Page 6 of If She Stayed
DeMarco leaned forward slightly."Mr.Carlisle, we understand this is incredibly difficult.But anything you can tell us about Margaret's routine, about who might have had access to your house, could help us find whoever did this."
Harold lowered his hands and looked between the two agents."Margaret knew everyone in the neighborhood.She would have opened the door for any of them.She was too trusting, especially since I started working longer hours."
"Can I ask… why you’ve been working late shifts?"Kate asked.
"They pay better,” he said.“Margaret didn't like me being away so much in the evenings, and really, we’ve always gotten by just fine on retirement and savings.But… but we needed the money for medical bills."
Kate felt a subtle shift in the conversation's direction."Medical bills?"
Harold was quiet for a long moment, staring at the hospital blanket covering his legs.When he finally spoke, his voice was so soft they had to lean in to hear him."Margaret was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer two months ago.Stage three.The oncologist said she had maybe a year, eighteen months if we were lucky."
The information instantly altered the shape of the case in Kate’s mind.Terminal cancer diagnosis just two months before Margaret's murder was too significant to be coincidental, though she couldn't yet see how the two events might be connected.
"How was Margaret handling the diagnosis?"DeMarco asked.
Harold's laugh was bitter and heartbreaking."She didn't handle it at all, not at first.For about three weeks after Dr.Patterson told us, Margaret just shut down completely.She stopped reading, stopped going to book club, barely got out of bed some days.She would just sit in that library staring at nothing.I guess she was just trying to ignore it completely.She floated through those weeks like a ghost.I kept trying to talk to her about treatment options, about specialists we could consult, but she wouldn't discuss it.It was like she'd already given up."
"But something changed?"Kate asked.
"Sort of.I… well, about two weeks ago, I came home and found her reading again.Not just any book, but 'Murder on the Orient Express.'She said she needed to prepare for book club, that she'd missed enough meetings already."Harold's eyes filled with tears."I was so relieved to see her engaged with something again.The book club meant everything to her after I started working late.Those women became her lifeline."
Kate exchanged a glance with DeMarco.The book club connection was becoming more significant with each piece of information they gathered.Margaret's return to reading after weeks of depression, her specific choice to reread a Christie classic, and her preparation for what would turn out to be her final meeting.
"Can you tell us about the book club?"DeMarco asked."How long had Margaret been a member?"
"Oh, for a while.Several years.I’m sorry to say I don’t know how many exactly.”
“But she wasn’t new to it?”
“Oh, no.It’s beenat leastfive years, but probably more than that.They meet at each other's houses, rotating who hosts.Margaret was supposed to host next month, in fact."
"Did she ever mention any problems with the other members?”Kate asked.“Any conflicts or disagreements?"
Harold shook his head slowly."Margaret loved those women.She would come home from meetings talking about their discussions for hours.It was the most animated I'd seen her since my schedule changed."
Kate considered the timeline.Margaret had received her terminal diagnosis two months ago, had withdrawn from all activities for three weeks, then gradually returned to normal life with the book club as her primary social connection.Someone in that circle would have been aware of Margaret's emotional state, her vulnerability, her schedule.
"Mr.Carlisle, did anyone else know about Margaret's cancer diagnosis?"Kate asked.
"We’d told only a very select few,” he said, shaking his head.“Margaret made me promise to keep it quiet until she decided how she wanted to handle it.She was still processing everything, still trying to figure out if she wanted to pursue treatment or just focus on quality of life.”He hesitated for a moment and then added: “Do you think her cancer had something to do with what happened?"
Kate wasn't sure yet, but the timing bothered her.A woman receives a terminal diagnosis, withdraws from life, then gradually re-emerges through her connection to a book club.Two months later, she's murdered in a scene staged to replicate the very book she was preparing to discuss with that group.
"We're exploring every possibility," Kate said carefully."It’s too early to make such assumptions.But tell me, can you think of anyone who might have known your Tuesday evening schedule?Anyone who would have known Margaret would be alone?"
Harold considered the question."My work schedule is pretty regular.Anyone who paid attention would know I get home pretty late on Tuesdays.The neighbors probably noticed the pattern.Margaret's book club friends might have known, since she sometimes mentioned having the evenings to herself."
Kate made a mental note to ask Sandra Morrison about what the book club members knew regarding Harold's schedule.If the killer had deliberately chosen Tuesday evening, they'd done so knowing they would have time to stage the scene without interruption.
"What about the house itself?"DeMarco asked."Who has keys?Who knew your security system code?"
"Just Margaret and me.We never gave spare keys to anyone, and the alarm code is something only we knew."Harold paused."Although Margaret sometimes forgets to set the alarm when she’s home alone.She said it made her feel trapped in her own house."
Another piece of information that pointed toward someone Margaret trusted.If the killer had found the front door unlocked and the alarm unset, they wouldn't have needed keys or codes.They would only have needed Margaret's willingness to answer the door.
“I think that’s all we need for now,” Kate said.DeMarco looked to her, nodding in agreement.“Thank you for your time, Mr.Carlisle.Although… if we wanted to learn as much as we could about the book club, who do you think we should speak with?”
He thought about it for a moment before saying, “That would be Eleanor.Eleanor Whitman.She’s sort of the founder of the group.She’s the leader, I guess you’d say.”He smiled at this thought and then looked to them with sharp sadness in his eyes.“You’ll… you’ll find who did this, right?”he asked, his voice catching in his throat.
