Party Perils by Patti Benning (reading list txt) 📗

began to touch the true loss that someone’s death signified. They always fell short of the truth. They missed the little things; the way someone smiled when they were happy to see you, the smell of their cooking, the way they answered the phone. Funerals, to Hannah, always felt like one last attempt to grasp something that was already long gone.

Still, no matter how much she hated them, funerals weren’t something one simply skipped. She dressed herself in her best black, the only color being the dark red of the camisole she wore under her button-down. She was in a pantsuit, with same sensible flats she wore whenever something called for dressing up, with her hair drawn back into a somber bun. She felt like an intruder as she entered the funeral home. She hadn’t known Edward, not really, but she had been there for his last minutes. It formed a sort of connection, one that made her heart clench as she walked past a collection of photos of him smiling and younger.

“Hannah, over here.” Caroline’s voice wasn’t quite loud enough to be a shout, but it caught Hannah’s attention. She veered through the slowly growing crowd toward Caroline and Dean, a bit embarrassed about how glad she was for the familiar faces.

“We’ve still got a few minutes before we’re supposed to sit down,” Caroline said, her hand tucked securely into Dean’s elbow. “Do you want to look around at the pictures?”

“No,” Hannah admitted, feeling uncomfortable. “Sorry, I know it probably sounds terrible, but I don’t want to have to think about who he was. Seeing his death is bad enough. If I learned more about who he was, it would just make me feel even worse.”

Caroline nodded, not looking at all perturbed. “I feel bad; I didn’t bring anything. A lot of other people brought flowers, but I remembered how many Lacey already had in her kitchen, and I figured she probably wouldn’t want any more.”

“I didn’t bring anything either,” Hannah responded. Her reasoning had been the same. Food, flowers… Lacey had more of both than she could possibly want. What else could she bring that would mean anything? Lacey didn’t want cards or roses. She wanted answers, and Hannah was determined to find them for her.

“We’ll get to the bottom of this soon,” Caroline whispered, echoing Hannah’s thoughts. “I found something that I need to tell you about, but not now. It can wait until afterward.”

Hannah nodded, curious but knowing this wasn’t the time or place for whatever Caroline wanted to show her. They stood in silence for a bit, a small spot of stillness in the center of the moving crowd. There was a slow, sad song playing over the speakers, and on the far wall was a large screen on which photos of Edward and Lacey's life together were slowly scrolling past.

At last, an invisible switch seemed to have been hit and people began moving toward the seats. Hannah followed Caroline and Dean, claiming three seats in a row in the middle of the room. She saw Lacey up front with a few other people she didn’t recognize. She figured the elderly couple must be either Edward’s or Lacey’s parents. She felt very out of place in this ocean of grief. It wasn’t that she wasn’t sad, because she was, but she was also frustrated. She wanted – no, needed – to know how Edward had died. Not just for the sake of her own curiosity, for Lacey’s sake, and Caroline’s. Even if there was never a formal police investigation into his death, what would Caroline do when the entire town thought she was responsible for Edward Finch’s death?

The volume of the music lowered and the pastor stepped up to the podium at the front of the room. Hannah glanced, once, toward the open casket, then looked away. She didn’t need to see his body. Not again.

“We gather here today to celebrate the life and mourn the passing of Edward Finch, beloved husband, cherished son…” He went on. Hannah listened, feeling the bite of grief with every word. Guilt was there too, even though she knew it was misplaced. There hadn’t been anything she could do, no matter how she looked at it. As horrible as she felt, there was no way his passing was her fault. Eventually, her eyes wandered, taking in the rest of the crowd.

She spotted Bucky first. He was staring right at Lacey, but seemed to feel her gaze because a moment later he looked over at her. She pressed her lips together in what she hoped was a reassuring smile, but his expression of despair didn’t change. His gaze went back to Lacey.

Deciding not to think about that can of worms just yet, she continued looking around the crowd. She recognized a surprising number of faces, but after a moment, she realized it shouldn't be so surprising. Edward did mention that he and Lacey had lived in the area their whole lives, even if they had only recently moved into town proper. And Hannah was pretty sure that, at one point or another, she'd had every single citizen of Shale come through the restaurant. Since she spent most of her time in the kitchen, she didn’t know them all as well was someone like Audrey did, but she did her rounds often enough to know a few of them by name, and more than a few of them by their faces.

If I don’t find a way to help Caroline clear her name, it might destroy the restaurant's reputation, she thought, then immediately felt guilty for it. She shouldn't be thinking about reputation in a time like this, but there was no doubt in her mind it would end up being a problem. A chef accidentally serving an allergen to someone with a deathly allergy would be a huge red flag to anyone who had an allergy or had a loved one who had severe allergies. Once again, however, that was something