Fish, Chips, and Murder

by Patti Benning

  “I know Lucinda, this isn't something she would do. At the same time, thinking that someone is trying to frame her seems a little bit extreme. Who could possibly want her to get in trouble?”

  “I have no idea, but it's the only thing I could think of. Unless somebody mistook her purse for theirs, but her purse is always on the back of her wheelchair, so that would be hard.”

  “I'll look into this,” he promised. “First things first, I need to make sure everyone gets their missing things back.”

  “Do you need help?” she asked.

  “Not more than Ricky will,” he said. “Last time you let him unpack by himself, you spent half the day rearranging the pantry.”

  She grinned at the memory, but her smile faded quickly. For a moment, everything had seemed normal, but it was hard to keep her thoughts away from Archie's death for long.

  “Everything will be all right, Autumn,” Nick said. “We'll figure out who's responsible for all of this. Whoever hurt Archie, whoever's trying to frame your aunt… I won't let them get away with it. Now go on and get to work. I know cooking always makes you feel better.”

  “You know me so well,” Autumn said, giving him a small smile before she turned and walked away, heading toward the kitchen.

  Autumn had the weekend off, so after she left the nursing home late that evening, she experienced mixed feelings of relief and dread. She normally looked forward to her weekends, but Nick had been right; cooking was one of the few things that could help her clear her mind when she was upset. She didn't want to spend the entire weekend moping around her house alone. She realized that was where her friends would come in. Hopefully they would be up for something distracting this weekend.

  Bright and early Saturday morning, she called her best friend, excited to hear what Alicia thought of her plan.

  “Hey,” Autumn said. “I hope I didn't wake you.”

  “Never,” Alicia said, “I always wake up at the crack of dawn on Saturdays. You know that.”

  Autumn couldn't tell whether her friend was being sarcastic or not, and settled for rolling her eyes, even though she knew that the other woman wouldn’t be able to see it.

  “Anyway, I thought you, Bonnie, Frankie and I might like to go kayaking later today. I found a place that rents kayaks locally. They’ll drive us up the river a few miles, drop us off with the boats, and then we kayak back down to the rental place. It supposed to be a nice day with clear skies, and I think it would be relaxing. And private. I've got a lot to tell both of you.”

  “That sounds like a ton of fun,” Alicia said. “I'm in. If you want to call Bonnie and arrange it, I'll head over to your house. You and I can drive there together. I've got some homemade cookies to give you anyway.”

  Autumn smiled. Alicia often tried out new hobbies, and the latest was baking. For the past couple of weeks, Autumn’s house had been flooded with baked goods. She couldn't complain; her friend was quite skilled in the kitchen when she put her mind to it.

  “All right. I'll see you soon, and I'll call Bonnie in a little bit. Even if she's not available, just the two of us can go together. It should be a pleasant way to spend the day.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  “Do you ladies need any help getting in the water?”

  “I think we can manage,” Alicia said. Autumn was too busy trying to figure out how to maneuver both Frankie and the kayak toward the water to respond.

  “All right. It should take you about two hours to get back down the river. Have a nice trip.”

  With that, the man from the kayak shop got into his vehicle and drove off. Autumn, Alicia, and Bonnie were left standing by the edge of the slow-moving river. Autumn and her friends exchanged a look. Alicia was grinning, Bonnie looked a bit nervous, and Frankie was just busy sniffing the grass.

  “All right, I guess we had better get going,” Autumn said at last. “Hopefully none of us falls in.”

  “Even if we do, it's a nice day for a swim,” Alicia said cheerfully. “You guys have kayaked before, haven't you?”

  “I went a couple of years ago,” Autumn said. “I remember enjoying it.”

  “I went in a canoe once when I was younger,” Bonnie volunteered. “It's the same concept, right?”

  Alicia looked between her two friends and nodded her head. “Okay, I'll make sure the two of you are all set before getting into my own kayak. Autumn, you go first, Bonnie and I will help you with Frankie if you need it.”

  It took some effort, but eventually Autumn was settled in her kayak with Frankie sitting between her legs, looking around in confusion. The little dog had never been on the water before.

  “Are you ready? Don't drop your paddle.”

  “I'm ready,” Autumn said.

  With that, her friends gave the kayak a push and she drifted into the river, starting to float slowly down stream. Behind her, she could hear Bonnie and Alicia laughing as they got into their own kayaks and she smiled, experimenting with paddling slowly across the river. Frankie seemed content to sit still and look around, which Autumn was glad for. The dog was wearing a life vest, but she still didn't want to risk the terrier jumping off the boat.

  “Wait for us!” Alicia called. She heard splashing, and slowly her friends drew closer. Within minutes, the three of them were floating sedately in a row, heading downstream. It was a beautiful, warm day, and the river was shaded with trees. The temperature was just perfect, and Autumn felt herself beginning to relax.

  “This was a great idea,” Alicia said. “We should do this every week during the summer. We'll start a kayaking club.”

  “You always want to start things, Alicia,” Bonnie said. “But then you get bored of them after a week or two. Then, I'll be the only member of the kayaking club left, and I really don't want to be in charge of my own club.”

  “Fine, fine, no club,” Alicia sighed. “We'll just have to remember to get out here a couple of times a month while the weather is nice. It's so beautiful. I'm glad you thought of this, Autumn. What was it you wanted to talk about, anyway?”

  Autumn sighed, resting the kayak’s paddle against her knees. Even though she didn't like bringing up Archie's death, she knew that she would have to do it eventually. Now was as good of a time as any.

  “Someone passed away at the nursing home a couple of days ago,” she began.

  “I'm sorry,” Alicia said. “That must be hard. I know it's part of the job, but that probably doesn't make it any easier.”

  “The thing is, he didn't pass away quietly in his bed, or the hospital. We found him in the construction zone. It looked like he had fallen and hit his head on something. The doors were propped open for some reason, and it was late at night, and we have no idea how he got out there.”

  Her friend blinked. “Really? I'm so sorry.”

  “Nick is taking it especially hard,” Autumn said.

  “Do either of you have any idea at all what might've happened?” Bonnie chimed in.

  “No. And the thing is, it's not the first odd thing that has happened there recently. There has been a rash of petty thefts over the past week. I know that chances are the two aren’t connected, but I can't help but feel that there must be some sort of link. There's obviously something going on in the nursing home that Nick and I have no clue about.”

  “You think it's possible that the man who passed away might have seen something? Could it be murder?”

  The word seemed to hang in the still air for a moment as Autumn dipped her paddle into the river. She took a deep breath, then sighed. Murder. She hadn't wanted to think it, but the possibility was there.

  “I don't know,” she said at last. “And I have no idea what to do. I feel like everything is falling apart. We're short on staff, the construction is driving everyone crazy, and now with the thefts and Archie's death… I don't know how much longer the nursing home is going to last. The new wing was supposed to be good for it, but everything seems to be going wrong.”

  “They can’t close it down,
” Alicia said. “Where would everyone go? It's a great nursing home. The people there love it, the staff treats everyone great, and I'm sure they have got to have the best food around if you’re cooking there.”

  Autumn smiled over at her friend. “Thanks, Alicia. I definitely don't want it to close down, and I think Nick is worried about it as well. Between worrying about the nursing home and blaming himself for Archie's death, he's hardly had the chance to do anything but overthink everything that happened. I’m worried about him and I wish there was a way I could help him.”

  “Well…” Alicia frowned, thinking. “Do they need a part-time employee? I mean, I don't have any experience working in a nursing home, but if you really need another staff member, I could help for a couple of weeks. I don't want to work there forever, but I'd be happy to do laundry, walk people to their rooms, do some dishes, that sort of stuff. If you think Nick would be okay with it, of course. And while I'm there, I could help you keep an eye on everything and try to figure out who has been stealing stuff, and also try to figure out what happened Archie.”

  Autumn looked over at her friend, surprised. “You would really do all of that?”

  Alicia nodded. Autumn knew that her friend didn't work much, besides occasionally selling the crafts that she made at home; her husband supported them both. Alicia had been trying to have a baby for the past couple of years with no luck, and she often picked up new hobbies to distract herself from her boredom.

  “I'll talk to Nick,” Autumn said. “It's an amazing offer, Alicia. I think he’ll really appreciate it.”

  “I'm glad I could help,” Alicia said with a smile. “Now, enough talk about all of this depressing stuff. We're here to relax and enjoy the day. Let's talk about something happy. Bonnie, are you seeing anyone?”

  They both turned to look at the quiet woman, who to Autumn’s surprise, turned bright red and began to do her best to change the subject.

  Autumn smiled. If Bonnie was seeing someone, she had a feeling that a lot of double or triple dates were in her and Nick's future, especially if Alicia had anything to say about it.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Nick was more than happy to accept Alicia's offer to help at the nursing home. Autumn was surprised that she hadn't thought of the solution herself. With Alicia's bubbly, cheerful personality, Autumn was sure that she would be popular among the residents, and her friend had always been more than happy to lend a hand whenever someone needed assistance.

  What she hadn't been expecting was for the police to return first thing Monday morning to question everyone, not just her and Nick, about Archie's death. She understood that Archie’s relatives were desperate to figure out what had really happened to him, but it still unsettled her to see the police walking around the nursing home all morning.

  Thankfully, by lunch they were done with their questioning. Autumn had no idea whether or not they had uncovered anything that would help further the case, but she hoped that they had. The sooner that the mystery was solved, the sooner they could all relax.

  She didn't get a chance to speak with Nick privately until after lunch – which had been a light meal of tuna salad, watermelon, and cold cucumber salad. She had crossed paths with Alicia a couple of times already; her friend was trailing Emily around as she got to learn the ropes.

  After putting the last few dishes away, she left the kitchen and shot the two woman a quick wave as she passed through the common area, where they were helping an elderly couple settle in to watch the afternoon news. Alicia waved back, grinning, and Autumn was glad to see that she seemed to be enjoying herself.

  She made a beeline for Nick's office and found him leaning back in the chair at his desk, rubbing his temples as if he had a headache.

  “Hey,” she said softly.

  “Hey, Autumn,” he said. “Come on in and shut the door, if you'd like.”

  She did so, taking a seat across the desk from him.

  “Is everything okay?” she asked.

  “Honestly? No. We still have no idea what happened to Archie. I spent the weekend talking to residents and staff alike, and no one remembers seeing him leave the building. Regina, who was on staff that night and was in charge of doing room checks, says that she said goodnight to him shortly after eight. That was the last anybody saw of him until you found him.”

  “Did the police check his phone to see if he had made any calls or anything before going out?”

  “I'm sure they did, but if so, they aren't telling me. To make matters worse, we've had a couple more items go missing over the weekend.”

  “What sorts of things?”

  “Another cell phone, a few dollars here and there out of people's wallets, and Natasha’s wedding band, which she claims that she left in the bathroom by the dining room, but nobody can find it. I don't know if that one was actually stolen or just lost, but it seems likely that there’s foul play involved.”

  “I take it you haven’t had any luck catching the thief?”

  He grimaced. “Nope. It's like things are just falling apart around me. Thank goodness that Alicia volunteered to spend some time helping out here. I don't know how much longer I can keep this up.”

  “We'll figure out what's going on,” Autumn said. “Things will get better, I promise.”

  “Well, if it's going to happen, it had better happen soon. We've already had a couple of people on our waiting list take their names off of it. Thankfully, no one is leaving the home yet, but it's only a matter of time.”

  “How is the board of directors handling all of this?”

  “There's going to be an official inspection pretty soon,” he said. “If we could at least figure out who's been stealing things, that would help. Of course, Archie's death is more important, I just don’t have the faintest clue where to start with that.”

  “That’s something that the police should be solving,” Autumn said. “The thefts are more of a personal matter, which we might actually be able to do something about. Do you know if anyone has been bothering my aunt?”

  “Not that I know of. Your uncle seems to be keeping a pretty close eye on her.”

  “Well, it can’t go on forever. Soon enough whoever is doing this will be caught.”

  “I hope so,” he said. “I'm sorry that we haven't had the chance to spend much time together lately. I'd like to take you out for coffee this afternoon, but I've got a tour coming soon.”

  “A tour?”

  “Yes.” He made a face. “One of the people on the waiting list is interested in Archie's room. Since his death is currently being considered accidental, there really isn't any reason not to move forward as usual. These people are very interested in getting in. They stopped in last week just to look around, you might recognize them. I’m going to have to suck it up and try to make a good impression. Speaking of making a good impression, they'll be staying for dinner. What's on the menu for tonight?”

  “Chicken risotto with dinner rolls, a green salad, and baked sweet potatoes.”

  “That sounds delicious, I'm sure they'll be impressed,” he said.

  “I promise I'll do my best,” she said. “Nick… don't run yourself into the ground, okay? I know how much you love this place, but you’re important too. I don't like how much stress you've been under lately.”

  “Thank you, Autumn, but I won't be able to rest until we figure out for sure what happened to Archie. He was my responsibility, and somehow, I failed him. I can’t let it happen again.”

  Autumn nodded, knowing that there was nothing more she could say. She sat with Nick in silence for a few minutes, then excused herself to go and find Emily and Alicia. She wanted to see if Emily would be able to help her with dinner that evening. If she was going to be cooking for someone who might potentially be there next resident, she wanted to do her very best, especially considering just how worried Nick was about everything. Having a new resident agree to move in might not fix what had happened to Archie or solve the mysterious thefts, but it would definitely
be a step in the right direction, and all Autumn wanted right now was to see her boyfriend smile again.

  CHAPTER NINE

  With Emily helping her in the kitchen, Autumn knew that dinner would turn out to be phenomenal. The young woman had shown plenty of skill when it came to cooking, and she and Autumn worked well together.

  Another benefit of having Emily help her was that she could listen to the young woman's gossip while they worked. Even though Emily was one of the newer employees at the nursing home, she seemed to know just about everything that happened there.

  “You can get the potatoes started, if you'd like,” Autumn said as she melted butter in a pan. “And after that, start on the brownie mix. We’re making double chocolate caramel brownies for dessert tonight.”