Fish, Chips, and Murder

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  FISH, CHIPS, AND MURDER

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  EPILOGUE

  Fish,

  Chips,

  And

  Murder

  Asheville Cozy Mysteries

  Book Seven

  By

  Patti Benning

  Copyright 2018 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.

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  FISH,

  CHIPS,

  AND

  MURDER

  ASHEVILLE COZY MYSTERIES

  BOOK SEVEN

  CHAPTER ONE

  “Finally,” Autumn Roth said as she put the last of the dishes away. It had been a long day, and she was ready to go home. While she loved her job as the cook at Asheville Meadows, even she would admit that the days where she had to be there from breakfast all the way through to dinner and didn’t get a chance to go home were exhausting.

  “Are we all done?” Autumn turned to see her coworker, Emily, look up from where she had been taking inventory in the pantry. “I’m done with the dishes,” Autumn said. “How are you doing?”

  “I can finish up tomorrow,” Emily said, shutting the pantry door and putting the notebook she had been using to record the inventory down on the counter. “Mr. Holt wants it by noon, so if I come in early, I should have time to finish it.”

  “Good. You’ve been here all day, too, haven’t you? You look tired.”

  “I got here right after breakfast,” Emily said. “We’ve all been working a lot more than usual since Annie quit.”

  “Nick is hoping to hire someone new soon,” Autumn said. “I hope it doesn’t take him long to find someone. I miss being able to go home between meals.”

  Glad that the day was finally over, she washed her hands one more time and, after drying them off on the hand towel, reached for the switch to turn off the lights in the kitchen. She waited until Emily joined her at the door, then followed her friend out of the dark kitchen and shut the door behind her.

  It had been nearly an hour since dinner had finished, and the nursing home was quiet and peaceful. It was a pleasant change from the noise and commotion that had been driving her crazy all day.

  When Nick had first announced that they were going to be adding a new wing to the building, she had been excited. A new wing would give them space to welcome even more residents and would also include updated exercise facilities. It would be great for everyone but getting it there was the problem. The construction had been driving the entire nursing home up the wall for the past couple of months. The parking lot and grounds were a mess, and the constant noise from the construction was giving everyone headaches. Autumn could hardly wait until the new wing was finished, even if just for the peace and quiet.

  “Can you grab my purse for me?” Emily asked as they walked through the common area toward the office. “I want to run to the bathroom quickly before heading home.”

  “Sure,” Autumn said. “I’ll wait for you by the front door.”

  They split up. Autumn had only gotten a few steps down the hall when she heard another set of footsteps. She stopped in her tracks, feeling the skin on the back of her neck prickle. She would be the first to admit that the nursing home could be a little bit creepy after dark, when most of the staff had gone home for the day and all of the residents were in their rooms. She knew that the footsteps probably belonged to one of the night workers, but as far as she knew, they were all female. These steps were heavy and solid, and she would have guessed that they belonged to a man.

  As if to prove her right, a construction worker walked around the corner. He waved when he saw her, but Autumn just frowned. The construction workers weren’t supposed to be in the building unless it was an emergency, and they definitely weren’t supposed to be in the building after visiting hours were over.

  “Excuse me, but who are you?” Autumn asked as the man drew near. She knew that she couldn’t let him by without questioning him.

  “Percy Green,” he said, extending a hand for her to shake. “You’re the cook, aren’t you? Lunch today was great.”

  Still puzzled, Autumn shook his hand. He did look familiar, come to think of it.

  “Sorry, but why are you here so late?”

  “I was visiting my grandfather, Archie Green. We just finished up a movie on his old VCR player.”

  Now Autumn remembered him. He had indeed been there at lunch and had eaten a few other meals there over the past couple of weeks as well.

  “Well, it was nice of you to visit. Visiting hours are over, but I’m sure we’ll see you again soon.”

  “You definitely will,” he said. He gave her a cheerful wave as he continued down the hall. She waited until she saw him leave through the double doors at the front of the building, then continued on her own way.

  She walked into the front office, where she grabbed her purse off the hook and shot a glance toward Nick’s door. Her boyfriend had left a couple of hours ago to get changed before their date that evening. He was supposed to pick her up at home in just over half an hour. She had skipped eating dinner at the nursing home, knowing that she would be going out with him, and her stomach was rumbling.

  Turning back to the line of hooks on the wall, she frowned. Emily always left her purse hanging up on the far-left hook, next to Autumn’s, but right now, all of the hooks were empty. She looked around the room, wondering if the younger woman had left her purse on a table or counter, but didn’t see it.

  Puzzled, Autumn left the office and went to wait by the front door. It wasn’t long before Emily joined her.

  “I couldn’t find your purse,” Autumn told her as the younger woman walked up. “Did you leave it somewhere
other than the staff room?”

  “No,” Emily said, biting her lower lip. “I hung it up where I always do, right next to yours. Are you sure it’s not there?”

  “I didn’t see it,” Autumn said. “Maybe somebody moved it for some reason. I’ll help you look.”

  The two of them spent the next few minutes tearing the staff room apart, but Emily’s purse was nowhere to be found. Autumn could tell that the younger woman was getting more and more frantic.

  “My car keys are in there,” Emily said. “So are my phone and my wallet. What am I going to do? Do you think somebody stole it?”

  “Is it possible that you left in the car? Or maybe in the kitchen?”

  The younger woman shook her head, but they went to go and search through the kitchen anyway. They didn’t have any luck. By now, Autumn knew that she was going to be late for her date with Nick, so while she followed the younger woman into a parking lot on the off chance that she had left her purse in the car, she dialed his number.

  When she explained the problem to him, she was surprised to hear him swear. Nick didn’t often use profanity, and she knew right away that something was wrong.

  “This is the third time that something important has gone missing in the past week,” he said by way of explanation. “The first time, a resident complained that her purse was missing, but it turned up a little bit later in her room. We saw that she had just misplaced it, but then the next day, someone’s wallet vanished. That still hasn’t turned up. Now this. I’m starting to see a pattern. I should have mentioned it sooner. Tell Emily that she should file a report with the credit card company.”

  “Do you think somebody has been stealing people’s information?”

  “I’m not sure. Nothing major was missing out of the resident’s purse, though she did say that she thought she had more cash in her wallet than she did. I’m not even sure if all of these incidents are related, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

  Autumn sighed. The last thing they needed was a thief. “I’ll let her know that she should contact her credit card company and her bank. In the meantime, I’m going to give her a ride home. That means I probably won’t be ready to go on our date on time.”

  “That’s fine,” he said. “Is there anything I can do to help? Do you want me to come over and help the two of you look for it at the nursing home?”

  “We’ve already looked all over the staff room and the kitchen, and she’s checking her car now, but I don’t think it’s here. We’ll just have to see if it turns up tomorrow, I guess.”

  They said their goodbyes and Autumn hung up the phone. By then, Emily had finished searching the car. Autumn could tell by the expression on the other woman’s face that she hadn’t found the purse. She sighed; it was time to share Nick’s suggestion about contacting her bank and credit card company.

  “He should have told us if people’s things have been going missing,” Emily huffed when Autumn finished. “That’s something that the staff should know about.”

  “Well, the purse that went missing before did turn up pretty quickly. And I’m sure whoever was on staff when the guest’s wallet went missing was alerted, but it probably didn’t raise that many red flags. We’ve had people lose their wallets, jackets, and car keys before, and they always turn up in the lost and found eventually. I do agree that the third time in a week is probably more than a coincidence.”

  “Well, if someone is stealing, who could be? I hate thinking that it might be one of the residents, but I know all of the staff. None of them would do anything like this.”

  “It could be one of the guests,” Autumn said. “Or maybe a construction worker. Or, it might be no one. It’s possible that you misplaced your purse without thinking about it, and the other two incidents could just be coincidences.”

  “I suppose,” Emily said. She sighed. “Either way, my purse is still missing.”

  “Do you have a spare key to unlock your house? I can give you a ride there before heading home. I’ll pick you up tomorrow before our shift starts.”

  “Would you? That would be great. I’m so sorry to cause all of this trouble for you.”

  “It’s no trouble,” Autumn assured her. “Your house is practically on my way home. It’s no big deal at all.”

  They were both quiet as they headed into town. Autumn knew that Emily was probably worrying about her purse, and Autumn was thinking about Nick. She had defended him automatically, but privately she thought that he really should have mentioned something about the missing wallet to the rest of the staff. If stuff was going missing, then they should know. Of course, they had been busier than ever lately, and he probably just hadn’t had time. She was sure that everyone else would know about the missing items soon enough. With luck, both the wallet and Emily’s purse would turn up soon.

  I really hope no one quits over this, she thought. We can’t afford to lose anyone else. Not now, not while we’re already down another staff member with Annie having left so suddenly. She turned into Emily’s driveway, forcing her face into a smile as she bade the younger woman good night. Things will work out. There wasn’t any use in worrying about stuff that she didn’t have any control over. She just had to keep reminding herself that.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Autumn was glad that she didn’t have to work until lunchtime the next day, because her date with Nick lasted late into the night. Once they stopped talking about the mysterious vanishing objects in the nursing home and started on later topics, she had just as much fun with him as she always did. They had been dating for nearly half a year, and he had become an important part of her life. Sometimes it was still hard for her to believe how lucky she had gotten. She didn’t think that she had ever dated someone before who made her feel so special and happy.

  She slept until eight the next morning, which was late for her, and opened her eyes to find the beginning of a beautiful, sunny day. The light was streaming in through her window, and she could see nothing but blue sky outside. Frankie, her Cairn terrier, was laying by her side, staring at her face. When she saw her owner’s eyes open, her stumpy tail began to wag.

  “Good morning, sleepyhead,” Autumn said to the dog, smiling. She felt bad, knowing that she hadn’t been around as often as she usually was. Most of the time, she was able to come home between shifts to take Frankie out and spend some time with her, but ever since they had gone down another employee, she had felt obligated to stay and help when she wasn’t cooking. She really hoped that Nick would hire someone soon, though she knew that it would be difficult to find the right person, especially with all of the construction. She was sure that he would have better luck once the extra wing was built and they didn’t have to worry about the ruckus anymore.

  Covering a yawn, Autumn sat up and got out of bed, the little dog following her. It wasn’t until she had her first cup of coffee that she remembered Emily’s missing purse. She felt a jolt of guilt for having forgotten but in her defense, it had been a long night. She knew that she should pick the younger woman up early today, so they could spend some time looking for the purse before they both had to start working.

  What if we don’t find it? she wondered. With her car keys, wallet, and cell phone missing, she knew that Emily would have a hard time doing anything. She couldn’t even move her car from the nursing home’s parking lot. If the purse had been stolen, it would be bad news. She found herself hoping that the younger woman had remembered to call and cancel her credit cards when she got home, and only belatedly realized that Emily might not even have a landline. A lot of people relied solely on cell phones nowadays.

  With a sigh, Autumn got up and poured herself a bowl of cereal, the quickest breakfast that she could make. She would have liked to spend the morning sitting around and relaxing, but she knew that she had to get over to Emily’s as quickly as possible. Together they would make sure that whoever had taken the younger woman’s purse wouldn’t be able to do any lasting damage.

  When she got to her co
worker’s house, she left the car running and went up to knock on the door. Emily was already dressed when she opened it and looked as though she had been up for hours.

  “Hey Ms. – I mean, hi Autumn.”

  “Hey, Emily. I thought you might want help figuring stuff out in case we can’t find your purse. Do you want to head to the nursing home now to continue looking? If we don’t find it soon, we really should call the card companies and the bank. If somebody stole your credit cards, you want to alert the bank as soon as possible. The longer you wait, the harder it will be to get any stolen money back.”

  “I’ve been keeping an eye on my account from my laptop,” the younger woman said. “I haven’t seen anything suspicious yet, but you’re right. If we can’t find the purse today, I’ll call them this evening. I should probably figure out how to get a new set of car keys as well. Thank goodness I made copies of the house key.”

  “I can help you with all of that,” Autumn said. “Do you want to get going?”