaret also voted for the Louise Penny series. She wasn't as inflexible as you're making her sound."

"Margaret voted for Louise Penny because she was trying to be diplomatic with the newer members," Sandra shot back. "But she told me privately that she thought we were dumbing down our selections to accommodate people who couldn't handle more challenging material."

"Margaret said that?" Eleanor asked, her voice sharp with surprise.

Sandra seemed to realize she might have revealed more than she intended. "Margaret was honest about her concerns regarding the group's direction. We had several conversations about maintaining literary standards."

Kate watched this exchange with growing interest. The tension between Sandra and Eleanor was clearly more significant than either had initially let on, and Margaret appeared to have been caught in the middle of competing visions for the book club's future.

"It sounds like Margaret was in a difficult position," Kate observed carefully.

"Margaret was principled," Sandra said firmly. "She believed in intellectual honesty, even when it made her unpopular with certain members."

Eleanor's jaw tightened slightly. "Sandra, you're making it sound like Margaret was some kind of literary snob who looked down on the other members. That's not fair to her memory."

"I'm not calling Margaret a snob," Sandra replied. "I'm saying she had standards, and she was frustrated when those standards weren't shared by everyone in the group."

Carol Stevens looked increasingly uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation. "Perhaps we should talk about something else. Kate doesn't need to hear about our internal politics."

But Kate was finding the internal politics fascinating, particularly the suggestion that Margaret had been critical of newer members' contributions to the group. "Did Margaret ever express these concerns directly to the members she was worried about?" And then, sensing she had maybe gone too far, she put on a guilty, slightly embarrassed expression. “I’m sorry. It’s not my place to ask, and that came off as very nosy…”

Sandra and Eleanor exchanged glances, and Kate sensed she'd touched on something significant. That, or they were beginning to feel that the new girl was asking too many damned questions.

“Oh, it’s okay,” Eleanor said carefully. “Margaret could be quite direct in her feedback. Sometimes her corrections during discussions came across as criticism rather than helpful guidance."

"Margaret was honest," Sandra said defensively. "If someone misunderstood a plot point or missed an important theme, she would point it out. That's how people learn."

"But there's a difference between pointing out errors and making people feel stupid," Eleanor replied. "Margaret sometimes forgot that not everyone had her educational background or experience with literary analysis."

Kate filed away this information about Margaret's potentially abrasive communication style. If Margaret had been regularly correcting or criticizing other members, it could have created resentment that went beyond simple personality conflicts. She was beginning to understand the group dynamics more clearly. Margaret and Sandra had apparently formed an alliance around maintaining high literary standards, potentially at the expense of making newer or less confident members feel welcome and valued.

"But book clubs…they don’t usually get so heated, right?" Kate asked. She was finding it harder than she’d imagined to ask questions in such a way without revealing why she was truly there.

"Most people just tried to stay out of it," Carol Stevens said diplomatically. "Though I will say that David sometimes seemed uncomfortable when the discussions got too intense."

"David's a good man, but he doesn't like conflict," Eleanor said. "When Margaret and Sandra got into one of their educational mode lectures, David would usually just sit quietly until the conversation moved on. He’d almost look embarrassed."

Kate made a mental note about David Fletcher's discomfort with conflict, adding it to her observations about his nervous behavior during the evening's meeting. She was having to make great strides to commit it all to memory; it was a lot of different names and notes to keep track of mentally.

As the conversation continued, Kate learned more about the underlying tensions that had apparently been simmering within the book club for months. Margaret's arrival had disrupted the group's previous balance, creating an alliance with Sandra that had made some members feel excluded or criticized. That’s what Kate was taking away from it all, anyway.

By the time Kate left Eleanor's house at nearly ten o'clock, she had a much clearer picture of the complex relationships and resentments that might have contributed to Margaret's death. The killer might not have been motivated by literary obsession at all, but by personal grievances disguised as tributes to Christie's work.

As Kate settled into her car, she pulled out her phone and called DeMarco. She answered on the second ring with a simple, “Hey. How’d it go?”

"Interesting. Very interesting. There are some serious undercurrents in this group that weren't apparent during our initial interviews. Have you found anything new on your end?"

"Nothing significant. I've been going through social media profiles and financial records, but nothing jumps out as suspicious. A few of them have spotless backgrounds, which is almost suspicious in itself if you ask me."

Kate started her car and pulled away from Eleanor's house. "That's exactly what I was thinking. For right now, there's one that sort of stands out… the only guy in the group. David Fletcher. He was fidgety almost the entire time, and he was the first one to leave. He's either very uncomfortable as the only man in a group of women who are currently highly emotional, or he's hiding something."

"What kind of something?"

"I'm not sure yet, but he seemed nervous throughout the entire meeting, and the other members mentioned that he doesn't like conflict. Given some of the personality clashes within this group, that could be significant."

“Let’s dig into him first, then,” DeMarco said. “So…what else did you learn?”

Kate drove through the quiet residential streets while filling DeMarco in on Sandra Morrison's complaints about newer members and the apparent alliance between Sandra and Margaret around maintaining literary standards.

"So we might be looking at someone who resented Margaret's criticism rather than someone obsessed with Christie novels?" DeMarco asked.

"It's possible. The elaborate staging could be a red herring designed to throw us off the real motive." Kate paused at a stop sign, considering the implications. "Though it would take considerable knowledge of Christie's work to create such a convincing literary scene."

"Someone could have researched the details specifically for this purpose," DeMarco pointed out. "It wouldn't require years of reading Christie to learn about the candlestick in Murder on the Orient Express."

Kate found this possibility both troubling and intriguing. If the Christie staging was indeed a deliberate misdirection, it suggested a killer who was not only willing to commit murder but sophisticated enough to create an elaborate false narrative around their crime.

"I want to take a closer look at David Fletcher tomorrow," Kate said as she turned onto her own street. "His behavior tonight was definitely suspicious."

"I’ll lend a hand on that," DeMarco replied. "If he's hiding something, we'll find it."

As Kate pulled into her driveway and ended her call with DeMarco, she found herself wondering if Margaret Carlisle had died not because of her love of literature, but because of her inability to keep her opinions to herself. The Christie staging might have been nothing more than an elaborate attempt to hide a simpler motive: revenge against a woman who had made someone feel small and stupid once too often.

Given that this was just a book club, that seemed like a ridiculous idea. But in her line of work, Kate had seen people die for far less. And she knew that sometimes, small grievances within small groups often proved to be the deadliest.