Page 20 of Key West Homecoming

“Two-hundred and eleven dollars credited back across three invoices and the man on the phone called me ma'am in a tone I intend to remember for the rest of my life.”

“You need to get over worrying about your age.”

“I'd like it noted that I did that while you were arranging a concert.”

“It's one guy in a stool.”

“It's a concert, Tess. You've booked a concert on a Tuesday.”

Tess looked at the legal pad lying face down on the table and didn't ask about it. She ignored Leah and looked at Emma. “You look better than you did yesterday” she said.

“I don't feel better”

“That comes later. Looking better comes first. I've watched people come through that door long enough to know the order they arrive in. Things are looking up for you, Emma, I'm sure of it.”

Then Leah and Tess were gone, one to the register and one to another table. Emma sat where she was with her hand flat on the back of the pad. She had no idea what she was waiting for, but she didn't want to leave Max's unless every possible lead was taken. She didn't want to rush Connie, so she sat and waited.

In the corner, Joey finished with the stand and started playing something quiet and nobody asked him to stop.

Maeve Corwin sat at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and a folder from the Suffolk County Superior Court When her phone rang.

Her aunt's name appeared on the screen.

Maeve picked up on the second ring. “Hi, Aunt Connie.”

“Maeve, where are you?”

“At your kitchen table reading things I shouldn't be.”

“Good, I need a favor.”

Maeve set the pen down.

“What kind of favor?”

“I've got a woman at the bar. She's from Chicago. Some corporate professional. I'm not exactly sure what she does for a living. She's Gloria Kendrick's granddaughter. Gloria used to come into the bar. She was a lovely woman and I understand she passed last year. Her granddaughter is dealing with some estate stuff. And she needs an attorney.”

Maeve pushed the brief away from her and leaned back in her chair. Out the window she could see the corner of her mother Carolyn's garden, the leaves moving in the small breeze that came up around this time of day. Two tomato plants stood staked and tied with strips of an old dish towel. A folding chair sat in the shade at an angle somebody had worked out over a long time. From the back of the house came a radio turned low, playing something with strings in it. Her mother loved listening to music while she worked in her garden.

“Aunt Connie. You know I can't practice in Florida.”

“I know that.”

“Zero reciprocity. The Florida Bar doesn't recognize Massachusetts, or any other state. I'd have to take their bar exam, which I haven't taken and I don't intend to. I can't file anything on her behalf. I can't appear for her. I can't be her attorney of record on anything.”

“I know all that, Maeve.”

“Then what exactly are you asking me to do?”

There was a small pause on Connie's end. Maeve could hear the sound of the bar behind her.

“Just talk to her, Connie said. She flew down here and doesn't know anybody. She needs somebody with a legal background who can point her toward a Florida attorney worth trusting.”

“So you want me to talk to her as a friend, not a lawyer?”

“A friend who happens to know what she's looking at.”

Maeve rubbed the bridge of her nose.