Thursday Murder Club, #2
The Man Who Died Twice
by Richard Osman
Contents
Chapter 67
Overview
Elizabeth leads Joyce to Fairhaven station and, using a mirror clue hidden in Douglas’s locket, switches locker 531 to 135. They recover the £20m diamonds and a farewell note from Douglas. Armed with the jewels, they plan to use them as bait to trap Poppy and Siobhan and convene an emergency meeting.
Summary
On a minibus to Fairhaven, Elizabeth withholds a surprise from Joyce, who brings flapjacks and wonders about Ryan and other threads. Elizabeth hints that Joyce should wear something fit for diamonds, keeping the destination and purpose vague.
They walk to Fairhaven station’s Left Luggage, where Elizabeth produces the key for locker 531 and Douglas’s locket. Drawing on Joyce and Bogdan’s insight that Poppy overheard Elizabeth’s chat with Douglas, Elizabeth revisits Douglas’s precise wording about an East/West Berlin drop and focuses on the locket’s mirror.
Elizabeth explains the mirror reverses things—turning 531 into 135. Using the same key, they open locker 135 and find a blue velvet bag holding around thirty large diamonds. Elizabeth also retrieves a note from Douglas, a wry farewell confirming the puzzle and acknowledging his likely death.
Elizabeth and Joyce decide not to keep the diamonds but to use them as bait to catch Poppy and biker Siobhan, and perhaps others. They agree to call an emergency Thursday Murder Club meeting as Joyce softens and offers Elizabeth a flapjack.
Who Appears
- ElizabethDeciphers Douglas’s mirror clue, opens locker 135, retrieves the diamonds, and plans to use them as bait.
- JoyceAccompanies Elizabeth, helps inspire the mirror solution, handles the diamonds, and agrees to the bait plan.
- DouglasAbsent but leaves a farewell note confirming the puzzle and the location of the diamonds.
- PoppyTarget of the forthcoming sting; suspected of faking death and tied to the diamonds.
- SiobhanBiker associate; included in Elizabeth’s plan to lure and catch using the diamonds.