Angora Alibi A Seaside Knitters Mystery - By Sally Goldenbaum
My special thanks to Dawn Slugg, owner of Ruhama’s Yarn and Needlepoint Shop in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (www.ruhams.com). Dawn graciously designed the pattern for the baby blanket Nell is knitting in Angora Alibi.
Thanks also to Nancy Pickard, who provided me with a shady deck, a duck pond, daily encouragement, and a comfortable brown leather chair, all of which were instrumental in writing Angora Alibi.
And thanks to family and friends from Minnesota to Kansas City who imagine my story lines with me, explore the characters’ motivations, and help me keep the Seaside Knitters fresh. Their suggestions and ideas send me off in welcome new directions.
Cast of Characters
THE SEASIDE KNITTERS
Nell Endicott: Former Boston nonprofit director, semiretired and living in Sea Harbor with her husband
Izzy (Isabel Chambers Perry): Boston attorney, now owner of the Seaside Knitting Studio; Nell and Ben Endicott’s niece; married to Sam Perry
Cass (Catherine Mary Theresa Halloran): A lobster fisherwoman, born and raised in Sea Harbor
Birdie (Bernadette Favazza): Sea Harbor’s wealthy, wise, and generous silver-haired grande dame
THE MEN IN THEIR LIVES
Ben Endicott: Nell’s husband
Sam Perry: Award-winning photojournalist married to Izzy
Danny Brandley: Mystery novelist and son of bookstore owners
Sonny Favazza and Joseph Marietti: Two of Birdie’s deceased husbands
SUPPORTING CAST
Alphonso Santos: Wealthy construction company owner; Gracie Santos’ uncle; now married to Liz Palazola
Andy Risso: Drummer in Pete Halloran’s band; son of Jake Risso
Annabelle Palazola: Owner of the Sweet Petunia Restaurant; Liz and Stella Palazola’s mother
Archie and Harriet Brandley: Owners of the Sea Harbor Bookstore
August (Gus) McClucken: Owner of McClucken’s Hardware and Dive Shop
Ella and Harold Sampson: Birdie’s longtime housekeeper and groundsman
Esther Gibson: Police dispatcher (and Mrs. Santa Claus in season)
Father Lawrence Northcutt: Pastor of Our Lady of Safe Seas Church
Franklin Danvers: Wealthy investor; Elliott Danvers’ uncle
Harry and Margaret Garozzo: Owners of Garozzo’s Deli
Henrietta O’Neal: Wealthy Irish widower
Horace Stevenson: An old man who lives near Paley’s Cove
Jane and Ham Brewster: Former Berkeley hippies; artists, and cofounders of the Canary Cove Art Colony
Jake Risso: Owner of the Gull Tavern; father of Andy Risso
Janie Levin: Nurse practitioner in the Virgilio Clinic; Tommy Porter’s girlfriend
Jerry Thompson: Police chief
Justin Dorsey: Eighteen-year-old distant cousin of Janie Levin’s
Kevin Sullivan: Ocean’s Edge cook
Laura Danvers: Young socialite and philanthropist; mother of three; married to banker Elliot Danvers
Lily Virgilio, M.D.: Izzy’s obstetrician
Mae Anderson: Izzy’s shop manager; twin teenage nieces, Jillian and Rose
Martin Seltzer, M.D.: Works in Virgilio clinic
Mary Pisano: Middle-aged newspaper columnist; owner of the Ravenswood B&B
Mary Halloran: Pete and Cass’ mother; secretary of Our Lady of Safe Seas Church
Merry Jackson: Owner of the Artist’s Palate Bar & Grill
Pete Halloran: Cass’ younger brother and lead guitarist in the Fractured Fish band
Tamara Danvers: Franklin Danvers’ wife
Tommy Porter: Policeman
Tyler Gibson: Esther Gibson’s grandson
Willow Adams: Fiber artist and owner of the Fishtail Gallery
The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together; our virtues would be proud, if our faults whipt them not; and our crimes would despair, if they were not cherish’d by our virtues.
—SHAKESPEARE
Chapter 1
“These are the glory days. A unique and special time in your life.”
“You’re glowing, Izzy.”
“Radiant with life.”
Izzy pulled the blue fleece tight across her heavy breasts and jogged along the wet sand. She welcomed the salty spray that slapped her cheeks like a reprimand, forcing her into wakefulness.
Special.
Miraculous.
Joyful.
Everyone agreed.
And everyone was right. Of course they were right. That’s exactly how she had felt. For months and months.
Ever since the day that innocent-looking little stick had turned pink and she and Sam, dizzy with thoughts of having a baby, walked the beach for hours, hand in hand, wrapped in dreams. When nightfall came, they wrapped themselves in a Hudson’s Bay blanket on the deck and watched the stars come out, marking the day that began a new chapter in their lives. The day their world changed and their hearts grew so full they thought they might burst.
A heady, joyous time.
The joy was still there. But dim, restless. Fuzzy.
And Izzy had no concrete idea why.
As her body grew, so, too, did the number of her visits to Dr. Lily Virgilio, until lately she found herself in the clinic once or twice a week, feeling a kinship with the doctor and with the office staff. It was a place filled with people whose only concerns seemed to be for her and for the life growing within her. That was how it had been.
“No worry,” Dr. Lily assured her, explaining her scheduling of frequent visits. “The baby is fine. I just want to keep a close watch on your blood pressure. And I want you to