The group disbanded a few minutes later. Sam stayed behind to help clean up. Rarity watched Sam put the flip charts away as she put all the coffee and lemonade containers on the cart to take into the back room and clean. “Are you okay with this? If you want to sit out this investigation, no one would hold it against you.”
“I would. I would hold it against me.” Sam closed the closet door and picked up a paper plate that had been left on the coffee table. “I know Marcus didn’t kill Janey. At least that’s what my heart says. My head I still have to convince.”
“Is there something you’re not telling us?” Rarity had never seen her friend as quiet as she’d been during the discussion this evening. She’d told Marcus’s story, then sat and listened. She’d taken notes all during the meeting.
Sam ran a wet rag over the treat table and moved it closer to the wall. Then she followed Rarity toward the kitchen after turning the closed sign on the door and locking it. Sam pushed the event sign into the corner where it sat when not in use. They’d closed up the shop together just like this for years. But tonight, Rarity thought Sam’s attention was somewhere else.
When they finished cleaning up the drink station and checked the lock on the back door, they went back into the darkened bookstore. Archer would be here soon to walk her home. Drew typically came to get Sam. Rarity wondered if he would tonight. If he wasn’t coming, she and Archer would walk Sam home, then go on to her house.
“Rarity, I need to tell you something. But until Drew finds it, I need you to keep it between us.” Sam sank into a chair by the fireplace. “Okay?”
“Okay.” Rarity wondered what she was agreeing to, but she trusted Sam. Sam had been there throughout the year of cancer, unlike Rarity’s ex-boyfriend, Kevin. Even living so far away, Rarity knew she could call Sam for anything, and it would be okay. She needed to give her friend the same courtesy now.
“When we were kids, a girl went missing. A girl Marcus had been dating.” Sam shook her head when Rarity’s eyes widened. “See, that’s why I haven’t told Drew about this. He’d have the same reaction. But Marcus didn’t kill this girl. They found her body at a local quarry where all the kids swam. He was questioned, but they found evidence that she’d committed suicide. There was a note left in her bedroom. Marcus was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. He’d been swimming with some friends, she showed up, and they stayed to talk. Then he went home, and I guess she overdosed. He was devastated.”
“The situation is eerily similar,” Rarity commented.
Sam sighed as she closed her eyes. “I know. And that’s why I’m still trying to find out who killed Janey. If it was Marcus, I need to know that too. But my heart says he wouldn’t do this. Especially after what happened to Connie so many years ago.”
“You need to tell Drew,” Rarity said.
Sam shook her head. “No. That’s the last thing I need to do. Marcus would know I betrayed him.”
“But, Sam—” Rarity didn’t get the rest of her sentence out before she heard a knock on the door.
“Rarity, you promised,” Sam hissed as they walked to the door.
Archer was standing there and, Rarity saw, Drew behind him. That was a good sign. At least for Sam and Drew’s relationship. “Hey, guys, let me get Killer, and I’ll be ready. Good to see you, Drew.”
“I take it my father arrived in time for book club?” Drew asked, his eyebrows raised to let her know he knew why Jonathon had come to town.
“Yes, Jonathon was here. So good to see him. You know I love your parents. I’ll be right back.” Rarity hurried back inside to get her tote and Killer’s leash since he’d followed them to the door and was now in Archer’s arms. When she got back to lock the door, Drew and Sam had already left.
“Man, I’d hate to be Drew tonight. I bet Sam’s furious at him for looking at Marcus as a suspect.” Archer took Killer’s leash and snapped it onto his collar. Then he held out a hand for Rarity’s tote. “I’ll take that.”
“Okay, but if someone gives you crap about your man purse, I’m not standing up for you,” Rarity teased, hoping to get the subject off of Drew and Sam. And Marcus. But then she slipped. “I’m glad he came to walk her home.”
Archer put his arm around her as they walked down the sidewalk. “So am I.”
When they got home, he opened the fridge and pulled out some chicken. “Stir-fry okay?”
“Sounds wonderful, but you could just warm up soup. Or I could,” she amended.
“I like cooking you dinner after a long day at work. It makes me feel domestic. Do you want a beer to sip on while I cook, or are you swimming?”
She needed a swim, but she hated leaving Archer alone to cook. Apparently, she hesitated just a little too long, and he guessed the answer.
“Go have a swim. I’ll start up some rice and turn on the baseball game. I know how to entertain myself.” He leaned over and kissed her. “Besides, you look like someone stole your kitten. Are you sure you’re up to the club investigating Janey’s death? Maybe this one’s just too close.”
“It’s because it’s close that we need to investigate. I know Drew doesn’t believe in our meddling, as he calls it, but the hive mind is better at putting together clues than just one person. Besides, Jonathon will keep us out of legal trouble. He’s an asset to the group.”
“He’s a pain in Drew’s backside.” He waved a green pepper at her. “Go swim. I don’t want this epic stir-fry to have to wait while you finish up.”
She hurried to her bedroom to change. Maybe after she did her laps, she could stop thinking about the girl who died when Marcus was a teenager. And wondering if he had killed Janey too.
Chapter 6
Wednesday morning, Rarity tried to keep busy at the store. She was losing the battle. Janey had been a big part of a lot of the changes Rarity had planned on implementing, including today’s Mommy and Me class. Now, she had the class covered with Shirley stepping in, but she was still missing Janey’s excitement about the project. She pulled out her laptop and searched the web for Janey Ford. The first articles were, of course, about her death. The funeral was being held on Friday at Flagstaff Lutheran at eleven. She wrote the time and place on her calendar and emailed the Tuesday night group about attending. Then she ordered flowers and sent a contribution to a scholarship fund at the college.
With that done, she focused on the obituary. Janey’s parents were deceased, but she had a sister who also lived in Flagstaff. She opened Janey’s employee folder that she’d kept in her tote, hoping she’d find something that might explain what happened. The sister’s name according to the obit was Trish Ford. The emergency contact was Cara Mantle. Definitely not her sister.