But Knot for Me by Betty Hechtman

Author:Betty Hechtman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mysteries & Thrillers
Publisher: Beyond the Page
Published: 2021-10-14T00:00:00+00:00

• • •

After the hassle over serving breakfast to my group in the Lodge, I’d arranged for dinner to be set up in the living room–like lobby of the Sand and Sea building. Friday night was a busy dinner time at the Blue Door, so Lucinda had agreed to deliver my group’s meal early. I had met her at the Lodge and was helping her wheel the carts with the food to the building. Plates and a table were being supplied by Vista Del Mar. I was beginning to feel like a traffic cop. As we pushed them up the path, a group of Jordan people were coming toward us.

The smell of food wafted toward them and they clustered around us. I recognized Diana among them. “Don’t get your hopes up, that’s not for us,” she said to the others.

They all seemed to deflate at once and I heard one of them urge the others to chant “food is just fuel” and move on.

Diana hung back. “I did it,” she said, seeming bright-eyed and animated. I wasn’t sure what she was talking about and my smile must have seemed blank. “The challenge I was so worried about. I let go and someone caught me.”

I congratulated her. Her smile waned a little. “But that was the easy one.”

“But you did it,” I said. “I’m sure you’ll do great with the next one.” I realized I was doing Jordan’s job of pumping her up, but since she seemed to have latched on to me, I wanted to help her if I could. It seemed to work. She hugged my arm and thanked me multiple times before she rushed off to catch up with the others.

“What was that about?” Lucinda asked after the Jordan follower moved on to join the others.

“She’s with the other retreat and we’ve talked a bit. She needed a little encouragement. The Jordan retreat is more like boot camp,” I said. “The activities are called challenges and accomplishing them is supposed to help them fix their lives. There’s no fun or even the pleasure of a good meal. It’s a ‘no pain, no gain’ kind of philosophy.” We moved closer to the building and I explained that Diana had been with the woman who died at the foraging meal. “According to her, they ate exactly the same stuff and she said they deliberately avoided mushrooms, but she was probably confused. Lieutenant Borgnine took the dead woman’s tote bag as evidence and I heard that there was a mushroom in it and it was identified as a death cap.”

I considered whether to tell her that Lieutenant Borgnine had asked for my help, indirectly anyway, but I decided to follow what Dane had said and not tell anyone, including Lucinda. I did mention that I was trying to find a way to get the blame off of Cloris.

“Good for you,” my friend said. “It’s ridiculous for Kevin St. John to try to make it seem like she was responsible.” We wheeled the carts around to the back entrance, which had no stairs, and went on into the main room.

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