Murder Befalls Us

by Patti Benning

  Murder Befalls Us

  Cozy Mystery Tails of Alaska, Book 2

  Patti Benning

  Summer Prescott Books Publishing

  Copyright 2019 Summer Prescott Books

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication nor any of the information herein may be quoted from, nor reproduced, in any form, including but not limited to: printing, scanning, photocopying, or any other printed, digital, or audio formats, without prior express written consent of the copyright holder.

  **This book is a work of fiction. Any similarities to persons, living or dead, places of business, or situations past or present, is completely unintentional.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Epilogue

  Also by Patti Benning

  Author’s Note

  Contact Summer Prescott Books Publishing

  1

  Angie Seaver dropped the two batter-covered fish fillets in the pan, listening to the satisfying sizzle for a moment before turning her attention to the batch of fries that was seconds away from being done. She watched the timer, waiting until it hit zero before she lifted the basket out of the oil and set it in the holder above the vat. The golden-brown wedges of potato looked perfect. She smiled to herself. She was getting better at this.

  She heard Betty call another order out, and hurried over to the window to grab it. A chicken salad sandwich with fries and cottage cheese, a meal that sounded good enough to make her stomach growl. A glance at the clock told her she only had twenty minutes left on her shift. She would get lunch after, before heading home.

  After flipping the fish fillets, she grabbed two slices of bread and slid them into the toaster, jiggling the lever just so to make sure it stayed down. After a few weeks, the little idiosyncrasies of the kitchen were almost like second nature to her. She was relearning everything she had forgotten in the years since she had last worked there, and then some.

  She plated the fries, served a small amount of cottage cheese into a bowl, then turned her attention back to the fish, which was done. She slid the still sizzling fillets onto a plate which she had prepared a few minutes ago, then carried it over to the window.

  “Table five,” she called out. She didn’t wait to see if Betty had heard her — Betty always heard her — before going back to finish the order with the chicken salad sandwich.

  There wasn’t another order to fill, so after handing the plate with the sandwich on it over to Betty, she began cleaning up. She had learned to tidy up fast during the times there was a lull, because if she didn’t, the mess would pile up behind her as she worked.

  She had just finished scrubbing the last pan when the door to the kitchen banged open. Expecting to see Betty, she was surprised when she looked up and saw her father. Then she glanced at the clock and realized her shift had ended. She was free to go.

  “Busy day?” her father asked as he tied on his apron and walked over to the sink to scrub his hands. Angie left the water on for him and began drying her own hands on a clean towel.

  “It wasn’t that bad early in the morning,” she said. “But it did get pretty busy for a while later on. Betty said there’s some sort of game at the school tonight, and dinner will probably be crazy. Do you want me to come back and help out?”

  He shook his head. “Grace is going to come in. Your mother mentioned she might like to come into town later today, though, if you’re available.”

  “I’ll definitely make time for that,” she said. She pulled open the fridge and was eyeing the container of chicken salad when her father spoke again.

  “A friend of yours is at table two. She caught me when I was coming in and I promised to send you out soon.”

  “A friend? Oh! Maggie.” Angie shut the fridge in a hurry. “I completely forgot I promised her we could get lunch together.”

  “I saw a family of four getting out of their car in the parking lot. You’d better hurry if you want to get your orders in before they do.”

  “Thanks, Dad,” she said. Over the past few weeks, they had gradually begun to pick up a rapport with each other. It was still strange, sometimes, to be back here after so long, but she was getting used to it.

  She paused by the door to hang up her apron — which boasted a freshly printed name tag on the breast pocket — and then pushed through to the dining area. It was a sunny, clear day, and even though the kitchen was well lit, it was windowless. The bright sunlight coming in from the wide picture windows at the front of the restaurant made her feel like she had just stepped out of a cave.

  “Hey, Angie!”

  Maggie had spotted her before she’d even had a chance to look for her friend. Grinning, Angie headed toward the booth the other woman had claimed.

  “I hope I didn’t keep you waiting for long,” she said, not wanting to mention that she had completely forgotten about their lunch plans. It wasn’t a good excuse, but she had been busy the past few days.

  “Nope, I got here just as your father was pulling in. It was perfect timing.”

  “That’s good,” Angie said. She eyed the group of four that was coming through the front door. “Do you know what you want? We should get our orders in soon, it looks like it’s about to get busy.”

  “I always get the same thing,” her friend said with a shrug. “The turkey club on rye. I’ve ordered it what, like three times while you were on shift?”

  “It’s hard to keep things straight when I’m in the kitchen,” Angie admitted. “I just make the orders as fast as I can and call out table numbers.”

  “True.” Her friend smiled at her. “Shall we order? I don’t want to be in a rush, but I do have to pick up Josh in about an hour.”

  “Of course.”

  Angie met Betty’s eyes and nodded. The older woman came over and took their orders, promising to bring the drinks out soon. It felt odd to be getting served at the diner. While she ate there a lot, it was usually back in the kitchen, after having put the food together herself. It would be nice to eat her dad’s cooking for a change. He had always been a genius with food.

  Betty came back within minutes with a coffee for Angie and a hot chocolate for Maggie. Once she was gone, a slightly awkward silence settled over their table. The two women had been close friends years ago, but both of them had gone separate directions with their lives and had fallen out of touch. Now they were getting to know each other all over again.

  “Any luck with your brother?” Maggie asked at last.

  “Oh, yeah. He actually bought the plane tickets. Emailed me a copy of the receipt and everything, since he knew I wouldn’t believe him. I could practically hear the ‘I told you so’ through the computer screen.”

  Her friend giggled. “Did he actually say that?”

  “No, but I know he was thinking it.” Angie smirked. “The only way I could convince him to come and visit was by telling him I knew there was no way he would ever come back. He just had to prove me wrong.”

  “How long has it been since you’ve seen him?”

  “Ten years,” she said, shaking her head. “Same as with my parents. He moved out to Florida and pretty much cut off contact with everyone. I’d get friendly-enough replies to the emails I sent on holidays, but we didn’t really start talking again until a couple of years ago when his fiancée — then girlfriend — found
my profile on social media and sent me a friend request. She and I chatted for a while, and then eventually he started sending me messages too. We’ve kind of gotten back into an easy, teasing relationship like we had before, but it’s not quite as relaxed. There’s still a lot neither of us will talk about with each other.”

  Her friend gave her a sad smile. “It can’t be easy. Your family pretty much imploded after Katy’s accident. I wish I had been there more for you.”

  “There wasn’t anything you could have done that you didn’t do,” Angie said firmly. “We were young, barely out of our teen years. You had — and have — your own life to worry about. I’m just glad that we’re here now, talking to each other and getting to be friends again.”

  “Me, too. It’s so nice to have someone I can just relax and have fun around. It’s hard being a single mother, especially in such a small town. Everyone knows that Josh’s father left me, and I feel like it’s all anyone sees when they look at me.”

  “I know how this place can be.” She grinned. “Don’t worry, when I look at you, I still see the teenage version of you who helped me sneak out and go to that dance even though I was grounded. You know what, I think my mom probably still has some of my old yearbooks packed away somewhere. I should find the one from our senior year and show Josh what your hair looked like.”

  “My son would never let me live it down,” Maggie groaned. The two of them laughed, and Angie sipped her coffee, feeling lighter than she ever thought she would after returning home.

  2

  As the date of her brother’s visit approached, Angie found herself beginning to get nervous. Had she made a mistake in badgering her brother and his fiancée to come visit? Maybe it would have been better to start with something less demanding than a two week stay. If tensions got too high, the two of them could always get a motel in town, she supposed. She knew how happy her mother was that their guests would be staying at the house, and all Angie could do was cross her fingers and hope it went well. It had better, she grumbled to herself as she struggled to put the fitted sheet on the bed in the guest room. She had spent the weekend cleaning out the room, which had become a mix of storage room and failed exercise room. While her mother was good company, Angie had done all of the heavy lifting, and her body was definitely complaining.

  At least everything was ready now. Her brother and his fiancée would be flying in in two days, and they would find a lovely guest bedroom waiting for them, along with some of her brother’s favorite foods and a carbonated water drink that he had told them his fiancée just had to have. Even though she hadn’t seen her brother in person for over a decade, his fiancée was the one she was most nervous about finally meeting. What would it be like to live with a complete stranger for two weeks?

  A black bundle of fur came streaking into the room, tearing across the top of the bed and wrecking all of Angie’s work with the fitted sheet before leaping off and turning on a dime to hide under the bed. Angie stumbled back, wincing. One of the cat’s claws had caught her hand.

  “What —” She cut her exclamation off when she heard barking from downstairs. With a sigh, she straightened the sheet then went downstairs, leaving the door to the guest room open so the cat — she hadn’t had a chance to see if it was Chess or Checkers — could come out when it was ready.

  In the living room, she found a husky barking from behind the collapsible pen he was in. He had a shaved patch on his hind leg, with a mostly healed injury partially visible. Next to the pen, another husky, this one red and white and significantly older, was lounging on the floor.

  “Petunia, control your grandson,” Angie said to the older dog. Turning to the dog in the pen, she waggled a finger in admonishment. “Oracle, you’re supposed to be resting, not tormenting the cats.”

  The barking stopped when he heard his name, and Oracle put his paws up on top of the edge of the pen, looking at her eagerly. She relented and patted the top of his head.

  “I guess you’re probably just bored. But no more lying in wait for the cats and then jumping at them, okay? You’ll be back out with the other dogs soon enough.”

  She pet the dog some more, feeling bad for him — though not quite as bad as she felt for the terrified cat under the bed upstairs. He was a young dog, and full of energy. He didn’t know how to live in the house, and he didn’t understand that it was just temporary while he recovered from his injury. All he knew was that he was bored, too hot, and that cats were fun to scare.

  “Angie?” Her mother’s quiet voice came from behind her. “Don’t you have a date with Malcolm soon? I thought you’d be getting ready for it.”

  “It’s not a date,” she replied, turning away from the dogs. “But I do need to go get ready. One of the cats is hiding under the bed in the guest room, so don’t shut the door. Oracle scared the poor thing again.”

  “I think your father plans to take him out to the dog yard tomorrow, if his vet appointment gives him the all clear.” Her mother walked over to the dog and patted him, shaking her head. “I don’t know who will be happier, Oracle or the cats. Go on and get ready for your date, dear. I don’t want you to be late.”

  “Not a date,” Angie muttered halfheartedly as she hurried down the hall to her room. She and Malcolm Miles had been spending a lot of time together over the past couple of weeks, but she didn’t think they were dating. She wasn’t actually sure. They went out to eat a lot, and he insisted on paying, but he hadn’t so much as kissed her yet. It was possible he was taking things slow — he did have kids, so she could understand that — but more likely, he viewed her as a friend. Which she didn’t mind. They definitely had enough in common to make great friends. But… she wanted to know for sure, because she definitely felt something for him other than simple friendship.

  Tamping down the frustration, she got into the shower and scrubbed herself until her skin stung and her hair squeaked. The warm water was calming and helped to soothe the ache in her muscles from all of the heavy lifting she had done earlier in the day to help prepare for her brother’s visit. By the time she had gotten out of the shower, dried her hair, and put a new outfit on, she was feeling much more optimistic. Date or not, she wanted to look her best for their outing. They were actually going out of town for dinner tonight, to a steakhouse halfway down the main road to the larger city. She knew that even if she didn’t get any of her questions about their relationship resolved, it would be a fun evening. It always was.

  3

  Gillian and Joe’s Steakhouse was in a long building in what felt like the middle of nowhere. If she hadn’t already been familiar with the place, Angie might have wondered how on earth it managed to stay in business. There were maybe three houses in a five-mile radius of it, and it was a good forty-five minutes away from Lost Bay.

  However, it was nearly the exact same distance from the larger city down the coast, and it was one of the nicest restaurants in the area. While it wasn’t conveniently located for anyone, it was still well located, since anyone driving down to the city was bound to pass it, and with almost no competition, it was the place to stop at on the long drive to civilization. Plus, they served really good food.

  Angie’s family had gone there every Sunday for as long as she could remember all the way through high school, though they had stopped after all of their children had moved out. She had known the original owners, a married couple who had named the restaurant after themselves, and had heard through the grapevine that their daughter had inherited it when they retired.

  Stepping through the doors into the darkly lit main dining room was like stepping into her past. The same old shuffleboard table was sitting along the side wall, and the decor was mostly what she remembered, though by the look of it the booths had been reupholstered and the walls had been repainted at some point. The restaurant still had a smoking side and a nonsmoking side, which was strange to Angie after spending so much time in California, where smoking in restaurants was banned.

  “Party of two?” th
e hostess asked.

  They nodded their affirmative, and the young woman led her and Malcolm to a secluded booth at the far side of the restaurant. It was still early in the evening, and the place wasn’t very busy. Angie was glad — that meant that with luck, their food would come out quickly. She was hungry.

  “So, how was your weekend?” he asked her as they settled in.

  “Busy,” she admitted. “I’ve been helping my mother get the house tidied up for my brother and his fiancée. The whole nine yards — we even moved the fridge to clean under it. It made me realize just how much she and my father probably did when they were getting ready for me to come back and stay with them. They completely redid the bedroom and bathroom that I took over. I feel bad, like I should have appreciated it more.”

  “I’m sure they know you do appreciate it,” he said. “The first few days after you moved back were… kind of crazy. I think everyone was a bit distracted.”

  “True. Hopefully my brother’s visit won’t be anywhere near as exciting. Anyway, how was your weekend?”

  “Great.” His face relaxed into a smile. “I spent most of my time with the kids. I’ve been showing them how to take care of the dogs. They love it all, of course. Sometimes I wonder if the dogs are the ones they really want to visit, and I just happen to be there.”

  Angie laughed. “It’s good for them, learning how to take care of animals. I’m glad they like it.”

  “Did you like it, when you were growing up? I know your dad has had dogs pretty much his whole life.”