Chapter 22 - If She Stayed

Kate stepped out onto Eleanor's back porch, glancing to the sky. The afternoon was growing late, shadows lengthening across the well-maintained yard. She could feel the weight of time pressing against her as she walked back out to the body, where DeMarco was still taking notes on the scene.

"We need to move fast," Kate said without preamble.

“You found a link?”

“Yeah. This is like a scene right out of the book she’s been reading. A murder mystery by Louise Penny.

“Okay, so what are you thinking?”

“I think we should coordinate protection for the remaining book club members immediately. We need to get patrol units to Carol Stevens, Patricia Dunham, Diana Clark, and Mary Richardson. Tell them not to open their doors for anyone, not even people they know."

"What about Sandra Morrison?"

"I'll handle Sandra myself. I have a hunch about something, and it's going to take me right back to her house." Kate was already walking toward her car, keys in hand.

“What’s the hunch?”

"The killer targeted Eleanor right after Margaret and Jennifer. Eleanor was one of the founding members of the book club. If I'm right about the pattern, Sandra could be next, since she's been with the group almost from the beginning."

"That makes sense. How long do you need?"

"Give me an hour to get Sandra somewhere safe and ask her some questions about the group’s early days. The founding of the club might be the key to understanding who's doing this and why."

“Sounds like a plan. Do you think we’re good to go from here?”

“Not much you and I can do. But you take whatever time you need.”

“I’ll compare notes with Collins and Carter and then coordinate units for the book club members. You just be sure to update me after you’ve spoken with Sandra… again.”

“Will do. See you soon.”

Kate hurried to her car and, feeling the afternoon slipping into evening, drove through Richmond's afternoon traffic with controlled urgency. Three women were dead, and the killer was accelerating their timeline with each attack. The next one could come any minute now… or not for several days. It was simply impossible to know for sure.

She felt like she was trapped in some sort of strange time loop when she pulled into Sandra Morrison's driveway for the second time that day. But now that there was a third body, the oak trees that provided beautiful shade seemed almost ominous—as if they might also offer cover for someone who might be watching and waiting.

Sandra answered the front door before Kate could knock, her expression immediately shifting from surprise to concern when she saw Kate's tense demeanor.

"Agent Wise? I wasn't expecting you back so soon. Is it… is it true? Is Eleanor dead?"

"She is. I’m so very sorry. But I need you to listen closely,” she said, hurrying on before further emotion could stagger Sandra. “I need you to come with me to the FBI field office right now. I assure you, it's for your protection. And besides that, I need to ask you some important questions about the book club's founding."

Sandra's eyebrows rose in apparent disbelief. "The field office? Agent Wise, I think you're overreacting. And besides… you’ve already questioned me. I’m starting to feel like I’m being interrogated and… and…” She trailed off, emotion rising to the surface. She shook her head and tried her very best to remain centered despite the tears that had started to trail down her cheeks. “My husband will be home from the hardware store within the hour. I'm perfectly safe here in my own home."

"Mrs. Morrison, three members of your book club have been murdered in less than four days. The killer is moving faster with each attack, and I believe you could be a target." Kate kept her voice calm but firm. "I need you to take this threat seriously."

"But why would I be in any more danger than the other members?" Sandra asked, though Kate could see the genuine fear on her face. Kate thought she actually wanted to come with her but was afraid to do so because she’d then be taking a direct step into admitting this insanity was real.

"Because you're one of the founding members, just like Eleanor was,” Kate said. “The killer might be targeting the original group for reasons we don't understand yet." Kate paused. "The founding of the book club twenty years ago might be the key to understanding who's doing this and why. And I’ll admit that yes, it’s just a hunch right now. But as more of your members are killed, we just can’t take chances."

Sandra shook her head slowly. "Agent Wise, I think you're mistaken about something important. Something that night indicate I’m not the next victim.”

“What’s that?” Kate asked impatiently.

“I'm not one of the founding members."

Kate felt a jolt of surprise. "But you said you and Eleanor started the group together twenty-two years ago."

"Almost, but not quite. I joined about four months after the group was originally formed. Eleanor started it with three other women, and I came along later when they decided to expand the membership." Sandra's voice carried the precision of someone who prided herself on accuracy. "I've been with the group for twenty years, but I wasn't there at the very beginning."

Kate's professional instincts immediately sharpened. "Who were the original founding members?"

"Eleanor, of course. Jennifer came along even later than that. She was quite young." Sandra paused, thinking. "The original group also included Bridget Nelson, who passed away from cancer about twelve years ago. And there was one other woman, Janet something. She only stayed for a few months after I joined, then left the group."

"Do you remember Janet's last name?"

Sandra looked thoughtful. "It was Janet Klein, I think.” The active struggle to recall the name seemed to momentarily curb her grief and sorrow. “Or maybe Kline, with a different spelling. She was only with us for maybe six months total before she decided the group wasn't what she was looking for."

Kate felt pieces of a puzzle shifting in her mind. A woman who could be seen as a founding member who had left the group decades ago… someone who might have harbored resentment about being excluded or forced out. "Do you remember anything specific about why Janet left?"

"Not really. She said the group wasn't meeting her expectations, that she was looking for something different." Sandra frowned slightly. "Although I do remember she made an odd comment when she left. She said she had gotten what she needed from the book club and was ready to move on. She wasn’t mean about it. No hard feelings or anything like that, but…yeah, we all found that comment a little odd. We joke about it here and there, even now."

I don’t think the group will be joking about much of anything from here on out, Kate thought bitterly.

But the phrase struck Kate as potentially significant. "That is a strange way to describe leaving a reading group."

"I thought so too at the time. Janet made it sound like she had accomplished some kind of mission."

Kate's pulse quickened. "Mrs. Morrison, you mentioned that you keep detailed records of all the book club meetings and members. Would you have information about Janet Klein in those records?"

"I should, yes. I started keeping notes almost immediately after I joined, so I would have documented Janet's participation and departure." Sandra glanced back into her house. With this new task, it was almost as if the news that had broken over the past hour or so involving Eleanor was months old. "The records are in my home office. Let me get them."

"I'll come with you," Kate said, her training kicking in. She knew it was a stretch, but she couldn't help but wonder if the killer might already be watching Sandra's house, waiting for an opportunity. "I'd like to do a quick check of the rooms before you go looking for anything."

Sandra looked puzzled but stepped aside to let Kate enter. "Of course, if you think it's necessary."

Kate moved through Sandra's house methodically, checking each room with the systematic approach she'd learned during her years with the FBI. The formal dining room with its polished cherry table was empty and undisturbed. The kitchen showed no signs of forced entry or unusual activity. Upstairs, the bedrooms and bathrooms were clear, with no indication that anyone had been inside without permission. Overall, the house felt secure, but Kate remained alert as she completed her sweep. The killer had demonstrated an ability to gain access to victims' homes without leaving obvious signs of break-in. They'd been inside Jennifer's kitchen to poison her tea, and they'd approached Eleanor in her supposedly secure backyard without being detected.

When Kate returned to the living room, Sandra was waiting with a thick binder filled with what appeared to be handwritten notes and typed meeting summaries. It was all very thorough and borderline professional.

"I found the records from twenty years ago," Sandra said, opening the binder to a section marked with a tab labeled 1995-1996. "Here's Janet Klein's information."

Kate studied the neat handwriting that documented Janet's brief membership in the Willowbrook Book Club. Sandra had recorded not only attendance at meetings but also notes about each member's contributions to discussions, their book preferences, and their interactions with other members. Not for the first time, Kate got the impression that these ladies might be taking their book club a little too seriously.

The entry for Janet Klein was even more detailed than Kate had expected. According to Sandra's notes, Janet had joined the book club in its fourth month of existence, when the group was still small and intimate. She had been an active participant in discussions, demonstrating extensive knowledge of mystery fiction and often offering insights that impressed the other members. She and Eleanor had decided on meeting dates, snack choices, and even books—without the input of other members at the time, it seemed.

But Sandra had also noted some concerning behaviors. Janet had asked unusually detailed questions about other members' personal lives, showing particular interest in their backgrounds, family situations, and daily routines. She had volunteered to help with hosting duties, which gave her access to members' homes and schedules. And she had shown a pattern of reading the same books as other members, even when those books weren't part of the group's official selections.

Most significantly, Sandra had recorded Janet's final comment upon leaving the group: "I got what I needed from this. Time to move on to the next phase." Sandra had even typed up three question marks following this, as if to say, “What the hell?”

Kate read the entry twice, getting the sensation that she might be on to something here... she just wasn’t sure what yet. "Did Janet ever mention what kind of work she did? Her profession or background?"

Sandra consulted her notes. "She said she worked in insurance, I think. Claims adjustment or something similar. She seemed to have flexible hours because she was always available for meetings and social activities."

Kate considered this for a moment and stepped to the far side of the room, pulling out her phone. “Excuse me a moment, Mrs. Morrison.”

She dialed DeMarco, whom answered immediately.

"Kate, I've got units en route to all the remaining members,” she said. “What did you find with Sandra?"

"Well, for started, Sandra isn't a founding member. And secondly, I might have a new lead. There was an original member named Janet Klein who left the group after just a few months, twenty years ago. And she did so under suspicious circumstances. She made strange comments about getting what she needed from the book club, and she showed unusual interest in other members' personal information."

"That sounds promising.”

“Can you meet me at the office to run a background check?" Kate asked.

"Why not just call it in to Records and Research instead? They should be able to pull information on Janet Klein within ten minutes.”

“Good thinking. Besides, I don't want to leave Sandra alone right now."

“I’ll call them up for you. Need anything else?” DeMarco asked. “Need me to come over, too?”

“No, I think I’m good. Just call when you get something back on Klein.”

“Got it. And I’ll send a unit over there to free you up, too.”

“Thanks.”

Kate ended the call and turned back to Sandra, who was reading through more of her old notes with growing interest. Kate noticed that she was shaking lightly, perhaps still trying to divert her welling emotions with whatever menial task she could.

"Mrs. Morrison, I'm going to stay here with you until a patrol unit arrives to provide backup. We can't take any chances with your safety."

Sandra looked up from her binder. "Do you really think this Janet Klein could be responsible for these murders? After all these years?"

"People hold grudges for decades, especially if they feel they've been wronged or humiliated. If Janet was planning something from the beginning, if she joined the book club to gather information for some future purpose, she might have been waiting for the right opportunity to act on whatever grievance she's carrying."

Kate settled into one of Sandra's armchairs, positioning herself where she could see both the front door and the windows that faced the street. The afternoon sun was beginning to set, casting longer shadows across the elegant Victorian's interior.

"Agent Wise?" Sandra asked. There was definite sorrow in her voice now. The wrestling match taking place inside of her was apparently coming to an end, and sorrow was winning. "Would you mind giving me some… some privacy for a moment." She was doing everything she could not to break in front of Kate.

“Yes, of course,” Kate aid, getting to her feet. “I’ll be right on the porch until a police unit comes to relive me.”

She stepped out onto the porch and sat down in one of the wicker chairs she’d occupied earlier. She then looked to her phone and saw that it was nearing 5:30. She was already dreading the idea of stepping away from the case when there were possible new leads to identify. But she’d promised Allen… and even though she knew he’d understand and pass it off, she knew that he deserved better. The guilt and indecision was enough to open her eyes to the fact that maybe she truly couldn’t do this anymore. Maybe this needed to be it for her; maybe this needed to be her last case.

Her phone buzzed, derailing that particular train of thought. She looked to the display screen and saw that she was getting an incoming call from DeMarco. She answered quickly, hoping for information that would help them identify and locate Janet Klein.

"What’ve you got?” Kate asked.

“Records and Research pulled everything they could find on Janet Klein. And you're definitely going to want to hear this."

"Go ahead."

"Janet Klein, age fifty-eight, worked as an insurance claims investigator for fifteen years before leaving the profession in 2010. No current address on file, no recent employment records, no social media presence. It's like she disappeared from the system."

"What about criminal history?"

"She's got a clean record, but here's the interesting part. Records found a notation in her employment file from 2008. She was terminated from her insurance job for conduct violations, including unauthorized surveillance of policyholders and inappropriate collection of personal information."

There we go, Kate thought. There was, of course, no way to know for sure if Klein was part of the case at all, but the picture was becoming clearer. Janet Klein had a history of crossing professional boundaries—most notably of gathering information about people for reasons that went beyond legitimate business purposes. If she had joined the book club with similar motives, she could have spent decades accumulating knowledge about the members' lives and vulnerabilities.

"That does seem odd,” Kate said. “Do you have an address?”

“We do. She lives in Mechanicsville.”

Good, Kate thought. Just twenty minutes away. “Do you have any idea how much longer until the patrol units reach the other members?"

"Stevens and Dunham should have protection within ten minutes. Clark and Richardson are taking longer because they're further out, but units are en route. Clark will be coming to you."

Kate glanced at Sandra, who was listening to the conversation with growing anxiety. "Stay on the line with me. I want to keep communication open until backup arrives here."

As Kate waited for additional protection to arrive, she found herself thinking about the psychology of someone who could plan revenge murders over the course of twenty years. There were certain things about Janet Klein’s past that certainly hinted that she’d be capable of such a thing, but Kate had no way of knowing if she and DeMarco were on the right trail or wasting their time chasing ghosts.