LOWCOUNTRY BOOK CLUB by Susan M. Boyer Page A

knew,” he said.
    â€œ You socialize with Fraser Rutledge and his wife as well?”
    â€œ Yeah. Shelby and Fraser were tight since the schoolyard. His wife, Constance, I’m not sure she was happy about that, how close they were.”
    â€œ She the jealous type?”
    Clint made a face. “ I don’t know. Maybe. Fraser’s all talk. He acts like he’s always chasing something, but my take is he’s a family man. They have five kids. She would destroy him in a divorce. No one knows that better than Fraser. ”
    â€œ Who were Shelby’s other friends?”
    â€œ Delta Tisdale. She ’s the secretary of the book club. Mariel Camp, Anne Spence, Erin Guidici, Liz Bell, and Mary Bernard. They’re in the book club too. So’s the lady next door—Evelyn Izard. She and Shelby weren’t close, though. Evelyn is a notorious lush. The other women in that club I don’t know. Jane or Delta could tell you.”
    â€œ What about your neighbors on the other side?”
    â€œ The Vennings? Nick and Margaret. We don’t—we didn’t—spend much time with them.”
    â€œ Some of the neighbors told the police detectives they’d heard you and Shelby arguing.”
    â€œ Fraser mentioned that. Honestly, I don’t know what they were talking about. Maybe they heard the TV. Shelby and I didn’t yell at each other—ever. And the Izards…it’s as likely as anything the Vennings heard the Izards fighting and thought it was us. But who knows? The most likely way any of us could overhear any of the others would be outside in the courtyards.”
    I mulled that for a minute. “Does your courtyard back up to the lot behind you?”
    â€œYeah. There’s an old carriage house on the other side of our courtyard wall. I don’t think anyone’s living there.”
    I made myself a note to follow up to be sure. “ Any other friends you can think of?” Had he known Shelby was close to Sonny?
    He shook his head slowly. “ That’s it. The staff at One80Place—that’s all online. Shelby talked about most of them at one time or another.”
    â€œ How about folks she knew at church?”
    â€œ There’s overlap there. Jane and several of the book club ladies go to our church. Shelby had so many friends. But the one she spent most of her time with, that would be Jane.”
    â€œWas Shelby a member of a gym?” I asked.
    He shook his head. “No.”
    â€œWas she a part of any other group that you can think of? Did she stay in touch with friends from college?”
    Skepticism twisted Clint’s face into a scowl. “Not really. She exchanged Christmas and birthday cards with a few of them. Emails, an occasional phone call. But for one of them to show up here, that would really be out of the blue.”
    â€œBut possible?”
    â€œHighly improbable, but possible, I suppose.”
    â€œI need every name you can recall.”
    â€œHer roommate was Lark Littleton. The other names are in her address book. I’ll get it for you before you leave.”
    â€œ What about friends from Georgia? Your Army buddies?”
    â€œ We were close with the guys in my unit and their wives. But I’ve been out for nearly eight years. We see them all once or twice a year.” He shook his head, drew back his lips in something that approached a sneer. “ No. Just, no. ”
    â€œ Are they still active duty?”
    â€œ Two of them are.”
    â€œ May I please have their names, phone numbers, and current cities just so I can eliminate them?” Military records—recent ones—were virtually impossible for me to access legally. I had no inclination to access them illegally.
    â€œ It’s pointless, but fine.” He called out five names, looked up the phone numbers in his phone. I took everything down.
    â€œ Can you think of anyone else Shelby would’ve opened