A Fatal Fleece by Sally Goldenbaum Page B

showed me. There was a warehouse in New York and one in Italy. Joseph did the paperwork and record keeping and that sort of thing, so he could be anywhere. He had a little office down on the water, which was all he needed.” She frowned, as if thinking back to that time, trying to clear her memory, to bring it back crisp and clear.
    “Yes, that’s right. After we married, Joseph suggested once, just once, that he might use my den—Sonny’s den—for his business, but I rightly refused and he very nicely agreed, saying he’d probably be better in his own place anyway. So he found a nice little office down near the harbor.” Birdie smiled at the memory. “He loved the smell of the sea and the sounds of fishermen picking up their bait and taking their boats out to sea. He said he never had that kind of feeling in New York or back in Florence. He always felt hemmed in.”
    “Is Nick his older brother?”
    “No, younger,” Birdie said, her fingers automatically wrapping the yarn around her needle. “Nick came to our wedding—a small affair—but his life was in California. He didn’t seem to have any interest in the family business that Joseph was involved in. I don’t think Nicky got along with his mother very well. He came to the States to go to medical school and went back to Italy rarely, as far as I know.”
    “Has he said when he’ll be coming back for Gabby?” Nell asked.
    “As soon as he can. He feels terrible about abandoning her, but I’ve assured him that Sea Harbor is truly the kind of village that helps raise children. I’m already wondering what Harold and Ella will do when she leaves. They adore her.”
    Emotion flitted across Birdie’s face. Harold and Ella weren’t the only ones who would miss Gabrielle Marietti.
    “She’s a good kid. As Finn would say, she’s not half bad—the ultimate compliment.” Cass lifted one leg across the bench to sit down, then frowned at the wet edges of her jeans. “Damn. Occupational hazard,” she mumbled, a frown pulling her dark brows together.
    “You’ve already been out on the Lady Lobster ?” Nell asked. She looked down at the stain of seawater dampening the jeans’ cuff. Cass was rarely completely dry.
    “I went out early to check the traps in the cove. I like it early—no one bothers me. It’s my time to meditate.”
    Cass had probably been up at dawn, meditation or not. There was always work to do. And she’d be going out later, too, baiting and checking traps, just like her father before her.
    “Gabby brought me her pattern for that crazy beanie,” Izzy said. She pulled a pink sock out of her bag and began turning a row. Socks were her travel projects, her half-finished hoodie left behind. “She’s going to help teach a kids’ class to make one. I think they’ll love having someone their own age involved. She’s also been scavenging through my bins of scrap yarn for a new project, she says. She won’t tell me what she’s making, though—says it will be the coolest surprise.”
    “From what I’ve gathered, Sophie the cook is her best friend. Gabby loves her,” Birdie said.
    “Finn is giving the cook serious competition. He’s crazy about Gabby,” Cass said. “I’ve never seen him so soft and mushy.”
    Nell laughed. They were an odd couple, for sure. She’d spotted them on Monday, sitting on a bench across the street from Izzy’s shop, eating ice cream. The sparkle in Finnegan’s eye was a welcome change from the defensive look he’d been wearing at the city council meeting not too many days before. Maybe Gabby was their secret weapon to get him to clean up his yard.
    “She seems to have gotten through to him in a way few of us have,” Birdie said. “Except maybe for you and your mom, Cass.”
    “Gabby doesn’t want anything from him, that’s why.” Cass said. “Neither do we. Besides, he likes Ma’s Irish stew.”
    That was true. So many people wanted a piece of Finnegan these days. They wanted him gone from