A Body at Book Club: Myrtle Clover #6

Chapter 7

The rather uncomfortable interview with Rose had made Myrtle oddly hungry. She persuaded Miles to go to Bo's Diner with her before they headed over to see Wanda and Crazy Dan. "One needs a full stomach to deal sensitively with the mystical," explained Myrtle to Miles as a waitress handed her a plate with a pimento cheese-covered hotdog alongside a generous helping of chili cheese fries.

Miles looked a bit queasy as he observed Myrtle. "I don't honestly know how you've reached your advanced years while maintaining a diet that includes decades of food from Bo's Diner." He had searched the laminated menu for something a little healthier and had come up with a bowl of chicken noodle soup. The waitress put it in front of him with an apologetic air. "You sure this is what you want, hon?" Her eyes gazed in concern at him through heavily mascara-coated lashes. He nodded, but looked longingly across the room at another diner's blue plate special.

"That talk with Rose was uncomfortable, wasn't it?" Myrtle made a face. "I might have to avoid attending book club in the near future."

"Wasn't that part of your general plan anyway? Avoiding book club at all costs?" Miles took an unenthusiastic sip of his soup. It was apparently better than he expected, and he took another sip immediately afterward.

"It's one way that I ensure having a good week," admitted Myrtle. "But now with Rose freezing me out, it's going to seem even more unattractive than usual."

"She acted pretty appalled that you thought she had something to do with a murder."

Myrtle finished up her hotdog and sized up her chili cheese fries. She decided they would be better attacked with a knife and fork. She dug into them with gusto. "You've gotten right to the heart of it, Miles, as usual."

Miles frowned at her. "The heart of it?"

"When you said acted. She acted appalled that I thought she had something to do with Naomi's murder. Like she's never heard it even hinted that she could somehow be involved. When you know that Red Clover and Detective Lieutenant Perkins with the state police have been over there asking her questions."

Miles said, "Oh. Well, we all like to maintain these little fictions about ourselves, don't we? It helps get through the day. Maybe Rose didn't want to admit to company that she was a suspect in a murder investigation. Or maybe Red and Perkins are treading really lightly and hoping Rose will just shoot herself in the foot by giving out more information than she planned on giving." He appeared to be nearly finished with the bowl of chicken noodle soup. "It might have been a good tactic for you to take, Myrtle. You know...instead of informing her that she didn't follow her mom's rule of 'if you don't have anything nice to say.'"

"That just popped out of my mouth," muttered Myrtle. "Besides, I've always subscribed to a variation of that axiom."

"Which is?"

"If you don't have anything nice to say, come sit down next to me." Myrtle polished off her chili cheese fries.

The waitress came by with perfect timing. "Want some key lime pie, sweetie?" She took away the empty plate.

"Why not?"

Miles said, "I bow down to your superior arteries, Myrtle. You'd have to take me out of Bo's Diner on a stretcher if I had all the stuff you've eaten today."

"Pooh. Whatever. It just takes practice, that's all," said Myrtle with imperfect logic. She took a big sip of iced tea. "I don't honestly know if Rose is our best suspect anymore."

Miles blinked at her owlishly from behind his rimless spectacles. "Why on earth not? I thought you'd just established that she lied to us, that she hosted a murder in her own living room, and that she knew enough about horticulture to pull off such a feat."