The Thursday Murder Club

Chris and Donna are in the Jigsaw Room with the group, along with Jason and Bobby; however, Elizabeth has “refused to say where or how she found [Bobby]” (196). She tells the two officers that Bobby had given them enough evidence that he was not guilty, but she would only reveal it if forced to with a warrant. Bobby tells Chris and Donna what he told Joyce and Elizabeth, about Gianni taking off with the money and how he has not heard from him since. When asked if Jason or Bobby would know who Gianni would contact in town if he came back, the two men look at each other and agree that they both need to look into contacting someone—a person that Gianni would have definitely gone to see if he was there. They tell the others that they will let them know once they do. Chapter 85 reveals that Jason and Bobby left to go and meet an old acquaintance of theirs, Steven Georgiou.

Donna recalls her trip to Willows with Elizabeth in Chapter 86. Elizabeth brought her there to introduce her to Detective Inspector Penny Gray, who is described by her friend as. “smart, resilient, opinionated, thwarted at every turn, by her gender and by her temperament.” Elizabeth goes on to call her a wrecking, brute force; however, she never made it as high in her career as she deserved, and she always had to “laugh at the jokes and make tea,” which John and Elizabeth felt was a waste. It was why Penny liked going over the old cases (199-00). Donna wishes she could have met Penny and feels that making Penny proud is now one of the reasons why she wants to crack this case.

Chapter 87 dives back into Joyce’s diary. She is distraught about something and is putting off writing about it. Joyce called Bernard for their daily “All’s Well” call, during which they each call to “let it ring twice and put the phone down” so that they “know the other is OK” (201). Joyce rings Bernard that morning but receives no call back, so she leaves to visit his apartment. When she approaches, she sees an envelope taped on the outside of the door with her name written on it.

In the following chapter, the Thursday Murder Club is gathered at Joyce’s flat, where she reads the letter from Bernard inside the envelope. In it, he writes, “before I go, I suppose I should tell you the whole thing” (203). Bernard explains that his late wife, Asima, died shortly after they moved in, and while the hill held a special place for them, there was a deeper reason why he went each day—a reason he is ashamed of. His wife was Hindu, and many have “their ashes scattered on the Ganges,” which was her wish years ago. However, when her daughters came to take the ashes back, he sent them with an urn full of sawdust and bonemeal because he just could not let go of her. He buried her ashes under their bench and felt guilty for lying to their daughter, but before he could make amends, there was a cement foundation poured around the bench, so he could never get the canister out.

Chapter 89 focuses on Chris and Donna at the station. Chris has an interview set up that he hopes could help him find Gianni; however, he is still stuck as to who could have murdered Ian, and if it had any connection to the murder from 50 years ago. In the following chapter, Joyce’s diary details a run-in between Elizabeth and Ian’s widow, Gemma. After pretending to faint, Elizabeth learns from Gemma that she seemed to have “earned an awful lot of money” after she “sold Coopers Chase Holdings to a company called Bramley Holdings” (209); The name, Bramley Holdings, rings a bell for Joyce, but she cannot remember why. Elizabeth plans to visit Gordon Playfair the next day since he was around there 50 years ago.

In Chapter 91, Elizabeth and Joyce talk with Gordon about how he met with Ian the morning he was killed. Gordon’s daughter kept asking him to meet with Ian regarding selling the land, but he says that he never liked Ian, so he turned down the offer. Now that Ian is out of the picture, Gordon has taken another offer. Elizabeth asks him if he has any memories of the place from years ago, and he offers to show them some pictures.

The diary entry by Joyce in the next chapter reveals what happened during the rest of their meeting with Gordon. After Elizabeth and Joyce tell him about the body they found, they learn that the offer he accepted was from Bramley Holdings. While they look at Gordon’s photos, they find one with Matthew in it, taken at a “Christmas party at the convent” (212). This is the evidence they need to begin making a plan. Elizabeth is by herself in the church in Chapter 93, with plans to meet Matthew.