A Body at Book Club (Myrtle Clover Mysteries) Read Online Free Page A

throat again and still they loudly talked and laughed. Finally, she clapped her hands together and called out, “Everyone! Please!” and gradually the talking and laughter subsided. “If you could all take your seats again. There is something I need to tell you.”
    “There’s been a–” Rose hunted for the right word. “Well, something has happened. Unfortunately, Naomi Pelter has expired on my living room floor.” Her voice was somewhat exasperated. There was a gasp from the assembled group and Rose continued, “That’s right. Naomi is inside now and I don’t recommend that anyone go in there. Red is on his way over to assist us. She’d emailed me to say that she was ill and couldn’t come to book club, and she was, indeed, ill.”
    Myrtle scanned the book club members’ faces. Most looked shocked and concerned but there were a few interesting reactions, she thought. Rose, for one. She was more concerned about getting her house clean than about Naomi’s death—but that was surely to be expected.
    Myrtle also noticed that mousy Claudia Brown gasped and then looked terribly guilty. Myrtle remembered teaching Claudia many years ago. She’d thought her a fairly simple girl at the time and she didn’t believe she’d acquired any higher thinking skills since then, either. Perhaps Claudia was only looking guilty because she didn’t like Naomi and now has discovered that she’s dead.
    Lena Fowler, the Bradley vet, also had an interesting reaction. Myrtle watched as something of a satisfied smile crept across her face until she quickly removed it when she saw that Myrtle was studying her. Myrtle made a note that she’d have to find out more about Lena’s thoughts on Naomi—and also get her to put a missing cat poster up in her office.
    The last unusual reaction that Myrtle observed was Maxine Tristan’s. She appeared positively delighted at the news of Naomi’s demise. And when she heard that Red was coming over, she reapplied more blood-red lipstick and then powdered her nose.
    To be fair, no one in the entire group seemed too brokenhearted at the news. Surprised, yes. But there were no tears shed over Naomi Pelter. This made Myrtle think that she hadn’t been paying enough attention at past book club meetings. Was there all this anti-Naomi sentiment going on that she hadn’t picked up on? Maybe she was losing her touch. Or maybe she should try to attend more book club and garden club meetings. Apparently, that’s where all the action was.
    Once Rose finished talking, the buzz of conversation picked up again, this time with an additional fervor. Myrtle decided she’d wait for Red on the porch. As soon as she’d opened the porch door, she saw Red entering through Rose’s front door, so she walked into the house.
    Red sighed when he saw Myrtle. “Mama, for once I’d like to have a body called into the station when you’re not involved with it in some way.” He turned his attention to Naomi Pelter. “Poor thing. She really was sick, wasn’t she?”  He knelt by the body and carefully studied her. “I wonder if she’d been sick for a while and maybe got dehydrated.”
    Myrtle said, “No, she wasn’t ill at all until late yesterday.”
    Red glanced up at her. “You know that for a fact?”
    “I do. I saw her yesterday afternoon when I was looking for Pasha. She talked to me for a few minutes and was even making plans for coming to book club. But at some point yesterday evening, she emailed Rose to tell her she’d become ill and couldn’t make it.”
    Red said slowly, “So it came over her all at once?”
    “Apparently so. Maybe it was food poisoning,” said Myrtle. Then she paused. “Or maybe it was real poisoning.”
    “Why do you say that?” asked Red sharply.
    “Because Naomi wasn’t exactly winning any popularity contests in Bradley. I’m just saying that’s a possibility. Are you planning on treating this as a natural death?”
    Red shook his head and slowly stood up.