Read Online A Most Curious Murder by Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli - Free Book Online

worry.” Cassandra shrugged. “He’s gonna be fine . . . though . . .” She narrowed her eyes and gave Jenny a sly smile. “I might not have to worry about getting pregnant again.”
    It was high school all over again, snickering at the expense of a boy. Jenny reached out and squeezed Cassandra’s arm, a signal they both knew the painful joke beneath the words.
    After checking out and promising to stay in touch, Jenny pushed the buggy to her car and stowed her slim bag of groceries in the trunk. She slammed the lid and looked around the full lot. A tall man standing next to a dark-blue pickup waswatching her. The man, only a silhouette against the high sun, leaned back on his truck and crossed his arms.
    She went to open her driver’s side door, put a hand up to her eyes, and looked back at him.
    Johnny Arlen waved, then pushed slowly off from the truck as if he intended to walk over.
    Jenny didn’t return Johnny’s wave. She didn’t wait. She got in her car, started the motor, and pulled out of the parking lot before her strangling emotions got the best of her.

Chapter 10
    A man looked up from the kitchen table when Jenny got back with the groceries. Maybe early forties, stocky, with curly black hair. Jenny guessed he was Mom’s new carpenter.
    A scar on his left cheek gave him a kind of worn look. The same with the narrow, dark beard outlining his chin and cheeks. Not your ordinary Bear Falls man with the usual open face and friendly eyes. The man stood when she walked in, leaning slightly against the table edge. He held out his rough hand to take hers when Dora introduced them.
    “Glad to know you,” Tony Ralenti said in a husky voice hovering between a whisper and a growl. A firm shake. A long shake. He gave her a smile that spread into a charming grin.
    Jenny, flustered by the man, said she was happy to meet him, too, and turned away to hide her flushed face. She set the grocery bag on the counter.
    Mom was at the stove. “I called Mr. Ralenti while you were gone. It’s been so hectic. People from everywhere offering help—most with books to donate, a lot wanting to know what was happening over here. I’ll be getting more books than I can ever put into one library box—unless we make the box alot bigger. Some even offered money to get it built again. Of course . . .” Mom smiled at Tony, “I wouldn’t take money. My husband would be appalled. I wrote down the names of all the books I could remember on the sign-out sheet. I want to pull everything together fast.”
    She turned to look over her shoulder at Jenny. “I feel so bad about Adam, then here I am, all excited about a new library. Ordinarily, I’d be too tired to think about starting over, but I’m not. Truly, I think I want to get it going again.”
    Her face was bright as she chattered too fast for Jenny to keep up.
    “I guess she’s changed her mind,” Jenny said to the man sitting at the edge of his chair, hands between his knees. “When I left, she wasn’t so sure about rebuilding.”
    He looked at her directly, his eyes seeming to know her. She felt the tiniest buzz of electricity run down her back.
    “I was sitting on the porch.” Dora wiped her hands on a dishtowel. “Feeling sorry for myself, I’ll have to say. And sad about poor Adam. Louise Dyer called to say she couldn’t live without my library. It’s so far to Traverse City.” Dora clucked and shook her head. “Minnie Moon called. Poor thing was crying. Everybody’s just distraught. No one should be deprived of books. That’s what Louise said, and that’s what I believe. And my husband, Jim—wished you’d known him, Tony. He would’ve liked you. I just know he’d be saying, ‘Full speed ahead.’”
    Tony nodded and looked down at his hands. “I’ve been by here. Saw the house. Nice job. It’s too bad about what happened. Think I’ve got an idea of how the book box should look.”
    “Jim wanted it so much for me. I guess I’d feel like a