Deathly Ever After Read online

  She was surprisingly nervous as she pulled into the parking lot. She grabbed her steering wheel, taking a deep breath before turning off her car and unbuckling her seatbelt. She spotted Alicia through the window and waved at her friend.

  A few minutes later, she was seated at the table, sipping a blackberry lemonade that Alicia had ordered for her and staring at the menu. She usually got the French dip, but she was in the mood for something else today. She decided to go for a bacon lettuce tomato sandwich. She knew from experience that they were always generous with the meats here, and would give her a variety of different types of bacon and, crisp lettuce, different flavors of mayonnaise, and beautifully colored heirloom tomatoes.

  The two of them placed their orders and spent a few minutes talking about Alicia's day. Even though her friend didn't have a job besides selling crafts from her home, she managed to keep surprisingly busy.

  At last, Alicia quit talking about her latest passion – finding and repurposing discarded metal – and seemed to remember why she had met Autumn there in the first place.

  “You said you wanted to talk to me about something,” her friend said. “What's going on?”

  “Well, Nick and I were on a date, driving through town and passed the Green River Grocery. Jed put a new for sale sign out front – the person he was planning on selling it to must have backed out at the last minute. Anyway, Nick made a suggestion that stuck with me. He said that I should buy the grocery store and turn it into a restaurant. And honestly, the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. It is the perfect location for a riverside restaurant, and I doubt I would ever get a better deal on waterfront property than I would with Jed. I've known him for years, and plus, he's getting desperate to sell the place. The money I save on the property could go into renovations. I could probably qualify for a decent small business loan, and I've gotten some great experience with cooking over the past few months.”

  “Whoa, slow down,” her friend said. “Who are you trying to convince? Me, or yourself? I think you would make a great chef, so you don't have to worry about that. But what do you really know about running a restaurant? It’s not just about what’s going on in the kitchen. You have to worry about finances, scheduling for your employees, and all manner of things. Do you think Nick might help teach you about that side of things? Running a nursing home might not be the same as running a restaurant, but I bet it isn't too different.”

  “That's a great idea,” Autumn said. “But he's not the only one I'd need to help me.” She looked at her friend. Alicia blinked, then her eyes widened.

  “Me? You want me to help you? What can I do? I don't know the first thing about running a restaurant. You've got to deal with the FDA and health inspectors, don't you? That's about all I know.”

  “But you are so good at handling all these different projects,” Autumn said. “You're the best person I can think of to help me get set up. You don't even need to be involved once the restaurant opens. You could be more of a silent partner.”

  “A silent partner,” Alicia said, tapping her finger against her chin. “I like the sound of that. So, I could help you figure out how to open a restaurant and do all the fun stuff like helping you decorate, then just kind of take a step back and only pop in to help when you need me?”

  “Exactly,” Autumn said. “And I'd give you a percent of the profits, of course.”

  “Autumn, I don't think you've ever had a better idea. I'm in.”

  Chapter Three

  Autumn already knew Nick was on board – it had been his idea, after all, and now with Alicia also ready to help her embark on this newest adventure, there was only one more person she wanted to talk to before she really got her hopes up.

  Jed had been her boss for over five years. He was a good man, and had been a good boss. He was in his fifties, married, with children, and the grocery store had always been his greatest passion other than his family. She knew that being forced to shut it down had hurt him deeply, but it simply wasn't bringing in the money that it once had, and he had a family to care for.

  To make matters worse, the best job that he had been able to find was working at the supermarket which had opened up just outside of town. The very supermarket that had been a major reason behind his grocery store’s decline.

  She ran into him sometimes as she was shopping for her groceries, and always made a point to chat with him, but their conversations there were awkward and stilted. For this, she wanted to meet him somewhere filled with good memories, not bad ones. And for that, she figured there was no better place than the Green River Grocery itself.

  Jed was already there. She recognized his beat up old truck. Parked next to it was a maroon SUV. She wasn’t sure who it was, but she would find out soon enough. She pulled up next to his truck and got out. Jed waved to her from where he was standing near the tailgate of his truck. A tall man who looked to be about his age was standing next to him.

  “Autumn, I’d like you to meet my friend Neal White. I’ve known him for years. He’s a real estate agent, and agreed to help me sell this place. He actually helped me do repairs on the interior when I first bought it, so he knows the property about as well as I do.”

  “It’s nice to meet you,” she said to the real estate agent.

  “And you. I’m also an investor, so if you need startup money for something, I’m the guy you want to talk to. This place is quite the project. Here, I’ll give you one of my cards.”

  She took it and thanked him before refocusing her attention on Jed. “You already know why I’m here. I want to buy the Green River Grocery.”

  He blinked, and she felt her stomach twist with nerves. Was he going to laugh her back into her car? Had he already found a buyer? What if he had decided to keep it?

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes,” she said, taking a deep breath. “I’m sure. I want… I want to open a restaurant, and I think this place would be perfect. If it’s still for sale, that is.”

  There. She had said it. It was the first time she had voiced her plan to anyone outside of her immediate circle of friends. It felt both liberating and frightening somehow. Saying it made it seem real.

  “I did have someone who seemed pretty interested in it, but he stopped replying a few days ago, right after he said he might want to make an offer. So yeah, it’s still on the market.”

  “I’m serious about it, and I’m not going to waste your time like he did. The location, the size, everything about it is just right. I —” She broke off, realizing she was babbling.

  “I think it sounds like a wonderful idea,” Jed said, smiling. Autumn felt some of her tension ebb away. “I know you always liked cooking. It’s going to take some work to get it set up as a restaurant.” He hesitated. “Are you sure you’re prepared for that? With anyone else, I’d sell it in a heartbeat, but I wouldn’t want you to get in over your head.”

  “I’m ready,” she said. “I’ve got someone who’s prepared to help me, and I’ve been looking into getting a small business loan. I really want this, Jed.”

  “All right, then.” He gave her a smile which, unless she was mistaken, looked relieved. She knew that the building had been a money pit for him ever since he closed the store. “If you’re prepared to buy, I’m prepared to sell. Did you want to take a look around again? I know you know this place almost as well as I do, but you might see something different now that you’ll be looking at it with a restaurateur’s eye.”

  “I’d love to take a peek inside again,” she said. “I want to get some pictures to share with Alicia and Nick — they’re the ones who are going to help me.”

  “I’ll let you in, then I’m going to take a walk around the building to make sure everything’s secure. We’ve had some trouble with vandals lately.”

  Autumn followed Jed to the door, where he fumbled with his keys. Vandals, she thought. I hope it’s not an issue even after the restaurant is up and running. She was about to ask Jed just what the vandals had been doi
ng, when she heard a loud crashing sound from behind the building. She jumped, a burst of adrenaline spiking through her veins. Jed dropped his keys.

  “Darn it. I bet it’s those kids again.” He sighed. “I’d better go check it out.”

  “Go on ahead, I’ll unlock the door for Autumn,” Neal offered. He took a ring of keys out of his own pocket, and fitted one into the lock on the first try.

  “I’m actually going to go with Jed,” Autumn said. If there were vandals, she wanted to see what they were doing firsthand.

  “You should probably wait here. It'll be safer. Those kids can be pretty rough.”

  In Asheville? she thought. “I’ll be fine. If I’m going to buy the place, I need to know what I’m getting into.”

  Jed hesitated, but finally nodded his agreement. Neal shrugged and let himself into the building. Pocketing his keys, Jed backtracked to his truck, where he pulled out a heavy flashlight. He turned it on and it illuminated the side of the building, putting out much more light than Autumn’s phone flashlight could.

  She followed behind him, watching as the beam of light cut through the darkness as he rounded the corner of the building that was closest to the river. The light illuminated a large, dark green dumpster. One of the flaps on top had been left open. As soon as the light struck the dumpster, there was a rustling sound. Autumn felt her heart begin to speed up again, and stuck close to Jed as he approached the dumpster.

  When the raccoon stuck its head out, she let out a small yelp, then slapped her hand over her mouth, embarrassed. Its eyes catching the light, the raccoon stared at them for a split second, then heaved itself over the edge of the dumpster and ran off into the darkness, chattering angrily.

  “Oh my goodness,” Autumn said, giving a breathy laugh. “That scared me half to death.”

  Jed grunted and continued toward the dumpster. She caught sight of a frown on his shadowed face.

  “Jed? What is it?”

  “Gotta close the door, I don’t want the dumpster filling up with snow again,” he said. “People keep dumping trash here. I had it chained shut, but someone cut through the chain a few months ago.”

  Autumn sighed, mentally making another tally on the list of potential issues she would have to deal with. She hadn’t realized just how many problems might develop when taking over a building that had been abandoned for months. She didn’t want people dumping garbage at her new restaurant.

  She followed Jed over to the dumpster, glancing inside as he reached for the heavy door. The flashlight wavered as he grabbed the door to slam it shut, and for a split second, it illuminated the interior of the dumpster.

  This time, Autumn didn’t cut off her scream. She jumped back, slipping in the snow and grabbing at Jed for support.

  “What the —” He twisted to catch her arm before she fell. Before he could continue his sentence and ask her what was going on, she pointed mutely at the dumpster. He shone the light inside it and gasped, taking an involuntary step of his own back as he saw the body that had been stashed inside.

  Chapter Four

  As Jed began to swear, Autumn felt frozen. Her hands were gripped into fists at her side, and her heart was pounding. She tried not to imagine what the raccoon had been doing in that dumpster. Her stomach began to roil and, afraid that she would vomit, she backed up until her back hit a tree. She leaned against it, closing her eyes and forcing herself to take slow, deep breaths until the dizziness began to fade and her stomach felt a little bit better.

  “It’s Dennis. He’s the buyer I was telling you about a few minutes ago,” Jed said. She opened her eyes. He was still standing at the dumpster, a pinched expression on his face as he shone the light inside.

  Dennis… she recognized the name, and the body had looked familiar. With a lurch, she realized that she had seen the dead man just a few days ago, arguing with his wife at the nursing home.

  “We need to call the police,” Autumn said, already fumbling at her coat pocket for her phone.

  Jed nodded, still staring into the dumpster. Autumn dialed 911 with shaking fingers, pressing the phone to her ear and taking another deep breath just as the dispatcher answered. She quickly told the man what had happened, reciting the address from memory — how many deliveries had she placed for the store over the years? Asheville was small, but there was a medical emergency center on the outskirts of town that included a morgue, and it wouldn’t take them long to send someone out to the Green River Grocery. The police, Autumn knew, would arrive even sooner. The police station was only a couple of blocks away.

  Still, it seemed an eternity before she heard the sirens approaching. Jed had left the dumpster, and had taken up a spot near her, shining the flashlight around them every couple of seconds as though he expected to see someone sneaking up on them. Autumn had barely had time to process the fact that there was a body hidden in the dumpster behind the store she wanted to buy, and hadn’t even started to wonder why it was there. Now, seeing Jed’s paranoid behavior, she began to feel a prickle on the back of her neck. This went beyond vandalism. Unless the man had somehow managed to pass away from natural causes, snugly inside a cold metal dumpster, this was murder.

  When the police arrived, they separated her and Jed, questioning them individually. She answered the questions in a daze, still feeling sick. When the coroner’s van arrived, she did her best not to look as they removed the body. She could hardly believe that an hour ago she had been standing in nearly the same place in the parking lot, telling Jed her dreams of opening up a restaurant, completely unaware of the body in the dumpster. With a shiver, she wondered how many times she had driven past this place in the last few days, not realizing what was hidden behind it. It had been below freezing for most of the week, so the body could have been there for a long time without anyone knowing.

  “Are you all right, ma’am?” the officer who had been questioning her asked.

  “I’m fine,” she said, pulling her coat tighter around herself. “Just a little cold.”

  He peered at her for a moment, then said, “Why don’t you head home? We’ve got everything we need for the time being. If something else comes up, we’ll be in contact with you. Here’s my card. If you think of anything that might be helpful, give me a call at any time. I mean that. Don’t feel bad about calling in the middle of the night if you have to.”

  She took the card, mumbling her thanks, then glanced over at Jed, who was still answering questions. They must need more from him, she thought. He still owns this place, even if he’s hardly ever here anymore. Plus, he knew the victim.

  “Thank you,” she said. “I hope you find out what happened soon.”

  She got into her car, starting it and letting the engine heat up while she stashed the card in her wallet. She glanced at Jed again after buckling her seatbelt, feeling bad about leaving him without saying anything. This had to be even harder for him, since it was his property and someone he knew. At least Neal was there to keep him company. The police had already finished questioning him, but he was waiting in his SUV for his friend to be done as well.

  With a sigh, she put the car into gear and pulled out of the parking lot, taking the turns toward her house automatically. She still didn’t feel like herself as she pulled into the driveway, and almost cried when she saw that she had forgotten to turn on the porch light when she left that morning, and she hadn’t put Christmas lights up yet. The house was dark and foreboding, and there was no way to tell what was waiting for her inside.

  Frankie, she thought. Frankie’s inside, that’s all. There’s nothing else there. Why am I being so ridiculous? The dead man had nothing to do with me, there’s no reason for me to be so jumpy. Feeling irritated with herself on top of everything else, she grabbed her purse and got out of the car, making sure she had her house key ready. Hearing Frankie’s bark when her key entered the lock made her feel better, and she pushed opened the door and flicked on the kitchen lights in one smooth motion.

  “Hey, girl,” she s
aid as she walked in, shutting the door behind her before crouching down to greet the excited Cairn terrier. Frankie’s stubby tail wagged wildly. Autumn scratched behind her ears then stood up, turning the deadbolt before reaching for the bowl on the counter for a dog treat.

  While Frankie was crunching away, Autumn walked through the house, turning the other lights on as she double checked that all of the windows and the backdoor were locked. She knew she was being paranoid for no good reason, but seeing the body in the dumpster had spooked her. She was lucky enough to live a life that, for the most part, let her assume the best about people, and reminders about the darker side of human nature always caught her unaware.

  As she went through her normal evening routine — letting Frankie out back, making a cup of hot chocolate, and turning on the television to watch reruns of her favorite shows — she began to feel a little bit better. It wasn’t until she was sitting on the couch with one foot tucked beneath her, a blanket on her lap, Frankie curled up next to her, and a warm mug in her hand, that she decided it was time to bite the bullet and tell her friends what had happened. Both Nick and Alicia had known that she was planning on talking to Jed today, and if she didn’t get in touch with them tonight, they would both ambush her with questions in the morning.