Fish, Chips, and Murder

by Patti Benning

  I probably just put it down somewhere silly, she thought. She backtracked to the kitchen, flipping on the light and looking around. The counters had been wiped down and were spotless, and it was easy to see that it wasn’t laying around. Knowing how absent-minded she could get when she was distracted, she cracked open the fridge and freezer, on the off chance that she had unthinkingly set her phone inside one of them, then checked in the pantry as well. Nothing.

  Maybe I left it in my aunt and uncle’s room, she thought, beginning to feel desperate. She had visited them after lunch, and it was possible that she had set her phone down on a table and forgotten about it.

  Getting annoyed at herself, she walked down the hallway, wishing that she would just hurry up and find it. All she wanted was to get home and go to sleep; she didn't need this.

  Her aunt and uncle’s room was in the back half of the building. To get there, she had to cross through the hallway that would one day lead to the new wing. She was halfway through the hall when she stopped, frowning. The double doors at the end of the hall looked like they were still open. She approached them slowly, wondering who would have left the doors to the outside wide open. She was about to shut them when she saw something laying outside that gave her pause. Someone was laying down in the dirt in front of one of the construction vehicles.

  Her stomach twisted, and overcome with fear, she hurried through the doors and ran across the construction site, stumbling on some loose rock before she knelt down next to the still form. She had been expecting to find a construction worker, but what she had found instead was so much worse.

  Archie Green was laying perfectly still in the dirt, his skin pale and a bloodied bump on his head. Autumn raised shaking fingers to his neck to search for a pulse, but as soon as she touched his cold skin, she knew that she wouldn't find one.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  This was the worst time in the world for her phone to be missing. Autumn was staring at Archie, her body frozen in panic. Her brain seemed unable to stop repeating he's dead, he's dead, he's dead, over and over again. She had seen him just hours ago, she had served him lunch. How could this have happened? Doors leading to the outside were always supposed to be closed. Why were these left open? Whose fault was it that Archie had been able to wander outside and get injured?

  She knew that she had to go find a phone and call an ambulance, but the thought of leaving him out there was heartbreaking. She rocked back on her heels, staring at his face. How could she possibly leave him alone?

  Why did he come out here in the first place? she wondered. Mentally, Archie had retained most of his faculties. She knew him, and she doubted that he would have come out here without a good reason. Had he been trying to visit his grandson? She felt a pinch of horror at the thought. It was sad, but it made sense. Percy hadn't been in for lunch that day, and it was possible that Archie had decided to try to visit him at the construction site instead. That didn't explain why no one would have reported him missing when the staff did their nighttime rounds just before the residents went to bed, or why none of the construction workers had noticed him.

  Nick. She needed to tell Nick. That thought was enough to get her on her feet. She backed away, unwilling to take her eyes off of the dead man until she reached the doors. She punched the code and let herself in, trying to remember where Nick had said he would meet her after dropping her aunt and uncle off. He’ll be at the staff office, she thought.

  She stumbled through the halls, ignoring the single staff member that she saw on her way. She was glad that the woman didn’t do anything but nod at her in greeting, because she wasn’t sure that she could find words to talk to anybody just then.

  Archie is dead. How would she be able to say that to Nick? She knew that Nick cared deeply about all of his residents, and he would blame himself for this even if it wasn't his fault. She hated that she had to be the bearer of such terrible news.

  Sure enough, Nick was in the office, bending over in front of the staff fridge. He straightened up when he heard her, a cold water bottle in his hand.

  “There you are,” he said cheerfully. “Your aunt and uncle are all settled in for the night. Are you ready for me to walk you out to the parking lot?”

  “Nick…”

  Her voice came out as a croak. She sat down on the chair by the staff table, trying to gather her thoughts. Nick joined her at the table, frowning.

  “Autumn, what is it?”

  “Archie… Archie is dead.”

  Maybe it hadn’t been the best way to say it, but it was hard to think clearly just then. Nick blinked, his frown deepening.

  “Archie Green?”

  She nodded. “I found him –”

  Her words cut off as she choked back her tears. Nick reached over and squeezed her shoulder gently.

  “Autumn, what happened? What's going on?”

  “He's in the construction zone, and he's dead,” she said, the words coming out as a sob. “We need to call the police. We need to do something. I saw him at lunch and he was fine, he said liked the fish and chips.” She knew that she was babbling, but she couldn’t help it.

  “You’re sure? Archie is really…” He trailed off, staring at her in horror, then ran into his office. She heard him picking up the phone and dialing the emergency number.

  She was still frozen with shock when he returned, coming out of the office as far as the corded phone would allow him to.

  “They're sending an ambulance and police cruisers over,” he said to her. “Autumn? Are you okay?”

  She nodded, taking a deep breath and reaching for the water bottle that Nick had left on the table. She opened it, taking a sip of the cold liquid. Her mouth had gone dry, and the water helped.

  “I'll do whatever you need me to,” she said.

  “You said he's in the construction zone? So, he's outside?” She nodded again. He said something into the phone, talking to the emergency dispatcher.

  It seemed to be an eternity before he hung up the phone and came back over to her. “Autumn? We should go wait outside with him. The paramedics will be here soon, and it will be quicker if they go directly to the construction site. We should go wait for them, okay?”

  She nodded again and let him lead her out of the staff office. She followed him down the hall to the same doors that had been left open earlier and punched in the code, realizing only belatedly that she was getting her fingerprints all over everything. It probably didn't matter, of course, she hadn’t been paying attention to what she had touched when she had first seen Archie outside. She would just have to be careful not to touch anything else.

  “There he is,” she said, her voice breaking. Archie was still lying right where she had left him. Nick hurried over to him, kneeling by the body, but not touching it. She wanted to approach him and offer him comfort somehow, but she couldn't. All she could do was stand there as the sirens slowly drew closer.

  The questioning by the police was more difficult than she had expected. It took her a long time to gather her thoughts enough so that she could answer their questions clearly. She wished desperately that she could be of more help, but with each question she was simply reminded of how much she didn’t know.

  The more she talked to the police, the more puzzled she became. They tested the hinges on the door, and they worked perfectly. The doors must have been propped open on purpose, but to leave the doors open, the stopper on the top hinge had to be pushed to the side, which was something that Archie probably wouldn’t have been able to reach.

  It was possible, she supposed, that one of the residents might have left the door open by accident, but in that case, somebody should have noticed it during the evening rounds. And that raised the question of why one would have propped those doors open in the first place. They weren’t used for anything, and none of the staff had any reason to go out to the construction site during the day anyway.

  Autumn mentioned her hypothesis that Archie might have been trying to visit his grandson, but e
ven as she spoke it, she knew that it was unfair to him. He would have known that his grandson wouldn’t have been out there at night. He must’ve had another reason for visiting the construction zone after dark, but for the life of her, she couldn’t imagine what it might be.

  Autumn stood next to Nick as he spoke to the lead detective. She felt the urge to take his hand but didn't want to distract him. She knew that as hard as this was on her, it was even harder on him. Not only was he responsible for the welfare of all the residents, but something like this could easily lead to enough bad publicity that the nursing home might get shut down. Just what would they do if residents started getting pulled out? Taking a deep breath, she tried to come to terms with this fact that this very well might be the beginning of the end of Asheville Meadows.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Autumn didn't sleep well that night and got to work early the next day only to find that the construction had been halted and a staff meeting had been called for ten o’clock. She was sure that if the nursing home had been a normal business, it would have been shut down temporarily while the police worked on the case, however the residents still needed to eat, and still needed to be cared for, so everyone who worked at the nursing home was expected to show up as usual.

  It was a somber day, but thankfully, Nick hadn't told anyone but the police that it was her who had found the body, so she didn't get questioned any more than the rest of the staff did. Of course, there were two people who she wanted to know the truth of the matter. After lunch, she went to her aunt and uncle’s room to talk to them.

  “Poor Archie,” her Uncle Al said. “We used to play chess together on Thursdays. He was a good guy. What was he doing out there?”

  “I don't know,” Autumn said. “I thought he might have gone out to look for Percy, but that doesn't make sense. Archie wouldn't have gone out after the nighttime rounds were done and the construction crew had already left to look for his grandson. As far as I know, he didn't have any memory problems. He would have realized that Percy would be gone by then, and if he really wanted to talk to him, he would have just called him, wouldn’t he have?”

  “Archie was sharp,” her uncle agreed. “It doesn't make sense at all. Do you think…” He lowered his voice and looked around even though it was only the three of them in the room. “He might have been murdered?”

  “I don't know,” Autumn said honestly. “It doesn't make sense that anyone would want to hurt Archie, and besides, we still run into the problem of how the doors were opened in the first place, and why. Did he mention anything to you? Anything about someone acting oddly, or him feeling unsafe?” Her uncle shook his head.

  “Last time I spoke to him, he seemed perfectly happy and was acting just like he always did.”

  Autumn frowned. She didn't know what had happened to Archie, but she was going to do her best to find out.

  She was just about to excuse herself to go see Nick when she heard a phone ring. Not just a phone, her phone. She recognized the ring tone and realized that she had forgotten all about her missing cell phone until now. She remembered that she had been on her way to her aunt and uncle’s room to see if she had left it behind when she had found the body. She had never completed that journey last night, but it seemed like she had been on the right track. She stood up, looking around. Where was the sound coming from?

  “Do either of you happen to remember seeing my cell phone here yesterday evening?” she asked. “That’s my phone ringing, but I don’t know where it’s coming from.”

  “I don't remember seeing your phone,” Uncle Albert said. “I don't know where it might be, but I definitely hear it too.”

  She began walking around the room, trying to pinpoint where the noise was coming from. Eventually, she realized that the ringing was coming from her aunt's purse, on the counter in the kitchen. It stopped ringing just as she reached it. She glanced over at her aunt, silently asking for permission to open the purse, and the other woman nodded.

  She opened the bag and reached inside, pulling out her cell phone. Her fingers caught a loose dollar bill, and as she opened the purse to put the money back in, she blinked. Inside her aunt's purse was a wad of loose bills – ones, fives, and tens. Sitting next to her aunt's familiar floral wallet was a black leather wallet that she didn't recognize. She pulled it out.

  “Is this your wallet, Uncle Albert?” She asked. Her uncle glanced at it, then patted his own pocket.

  “No, it's not.”

  “Where did you get it from, Aunt Lucy?” she asked. Her aunt was frowning, and shook her head while shrugging, indicating that she didn't know.

  Autumn opened the wallet and looked at the ID. it belonged to a man who she didn’t recognize. This must belong to the guests who had complained that his wallet was missing. She grabbed the purse and brought it over to the table in front of her aunt.

  “Is all of this cash yours?” she asked.

  Her aunt opened the purse and pulled out her own wallet, counting the bills inside it, then frowned at the remaining loose wad of bills inside the purse. She shook her head again.

  Autumn took the loose money out of the purse and smoothed it out, folding it neatly.

  “I'm going to bring this to Nick,” Autumn said. “Are you sure you don't remember picking the wallet up anywhere, or the money? You don't have any idea how it got into the purse?”

  Her aunt shook her head again, looking puzzled and surprised. Autumn would never suspect that her aunt was the one behind the thefts, but even if she had, the look on the older woman's face would have convinced her that she wasn't.

  Which meant that someone was framing her aunt.

  “Uncle Al, do you have any idea? Did you see anyone messing with Aunt Lucy's purse?”

  “No, I haven't,” he said. “But it’s usually on the back of her wheelchair. I wouldn’t have seen if somebody was trying to be sneaky. I suppose it’s possible that someone mistook her purse for their own.”

  “Maybe,” Autumn said, her mind racing. It was possible, but unlikely. Men generally didn't carry floral patterned purses around, and besides, it would be hard to make a mistake like that with the purse that was hanging on the back of somebody else’s wheelchair. That also wouldn't explain how her phone had gotten into Aunt Lucy's purse. None of it made any sense.

  “I'm going to go talk to Nick,” she said. “In the meantime, I want the two of you to keep an eye out for each other. Don't go off with anyone you don't know. I have no idea what's going on, but between Archie's death and all of the missing money and the wallet showing up in Aunt Lucy's purse, I have a bad feeling about all of this.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  Autumn hurried through the halls, heading straight toward Nick's office. The wallet and cash in her hand made her feel jumpy, as if she was worried that somebody would notice it. She allowed herself to wonder, for a moment, if her aunt was simply getting confused, and had taken to putting random items in her bag, but then dismissed the thought. Aunt Lucy was just as sharp as ever, and she was sure that her uncle would say something if she wasn’t. She just hoped that Nick would see things her way and agree that Aunt Lucy had nothing to do with it.

  She walked into the staff room and knocked on Nick's office door. She could tell he was on the phone from the low murmur of his voice.

  “Just a minute,” he called out.

  She sat down at the table, feeling anxious and tired. Between the murder the day before and the thefts of the past week, everything seemed to be crashing down around her.

  “Oh, hi Autumn,” Nick said when he opened the door. “I thought you were Ricky. We have the food delivery today, and he supposed to come see me when he gets here.”

  “I know,” she said. “I'll be quick.”

  “What is it? Is something wrong?”

  “I think I found the missing money and wallet,” she said, holding out her hands and showing him what she had found in her aunt’s purse. He took the wallet and cash, frowning with confusion.

  �
�Where was it?”

  “It was in my aunt’s purse,” she said.

  Nick blinked. “Lucinda? Why would she –”

  “I don't think she stole it,” Autumn said quickly. “I think someone's trying to frame her.”

  “Why would somebody be trying to frame her?”

  “I don't know. My uncle is talking to her right now. But I know that she would never steal this. She says that she doesn't remember picking any of it up or finding it anywhere, and I trust her.”

  She met Nick's gaze, prepared to fight him on this if she had to, but he just nodded.