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I&039;d noticed avan parked in front of Robin Crusoe&039;s apartment when I let Arthur out Out of sheer curiosity, when the phone began to ring, I decided to takecord, so I could stare out the front s at the unloading And the phone was ringing non-stop, as the news about Ma friends and co-workers Just when I was about to dial his number, my father called He seemed about equally concerned with my emotional health and hether or not I still felt I could keep Phillip

"Are you okay?" Phillip himself said softly He is a shrieker in person, but unaccountably soft-spoken over the telephone

"Yes, brother, I&039;m okay," I answered

"Cause I really want to co to ht, if I was asked nicely"

"Please, please, please?"

"That&039;s pretty nice Count on the pie"

"Yahoo!"

"Do you feel I&039; you?" Father asked when Phillip relinquished the phone

"Well, yes"

"Okay, okay, I feel guilty But Betty Jo really wants to go to this convention Her best friend fro to be there"

"Tell her I&039;ll still keep hih at first I&039;d been terrified to even hold hiive Betty Jo credit, she&039;s always been all for Phillip&039;s getting to know his big sister

After I&039;d hung up, the rest of the day gaped ahead of me like a black cave Since it was s; I paid bills, did my laundry

My best friend, Aood job that I couldn&039;t grudge her the move; but I missed her, and I&039;d felt very e bumpkin before I&039;d stepped into the VFW kitchen A to believe I&039;d had a bona fide shocking experience right in Lawrenceton I decided to call her that night, and the prospect cheered ht had worn off, it all seemed curiously unreal, like a book I&039;d read sowoman walked into a room (across a field, down the stairs, in an alley) and found the body I could distanceof the situation, rather than the person I picked out all these distinctions while eating a nutritious lunch of Cheezits and tuna fish All this thinking ledconclusion that so little had happened indid I had to pick at it over and over Noto sneak by me unobserved and unanalyzed

Clearly, some action was called for

With the taste of lunch in my mouth it was easy to decide that that action should take the forrocery store I athered up my coupons

Of course the store was extra crowded on Saturday, and I saw several people who knehat had happened the night before I found myself reluctant to talk about it to people who hadn&039;t been there I hadn&039;t been asked to avoidthe murder&039;s connection to an oldto explain it to ten people in a row, either Even the minimal responses I made slowed me down considerably, and forty hbetween "lean" and "extra lean" harew more and more imperative, until I looked up Benjamin Greer, the onlythe night before, was tapping on the clear glass that separated the butchers fro steeltheir job, and another butcher in a bloodstained apron like Benja roasts

Benjamin was stout ispy blond hair that he swept up and over his preiven the ilad to see he&039;d shaved the thing of He wasn&039;t very tall, and he wasn&039;t very bright, and he tried to make up for these factors with a puppylike friendliness and willingness to do whatever one asked On the down side, if his help was not needed, no matter how tactfully you expressed it, he turned sullen and self-pitying Benjamin was a difficult person, one of those people who make you feel asha it almost impossible to like him I disliked him, of course He&039;d askeddeeply ashamed of myself, I&039;d told him no Even as desperate for a date as I was, I couldn&039;t sto out with Benjamin He&039;d tried a fundaue, and noas trying Real Murders

I ser h the swinging door to the right of the meat I steeled ht," he said breathlessly "They wanted to knohy I hadn&039;t co"

"What did you say?" I asked bluntly The bloodstained apron was er seemed quite distasteful "Oh, I hated to miss your presentation," he assuredelse I had to do" Put that in your pipe and smoke it, his expression said Benjaetic and his voice was as abased as usual, but his face was anotherand waited Definitely not the haer Maybe no red meat at all

"I&039;m in politics," Benjamin told me, his voice uessed

"Right I&039;er" And Benjamin&039;s voice quivered with pride

Whoever Morrison Pettigrue was, he was sure to lose The na to stand there waiting to recall what I knew "I wish you luck," I said with as good a so to a rally with me next week?" My God, he wanted me to kick him in the face That was the only explanation I looked at hiht, You pathetic person Then I felt ashary at myself, and him

"No, Benjamin," I said with finality I could not offer an excuse I did not want this to happen again

"Okay," he said, withyou" The hurt quivered dramatically just under his brave sue, and I bit it back But as I wheeled my cart away, I whispered, "Not if I see you first" As I slowed down to stare at the dog food bags, just so he wouldn&039;t look out theand seeaway as fast as I could s about our conversation

He hadn&039;t asked any questions about last night He hadn&039;t asked who had been at the e it was that the only night he&039;dextraordinary happened He hadn&039;t even asked how it felt to discover Ma everyone I&039;d seen today had been trying to ask me in roundabout ways

I puzzled over it while I selected shampoo, and then decided not to worry about Benjaet mad at the shelf stockers Naturally, every kind of heavily sugared cereal based on a cartoon shoas at rown-ups was stacked way above my head I could reach them, but then the stockers had laid other boxes down on top of the row of upright boxes If I pulled out the one I could reach, the others on top of it would co lots of attention You can tell I know from experience

I turned sideways to o I was just going to have to switch brands or start eating cereal that tasted like bubble gualvanized et that for you," said an unbearably patronizing voice frorasped the box easily, and like a crane lowered the box into ripped the cart handle as if it were ain I slowly turned to face my benefactor I looked up - and up - into a coish red hair "Oh, gosh, I&039;m sorry," said Robin Crusoe Hazel eyes blinked at ht - from the back, you know, you look about twelve But certainly not from the front"

He realized what he&039;d just said, and his eyes closed in horror

I was beginning to enjoy this

A fleeting ie crossed my mind of us in an intimate situation, and I wondered if it would work at all I couldn&039;t help it; I began to smile He smiled back, relieved, and I saw his charm instantly He had a crooked smile, a little shy

"I don&039;t think we should talk like this," he said, indicating the difference in our heights "Why don&039;t I coht by ht? You make me want to pick you up so I can see you better"

That so closelyred "Please do come over I&039;ht," I said

"That would be great My place is in such aat boxes"

"Okay, then About an hour?"

"Sure, see you then - your name&039;s really Roe?"

"Short for Aurora," I explained "Aurora Teagarden" He didn&039;t seem to think e juice?" I offered

"Beer?" he countered