The Heart of Murder

by Patti Benning

  “She wanted to talk to me. I forgot to call her, and I figured she must have come to find me. I just don’t know how she got my address.”

  He frowned. “I pointed your house out to her when we drove past once. I shouldn’t have done that. If I hadn’t done that, she would never have been there, and she would still be alive.”

  “And if I had called her that morning, and she had never come to see me, then she would’ve been alive. It’s not either of our faults, even though we may feel that way. Are you okay?”

  “I don’t know. We were just starting to get to know each other again. She heard from one of our friends that you and I broke up, and she called me, then we went out for coffee, and it just kind of went from there. I really used to love her, you know?”

  “I’m sure you did. I’m so sorry, Brandon.”

  “I’ve told the police everything I could think of that might help them track down the person who did this to her. I just don’t know what else to do. I feel so useless, and I hate it.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I feel pretty useless too. Do you have any idea what she wanted to talk to me about?”

  Brandon sighed. “She wanted to talk to you about me. She told me that she wanted to talk to you and make sure everything was actually over with us before she and I began to get serious. That’s why I was reluctant to give her your phone number. I know that ending things with you right before Christmas wasn’t a great thing to do, and I wasn’t sure what you would say.”

  “I wouldn’t have said anything bad,” she said. “You should know me better than that, Brandon. I would have only said good things about you. Anyway, do you think that she would have taken anyone else to my house? Maybe for moral support?”

  “Sorry. And no, I don’t think she went with anyone. She didn’t tell any of her friends that we were seeing each other again. Why?”

  “I’m just reaching, I suppose. How would she have gotten there? She didn’t leave a car parked in front of my house.”

  “She must’ve walked. She didn’t live too far away.”

  “I just feel so bad for her. None of this should have happened. Did you know that there have been a couple of break-ins around town? It wasn’t just my house.”

  “I know. One of my work friends was talking about a break-in at his sister’s house. They stole a lot of important stuff, and made a complete mess of the house. Thankfully, no one was hurt. She told him that the police said that the burglar probably threw stuff around so much to make it harder for the homeowner tell what was missing. That way they have more time to move the stolen goods before the police have a list of items to look for.”

  “That is terrible,” she said. “And scary. Whoever is doing this must’ve thought it out pretty well.”

  “I just hate that she was there. It’s such a cruel coincidence. There was no reason for her to be there, and if she had been only an hour earlier or an hour later, she would have been perfectly fine. Why did this have to happen? Why did this have to happen to her?”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “You’re right. It’s not fair, and it doesn’t make any sense at all. She didn’t deserve this, and one day, hopefully soon, whoever killed her will pay for it.”

  He left a few minutes later. She didn’t know if he felt any better having spoken with her, but she hoped so. The small, nagging doubt that Brandon might have gone to her house with Amelia was now gone. He had seemed honestly broken up over her death, and she had been reminded why she had pushed the suspicion aside in the first place. Brandon was a nice person. He wasn’t perfect, but no one was. He wasn’t violent, he wasn’t a thief, and he wasn’t a killer.

  Autumn texted Jessie to let him know that she was at the coffee shop, then tossed her empty coffee cup into the garbage bin and got up to order a new one. She could spend a good half an hour chatting with Jessie before she had to get back to Asheville Meadows and begin making lunch. She loved the freedom her new job gave her; she actually had time to get stuff done during the day now.

  Jessie arrived a few minutes later. He ordered a coffee, then came over and sat down across from her.

  “Thanks for meeting with me,” he said. “I hope this isn’t too weird. I almost never meet anyone outside of work, and I didn’t want to lose my chance to ask someone as beautiful as you out.”

  “Maybe it’s a little weird,” she said. “But I appreciate it. I know the feeling of never meeting anyone outside of work. How do other people meet each other? I guess they must join clubs or go to bars or something. That’s never really been my scene.”

  “It’s not mine either. So, I guess this is where we get to know each other. What do you do? I am guessing you’re not married, since I didn’t see a ring, and you accepted my invitation, but maybe I should have asked.”

  “No, I’m a spinster.” She smiled. “Well, I work Asheville Meadows – the nursing home – as a cook, and I live alone with my dog. That’s pretty much my life, to be honest. It sounds a bit sad, but I have friends, and I’m really pretty happy.”

  “I think that sounds wonderful. I do tax assessment for the city, and I make sure none of the city codes are being violated. Don’t hate me. It’s a soul sucking job, and I’m not making any friends with the public doing it, but it pays well, and the people I work with are actually pretty nice.”

  “Well, I’ll know who to blame when my property taxes go up next year.” She smiled. “That actually sounds like a pretty interesting job. Is that why you were out walking in front of my house Saturday evening?”

  “No, that was just me taking a walk. I used to have a dog, and we’d do a couple of miles every evening – a different route each time – but he passed away last year. I take the walk myself now. And yes, it is an interesting job. I’ve seen the inside of almost every building in town, and I get to meet a lot of people. It’s not exactly what I wanted to do with my life when I was a child, but I don’t mind it.”

  “And what did you want to do?” she asked.

  “I wanted to be a biologist. When I started college, I realized I was hopeless at chemistry, so I scratched that off my list. And what about you? Was cooking for the elderly your dream?”

  “Sort of,” she said with a chuckle. “I’ve always wanted to be a chef. This isn’t too far from that, so I guess I’m doing pretty well.”

  They spent the rest of their time chatting and laughing. Autumn had never been on a date with someone who was essentially a complete stranger before, and it was nice. Since they couldn’t talk about the people that they both knew, or shared experiences at work, they were forced to get to know each other. When he left, he asked if she would mind if he called to set up a second date, and she said yes without even thinking about it.

  When she got up to leave a couple of minutes later, tossing her second coffee cup in the trash, she felt a small pang of guilt. Was it really okay for her to be seeing Jessie without letting Nick know? It was a question that she needed to ask someone with far more dating experience than she had. The only problem was, she had no idea who that might be.

  CHAPTER TEN

  * * *

  The next day, Autumn ran home after making lunch at Asheville Meadows. She let Frankie outside, then settled down with the dog on the couch and took out the packet of newspaper clippings that Nick had given her. She had already been through them plenty of times, but wanted to look through them again. She was convinced that there had to be some clue in them. The burglar must have left something behind at some point. Nobody was perfect.

  As she read through them, she was amazed at how many houses the burglar had managed to hit. And not just houses. A couple of stores had been robbed as well. The jewelry store had been struck, but nothing had been stolen. According to the article, the burglar had run away when the alarm sounded, just like he had at Nick’s house. She made a list of the victims, then pulled out her laptop and began to look them up online. Fifteen minutes later, she gave up. She couldn’t see any link between the victims, or the places t
hat had been robbed. How was the burglar choosing his victims? There didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason, besides location.

  She put the clippings away and sat back on the couch, sighing. She knew she wouldn’t get a good night’s rest until the burglar was caught. The only bright spot was that the burglar had yet to hit the same house twice. That meant that she was safe, but it didn’t mean that everyone else was. She had told Alicia to take extra care when locking up, but she knew that it probably wouldn’t matter. He had broken a window to get into her house, after all. What good were locked doors if the burglar was willing to shatter glass?

  Whoever this is must have a lot of knowledge of the people he’s robbing, she thought. He had never been caught by someone, besides the incident with Amelia. Maybe he was with a lawn care company, or – she sat up straight and her hand froze in the middle of petting Frankie. Jessie. Jessie worked for the city, doing tax assessments and checking code violations. No one would have questioned his presence outside of their home. Had he been lying about his walking habit earlier? What had he really been doing in front of her house that fateful night?

  Would he really have robbed me, then asked me out? she wondered. Maybe he hadn’t actually been interested in her. She had seen him the night of the burglary, after all. Maybe he had wanted to figure out if she suspected him or not. It all made sense. What could she do with this information, though? It wasn’t more than a guess, and a coincidence.

  Her phone buzzed. It was the alarm that she set, reminding her that she needed to get back to Asheville Meadows. She said a quick goodbye to Frankie, locked the door, and left. She was having dinner with her family tonight, and didn’t need to be distracted while she made it.

  The menu for that evening was stuffed chicken breasts, mashed sweet potatoes, and a vegetable medley. Dessert was banana cream pie, something that she had never made before and had been looking forward to. She worked almost on autopilot as she prepared the meal. She was so used the kitchen now, that she could have navigated it with her eyes closed.

  “Is everything okay Autumn?” Emily asked, finally remembering to call her by her first name.

  “I just have a lot on my mind,” she replied. “Is it that obvious?”

  “Only a little,” she said. “You peeled that potato twice.”

  Autumn looked down and realized that she had been running the peeler over a naked potato for the last few minutes. She laughed. “Oops. I was thinking about the burglary.”

  “I should have guessed. Do you have any leads?”

  Autumn hesitated, then told the young woman what had occurred to her just a few hours before. Emily was a good listener, and waited until she had finished to give her opinion.

  “I think you should tell the police,” she said. “It’s definitely weird that he was there the night of the burglary. It doesn’t really seem like it could be a coincidence, does it? He must’ve been waiting for you to leave. Once he knew you were gone, he took his chance and went in. And even if you’re wrong, it’s not like he’s going to know you’re the one who told the police. They wouldn’t tell him who made the call.”

  “You’re right. If he is the one responsible for Amelia’s death and I never make the call, I will always regret it. Especially if someone else gets hurt. Thanks, Emily. I am glad I got to talk to you. And thanks for helping out. You make a wonderful assistant. I never knew I needed someone to keep me from peeling potatoes twice.”

  “Thank you again for talking to Mr. Holt. I really love doing this. Hey, if you open a restaurant someday, you should hire me to work in the kitchen.”

  Autumn chuckled. “I definitely will, if I ever open my own restaurant. I don’t know if I’d be able to abandon Nick and Asheville Meadows, though. I love it here.”

  After that, she was able to focus on dinner better. The chicken breasts turned out perfectly; they were stuffed with cream cheese, chives, and bits of garlic – baked, not breaded, to make them healthier, but she had mixed up her own dried poultry rub just for the occasion. The vegetable medley included peas, squash, broccoli, and onions, and the mashed sweet potatoes were just the perfect amount of sweet. Despite the low-sodium requirements, it was going to be a delicious meal. She was excited to show off her cooking to her mother. It was something that she knew she could be proud of.

  Once all of the guests and residents had been served their meals, she grabbed a plate for herself and joined her family in the dining area. Her mother, her aunt, and her uncle were all seated around one of the round tables. She greeted her aunt with a hug, then sat across from her mother.

  “Autumn, it’s been so long since I’ve seen you. Your hair looks different. I like it.”

  “I have been curling it lately,” Autumn said. “It’s nice to see you again, Mom. I’m sorry that I had to work tonight. It was just really short notice.”

  “Well, Albert told me what happened. I know you’re all right, but it just made me think… if things had gone differently, I might never have seen you again. I want to start visiting more often. I know it’s a bit of a drive, but I don’t want to miss out on my own daughter’s life. I didn’t even know you had a new job.”

  “I’m sorry. A lot has changed lately. It’s all been so quick, I didn’t have a chance to tell you. I’ve only been working here since Christmas.”

  “I know, and I don’t want you to feel bad. It’s my fault for not calling more. Your uncle told me that you are no longer seeing Brandon, though. What happened there?”

  “We just weren’t right for each other. We’re still friends.”

  “I see. Does this mean you don’t have any Valentine’s Day plans?”

  She hesitated. The truth was, she didn’t know if she did or not. She and Nick hadn’t planned anything, but she had been holding out hope that he would ask her out for the evening.

  “I don’t have any plans,” she said at last, truthfully. “It’s fine, though. I’ll spend the evening with Frankie.”

  “That’s the dog that hates me, right?”

  “She doesn’t hate you. She likes everyone.”

  “Last time I stayed with you, she barked every time I walked into the room. I was there for two days. And every single time I came into the room, it was yap, yap, yap.”

  “She just isn’t used to having someone else there. I’m sure she’ll be fine this time.”

  Autumn was glad when her mother began talking to Uncle Albert instead of her. She loved her mother, but she was a lot to handle. She had an opinion on everything, and often spoke too quickly to give anyone else room to form their own opinions.

  Dessert had just been served when she saw Nick approaching from across the room. She straightened up. He had known that her mother was coming to visit, and had promised to stop by and say hi, but she didn’t know what he would say about their relationship.

  “How is everything going?” He asked, pausing at their table.

  “It’s all wonderful,” Autumn said. She smiled. “The chef did a great job tonight.”

  “She always does,” he replied, grinning. “How are you, Albert and Lucinda?”

  He spoke to her aunt and uncle for a moment, then turned her mother. “And you must be Mrs. Roth. It’s nice to meet you. I hope you’re enjoying your evening here.”

  “I certainly am. This is a lovely place. I’m sorry, though, I didn’t catch your name.”

  “Nicholas Holt,” he said, shaking her hand. “I’m the director here.”

  “Oh, I thought the director was a woman. A Sarah something-or-other.”

  “I took over last year. She wanted to spend a few years enjoying retirement before she ended up right back here.”

  “That’s perfectly understandable. Well, it was nice to meet you. Thank you for taking such good care of my brother and his wife, thank you for hiring my daughter on when she needed it. I hope she’s not too much trouble.”

  “Not at all.” Nick said. A moment later, he excused himself to go and visit with the other tables.

&nb
sp; Autumn felt a tug of worry as he walked away. Why hadn’t he mentioned anything about them dating? Was it because he wasn’t serious about her? Or was it just because he didn’t know if he should bring up?

  He was probably just being polite and professional, she told herself. Nick was a problem for another night. Right now, she had to focus on getting through the evening and the day tomorrow with her mother. It could be worse. She could be staying the whole weekend.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  * * *

  With her mother visiting, Autumn didn’t have a real day off until Sunday, when the older woman had gone back home. While visits with her mother usually bordered on stressful, she was glad that the two of them had had a chance to catch up. Family was important to her, even if they didn’t always see eye to eye.