Err on the side dish of.., p.1
Err on the Side Dish of Caution: A Newfound Lake Cozy Mystery, page 1
Err on the Side Dish of Caution
A Newfound Lake Cozy Mystery
Book 6
Virginia K. Bennett
Copyright © 2023 by Virginia K. Bennett
All rights reserved. Published by Virginia K. Bennett.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Cover by Pixel Squirrel Studio
To the members of the writing community who supported me early on, thank you!
Skye Jones
Marissa Farrar
Dawn Edwards
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TL Swan
VR Tennent
Gina Sturino
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…and so many more!
Table of Contents
1. The Family
2. The Scene
3. The Purchases
4. The Baker
5. The Shop
6. The Reporter
7. The Gravy
8. The Dish
9. The Revelation
10. The Finale
Also by Virginia K. Bennett
Recipe
About the Author
Chapter 1
The Family
Rebecca Ramsey looked around her kitchen and dining room. From where she stood in front of the oven, she could see and hear a house full of love. If she had been asked even six months ago what Thanksgiving would look like, this was the absolute last picture she could have imagined.
At a table designed for eight, every seat was full, except the one waiting for Rebecca. With his back to the kitchen, Jeremy sat next to the empty seat, with Melanie at the head of the table on his left. On the other side of the empty seat sat Rebecca’s boyfriend, Chief Kenny Towne, with Megan at the head of the table opposite her sister. Jeremy was directly across from Heather, Kenny’s ex-wife. She had brought along her new boyfriend, Elliott, and he sat next to Mary with her cardigan and perfect head of gray curls.
“Well, I dare say we have a good-looking group for Thanksgiving this year,” Mary reported. “Rebecca, it sure beats last year.”
Rebecca walked over to the table with a bowl of biscuits she was keeping warm in the oven.
“I must agree with you. I definitely prefer a full table.”
Rebecca placed the remaining item in the center of the table and sat down, taking an extra moment to connect with her library volunteers, Jeremy and Mary.
“Would anyone mind if I said grace?” asked Elliott, the newest member of the extended family that had started to form. He looked directly at Rebecca. “Unless you would prefer to, as the host.”
“We would love to have you say grace.”
Heather beamed with pride and reached for Melanie’s hand. In turn, everyone else joined hands around the table.
Rebecca and Kenny had discussed Heather’s religious beliefs and how important they were to her, so allowing her new boyfriend to say grace seemed like a small concession for a first Thanksgiving together.
“Dear Lord, thank you for this food we are about to eat. We are grateful for the friends and family around the table, and we join together to say… Amen.” Everyone spoke the last word together.
“Let’s eat,” proclaimed Rebecca. She looked to Kenny who gave her hand a little extra squeeze before letting go.
With a parent next to each young girl, their plates were filled for them, and other members of the table helped themselves, passing dishes in a clockwise motion around the table.
“Long ago, when I was a little girl,” started Mary, “my father would make us pass only clockwise, and no one was allowed to pass anything across the table. If you missed something, you needed to wait for it to go all the way around again and hope there was some left.”
“Ms. Mary, that sounds dreadful,” announced Melanie. “Why wouldn’t there be any food left?”
“Well, I was one of six children, so if you didn’t take something, it had to go through seven other people, including my parents, before it could come back to you. Oh, and no one snuck any food until after grace was done.” Mary gave the side eye to Jeremy, who had snuck a chunk of a biscuit off the tablecloth when Rebecca had set it on the table.
Jeremy had the decency to look embarrassed. “When I was a young boy, our parents served themselves first, and we got what was remaining. My brother loved the dark meat, so he didn’t care, but I hated it when we had a small bird and I got stuck with dark meat after Mom and Dad got the best cuts. Sometimes, my brother, who was two years older, just like you, Melanie, would take the rest of the white meat just to make me eat the dark meat.”
With a mouth already full of mashed potatoes, Megan chimed in, “She would totally do that.” Her stubby finger pointed across the length of the table at her older sister.
“I would not,” Melanie defended. “I would never eat anything but white meat, no matter what.”
“Eating sounds like a good idea right now,” encouraged Heather. “Rebecca, why don’t you tell us how the tree is coming along for the Festival of Trees.”
Yesterday, Rebecca, Jeremy and Mary hosted several events for children prior to Thanksgiving. With the last day of school being Tuesday, many parents were in dire need of childcare. Rebecca brought in everyone she could to host enough activities to fill that void, at least for some families.
Thanksgiving was a time for travel in a lot of households. People would pack up, sometimes the weekend before Thanksgiving, and fly all over the country to see family this one time every year. Other families couldn’t afford the travel or to take the time off from work. Those families were the ones who signed up for the free activities on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.
As chief, Kenny clearly needed to work on Thanksgiving and, with such a supportive family, was able to take on a lot of hours earlier in the day to give other members of the police force time to be off with their families. The officers all got together to organize who had lunches and dinners at what times so everyone could sit at a Thanksgiving table this year, before or after short shifts, to balance the needs of the community with their own.
Heather had a business as a house cleaner. When the girls were small, she would often take them with her or schedule cleanings when Kenny wasn’t working. Once they got divorced, she relied on school hours to get her work done efficiently. She was proud of how she had built her clientele for Broom Service over the years. The job had been flexible enough to work around the needs of the police chief’s demanding schedule, and it helped her contribute to the family earnings. Now that they were divorced, she was able to support herself and still work around his ever-changing schedule.
The day before Thanksgiving, however, was a day that she couldn’t have been flexible with. Kenny needed to work because a few officers were traveling. This meant the girls needed to be looked after by someone else. The library programs were a lifesaver.
“We had a great day at the library, didn’t we, girls?” Rebecca asked. Both girls emphatically nodded, mouths full of food. “Mary ran the first activity of the day, starting at eight.”
“We made holiday cards to donate to the Senior Center,” Mary added. ‘I’ve been volunteering around the community for decades, and seniors who have no family remaining in the area love when they get holiday cards. We talked about different religions and had sample cards the kids could duplicate. Kids wrote in the cards if they were old enough, and others told us what to write and just signed their names. It’s amazing to work on community service at a young age.”
Rebecca swallowed quickly so she could add, “I took pictures of Melanie and Megan with the cards they created since they were going to be given away. I figured you might want to see what they made.”
“I can’t wait to see them after dinner.” Everyone adhered to the no-phone rule at the table, though it wasn’t hard for Rebecca. Having her phone available was not typically a priority.
“This gravy is amazing, Rebecca. Did you just make it today?” asked Jeremy.
She smiled. “The secret to every good Thanksgiving table is the gravy, and I spared no time or expense to go to Hart’s Turkey Farm to pick some up.” Everyone laughed together, except Elliott. “No shame in my game. The turkey never produces enough drippings for a whole meal, and their gravy is, hands-down, the best. I’ll never deny it.”
“What’s Hart’s Turkey Farm?” asked Elliott.
Rebecca could tell Heather was patting his leg under the table when she spoke. “It’s a staple of the Lakes Region. Exactly what it sounds like. A restaurant that is all about turkey and owned by the Hart family, though I don’t know who is running it currently. I can’t remember a time when we didn’t go to Hart’s, especially in the colder months. We’ll have to go soon.” He nodded in response and continued to eat. “What came after the cards?”
Megan stopped lifting the biscuit she was holding to answer. “Rebecca read Thanksgiving stories to us. My favorite was How to Catch a Tu
“My favorite was We Are Grateful. Watching Rebecca try to read all those hard words was fun,” added Melanie.
“The one about the flower boat was good too.” Megan smiled at her recollection, but everyone else tried to figure out what she was talking about, including Rebecca.
“Flower boat? I don’t remember any of the stories I read being about flowers.”
“You know, the ones that grow in May.”
Kenny choked a little on his bite. “The Mayflower. Did you read a book about the Mayflower?”
“Yes, it was part of the ‘If You Were a Kid’ series. That was a good one.”
Jeremy puffed up his chest. “I had the next activity. I planned a scavenger hunt around the library. Kids had to figure out clues to find items and inside or attached to those items was the next clue.”
“Wow, this was the best free childcare program ever. You guys may have set yourselves up for an overload before Christmas vacation,” Heather commented.
Surprisingly, Mary was the one to respond first. “It was worth every minute of preparation. We know you and Kenny are great parents. We know the girls are your top priority, but there are kids in the area who won’t have a table like this to sit at today and that don’t have a fun vacation planned with family visits and extra food. We do our part to support the community when and where we can.” Mary brought her napkin up to dab below her left eye. “I’ll keep doing everything I can, as long as I can, to support the children of the Newfound community.”
“Hear, hear,” announced Jeremy, raising his glass in salute to Mary’s proclamation. “I’m with you, and for the same reasons. When kids would leave school the day before a vacation, I always had a few that I checked in with to make sure they had enough food or a plan for the days off if their parents were working. As teachers, we worry about our kids even when they are not our kids.” Even though he was retired, Jeremy would always have teacher-blood running through his veins.
“On a happier note, we did watch Free Birds, an animated comedy about being a turkey on Thanksgiving, and the kids ate the lunches they brought after it was over. Once they were full, we made the same biscuits we’re eating tonight. I mean, not these exact biscuits, but the same recipe. We talked about cooking with limited supplies, and these take twenty minutes and use only five ingredients. The kids loved making them and ate a few with butter or jam when they came out of the oven.”
“You have an oven at the library?” Elliott asked, chiming in for only the second time.
“We have a full kitchen; we just don’t use it often. This time, it came in very handy. The biscuits don’t require yeast or any tools other than bowls and spoons, so even the smallest chefs can make them. Kids got some to take home as well. Melanie and Megan were nice enough to let other kids take their extras home because I was making them again tonight.”
“Girls, that was very nice of you. I’m sure that meant a lot to the other children.” Kenny’s face glowed with pride.
“Rebecca promised we could each have two at dinner, so we didn’t mind,” Melanie confessed.
“Guilty.” Rebecca shrugged her shoulders and cocked her head while plastering a huge Cheshire grin across her face.
“It seems like that would have been enough to make it through most of the day,” Heather surmised before being interrupted by a loud banging on the front door.
Instinctively, Kenny popped up out of his seat. The banging started again, this time accompanied by yelling. “Rebecca! Kenny! Can someone come help?”
Kenny looked at Heather. “Stay here.” He got up and strode to the front door, Rebecca on his heels. He looked out the window to see a single woman, short and petite, standing outside the front door, looking up at the house then over to the window Kenny was looking out of. Kenny continued to the door and swung it open. “Mrs. Keller, what’s the problem?”
“It’s my husband. We were eating dinner, and he fell out of his chair. I don’t know what happened, but I think he’s dead.”
Chapter 2
The Scene
Stepping into his boots, which were on the doorstep outside, Kenny followed Mrs. Keller across the street after grabbing a small bag from his SUV. There were no streetlights near the driveways that faced each other across the street, so he used the light on his phone to illuminate the way. Rebecca quickly caught up to him after closing the front door because he wasn’t going any faster than Mrs. Keller. Easily in her early seventies, she wasn’t winning any foot races.
As they made their way to her house, he asked, “Have you already called 9-1-1?”
“I couldn’t find the phone. Darn thing. We finally got rid of the landline, but I don’t know where Harold put the cell phone. I figured you might be over here at Rebecca’s house, so that was the next best thing.”
“Best you didn’t search too long for the phone, I suppose,” Rebecca reassured her while Kenny called 9-1-1 for an ambulance and additional resources. While none of the officers would be happy to get this call on Thanksgiving, most had already enjoyed their dinners.
When they were about halfway up the Keller’s driveway, he took off ahead of the two women. The front door was wide open, and he quickly entered, swiveled his head and turned left. When Rebecca entered with Mrs. Keller, she found Kenny on the floor next to the body of Harold Keller.
Rebecca took in the scene. The table was set for two, and a full Thanksgiving meal was laid out in, what looked to be, fine China serving dishes. What she found odd was the duplication of everything on the table. While she studied the curious table setting, Mrs. Keller dropped down next to her husband and Kenny.
“Chief Towne, is he going to make it?” Her eyes pleaded with him to be okay.
The ambulance sirens were getting louder by the second. Kenny hadn’t answered because he was actively performing CPR.
“Mrs. Keller, why don’t you stand over here with me. The ambulance will be here any second, and they will need to get to your husband to take over for Chief Towne.”
She looked down at Harold one more time then stood back up and walked around the table to where Rebecca was standing. Mrs. Keller buried her face in the front of Rebecca’s shoulder. Standing several inches shorter, even in her sensible kitten heels, Mrs. Keller couldn’t have laid her head on top of Rebecca’s shoulder without her bending at the knee. Rebecca wished Mary had come over too because she felt maybe she’d be a better person to support Mrs. Keller.
The sound of the siren was as loud as it could get, and the flashing lights shown through the bay window. Two men rushed into the room, practically knocking Kenny out of the way. He stood and backed away, now taking in the scene as Rebecca had initially.
“Mrs. Keller, would you like to move to the living room?” he asked, hoping to spare her from witnessing the EMTs working on Harold.
“No. I want to stay with my Harold.”
Kenny moved to stand next to Rebecca. She noticed that he was looking around the room, and his gaze also had settled on the odd table setting. She looked up at him, and their eyes met, agreeing to speak later.
For an additional five minutes, the five slowest minutes ever, the EMTs performed CPR on Mr. Keller. They swapped part way through, presumably to give the one who started a break. Eventually, they both stopped.
“We’re sorry, Chief, but he’s gone.”
Mrs. Keller wailed then sobbed uncontrollably. Rebecca ushered her into the adjacent living room and sat on the loveseat with her.
Rebecca had lived across the street from the Keller’s for over a decade. They waved when they were in their respective yards at the same time and exchanged pleasantries if they happened to get the mail simultaneously. She didn’t, however, know much of anything about the couple. She had assumed that at least one of them was retired based on their age and use of the household vehicles. She couldn’t remember a time when both vehicles were out of the driveway together.
