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

“I’m planning on having the medical examiner make that call. She was pretty young to have died from a gastrointestinal bug, and in such a short amount of time. I’ve also got a call in to the state police. I think Detective Lieutenant Perkins is on his way now. If this needs to be treated as a homicide, we’ll let them determine that.” His eyes narrowed at her. “And this is all off-the-record. You’re not planning on writing this up for the Bradley Bugle ?”
    Myrtle wrote a weekly helpful hints column for the newspaper, but sometimes wrote news stories for the Bugle when she had a chance and when her editor would let her. “That depends on whether this is real news or not. It might simply be a virulent virus or something.” Actually, Myrtle was already planning on writing this story up, virus or no virus. Having something like this happen during a book club meeting was definitely newsworthy. Well, at least as far as Bradley’s tiny newspaper was concerned.
    “All right. And I’d like to keep it that way, Mama. If this ends up being a murder case…and I said if …then I want you to wash your hands of it.” Red busily occupied himself with his notebook so he missed the look of irritation Myrtle shot him.
    “Why ever not?” asked Myrtle. “What would be so special about this case?”
    Red looked up from his notebook and directly into her eyes. “I never want you involved in a case. You know that. But this one would be different. The fact that it might involve folks in your book club, somehow. Friends of yours. It could get ugly and I don’t want you involved in any ugliness. At your age, Mama, you should be thinking about relaxing—watching your soap opera, putting your feet up, and just resting.”
    Myrtle completely ignored this statement. This was Red’s constant refrain. She’d gotten so that she really didn’t even hear him when he said it. It sounded like blah, blah, blah .
    “Now, if you could just step outside with everyone else, please. I’ve got to talk with Rose Mayfield for a few minutes before the medical examiner gets here.” Red stood up from his crouching position with a wince. “Man, it’s no fun getting old.”
    “I wouldn’t know,” said Myrtle airily as she walked out the back door.
    The buzzing voices had quieted down to noisy whispers as Myrtle joined the rest of her book club. “Rose, I think Red wants to speak with you for a minute,” she said.
    Rose briskly walked to the house. Miles joined Myrtle. “Did Red give you an earful about discovering yet another body?”
    Myrtle shrugged. “He mostly just wanted to warn me off of investigating.”
    “Doesn’t he always warn you off of investigating?” Miles pushed his rimless eyeglasses up his nose.
    “Red managed to find a slightly different excuse this time.” Myrtle lowered her voice. “He said that this case might get messy, since the murderer would likely be a friend or a book club member.”
    Miles’s eyes opened wide behind his glasses. “You mean, it is murder, then?”
    “He won’t know until after the autopsy I think. But I guess it could be, yes. The point is that he simply didn’t want me poking my nose into the case and found a new excuse to latch onto.”
    Lena Fowler, the vet, joined them. She had the athletic build of a runner and cropped brown hair that suited her pixyish face. Lena also had a piercing, analytical gaze that always made Myrtle feel as if her slip were showing. “I was sorry to hear about Pasha, Myrtle. I remember when you brought her in to the clinic to get spayed and immunized.”
    Myrtle smiled at her. “I suppose you do, since Pasha wasn’t in a very happy mood at the time.”
    Lena smiled back and Myrtle realized how infrequently a smile creased her serious face. “That was only to be expected. Feral cats would be even more worried about a cat carrier, car ride, and vet visit than housecats. She did a great job. I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for her.”
    That uneasy