Angora Alibi A Seaside Knitters Mystery - By Sally Goldenbaum Page 0,4

to come. He’s like a little kid and lives in the moment, doesn’t think about the consequences. And I just worry. You know?”

“Well, stop worrying, dear,” Birdie said, patting her hand. “It accomplishes nothing but wrinkles. Justin can drive a car as well as anyone. If he’s related to you, he has to have a few marbles up there.”

Janie’s worried look remained. “Well, he’s related to a cousin of a cousin out in California. But everyone in the family kind of cast him aside. I felt sorry for him.”

A few minutes later the young man walked back across the parking lot, waving to arriving guests and swinging Alphonso’s car keys from his one finger.

The worry began to disappear from Janie’s face. “He’s okay . . . and can be sweet. He just doesn’t have much faith in himself. Tommy says I’m not the one to put it there and I should just let him grow up.” She shrugged. “Maybe he’s right. But Justin doesn’t seem to have anyone else.”

They knew the story, how Janie had met the several-times-removed cousin at a reunion where no one paid much attention to him. But Janie had, and by reunion’s end, Justin had developed a puppy-dog crush on her, like a youngster on a young teacher or a camp counselor. And much to her surprise, a few months after the reunion, he’d hitchhiked his way to Sea Harbor, showing up on her doorstep. Justin would move the sun for Janie Levin if she asked him to—but he sometimes tripped over a few planets in his attempts.

“You’ve done a lot for him. But maybe Tommy is right—now he needs to stand on his own two feet.”

Janie nodded to Birdie. “Sure, you’re right, Birdie. And even Justin tells me he is figuring out how to make money on his own. He doesn’t need me to find him jobs, he says. The clinic gig is enough. But . . .” A line of people forming behind Birdie and waiting for programs interrupted her thought, and one hand flew to her mouth. “Jeez. Fine volunteer I am. I’m going to be fired!” She gave a small wave and stepped aside to greet the next guest.

The threesome left Janie to her duties and moved into the center hallway.

Birdie looked back to the doorway where Janie was graciously greeting each guest. And where, beyond her, Justin was stomping out a cigarette and taking the keys to another fancy car. Once again, she saw Janie’s eyebrows lift, her forehead furrow, and a flicker of anger in her eyes as she spotted the crushed cigarette.

“Sometimes that girl takes on too much,” Birdie said.

“Are you saying Justin is too much?” Nell asked.

“Perhaps he is.”

“Janie has gotten him odd jobs everywhere,” Izzy said.

“But he has a tough time keeping them, from what I’ve heard,” Nell said.

“Well,” Birdie philosophized, “he’s just a kid, really. He’ll grow up. They all do.” She waved at neighbors filing by and followed their eyes to the large posters hanging on the walls.

Everywhere in the high-ceiling entryway, people stood in groups, looking up at the large posters hanging on the walls that outlined auction items donated for the event. The entryway flowed into a larger room, its ceiling reaching two stories. The skylights, windows, and doors created an amazing open space filled with elegantly set dining tables and lined with white-clothed bidding tables that groaned beneath the donated items.

Nell looked around at the opulent setting. “I suspect you’re right, Birdie. Lily’s free clinic will be on its way to being well funded by the end of tonight.”

Izzy lifted herself on tiptoe as best she could manage and looked around the crowded space, peering over the tops of heads. “Where do you suppose the men are? We may never see them again in this crowd.”

Nell pointed toward the far end of the building, where a long bar had been set up in front of the veranda doors. “I suspect they’re back there. And I think I see Cass and Danny, too.”

Izzy volunteered to lead the way, her bulk providing an invitation for others to step aside. She greeted friends and customers as she rotated her body through the crowd.

Cass greeted them with a laugh and a hug for Izzy. “Have you noticed how easily crowds part when you walk through? I think I’ll take you out on the Lady Lobster with me and see if you can part the sea.”

The group laughed and moved into easy, familiar conversation, wrapped up in