Food, Family, and Murder

by Patti Benning

  “Well, I’d say that he thinks pretty highly of it,” Alicia said. “I mean, why else would he ask you to meet his family? He likes you, Autumn. There’s no reason for you to be insecure.”

  Autumn frowned at the rest of her muffin. Why was she so insecure? With a start, she realized that it might have something to do with the way her previous relationship had ended.

  “Remember how Brandon broke up with me right before Christmas?” she asked. Her friends nodded. “Well, I thought that he was going to propose that evening. When he told me that he was dumping me… it caught me completely by surprise. It was the opposite of what I expected. I guess now I’m not sure that I can trust my own opinion of any relationship. If I was so wrong about Brandon, how do I know that I’m right about Nick?”

  “What do you mean?” Bonnie asked. “I don't know if you ever told me this story in detail. You thought he was going to propose?”

  Autumn winced. “We had been together for a year,” she said. “And he was acting so oddly that evening, like he was nervous, and I just thought…” She shook her head. It still stung to think about how wrong she had, even though she was glad, in retrospect, that her relationship with Brandon had ended. Things were better with Nick.

  “Wow,” Bonnie said with a low whistle. “He dumped you right before Christmas, and he made you think he was going to propose first?”

  “He didn't make me think anything,” Autumn said fairly. She and Brandon had formed a friendship, of sorts. They still occasionally met for a cup of coffee. He wasn’t a terrible person. He just wasn't the right one for her. “I just got ahead of myself.”

  “And you're worried that you're going to do the same with Nick?”

  Autumn nodded. “I just feel like I don't know exactly where our relationship is, or where it's going.”

  “Well, I think that the fact that he's inviting you to his family reunion probably says something.” Alicia smiled. “Quit second-guessing yourself, Autumn. Nick adores you. I can see it whenever we’re all together. Just have fun today. Be yourself. If his family doesn't like you, that's their problem, not yours.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  * * *

  Autumn's friends left just as Nick got there. He waved to them from his car and waited to pull into the driveway until they had gone, then took Alicia’s spot right behind Autumn's vehicle.

  She was waiting at the front door and ducked back inside to grab her purse and say goodbye to Frankie before stepping out front and shutting the door behind her. Nick was already halfway to the house and closed the distance between them to greet her with a kiss.

  “You look great,” he said. “Sorry if I'm early. I didn't mean to interrupt anything.”

  “Alicia and Bonnie were just here to keep me company while I got ready,” she said, deciding not to tell him about her nerves. “Are you ready to go? Or did you want to come inside for something?”

  “We can head out now. We're having a picnic at the park. I'm bringing the dessert, which I picked up from the supermarket. No one trusts me to cook.” He made a face, and Autumn laughed.

  “You should have told me that we were supposed to bring something, I would've been happy to whip up something homemade.”

  “I didn't know if you'd want to be responsible for cooking again; you do it so much already.”

  “I do it because I enjoy it,” she reminded him. “But I'm sure that whatever you picked up will be great. We should get going, Frankie will stop barking once your car is out of the driveway.”

  She got into the passenger seat and set her purse on the floor by her feet. Nick's car was nice and clean, and had a new leather smell to it, though she had a suspicion that was due to a well-hidden air freshener. He was a good driver, and she relaxed as he cruised down the road toward the park in the center of town. It was a nice day, perfect weather for a picnic besides the occasional gust of wind. She was glad that they were meeting somewhere open. She thought that it would have been even more awkward if she was expected to sit around a table with his entire family for the next few hours. This way, she would be free to walk around, and wouldn't be crowding anyone who felt that she was intruding.

  Nick pulled into the parking lot and got out of the car. She followed him toward the park, carrying one of the two grocery bags that had the desserts. She knew immediately where they were headed; under one of the pavilions was a crowd of people. She could hear laughter already and relaxed slightly. They seemed like a good crowd.

  “Ready?” he asked, glancing over at her. “They can be a little bit rambunctious, but they're all good people.”

  “I'm ready,” she said, giving him a small smile.

  Beaming, he stepped forward and raised his hand in a wave, calling out. A few people turned to look, and a handful of them broke away from the group to come rushing toward them, including a little girl who couldn't have been more than five or six.

  “Uncle Nick!” she called out. “You're here!”

  Autumn smiled and took the second grocery bag from him as he bent down to pull his niece into a hug. It was nice to see him with his family, even though she was left to shift uncomfortably from foot to foot as he greeted the others. At last, he turned to her and said, “This is Autumn, my girlfriend. This is Erica, Sadie, Max, and this little girl is Cate.” He ruffled his niece's hair affectionately. “Max is my brother-in-law. My sister should be around here somewhere…”

  He trailed off, looking around. Max cleared his throat. “She had to run to the grocery store, someone forgot to bring ketchup, and you know Cate won't touch anything without it.”

  Next to him, the young woman who had been introduced as Sadie, made a face. “I told you, I thought I packed it. I must've left on the counter at home.”

  “You're always so rushed, Sadie,” Erica said, rolling her eyes.

  “Not everyone can be as organized and perfect as you are.”

  “Well… I am pretty perfect.”

  Autumn got a feeling that Erica was joking around, but Sadie seemed to take it seriously and huffed before walking back to the pavilion. Cate reached up her arms, and Nick picked her up. Max fell into step alongside them as they walked toward the group.

  “So, Autumn, I hear that you work at the nursing home with Nick. You're in charge of the kitchen?”

  “The other cook and I split duties,” she said. “We come up with the menu together, but we almost never share shifts. She works weekends and a couple of mornings each week, and I work the rest of the time. She has a newborn, and she doesn't like to leave him with a babysitter, so she tries to only work when her husband is home.”

  “It's nice of you to work around her schedule,” Max said to Autumn. “I know when Chloe had Cate, she hated having to go back to work after maternity leave.”

  “I wouldn't be able to do it without Autumn's help,” Nick said. “She's a wonderful addition to the team. Not to mention that she's a great cook. She's a favorite of the residents.”

  “Well, it's nice to finally meet you,” he said to Autumn. “Nick tells Chloe everything, and she tells me everything in turn. The two are quite the pair of gossips.”

  “You gossip about me?” Autumn said, wrinkling her nose at Nick.

  “No, I just…”

  “He just slips your name in all the time,” Max said, rolling his eyes, then giving her a friendly grin. “Chloe says she can't have a single conversation on the phone with him without him saying something about you.”

  Autumn smiled, glancing up at Nick who, to her surprise, was blushing. She hadn't realized that he talked to his family about her so much.

  By the time they had reached the pavilion, Erica had peeled away to go and greet an older couple, and Nick put Cate down to begin greeting the rest of his relatives. Autumn kept a step or two behind him, saying hello when she felt that she should, and trying to remember everyone's names even though she knew that was a losing battle. Once the introductions had been made, most people went back to doing whatever they had been doin
g before they showed up.

  “Sammy, what are you doing here?” Nick called out suddenly. “I haven't seen you for years.”

  A young man who had been serving himself potato salad jumped at the sound of his name before looking up at Nick. “I was just looking for Erica,” he said, looking uncomfortable. “Thought I’d grab a bite to eat first.” Autumn watched the exchange with curiosity.

  “She's around somewhere,” Nick said. “I didn't know you two were seeing each other again.”

  “We aren't,” the man said. “Well, I mean, we've seen each other, but we’re not seeing each other, if you get what I mean. She told me she’d be in town today and I just wanted to say hi.”

  “She was with Sadie last I saw,” Nick said.

  Sammy nodded and thanked him, then slipped away. Autumn raised an eyebrow and turned to Nick. “Who was that?”

  “Erica’s ex,” Nick said, sounding a little bit exasperated. “She used to live here in Asheville Meadows, though she moved away after high school. They dated for a while, then broke up when she graduated, but kept seeing each other occasionally over the years. I think he is completely in love with her, but she has always just treated him like… well, not very nicely.”

  “I didn't know your family was from here,” she said.

  “Erica's parents, my aunt and uncle, used to live here, though they moved away after she left for college. I grew up in a town not too far away. Almost everyone lives at least in the area, most of us within a couple of hours of each other. We don't get together like this very often, though.”

  “Still, it's nice,” Autumn said. Her own family was all over the country. Her mother was the closest, besides her aunt and uncle of course. Even so, she was a couple of hours away and didn't see Autumn more than a handful of times each year.

  She stuck close to Nick, feeling uncharacteristically shy. Everyone seemed to know who she was, and she felt embarrassed whenever she got someone's name wrong. Still, she found herself having a good time. People were friendly, for the most part, and everyone seemed to like Nick. She couldn't blame them; how could anyone not like him?

  She was busy eating a piece of cake and leaning against one of the pillars that held the pavilion up when she overheard what sounded like the tail end of an argument. Casting a glance at Nick, who was entertaining Cate again, she edged closer to the argument. She was a little bit bored, and her curiosity had gotten the better of her.

  “She saw us,” she heard someone hiss. She couldn’t remember his name, though she vaguely remembered shaking his hand when she had first arrived. He was maybe a decade or so older than her, with hair that was almost completely grey. The woman he was talking to kept glancing around nervously.

  “I don't know if she did or not. Just keep quiet about it, will you?”

  The man glanced over, saw Autumn standing near them, and frowned. He grabbed the woman and led her further away. Intrigued, Autumn watched them go, then looked around for Nick. He might know what that was about. She had met his sister, Chloe, just a few minutes ago, and had gotten the sense that the two of them gossiped quite a bit about the family.

  She was heading back toward Nick and Cate when a sharp scream cut through the murmur of conversation. She jumped, as did many of the people around her. Silence fell as people began to look around, wondering what had happened. Another scream pierced the air and she saw Nick grab Cate up, shooting a worried glance around the crowd, likely looking for his sister.

  Autumn forced her feet to unfreeze from the ground and hurried over to Nick. “What's going on?” she asked.

  “I don't know,” he said. “I should find Chloe and give Cate back –”

  “Call an ambulance!” someone called out. “It's Erica. She's been attacked.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  * * *

  Autumn did the best that she could to stay close to Nick in the chaos that followed. He held Cate close, and looked around frantically for his sister, but it was Autumn that spotted her first.

  “Chloe!” she called. “Over here.”

  The woman rushed over and grabbed Cate, crushing her to her chest and a tight hug. “Thank you so much for keeping an eye on her,” she said. “When I heard the scream –” she broke off and hugged her daughter even tighter. “Mom,” Cate said, her voice high and frightened. “It hurts.”

  “I'm sorry sweetie,” Chloe said, letting her daughter down. “Just hold my hand and stay close to me, okay? Let's go find your dad.”

  But Max had already found them. He pulled his wife and daughter into a hug, then looked around.

  “Erica has been hurt?” he asked.

  “That's what it sounds like, but I don't know. I thought I should probably find Chloe first, since I had Cate.”

  “Right. Thank you.” Max looked around. “I think someone already called an ambulance. Where is she?”

  “Over there, I think,” Autumn said. She pointed toward a clump of trees, where a few people were already gathered. More and more people were making their way over. Whatever was happening over there, it didn't sound good; she heard sobbing and people calling out in fear.

  “Let’s go,” Nick said to her. “Max, you should get Chloe and Cate out of here. Whatever happened… well, Cate doesn't need to see it.”

  Max glanced toward the trees, then nodded. “You're right. We'll go back to the car. I hope she's okay.”

  Nick and Autumn hurried over toward the trees, where a large group had formed. An older woman whose name she didn't remember was crouched over a still form in the center of the trees. Autumn felt her stomach lurch as she saw blood spattered on the ground.

  “Erica, sweetie, just open your eyes,” the woman was saying. “Someone, help us. She needs a doctor.”

  “The ambulance is on its way,” someone else called out unnecessarily. Autumn could hear the wail of sirens, drawing closer. That was one good thing about living in a small town; the local fire station was nearby, and the emergency vehicles didn't take long to get anywhere.

  “What happened?” she heard someone else cry out. She turned and saw Sadie standing on the edge of the group. Her face was pale, and she was wringing her hands. “Is she going to be okay? Who did this to her?”

  No one had an answer to that. More and more people gathered around, and Autumn clung to Nick's arm, not wanting to be separated from him. She had seen enough of Erica to know that the woman had been seriously injured; she thought that the blood had come from multiple stab wounds. She couldn't see whether the other woman was moving, or even breathing, and she felt something clench in her chest.

  “Move out of the way!”

  The crowd parted, and she saw paramedics hurrying toward them, a stretcher between them. It wasn't long before they had Erica bundled onto the stretcher and the older woman, who Autumn guessed was her mother, was following behind them, a look of such terror on her face that Autumn felt like crying. Erica hadn't moved, or even cried out, once.

  By the time the paramedics got Erica into the ambulance, the police had begun rounding up the group and questioning people. Autumn and Nick found their way over to Chloe, Max, and Cate, who were standing by the parking lot talking to one of the police officers. He turned his attention to Nick and Autumn as they approached.

  “Can I have your name and the relation to the victim?” he asked. “I'd like to see your IDs as well.”

  They both took their driver’s licenses out of their wallets and handed them over. The officer wrote down the pertinent information, then handed them back.

  “Erica is my cousin,” Nick said. “And Autumn is my girlfriend. She hasn't met any of my family before today.”

  “Are you and your cousin close?” the officer asked.

  “Not anymore. I used to babysit her when she was younger, but I don’t see her very often anymore.” Nick hesitated, then his eyes widened. “Is she… is she going to be okay?”

  “You’ll have to call the hospital to get information about her status.”

  Nic
k fell silent, and Autumn squeezed his hand. She knew that he was worried about his family. “Did anyone see what happened?” she asked the police officer.

  “We’re still questioning possible witnesses,” the man said. “I can't say any more, I'm sorry. Here's the name and number of the lead detective on the case. You're free to go, but please contact us if you think of anything that might help us figure out what happened.”

  “Thank you,” Autumn said, taking the card. She felt uncomfortable. This was eerily similar to when she had been questioned about Jessie's death a couple of months ago. She could only hope that Erica would be all right.

  The police officer moved on to the next group that was waiting to be questioned before getting the all clear to leave, and Nick turned to Max and Chloe.