The Circle

Even the room seemed cold.

'Are we all here yet? Is anyone missing?' Thomasine asked, and then put her hand to her mouth as if she wished she'd said something else. One absentee was on everyone's mind.

She tried again. 'Shall we get the chairs around the table?'

While this was going on, Bob made a count. Everyone except Miss Snow and Maurice.

Anton called across the room to Thomasine. 'Who's going to chair this?'

'I thought I would, if no one objects,' she said. 'Dagmar and I are on the committee. She's offered to take the minutes.'

'Is it a regular meeting, then?'

'No, darling, I think it's best described as an extraordinary meeting, don't you?'

Satisfied, it seemed, he went to a chair and sat down.

Dagmar, on Thomasine's left, said in confidence, 'Should we start with a prayer?'

'I thought we'd have a minute's silence. We're not all church-goers.'

For once there was no need to call them all to order. They'd taken their places around the table and gone silent. Thomasine explained that she'd called the meeting in Maurice's absence, but she was confident he would give it his approval as soon as he was released, as he surely would be. She said, 'We're here out of respect to the memory of Miss Snow, our secretary, and I propose that we start with a minute's silence.'

Anton said, 'Do we know for certain that she died?'

'For pity's sake,' Tudor said. 'This isn't the time for nitpicking, old boy. You don't see her here, do you?'

Dagmar said, 'I expect she's here in spirit.'

Jessie, the archdeacon's widow, said, 'Amen.'

'So if you have a problem with showing respect, why don't you take care of the timekeeping?' Tudor said to Anton. 'Tell us when the minute is up.'

'If you wish.'

'Shouldn't we stand?' Basil said.

Thomasine said this was a good suggestion.

So they stood, some with heads bowed, thinking of Miss Snow until Anton said, 'Time.'

Tudor turned on him again. 'This isn't a bloody booze-up. We're trying to show respect for a dead colleague.'

'What else was I supposed to do — whistle "The Last Post"?' Anton said.

Thomasine said, 'Cool it, guys. Let's all sit down and have a civilised discussion about where we go from here.'

'I propose Dagmar for our new secretary,' Jessie said as soon as they were settled.

'Seconded,' Basil said so fast that it had the signs of a fix.

Tudor held up both hands as if to stop an advancing train. 'Before we rush into this, let's ask Dagmar if she's willing to take the risk.'

Dagmar looked up from her notepad. 'What risk?'

'The risk of stepping into a dead woman's shoes.'

Dagmar took in a sharp breath. 'Are you saying she was killed because she was secretary?'

'I haven't the faintest why she was killed, my dear, but it has to be a possibility.'

'Surely not,'Jessie said, looking to right and left. 'We're a harmless organisation, aren't we?'

Nobody spoke, but the way Naomi rolled her eyes was eloquent enough.

Jessie's question hung in the air until Dagmar, white-faced, said, 'I think I'll stand down after this meeting.'

Thomasine glared at Tudor. 'Well, we don't have to rush this. Next time someone else may like to volunteer.'

'What are we going to do about dear old Maurice?' Basil said. 'He's still being held by the police when it's patently obvious he's an innocent man. We've had three attacks of arson and he couldn't possibly have carried out the last two.'

'I'm afraid the woodentops don't think that way,' Tudor said. 'They'll let him go when they're ready, and not before. They can pretty well do as they like.'

Zach nodded and said, 'Fascist pigs.'

'They'll be carrying out forensic tests,' Anton said. 'If the results are in his favour, they'll let him go.'

'You have a touching faith in the Old Bill,' Tudor said.

Thomasine in her stand-in role as chair said, 'One of the reasons I wanted to call this meeting is that after what's happened we're sure to get some attention from the press.'

'Some attention?' Anton said.

Tudor said, 'They'll hang us out to dry.'

Jessie said, 'What on earth does that mean?'

'They'll have our guts for garters, then.'

Jessie said, 'Please!' Whether it was the guts or the garters that upset her was impossible to tell.

Anton came to her rescue. 'Tudor, we are a literary organisation. I suggest we leave vulgarisms in the street where they belong.' For Jessie's benefit, he said, 'The gist is that the press will take advantage of us.'

'Why?'Jessie said. 'We've nothing to be ashamed of.' She hesitated and her expression altered. 'Have we?'

'It's how it looks to an outsider that matters,' Thomasine said. 'We invited a speaker to our meeting and he was killed shortly after. Our new recruit Bob was caught in another fire and almost killed. And now our secretary is murdered. People are going to point out that the circle is the common factor. We're sure to come under the microscope.'

'So what are you saying, that we'd better agree on how to deal with the jackals?' Tudor said.

'In a word, yes.'

'A spokesman?' Basil said.

'A press officer.'

'Cool,' Zach said. 'Like it'

'Someone we can refer them to,' Thomasine said, encouraged by the support. 'If we're not careful they'll be picking us off, paying us bribes for titbits of gossip about each other.'

'How ghastly!' Jessie said. You could see in her face the prospect of her reputation disintegrating.

Naomi spoke up for the first time. She had been a brooding, unsettling presence until now. 'So who do you suggest for press officer?'

'I can handle it,' Tudor offered.

'We don't want him,' Naomi said to Thomasine. 'He can't keep anything to himself. We want someone who can stonewall.'

Basil shook his head. 'Not me, my dear.'

She said with contempt, 'I'm not talking about garden maintenance. You'd be useless. I propose Bob.'

'Me?' Caught off guard, Bob trotted out his usual excuse. 'I'm not even a full member yet.'

'That's neither here nor there,' Naomi said. 'If we appoint you, it's because you're well qualified.'

'Me? I've never done anything like it.'

'Personality-wise, you're the best we've got.'

'That's a laugh.'

'Don't you want to do this?'

'I'd rather not, if we can find someone else.'

'You see?' Thomasine said with the sweep of a hand, looking around the table. 'He's a born stonewaller.'

This produced the first smiles of the evening.

She rode her advantage like a surfer. 'Can we have a show of hands for Bob as our press rep?'

Bob was the only one who didn't raise a hand.

Zach said, 'Sorted.'

'Outgunned,' Thomasine said with a smile at Bob. 'If any of us is approached by the media, refer them to Bob Naylor. Right, Bob?'

'I guess.'

Thomasine moved on. 'We can also be certain that the police will want to question some of us, if not all.'

Jessie said in a strangled tone, 'Oh no!'

Tudor said, 'What's your problem with that?'

'I don't want a police car parked outside my house.'

'Worried about curtain-twitchers, is it? Let's face it, we're all potential suspects now. They're going to put us through the mincer.'

Jessie looked as if she'd been put through the mincer already.

'The point I'm making,' Thomasine said, 'is that Bob can cope with the press, and I'm sure he'll do it brilliandy, but we can't ask him to fend off the police as well. Each of us is going to have to deal with them individually.'

'Dangerous,' Anton said.

'Which is why I raised the matter.'

'Neat,' Zach said. 'A game plan.'

'Something like that. We're awfully vulnerable. We give out a lot about ourselves at circle meetings, and that's to be encouraged. It's part of the writing process, using our life experiences. So we all know some pretty intimate details about each other from the things we read out. I, for one, wouldn't want my innermost thoughts passed on to the police.'