Weave of Absence Read Online Free PDF Page B

said, pouring. “It’s so quiet today. I suppose it’s a good thing, considering Margaret hasn’tcome in. I’ve only had a handful of customers. I wonder why.”
    â€œMaybe it has something to do with the party we had last night. Most of your customers are friends of Marnie’s, and everyone was here.”
    â€œYou have a point. People went home late.”
    â€œBy midafternoon you’ll be crazy busy as usual. Don’t worry.” We turned as Margaret walked in.
    â€œSpeak of the devil.”
    â€œHi, Della. I’m so sorry I’m late, Jenny. I don’t know what was wrong with me. I slept right through my alarm. I promise it will never happen again.”
    â€œWe were just wondering how come you hadn’t showed up.”
    Margaret blushed. “Sorry,” she repeated. “I shouldn’t have had so much to drink last night.”
    I’d met Margaret last summer when she was closing her weaving studio and had listed her extra-wide loom on craigslist. I’d bought it, and when she learned that I had an apartment to rent, she’d become my tenant.
    â€œDon’t feel too bad,” Jenny said. “The place is deserted today. I hope it gets busier soon.”
    She glanced at her watch. “I’d better get to work. Good thing I live upstairs. I only got up ten minutes ago and I’m already here.”
    I chuckled. “That’s one advantage of living above your place of work. You just have to roll out of bed and keep rolling all the way down the stairs.”
    Margaret headed for the back. “That was a goodparty last night—too good,” she said, over her shoulder.
    â€œI’m glad you enjoyed yourself. Marnie looked like she was having the time of her life,” I said.
    She stopped abruptly and returned to the counter. “Speaking of Marnie, what did you guys think of that fiancé of hers?” By the tone of her voice, I suspected she didn’t like him any more than I did. “Isn’t he a bit young for her?”
    Jenny hesitated, then spoke. “I wasn’t going to say anything, but, yes. He is sort of young—not that we can hold that against him,” she said with a smile. “What really worries me, though, is his aura. It was filled with danger.” I refrained from smiling, but too late. Jenny had already noticed the twitch at the corner of my mouth.
    â€œI know you don’t believe in auras, but his was gray, almost opaque. And you know what that means—trouble. I’m telling you, there’s something not right with that man.” In my opinion, anybody who noticed the way he was behaving, having a surreptitious conversation with Melinda Wilson at his fiancée’s engagement party, would’ve come to the same conclusion. And it had nothing to do with auras.
    Margaret nodded. “I totally agree. He’s trouble.”
    â€œWhat makes you say that?” I said.
    Margaret shrugged. “I got the impression he was just waiting for all the women in the place to flock to him.”
    â€œOne of them sure did,” Jenny said.
    â€œWhat I can’t figure out is why Melinda would behave that way. Isn’t she a good friend of Marnie’s?”
    Jenny looked at me. “I was talking about Nancy Cutler. Why? What did Melinda do?”
    â€œI can’t believe you didn’t notice. She and Bruce were carrying on this covert flirtation. Well,” I added, “I can’t swear that they were flirting, but something was definitely going on.” I described what I’d seen.
    â€œBut—” She looked stunned. “I know Melinda has been widowed for almost a decade, but according to everyone, she’s still carrying a torch for her dead husband. It doesn’t make sense that she’d flirt with her friend’s fiancé.”
    â€œLike I said, maybe it wasn’t flirting, but something was going on, and it was something