“The book club? SBC?” Archer shook his head. “No wonder Drew wanted me over here. I’m probably supposed to keep all of you from going off and searching for a killer. With all your specialized book club skills.”
“Archer, that was rude.” Malia added a chair to the table and pulled out a box of cookies from Annie’s. “If you don’t want to know what we’re doing, you’re free to leave. We’ll tell Drew you were here the entire time, and we watched Persuasion on television.”
“I didn’t mean to be rude, Malia.” Archer ran his hand over the top of his head. “I just hate that you’re getting into something you don’t know anything about. It’s dangerous.”
“So is having a murderer running around Sedona killing young women. It’s in our best interest to be involved,” Holly responded. She took one of the cookies and used it as a pointer to emphasize her words. “Oh, and Shirley’s on the way with updates for our murder books.”
“And probably something to eat for dinner.” Rarity smiled over at Archer. “We’re set up for these things. We’re here for each other when bad things happen.”
“Like when Darby went through that bad patch.” Malia frowned. “Holly and I dropped her off at the airport yesterday afternoon. We went out to the pub last night, and now, this starts up. It’s like Sedona wants us to be busy so we don’t have time to miss her.”
“You realize Janey was a real person, not just a way for you to keep busy,” Archer pointed out.
“Malia’s a little direct. We know Janey was a real person, Archer. It’s just our way of dealing with something so horrible.” Holly glanced over at Sam. “I hope you don’t think we’re insensitive. If so, we can wait for the meeting on Tuesday to start talking about this.”
Sam ran her finger over the top of her coffee mug. “Honestly, I’m not sure how I feel right now. I know one thing. Marcus didn’t kill anyone, so if this gets his name cleared sooner than Drew and his police techniques, then I want to help.”
“We’ll have to list him as a suspect in order for us to clear him. Are you okay with really looking at his alibi? I know this might be hard. When we helped Darby, she was the person with the most to lose, but she wanted us involved. You’re trying to prove your brother didn’t do it. What if he did?” Rarity stopped talking and stared at Sam, waiting for her to make a decision.
Sam looked at each of the people at the table. “I’m probably going to be a pain in the butt calling out Marcus’s innocence, but we need to find out who did this. If it’s Marcus, and I know it’s not, but just to say, if, then he needs to pay for the crime. But if it’s not, he shouldn’t be labeled a killer just to close a case.”
“Drew wouldn’t do that.” Archer rubbed Sam’s shoulder. “You, of all people, should know that. If Marcus is innocent, Drew’s going to see that and find the real killer. We don’t want to have a killer running around free. It’s not a good draw for the town festivals.”
Malia laughed, spitting out her coffee. She wiped it up with the arm of her hoodie. “Okay, now all I want to do is make up festival mottos. Come to Sedona’s Halloween night party—chances are, you won’t be the one found dead in the morning.”
Rarity saw Sam smile at the joking going around. But her eyes still showed her fear about her brother’s fate. “Okay, let’s get some thoughts, which aren’t about marketing mottos, on the whiteboard. What do we know?”
They talked about everything they knew about Janey. As they were listing things off, Shirley arrived at the door with the promised notebook updates and a handful of pens.
She gave Rarity a hug. “I didn’t know if you’d have enough. Archer, be a dear and bring that Crock-Pot in. Be careful, it has hot soup inside. And I brought rolls we can warm up in your oven.”
Shirley’s magic power was in feeding people. Making them feel included was just a side effect. They got settled with potato soup and warm rolls and continued working on what they thought they knew.
At five, Sam got a call from Marcus asking her to come over to the hotel. Archer volunteered to drive her there. The rest of the group broke up as well, promising to bring anything else they’d heard about Janey’s death to Tuesday’s club meeting. Rarity helped Shirley wash her Crock-Pot and pack it and the extra packets and pens into her car.
Shirley paused before getting in the car. “This is going to be hard on Sam. Even though she says she wants the truth, I don’t think she really believes her brother could do this. Right now, he’s Drew’s best suspect.”
“I know. I don’t know how to help her. She’s going to be crushed if he even accidentally killed Janey. I need to go over Janey’s job application and see if she left any emergency contact information. Of course, Drew probably already got that from the school. I guess I’m just a little rattled.” Rarity had Killer on a leash outside with them. He was wandering through the front yard, looking for smells.
Shirley glanced at her watch. “I need to go see George. I think today’s the first day in a long time I haven’t been sitting in the car in front of the home waiting to be allowed inside. They’re going to think I’ve lost my mind.”
Rarity watched her drive off and waved until Shirley couldn’t see her anyway. It was great that Shirley was involved in something that had taken the pain out of losing her husband to a terrible disease. The only problem was that Janey had to die to keep her busy. Maybe they needed to have a Sunday brunch at her house to keep Shirley at least a little occupied. She’d talk to the group about it. Shirley was part of their family. And you did what you needed to do for family.
The thought made her shiver as she considered Marcus and Sam’s newly renewed relationship. Rarity paused at the front door and looked over at the house next door. Terrance Oldman, her neighbor, had gone on a cruise with some of his old navy buddies and their wives. He’d be gone until next Saturday, and then Rarity planned on having him over for dinner so he could show off his pictures and tell her about the trip. Archer had already agreed to attend, and she’d invite Shirley as well. Just to keep her busy.
Rarity and Killer went inside, and after turning on a movie, she cleaned the house and started laundry. If she got enough done, she’d celebrate by swimming a few laps before taking something out of the freezer for dinner.
Rarity liked being alone. As an introvert, living alone gave her time to recharge. Archer was the same way. He liked his quiet time. They’d been finding that recharging worked just as well when they were doing it together. He didn’t need a lot of attention while she read or worked on marketing ideas for the business. He’d watch a movie or a game while she puttered in a different part of the house or stretched out beside him, reading on the couch.