The Heart of Murder

by Patti Benning

Even if calling him was the right thing to do, it would have to wait. Right now, she had to go and make lunch for the thirty residents, plus two visitors who were there with their grandparents. Lunches were a much more casual affair than dinners, and today they were simply having sandwiches, soup, and some fruit salad that was left over from the night before. It wouldn’t take her long to make, and she would have plenty of time before dinner to call Brandon and make sure he was okay. It was important to remember that she wasn’t the only one who has suffered through all of this. In fact, her losses were nothing compared to what had happened to Amelia.

  She was in the kitchen, putting the finishing touches on the chicken noodle soup when Nick walked in. He had a stack of papers in one hand, which he put on the counter.

  “What’s that?” she asked him.

  “These are newspaper clippings,” he said.

  “Okay…” She added some black pepper to the soup and stirred. “Why do you have newspaper clippings?”

  “They’re all stories about the burglaries that have been happening over the past two months,” he said. “I thought you might want to see them.”

  She put the wooden spoon down and picked up the newspaper clippings. “Did you cut these all out?”

  “Yes.”

  “Thank you, Nick. I’ll look through them, I promise. Just as soon as the meal is done. Did you find anything interesting?”

  “Well, all of the robberies but two happened in town, and the other two were from nearby towns. That makes me sure that whoever is doing this is from Asheville.”

  “But no leads on who it might be, specifically?”

  “I’m no detective,” he said. “So, no, nothing jumped out at me. You might have more luck with them. I just know you like to keep active when something bad happens, so I thought you might appreciate it.”

  “I definitely do,” she said. “Thank you, Nick. This was a lot of trouble that you went through for me.”

  “It wasn’t that bad,” he said. “We get thirty copies of the newspaper delivered here every week, so we had plenty lying around. Let me know if you find anything interesting.”

  “I will,” she promised.

  After lunch was served, she grabbed the newspaper clippings and took a seat in the common area. A couple of residents were sitting at the coffee table, playing a game of chess. It was a very relaxing place to be, and she thought, not for the first time, about how much she enjoyed working there.

  “Hey, Ms. Roth, can I talk to you?”

  Autumn looked up to see Emily standing a few feet away. “Call me Autumn, and of course. What’s up?”

  “Well, I’ve been thinking, and while I really like working here and helping everyone out, my favorite part has been helping you in the kitchen. Do you think Mr. Holt would consider giving you an assistant? Would you even want an assistant? I can still do everything else, of course, but I could help you make dinners regularly, and I would help out on holidays and stuff. I’ve been trying to figure out what I want to do for my career, and I think I would really like to work in a restaurant one day. I could get a lot of experience here.”

  “Of course,” Autumn said. “I’ll talk to him if you’d like.”

  “Thank you,” the young woman said. “Oh, and your uncle said that he wants to see you. He and your aunt are in their room, I got them settled down after lunch. Something about a call from your mother?”

  Autumn sighed and put the newspaper clippings in her purse. It seemed like she would have to go through them later. Right now, family came first.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  * * *

  “I don’t understand, what’s the big deal?” Alicia said. “You like your mom.”

  “I mean, I usually like seeing her, but it will be weird.”

  “Why?”

  “I still haven’t told her that I’m working at Asheville Meadows. I haven’t even told her that Brandon and I split up. She has no idea about any of it.”

  “So just tell her, it won’t be that weird.”

  “I’ll be cooking dinner for them, and I’ll probably have to be in the kitchen part of the time while they’re eating. Half of the reason my mom is coming to visit is to see me. I wish she had given me more notice. I could have asked for the evening off.”

  She sighed and started the car. It was the next morning, and the other cook was making breakfast, which meant that she had half the day free to complete some of the shopping that she needed to do. She wasn’t looking forward to picking out new plates and glasses, so she had invited Alicia along with her. Her friend’s presence would make the day more fun.

  “She’ll probably be happy that you’re doing something that you enjoy,” Alicia said.

  “It’s not really the job that I’m worried about, I guess. It’s Nick. How am I supposed to introduce him? Hi, Mom, this is my… boss? Boyfriend? She always told me not to date in the workplace. She’s not going to like it.”

  “You’re an adult. You can live your life however you want. It will all be fine.”

  “I guess. I wish my uncle hadn’t told her what happened.”

  “She was going to find out eventually, anyway.”

  “Yeah, but I wanted to have everything fixed up before she got here. She’s coming on Friday. She’s going to want to see the house, and there’s still a hole in the back door, and I haven’t finished cleaning up the laundry room yet, and of course the necklace she got me is still missing, and she’s going to go on about that, and how much it cost…”

  “Autumn, take a deep breath and calm down. I know you’re still upset about what happened to Amelia and your house, and you’re probably right that it might be a little bit weird with Nick there, but who cares? It will be nice for you to see your mom again, your aunt and uncle will enjoy it, and by the time she comes, at least you’ll have a full set of plates.”

  Autumn sighed, but she knew her friend was right. The visit would be over before she knew it, and she might even end up enjoying it. “I hate that we’re going to the supermarket,” she said, changing the subject as she pulled onto the main road. “I feel like a traitor.”

  “Green River Grocery is gone. There’s nothing left to be loyal to.”

  “If Jed knew…”

  “Sweetie, I’m sure Jed is shopping there now too. It’s the only store around, so unless he wants to drive almost an hour away, he’s stuck buying his milk and eggs there.”

  Even though she knew her friend was right, she still felt guilty as they pulled up to the store. If the supermarket hadn’t opened, then the Green River Grocery would still be around. Although, now that she thought about it, she would never have gotten her job at Asheville Meadows if the grocery store hadn’t shut down. She supposed that she had that to be grateful for, though she still hated the fact that Jed’s life’s work had been destroyed by this big-box store.

  “Okay, I think the plates are down there,” Alicia said. “This is kind of exciting. What do you think you’re going to get?”

  “Something plain,” Autumn said. “It’s not like I have dinner parties. I just want something to eat off of, and that won’t show any stains if my dishwasher doesn’t do its job well.

  They spent the next twenty minutes walking through the aisles, with Alicia pointing out unique designs, and Autumn vetoing them. She ended up getting a set of square maroon plates, matching bowls, and a new set of glasses. The surviving dishes at her house would be moved to the back of the shelf, for the rare occasions that she had more than a few guests over. She was so busy talking to her friend that she didn’t pay attention as she pushed the cart out into the main aisle, and almost ran someone over.

  “Whoops, I’m so sorry,” she said.

  “It’s fine.” The man picked up the shirt that he had dropped. “Oh, it’s you. This is getting to be a habit, isn’t it?”

  Autumn realized with a jolt that it was the same man whom she had almost bowled over on her rush to get out of her house on Saturday evening. She blushed. He must think that
she was a complete klutz.

  “I really am sorry,” she said. “I need to start watching where I’m going.”

  “Seriously, don’t worry about it.” He hesitated, then said, “My name is Jessie Medina, by the way. I suppose it’s time that we were formally introduced to each other.”

  “Autumn Roth,” she said. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  “You too.”

  She and Alicia continued on their way. Her friend was smiling, and Autumn said, “what’s so funny?”

  “He’s cute. He seems to like you. He didn’t get mad when you almost knocked him down, and it sounds like this wasn’t the first time.”

  “He’s just being polite. I’m seeing Nick, anyway, remember?”

  “You’ve been on a handful of dates with him. That doesn’t mean you’re exclusive. There’s nothing wrong with seeing more than one person at a time as long as you’re honest about it.”

  Autumn shook her head, and distracted her friend by taking her through the houseware section of the store again. She had to admit that it was nice to be able to do all of her shopping in one place, though she still wouldn’t be forgiving the supermarket anytime soon.

  “Oh, my goodness,” Alicia said as they approached the registers.

  “What is it now?”

  “Is that… it is. Autumn, look, it’s Jed.”

  Autumn almost didn’t recognize her former boss. He was standing in one of the checkout lanes, behind the register, and was wearing the supermarket’s uniform. She stopped in the middle of the store, staring at him. Jed was working here? What had the world come to?

  “Come on, let’s get in his lane.”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “He might not want us to see him here. He must really have needed the money to take this job. It’s got to be humiliating for him.”

  “Well, we saw him already. I’m sure he’d want to say hi. Wouldn’t it be weirder if we just completely ignored him?”

  She couldn’t argue with that. She followed Alicia to his lane, and they got in line. She put her new dishes on the belt, and waited until it was their turn. Her former boss blinked, looking surprised to see her.

  “Hi,” she said weakly.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked, scanning her items.

  “I had to buy some new dishes. My others got broken. What are you doing here? Is everything okay?”

  “Well, since the store hasn’t sold yet, I needed some extra money to make ends meet. This is just temporary. The wages are terrible, but at least I know the work. I’m even up for promotion soon.” He said the last sentence with zero inflection, and she understood that while he might know the work, he hated working there.

  “I’m sorry,” she said.

  “It’s not your fault,” he replied. “Are things going well for you?”

  “They are,” she said, deciding not to mention the break-in. The poor man had enough on his mind without her to worry about.

  “Well, it was nice to see you. Will that be cash or card?”

  She paid for her items, then put them back in her cart and made her way out of the store. She had just stepped out through the front doors when she heard someone call out behind her. She turned to see Jessie hurrying toward them.

  “Okay,” he said when he reached them. “This might seem kind of weird, but I couldn’t let you walk away without asking. Would you like to go out and get coffee sometime?”

  “Coffee?”

  “Or food… Whatever you want. I just, well, I like you, and with the way we keep running into each other, it seems like a sign. I’d like to get to know you better.”

  Alicia nudged her. Autumn blinked, then surprised herself by saying, “Okay. Here’s my number.”

  As they walked away, she could tell that Alicia was practically bursting beside her. “It’s just coffee,” she told her friend.

  “Of course.”

  “So why are you grinning like that?”

  “Coffee’s exciting, isn’t it?”

  “I know absolutely nothing about the man besides his name, and the fact that he has a habit of getting in my way.”

  “You’re excited. Admit it.”

  “It’s just coffee,” she repeated. “That’s all. It’s not a date.”

  “Of course not.”

  Alicia fought to keep her face straight as they walked to the car and put the dishes inside. Autumn walked the cart to the cart corral, and then got into the driver’s seat.

  “No more talking about this,” she told her friend. “I have more important things to think about than coffee with a stranger. Like poor Jed. He must hate working there.”

  Thankfully, the new subject was enough to distract her friend. Autumn allowed herself a small grin as she backed out of the parking space. It was just coffee, but she couldn’t deny that she was a little bit excited. She may have gone a couple of dates with Nick, but Alicia was right. He didn’t own her. It might be nice to see someone else while she still could. Now, she just had to decide whether or not she should tell Nick about it first.

  CHAPTER NINE

  * * *

  Autumn hung her jacket on the chair and sat down. It was Thursday morning, during her break between breakfast and lunch at the nursing home, and she had decided to kill two birds with one stone. She was meeting Brandon for coffee to talk about what had happened with Amelia, and then would be meeting Jessie. She figured that two cups of coffee that morning wouldn’t hurt much. If she was too jittery, she could always make herself a cup of chamomile tea when she got back to work.

  She hadn’t told Nick about her coffee date, and she didn’t if know she was going to. She didn’t even know if she would see Jessie again. She figured she owed the man a coffee; she had almost trampled him twice, after all.

  Tomorrow, Friday, was her mother’s visit. They would be having dinner together at the nursing home with her aunt and uncle, and then her mother would come over and stay the night at her house. She was glad that Nick had helped her clean everything up, and that she had gotten all the shopping out of the way earlier that week. She had new dishes, she had managed to clean up the laundry room and patch the hole in the back door with a piece of plywood, and the guest room was all set up for her mother to stay in.

  Even though her house was back in order, her eyes kept getting drawn to the places where things were missing. The only item she was really worried about, however, was the pearl necklace. It had been her grandmother’s, then her mother’s, and now it was hers. It had been passed down to each of them on their thirtieth birthdays.

  She had heard nothing from the police about any of the items that had been taken during the break-in. She was beginning to think that the only hope she had of ever getting the necklace back was if the burglar was caught.

  The door to the coffee shop opened, and in walked Brandon. It had been just over a month since their breakup, but it felt like much longer. The truth was, she hardly missed him at all. Alicia had been right; it was far better that their relationship had ended when it did. She liked him as a person, but knew that she had never really been in love with him. When she did finally meet the person that she was going to spend the rest of her life with, she wanted there to be passion in the relationship. She wanted to be with someone who made her heart beat faster. Someone like Nick.

  “Sorry I’m late,” Brandon said. “Work kept me.”

  “It’s fine,” she said. “I was a bit late as well.”

  “So, what is this about?” he asked, sitting down.

  “Don’t you want to get coffee first?”

  “I don’t know. How long will we be here?”

  “I’m meeting someone else here afterward, so you might as well get coffee so I don’t have to drink mine alone. You can always take it to go.”

  He sighed, got up to place his order, then returned to the table. “Now I’m getting worried. You look so serious.”

  “That’s because what I want to talk about is serious. It’s about Amelia.”


  He sighed again and looked away. “I should’ve guessed.”

  “Well, my uncle pointed out that maybe you would want to talk about her. I know the two of you used to be engaged, and I’m sure she was special to you. I didn’t know if you had anyone else to talk about it with.”

  “I don’t need anyone to talk about it with. Talking about it won’t make it better.”

  “Talking is important,” she said. “But if you don’t want to, we don’t have to.”

  He got up to get his coffee, then sat down again, falling silent as he opened the top and blew on it. After a moment, he said, “why was she at your house?”