A Murderous Yarn by Monica Ferris Read Free Book Online

very expensive sponsorship. She was also beginning to regret that she’d volunteered to helpout at the Run. It was taking too much time away from the shop. And since her volunteer assignment on the day of the New London–New Brighton run was to record the names of the drivers as they left on the run, and then to help prepare and serve lunch at the halfway stop, she wasn’t even going to get to ride with Lars next Saturday.
    She began the opening-up process in her shop. She was going to be in and out today, so Godwin was going to be helped by Shelly Donohue, an elementary school teacher who worked for Betsy during the summer months. Betsy turned on the lights, put the start-up money in the cash register, and tuned the radio to a classical station with the volume barely audible. She was just plugging in the old vacuum cleaner when Shelly came in.
    “Did you hear the latest?” asked Shelly breathlessly.
    Shelly was an inveterate gossip, and her “latest” was usually exceedingly trivial, but Betsy politely delayed turning on the machine so she could hear whatever the silly tidbit was.
    “John threw Godwin out.”
    Betsy dropped the wand. “Oh, Shelly, are you sure?”
    “How sure do you want? Godwin slept at my house last night.”
    “Is he very upset?”
    “We sat up till two this morning, and he never stopped crying for more than five minutes at a time. He’s a real mess.”
    “I suppose that means he won’t be in today?” Betsy felt for Godwin, but she really needed two people in the shop on weekends. Especially this weekend, with two attractions bringing lots of visitors to town.
    “He said he’d be here, but to tell you he’d be late, because he had to go get his clothes. He got a call from a neighbor that they’re in a big pile along the curb outside John’s condo.”
    Betsy sat down. Godwin’s clothes were enormously expensive: Armani suits, silk shirts, alpaca sweaters, handmade shoes, all bought by John, of course—Godwin couldn’t have bought the sleeve of one suit on the salary Betsy paid him. John loved to ornament his handsome boy toy and had taught Godwin to treat the clothes with respect. If they had been unceremoniously dumped out in the street, this wasn’t a mere lover’s quarrel; John must be serious about the breakup.
    “This is terrible. I feel so sorry for Godwin! And I can’t imagine him coming in after having to pick his beautiful clothes up off the ground. How cruel of John!”
    “I agree. Goddy is so upset that even if he does turn up, I don’t think he’ll be much use. So what are we going to do? With you out most of the day, we have to have another person.”
    “All right, call Caitlin and see if she’s available. If she isn’t, go down the list. If you get down to Laverne, you’ll want a third person.” Caitlin, a high school senior, had been stitching since she was six; Laverne, a retired brewery worker, barely knew linen from Aida and was afraid of the cash register. “Meanwhile, I hope he comes before I have to get back out to the booth. I really want to talk to him. Has he got someplace to go? I mean, besides your place?”
    “I don’t think so. He was crying that John made him give up all his real friends, except me and you. But he can stay with me for as long as he wants. I’ve got a spare bedroom. And Goddy doesn’t mind the dogs.”
    “Is that what the fight was about, John’s jealousy?” asked Betsy.
    “Something like that. Goddy says John accused him—falsely, Goddy says—of flirting with Donny DePere at a party. But John is very jealous, he won’t let Goddy have any male friends, even straight ones.” A smile flickered across Shelly’s face. “Goddy says he’s so frustrated he caught himself flirting with a girl just to keep his hand in.”
    “What do you think, was Godwin flirting with another man?”
    Shelly hesitated only briefly. “Yes, I think so. But it’s still John’s fault, don’t you think?”
    “I don’t think I have a