The crowd clapped and Jane went on with a flourish.
“One of our very own talented artists has gifted—yes, gifted!—to the Canary Cove Arts Association its very own retreat and educational center. A beautiful home our artists will help renovate and make our own. A place we will share with the community, fill with children and adult classes and shows and celebrations and all sorts of marvelous things.” She paused for a minute, her smile so big it was difficult to talk, but Jane continued, her eyes moist.
“The Bianchi home on Cliffside Drive will forever more be known as the Canary Cove Art Haven. Our deep and overwhelming thanks to one of our own—Bree McIntosh.”
No one knew quite where Bree was—and some didn’t even know for sure who she was—but the crowd cheered and clapped, congratulating anyone who happened to be standing nearby as they raised their champagne flutes in the air.
Nell and Birdie had looked for the most obscure corner, knowing they’d find Bree there. And they did, standing with Izzy and Cass and Josh, her cheeks as red as her dress, and her eyes moist.
“Sometimes it all works out the way it should,” she said, and she hugged them all tightly.
The party would go on for hours, they knew, but a short while later, Birdie whispered to Nell that she had one more stop that night, and she needed to be on her way.
“You are double partying? Or on a Birdie mission? The latter is my guess.” Nell smiled down at Birdie and suspected she knew exactly where Harold would be driving her friend.
Birdie answered her with a hug and a finger to her lips, then walked out the front door to her waiting Lincoln Town Car with Harold at the wheel.
* * *
It was a short drive and Harold found his way easily, driving through winding streets on the east side of town, then turning into a quiet neighborhood with tree-lined sidewalks. He slowed down and pulled to a stop in front of a white frame house, a driveway beside it, and lights blazing inside. The light from old-fashioned street lamps brightened the walk.
Several cars were parked at the curb and Birdie smiled when she saw them. They were all there, just as she had hoped.
Gus McGlucken opened the door, a bottle of beer in his hand, his face worn and looking older than a few weeks ago. He wrapped Birdie in his arms and pulled her inside, into the living room with its portable bar, its big-screen television, and a bookshelf groaning with the history books Gus liked to read.
Mario Palazola and Harry Garozzo pushed themselves out of their recliners and walked over, beers in their hands, too, and their faces filled with sad smiles that held love and friendship and grief all together in one tight bundle.
“Ah, our sweet Bernadette,” Harry said, his gravelly voice wrapping her up in it. “You came. We knew you would.”
And then Mario chimed in. And Gus.
And in a minute or two, with the beers helping them along, the three men had linked arms and were weaving back and forth, their voices harmonizing with bass and baritone, Harry trying hard to be a tenor.
“Bernadette, sweet Bernadette . . .”
They were their own barbershop trio. Loud and clear they sang all the way up to the rafters, the words of their own making, until Birdie’s tears came, and then Gus’s, too.
They collapsed in the chairs that circled around the TV, with Old Blue Eyes crooning “Fly Me to the Moon” in the background.
“Anthony loved Frank,” Mario explained to Birdie. “We knew he’d wanna be with us, to be with Gus here, so we’re channeling him down through Frank.”
“Music,” Birdie said, smiling up at wherever Anthony Bianchi was, along with a salute to Frank’s voice coming from a corner speaker. “It helps us grieve and love and laugh. It helps us live.” They sat together for a while, telling old and worn stories, talking and crying and laughing a little, too. Three old friends, with the woman they loved “like one of them.”
Birdie shared a single beer with them, and when they walked her to the door, the four old friends hugged long and hard, each one wiping away a tear or two.
Birdie walked slowly back to her waiting Lincoln Town Car with Harold at the wheel. Quiet and patiently waiting.
She felt the stillness of the night surround her, comforting her, and then she stood for just a moment, looking back at the well-lit house.
And she knew that Gus McGlucken was going to be okay.
Acknowledgments
My thanks to Suzan Mischer for graciously allowing us to use a pattern from her book, Greetings from Knit Café. The slouchy cardigan is one of my favorites. I’ve spent time wandering through the book, and Suzan’s shop was one of the inspirations that helped me create Izzy’s yarn shop in the Seaside Knitters Society Mysteries. Not only has Nell used some patterns from this book, but I have, too, and I have loved them all.
Thanks to my Kensington family, an amazing group of people who have nurtured these mysteries in new and wondrous ways. I am grateful to my editor, Wendy McCurdy, and Norma Perez-Hernandez, Michelle Addo, Lauren Jernigan, Karen Auerbach, and all those behind and in front of the scenes who support this series from draft to print.
As always, my thanks to Christina Hogrebe, Andrea Cirillo, and the whole amazing Jane Rotrosen family who have supported me for more years than I can count. I love them all and am in their debt. Without them, I might still be a frustrated 1980s writer, sitting in a den, piling up unused manuscripts in a dusty drawer.
To my readers and friends, who seem to know exactly when an encouraging email or call or invitation to lunch is what I need to write the next chapter in a book. You never fail me. And to Sister Rosemary Flanigan and Mary Bednarowski—charter members of my invaluable “sounding board.”
To Jane and Mary Sue, world’s best sisters, whose hugs and support (and marketing efforts!) are dished out effortlessly and endlessly.
To Nancy Pickard, who is always there.
And to my family, for everything else.
This wonderful pattern, designed by Helen Roux, appears in Greetings from Knit Café. The book’s author, Suzan Mischer has generously granted permission to share it here.
Slouchy Cardigan
ABBREVIATIONS
CO—cast on
BO—bind off
K—knit
K2tog—knit 2 stitches together
N—needle; N1—needle #1
P—purl
P2tog—purl 2 stitches together
R—round / row
RS—right side
Sl1—slip 1 stitch purl-wise
Ssk—slip 2 stitches individually knit-wise; knit these 2 sts together through back loops
St/Sts—stitch / stitches
WS—wrong side
YO—yarn over
MATERIALS
One pair straight needles, size US 8 (5 mm). Change needle size if necessary to obtain correct gauge.
Stitch markers, yarn needle
Gauge—19 sts and 25 rows = 4 inches
Size—Small/Medium (Medium/Large) to fit women’s bust, size 32”–34” (34”–36”)
INSTRUCTIONS
BACK
CO 84 (88) sts
R1—(WS) *K1, p1; rep from * across.
Change to St st—work even until piece measures 4” from beginning, end with a WS row.
SHAPE SIDES
(RS) Decrease 1 st each side on this row—82 (86) sts remain.
Work even until piece measures 8” from beginning, end with a WS row
Decrease 1 st each side on this row—80 (84) sts remain.
Work even until piece measures 16-½“ from beginning, end with a WS row.
SHAPE ARMHOLES
(RS) BO 3 sts at beginning of next 2 rows, 2 sts at beginning of next 4 rows—66 (70) sts remain.
Decrease 1 st each side every row 3 times—60 (64) sts remain.
Work even until armhole measures 9-½“ from beginning of shaping, ending with a WS row.
Shape Shoulders
(RS) BO 5 sts at beginning of next 4 rows, 4 (6) sts at beginning
of next 2 rows—32 sts remain. BO remaining sts.
RIGHT FRONT
CO 84 (88) sts.
R1—(WS) *K1, p1; rep from * across.
Change to ST st and AT THE SAME TIME, shape center front as follows:
BO 2 sts at beginning of next row, then every other row 4 times. Work 1 (WS) row even. 74 (78) sts remain.
(RS) Decrease 1 st at beginning of this row, then every other row 23 times 50 (54) sts remain, then every 4 rows 9 times, every 6 rows 6 (8) times—and at the same time, when the piece measures 16-½“ from the beginning, shape armhole. End with a RS row.
SHAPE ARMHOLE
(WS) At Armhole edge, BO 3 sts, 2 sts twice, then decrease 1 st every row 3 times—24 (26) sts remain.
Work until armhole measures 9-½“ from beginning of shaping, end with a RS row.
SHAPE SHOULDER
(WS) at armhole edge, BO 5 sts twice, 4 (6) sts once—10 sts remain. Work 1 row even. BO remaining sts.
LEFT FRONT
Work as for Right Front, reversing all shaping.
SLEEVES (make two).
CO 61 (64) sts.
R1—(WS) *K1, p1; rep from* to last 1 (0), k I (0)across.
Change to St st; work 4 rows even, end with a WS row.
SHAPE SLEEVE
(RS) Decrease Row—[K10, k2tog] twice, k13 (16), [k2to, k10] twice—57 (60).
Work 7 rows even, end with a WS row.
Decrease Row—[K9, k2tog] twice—53 (56) sts remain.
Work 7 rows even, end with a WS row.
Decrease Row—[K8, k2tog], twice, k13 (16), [k2tog, k8] twice—49 (52) sts remain.
Work 7 rows even, end with a WS row.
Decrease Row—[K7, k2tog] twice, k13 (16), [k2tog, k7] twice—45 (48) sts remain.
Work even in St st until piece measures 14 (13)“ from beginning, end with a WS row.
Shape Sleeve—(RS) Increase 1 st each side on this row, then every 6 rows twice, every 4 rows 2 (4) times—55 (62) sts.
Work even until piece measures 18” from beginning, ending with a WS row.
Shape Cap—(RS) BO 3 sts at beginning of next 2 rows, 2 sts at beginning of next 4 rows, then at each side decrease 1 st every other row 10 times—21 (28) sts remain. Bind off remaining sts.
HOOD (optional)
CO 124 sts.
R1—(WS) *K1, p1; rep from *across.
Change to St st; work even until piece measures 9-½“ from beginning, end with a WS row.
Divide Hood and Shape Top—(RS) Work 62 sts, join second ball of yarn, work to end. Working both sides at the same time, work 1 (WS) row even, turn, and then decrease 1st at beginning of this row, then every other row once.
Work 2 rows even, end RS row.
Decrease Row—(RS) decrease 1 stitch, each side, as follows: For right side of hood, work across to last 3 sts, k2tog, work 1 st; for left side of hood, work 1st, ssk, work to end—61 sts remain each side. Work 1 WS row. Repeat Decrease Row once, then at each center edge, BO 2 sts twice, 3 sts once, then 4 stitches once, AND AT THE SAME TIME, at each outside edge, BO 7 sts twice, 8 sts once. BO remaining 27 sts each side.
BO 28 sts for each side of hood.
FINISHING
Sew shoulders together. Set in sleeves; sew side and sleeve seams. Sew center back seam of hood. Sew hood to neck edge, lining up center back seam of hood with center back neck edge. Using yarn needle, weave in all loose ends.
For more information about Greetings from Knit Café, visit http://www.abramsbooks.com/or your favorite bookseller.
How to Knit a Murder Page 26
