A Pumpkin Spice Killing

by Lynn Cahoon

  “We’re chefs.” Felicia took the book from Angie. “We’re used to special requests for a dining room filled with people. Feeding this group is going to be a breeze.”

  “If you say so. I find it hard to find food they can eat and still taste good.” Carol glanced out the door to where the guys were getting ladders out of the garage. “When it’s busy, we eat a lot of oatmeal around here. Excuse me, I need to go help them find the third ladder.”

  Angie and Felicia shared a horrified look. Finally, Felicia glanced down at the notebook. “It doesn’t say anything about using oatmeal as a replacement meal. The dietician says it can be used as a supplement if the residents are still hungry or find a meal not to their liking. She’s using it to keep from cooking.”

  “Then we’ll make up a batch of soups and casseroles to leave with her when we go. And I’ll bring my testing extras out here a couple of times a month. My freezer is too full anyway.” Angie took the notebook and closed it. “Let’s get cooking. I think our residents might really need a good home-cooked meal.”

  Angie pulled out soup from the cooler that they’d brought for lunch the first day. “This Basque wedding soup should meet their dietary restrictions, right?”

  “I think the only thing we’re going to have to do is adjust the dessert recipes. We have fresh fruit I can make a salad out of for Kendrick. And we have brownies for the rest of the group. You get the soup warming up and I’ll start making sandwiches.” Felicia put her hair back into a ponytail and started working.

  They were done just before one. Angie surveyed the trays they’d made for the residents and the rest of the food was set up buffet style for the others. “Should I ask if they want to come to the dining room and eat with us? According to Carol’s notes, the residents eat in their rooms.”

  “That can’t be fun.” Felicia glanced around the room. “Hey, I’ll go tell the others that food’s ready and we can take the trays into the guys. Then we can sit with them for a while if they want us to.”

  “That’s a good idea.” Angie frowned as she looked at the lonely tray. “I’m going to put my soup on the tray too, that way I can sit and eat with Randy if he wants company.”

  “You’re so smart.” Felicia put a second bowl of soup on her tray as well. “I’ll go sound the dinner bell and then take this in to Kendrick. See you after lunch.”

  Dom followed Angie to Randy’s room. The older man was right where she’d left him, a book in his lap. She knocked on the door and he jerked awake. “I didn’t mean to wake you, but I’ve got lunch.”

  “That smells wonderful. My late wife was a terrific cook. When I came home from being out of the country, I gained ten pounds in a month. Of course, we weren’t eating too well that last few days before the city fell.” He peered at the tray. “I may be hungry, but there’s no way I can eat two bowls of that soup. I suspect you want to fatten me up while you’re here.”

  “The second bowl is mine. I was wondering if you wanted company for lunch. I thought I might eat with you.” She pulled a small table next to him and then set up the metal chair. As she did, Dom greeted the old man and then lay down next to his chair.

  “I think your dog likes me.”

  “He’s a good boy.” Angie moved her soup closer toward her. “Eat before the soup gets cold.”

  “Now you do sound like my Mary Elizabeth.” He smiled and picked up the spoon.

  They were about halfway done with lunch when Carol came in, a tray in hand. “Oh, I didn’t realize you’d already brought Randy his lunch. You don’t have to do that.”

  “I wanted to. It’s nice to share a meal with such wonderful company. Felicia’s taken care of Kendrick’s meal too.” Angie set her spoon down near her bowl. “You should go eat. We’ll handle this. You deserve a break.”

  “I usually give them their meds with meals.” Carol wasn’t giving up her status as head of the house easily.

  “Did you forget the pills?” Angie studied the tray Carol held.

  “What?”

  “There’s no bottles on the tray. Did you forget the pills?” Angie picked her spoon back up. “You can bring them in now if you want, but he doesn’t need another food tray.”

  “Lord, no. I’m already stuffed.” He scooped up the last of the soup with some of the bread from his sandwich. “But I’m still eating. Not to say bad things about your cooking Carol, but you really must try this soup. It’s wonderful.”

  “My sous chef made it. It’s his family recipe. We bring it out in the fall at the restaurant, but he always insists on making it himself. He won’t tell anyone the recipe.” Angie leaned closer. “I’m thinking he’s using a premade soup base, but he swears it’s all homemade. Well, as close as it can get in the restaurant.”

  “Well, I guess I’ll come back with your pills.” Carol turned and left the room.

  He watched her go. “Carol’s a nice lady but she really doesn’t like people in her business. She wouldn’t have asked for help if the state social worker hadn’t told Carol if she didn’t get the place up to code that the state was going to find other arrangements for Kendrick and me.”

  “I have to ask, how often does she feed you oatmeal for a meal other than breakfast?” Angie didn’t look at Randy but she hoped he’d trust her with the truth.

  “Now don’t get that look on your face. Carol’s doing the best she can. That’s what we all do. Just the best we can.” Randy covered a yawn.

  “Do you want me to help you to your bed?” Angie set her empty bowl down and moved the table.

  He shook his head. “I can make it. But there is one thing you can do for me.”

  “What?” Angie motioned to Dom to move out of the way. He came and sat by her feet, his head lolling on her thigh.

  “Come back and talk to me later. I need a favor from you and I can’t ask Carol. She gets a little testy around certain things.” He shuffled to his bed, then turned around and sat. Carefully lifting his legs, he lay prone on the small mattress. “Just come back after my nap and I’ll explain everything.”

  Angie carefully returned the chair, then grabbed the tray and motioned to Dom. He looked at Randy, then at her, then back to Randy. Angie slapped her leg and he moved toward the door. When they were out in the hallway, she reached down to pet his head. “I know you like your new friend, but he needs his sleep.”

  Dom glanced back at the room and whined low in his throat.

  “What the heck?” Angie scratched behind his ears. “I’ve never known you to be this attached so soon.”

  “Attached to what?” Ian asked, coming down the hall. He’d taken ahold of the tray before he spoke, which was a good thing since Angie squeaked and about almost dropped it. “Whoa. You’re freaked out about something. What’s wrong?”

  “Who. Dom’s attached to and now nervous about his new friend.” Angie handed Ian the tray and they turned to walk hand in hand to the kitchen, where they dropped off the tray, and then to the family room, where Carol was waiting for them. To face her wrath, Angie would need more than just a hoodie and a pair of running shoes.

  “Thank you for lunch.” Carol glared at Angie when she walked in. “I’m worried that your presence may upset the residents’ schedule.”

  “I’m sure they could use some company.” Ian sat on the couch and patted the seat for Angie to join him. “It must be hard being out here, isolated with just the three of you in the house.”

  “We have monthly visits from the social worker and a local nurse. And the dietician and doctor come quarterly,” Carol sputtered.

  “Yes, but that’s paying people to talk to you. We’re here on our own dime and spending time with your residents, just because it’s the right thing to do.” Ian nodded toward the group. “Maybe you should take advantage of our presence and take some ‘me’ time. We’ll keep the place going.”

  Carol didn’t quite kno
w how to answer, at least judging from her facial expression. Angie had never seen a person that red before. You got more than what you bargained for with this crew. She wondered if Carol was just stubborn and stuck in her ways, or if something else was going on. “Hope, you and Bleak are on clean up kitchen duty. And if you’re still there when I come back to start dinner, you can help me cook too.”

  “Sounds like a plan.” Hope pulled Bleak onto her feet. The two girls paused, glancing at Carol, before they left the room. “Unless someone needs something else from us now.”

  “Nope, you’re good.” Felicia waved them away. “So glad we have the children along to do the dishes.”

  “I heard that. And I’m not a child,” Hope called over her shoulder. A chuckle went around the room.

  Angie sank back into the couch. “They grow up so fast. So what did you all get done this morning?”

  “The walls are prepped outside and ready for a coat of paint, but I think we’ll slow down outside and come in to do the room setup. I don’t want to need to do this once a year.” Estebe sat on the love seat, his big brawny arms curling around Felicia. “I think we may get more than three items off the to-do list.”

  “You could leave early if you get done before Sunday afternoon,” Carol offered, a twinge of hope in her voice.

  “Of course not! We’ll just get more things done for you.” Felicia seemed upset about the host’s words, not for the first time. “There’s nothing wrong with us staying around until Monday.”

  “Well, just remember if the residents start telling you about buried treasure or riding a motorcycle from San Diego to Seattle, it’s a tall tale.” Carol took two steps away from Matt, who’d snuck up behind her.

  “Allowing them to tell us stories is the best medicine for a lonely heart. I intend to spend as much time as humanly possible with them. Besides, Dom loves Randy.” Angie reached down and stroked his fur.

  Carol pressed her lips together. “Well, just make sure you don’t let him get overly tired. It’s not good for him to go without his naps during the day.”

  Angie watched as the woman left the room, straightening a doily on the chair by the door as she walked by.

  When the back door closed, Felicia shook her head. “That woman is wound as tightly as a grandfather clock.”

  “Are grandfather clocks on springs?” Matt asked Estebe. “I thought they had a pendulum system.”

  “That’s not the point she’s trying to make,” Estebe responded.

  Felicia sighed. “You know what I mean. The house isn’t what I expected. Kendrick was scared to death to talk to me. Now, I know some men don’t like talking to women, but he kept looking at the door, like he was afraid someone would overhear us and he’d be in trouble.”

  “I got the feeling Carol runs a tight ship, but I learned that she was forced to ask for help with the house by the state.” Angie confided what Randy had told her. “Let’s just keep our eyes out while we’re here. It might be nothing.”

  Bleak stood at the doorway, shivering. “I overheard you talking. The place reminds me of home. We weren’t allowed to talk to any strangers because you never knew who was with the state. We were told over and over that if the state came, they’d take us away from our parents and put us in an institution. With rats and gruel.”

  “Oh, sweetheart. I hope this isn’t upsetting you.” Ian stepped closer to the girl he now considered his cousin, even though she wasn’t born into his family.

  She lifted her chin. “As the great Gloria says, ‘I will survive.’”

  The room exploded with laughter and finally Angie stood. “Okay, we have our afternoon assignments. Keep your eyes open and work hard. This is for Randy and Kendrick, not for Carol. Just remember that.”

  As she and Bleak returned to the kitchen, Angie paused in the hallway. “Can we be serious for a minute? Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, really. When Felicia was talking about Kendrick, it struck a chord with me. I’m not saying it’s the same as it is at the encampment where I lived, but it feels the same.” Bleak narrowed her eyes and focused on a spot on the wall. “Does that even make any sense?”

  Angie hugged her. “It does to me. And listening to your intuition is important. You see the world differently than the rest of us do. It’s a good thing, believe me.”

  “Sometimes I wonder.” Bleak turned into the kitchen and went back to the sink where Hope was washing dishes.

  Bleak had grown up on a community farm in Utah. If Angie was being honest, probably in a cult. She’d handled her parents’ household from a young age and was a hard worker. But when she’d been promised in marriage at sixteen, she’d run away to Idaho, where she’d wound up sleeping in the alley behind the County Seat. Ian had found her and taken her under his wing. Angie loved that about him. He was always looking out for others, no matter what the cost.

  While Hope and Bleak were doing dishes, Angie started working on a shopping list for the center. She’d send Ian and Estebe to the store later this afternoon. She opened the pantry and started writing on her clipboard. The place needed everything. She leaned down and found pint jars filled with honey. The farm must have a beehive somewhere. Some of the jars still had honeycomb in them.

  Smiling, she set the jars aside and kept working on the list. She found a trap door in the floor where potatoes, onions, and carrots were stored. She pulled out several and put them in one of the baskets stored nearby. A recipe for beef stew was forming in her head, if they had any meat to work with. She closed the root cellar door and looked around for a freezer.

  Angie found it near the corner of the pantry. This room was huge and had plenty of shelf space. Carol just needed more food to put on the shelves. When she opened the chest freezer, she found what looked like a side of beef all broken down to cookable pieces of meat. She found two packs of stew meat and pulled them out. Beef stew was what’s for dinner. That and a nice cornbread to soak up the juices. She hadn’t brought her cookbook, but this recipe she knew almost by heart. Besides, she had the ingredients on her phone as well since she and Felicia had been trying to finalize the recipes for the first annual County Seat cookbook.

  She took the clipboard with the shopping list and the stew ingredients back into the kitchen. Hope was alone in the room drying the last few pans. “What did you find?”

  “Actually, the freezer is well stocked. They need chicken but there’s a lot of different cuts and types of meat and fish.” Angie set the basket by the sink. “And there’s a small root cellar to keep the vegetables fresh. Just not a lot of canned goods.”

  “Seems like the easy-to-cook and -serve items are always the first to go. Even at my parent’s house.” Hope eyed the ingredients Angie had brought out of the pantry. “There’s a stock pot down here. I’ll get it for you. I love stew.”

  Angie considered what she’d brought out as Hope found the pot. “I need another onion. And maybe there’s some bones in the freezer for broth. Or even some packaged stuff. Right now I’m not picky.”

  She went back into the pantry and looked for the missing items. No bones and no broth. She’d have to make do. She dropped the onion she’d been carrying and ran over to get it. It had rolled into the pantry. She bent down and saw a box of rat poison on the floor under the food shelves. Angie picked it up by two fingers and took it into the kitchen. “Grab me a plastic shopping bag.”

  Hope got one and held it out. “Is this what you need?”

  Angie slipped the box into the bag. Then she went to the sink to wash up. “I saw a shed out near the garden. Take that bag out there and tie up the top. Something like that should never be kept in a kitchen. I wonder why she wasn’t cited for that before.”

  As Hope left out the back door, Angie started washing the potatoes. With such great produce around, she wondered how Carol didn’t like to cook. Sometimes the quality of the ingredients made a huge differ
ence in what came out of the kitchen. Of course, Ian ran the farmers market and didn’t cook. When they’d met, he’d had what seemed to be a year’s supply of canned spaghetti in his kitchen.

  Chapter 3

  With the stew slowly simmering in the kitchen and Hope and Bleak making cornbread, Angie had a few minutes to visit with Randy again. Dom hurried to the man’s room and pushed open the door before she could open it.

  “Well, hello little fella.” Randy reached out to rub Dom’s fur. “I’m so glad you could come back.”

  “Dinner’s on the stove and I’m the only one without an assignment right now.” Ian and Estebe had gone with Carol to find the local grocery store. Felicia had Matt and Nancy weeding the garden. “Did you have a nice nap?”

  “The soup you made hit the spot. I haven’t slept that deeply in months.” Randy pointed to his end table. “Can you get the box out of that drawer for me?”

  Angie walked over and got the box. Then she pulled the table closer and set the box on top where Randy could reach. She opened the metal chair and sat. “What’s in the box?”

  “Memories and regrets.” Randy smiled at her, but he looked sad. “I need some help with a regret.”

  He took out a picture of a man and a woman and handed it to her. It was obviously their wedding day. The young man was in a dark suit and the woman in a modest wedding dress of white lace and satin, but the skirt ended at the knees. She wore a headdress with a puff of tulle on the back. They were both smiling.

  “Beautiful couple. Who are they?” Angie set the photo back down on the table.

  Randy picked the photo up again. “That’s my son, Jacob, and the woman he married. Mai is her name. It’s written on the back. The picture was in my wife’s bible. I found it when she died.”

  “I don’t understand. Didn’t you know about the wedding?”

  “Jacob brought her to meet us when he asked her to marry him. I was angry and stubborn. I told Jacob if he was going to marry one of them, he was disowned.” He shook his head, tears in his eyes. “I spent years fighting the Vietnamese and he wants to marry this girl? Bring her into our family? I guess I was hurt that my time in the war didn’t mean anything.”