“Herbert Monk’s funeral?” Bess asked.

“I heard about it,” Helen said. “Word spreads when something really good is served at one of the wakes.”

“All I ask is that someone make that broccoli lasagna for my wake,” Evelyn tossed in. “Then everyone will know I’ve died and gone to heaven.”

Charlotte chuckled.

“How’s your friend Tom?” Helen put in.

Charlotte was beginning to feel guilty about Tom Harding. “I haven’t seen him all week,” she confessed. She’d been so busy working on the Seniors’ Page, she hadn’t gone to the convalescent center.

On her last visit, Tom had been rather subdued. She’d attempted to lighten his spirits, without success, although he sat and listened and occasionally responded. As always, Charlotte had chatted about all kinds of things. She told him she had his key in a safe place and he seemed reassured by that.

“I don’t think he’s doing well,” Laura said.

Laura was a woman in the know. With seven children living in the community, she knew more about what was happening in Cedar Cove than the mayor.

“Really?” Charlotte hoped it wasn’t serious. If so, she supposed Janet Lester would have called her.

“You might want to check on him yourself.”

“I intend to do that this very afternoon,” Charlotte said, a bit annoyed that Laura had been the one to tell her about her friend. Really, though, Charlotte had no one to blame but herself. It was just that she’d been so busy lately.

She stayed for an hour, visiting and knitting, then packed up her needles and headed for the convalescent center. Not bothering to stop at Janet’s office, she went straight to Tom’s room.

She’d learned from Janet that Tom had originally chosen Cedar Cove. He’d never indicated why. The storage unit remained a mystery. He hadn’t explained that, and when she’d attempted to ask him about it, he’d pretended to fall asleep.

She’d brought her latest column to read aloud, plus a slice of the pecan pie she’d saved just for him. This would, she hoped, suffice as an apology for her lack of attention these last two weeks.

To her surprise, Charlotte found Tom’s room empty. There’d been talk about getting him into physical therapy and she suspected that was where he’d been taken.

Anxious about Tom’s condition, she hurried toward Janet’s office. Charlotte knocked politely at the half-open door.

“Charlotte.” Janet immediately stood, averting her gaze. “I should’ve phoned you earlier.”

“You certainly should have.” It was an embarrassment to find out from one of her friends that Tom wasn’t doing well.

“I do apologize.”

“Tell me what happened.”

“We believe it was another stroke.”

Charlotte gasped. Poor, poor Tom. Another stroke would certainly compound his health problems.

“How bad was it?”

“Bad?” Janet asked, sitting back down. “You don’t know,” she said slowly.

Charlotte shook her head, but she was beginning to get the feeling that this was worse than she’d imagined. Pulling out a chair, she sat down, too.

“Tom died late last night.”

“Died?” It shouldn’t come as a shock, considering his age and his poor health. Nevertheless, Charlotte felt she’d lost a good friend. “I…didn’t realize. I didn’t…” At this stage of her life, death was a common occurrence. She’d buried her husband years earlier, and every day, it seemed, there was an obituary for someone she knew. Still, the death of this man hit her hard.

“Are you all right?” Janet asked.

“Of course,” Charlotte insisted, but she wasn’t. Her hands trembled and she felt chilled.

“I know he appreciated your friendship.”

Charlotte nodded, scrabbling inside her purse for a handkerchief to dab her eyes.

“Your visits meant the world to him.”

“It’s been two weeks—I should’ve been here.”

“Charlotte, you couldn’t possibly have known,” Janet said gently.

Charlotte knew that was true, but she couldn’t squelch the feeling that she’d let Tom Harding down. Before her work with the newspaper, she’d stopped by at least once a week. Tom had been the first person to hear her initial column. She’d read it to him herself and he’d smiled and approved of her efforts. Jack Griffin, on the other hand, had taken his sharp red pencil to her work and cut away at it until she’d barely recognized it as her own. Granted, she knew she wasn’t an experienced writer, certainly not a professional, but it had wounded her pride. When she’d complained to Tom, he’d given her a sympathetic look, which was just what she’d needed.

That was the last time she’d seen him.

Janet reached for her phone and called down to the kitchen for tea. Five minutes later, one of the staff carried a tray into the office.

“He was a special man,” Charlotte said, grateful for the hot, comforting tea. It helped ease the lump in her throat.

“Yes, he was,” Janet agreed.

“What should I do now?” Charlotte asked.

Janet stared at her blankly.

“With the key? Remember he gave me the key to that storage unit?”

Janet frowned. “I guess the state will want it. You’d better return it as soon as you can.”

Nine

Jack Griffin was strongly attracted to Olivia Lockhart, and that wasn’t a good sign. Oh, hell, maybe it was. Still, pursuing this attraction meant losing emotional independence, and he wasn’t sure he liked that. He couldn’t help it, though—he found himself making excuses to talk to her. To learn more about her.

After the fiasco of their first date, he hadn’t made a point of asking her out again. Mostly, he was afraid she’d turn him down flat and, frankly, he wouldn’t blame her. He didn’t want to give her any opportunity to reject him. Instead, he made excuses to be around her.

Jack Griffin spent many more hours at the courthouse than his job required. Plus, he made sure he was in the Safeway store every Saturday morning on the off-chance that he might run into her again. He had two or three times, and they’d ended up having coffee. Damn, but he liked her. Judge Lockhart was down-to-earth, smart and sexy. What got him, what really got him, was that she didn’t seem to know it.

Friday afternoon, on his way home, Jack stopped at the dry cleaner. He rushed from the parking lot through the pulsing rain, cursing the foul weather under his breath. The skies had been a depressing lead-gray all week, with intermittent showers. The only bright spot on the horizon—so to speak—was a story he was writing about the Annual Seagull Calling Contest, being held that night.

He raced into the dry cleaner and nearly collided with Olivia. The shock of seeing her destroyed any chance of being clever. Her name was all he could manage. “Olivia.”

Her smile was infectious. “Don’t look so surprised. I do get my clothes cleaned regularly, you know.” Her purse sat open on the counter.

“Me, too.” Now that was brilliant. He nearly rolled his eyes. With other women he was a witty conversationalist, but Olivia unnerved him.

Duck-Hwan Hyo, who’d come from Korea in the 1960s, owned the dry cleaning shop. Jack had written an article about Duck-Hwan soon after he’d started as editor, impressed by the hardworking immigrant family. As soon as Duck-Hwan saw Jack, he rushed to give him the fastest possible service, in the process ignoring Olivia.

Jack felt he should explain.

“Don’t worry,” she assured him, “I’m in no hurry.”

Friday night and in no hurry. Jack reached for his wallet and paid his bill, the whole time wondering if Olivia’s response was her way of telling him she didn’t have any plans for the evening. It almost seemed she was hinting that he should ask her out. Could that really be the case?

With the hanger for his dry cleaning hooked around his index finger, he waited for Olivia.

“You mean you’re not going to the high-school theater?” Jack had figured that a good portion of the town would be turning up for the event.

“The Seagull Calling Contest is tonight?”

Before he could stop himself, he asked, “Would you like to go? With me?” He clarified his question so she wouldn’t just assume he had an extra ticket he was willing to pass along.

“Sure,” she said, agreeing instantly.

Jack was tempted to ask if she was sure, especially after their last date, then decided not to sabotage his good luck. “Great,” he said. “That’s terrific.”

“I’ve waited a long time for you to ask me out again,” Olivia said casually, walking toward the door. “What time should I be ready?”

She was joking, she had to be, but rather than leap up and click his heels in sheer jubilation, Jack merely checked his watch. “Is an hour too soon?”

“It’s perfect.”

Since he’d been lucky once, he was willing to try for twice. “How about dinner afterward?”

“The Taco Shack?”

He could see she was teasing him, but he let it pass. “If you want. Otherwise I suggest D.D.’s on the Cove or The Captain’s Galley.”

“Hey, I’m coming up in the world,” she said with a laugh. “I’ll let you decide.”

What Olivia didn’t know, because he didn’t quite have the guts to tell her, was that dinner at local restaurants, including the more upscale places, was in exchange for advertising. The newspaper often traded advertising space for a restaurant credit; being able to take advantage of that was one of the perks that came with his job. The Taco Shack, for instance, owed the newspaper several hundred dollars and there were only so many tacos Jack could eat all by himself.

They parted outside the dry cleaner, and Jack hurried to his old Taurus, his step lighter than it’d been in months. Years.

Forty-five minutes later, he’d showered, changed clothes, cleaned out his car and was driving to Olivia’s. She was ready, dressed in jeans and a hand-knit sweater and didn’t bother with an umbrella. This was something he’d noticed living in the Pacific Northwest. Few people carried umbrellas. Anyone who did was automatically tagged as a tourist.

By the time they arrived at the high-school auditorium, the place was packed. Because he was with the newspaper, a pair of front-row seats had been saved for him.

No sooner had they settled down than Roy and Corrie McAfee walked over. Jack knew the couple from an article he’d written earlier in the year. Roy was a retired Seattle policeman who’d started his own detective agency; his background and experience made him a much sought-after private investigator. His wife ran the office and worked as his assistant. Roy and Jack had hit it off and gotten together a couple of times after that. Roy was an ardent hiker and Jack, who’d never been much of an outdoorsman, wanted to give it a try.

Roy reacted immediately to the fact that Olivia was with Jack.

“Hey, Judge, what are you doing with the likes of Griffin?” he teased her.