Murder, My Darling

by Patti Benning

  Murder, My Darling

  The Darling Deli Series, Final Chapter

  Patti Benning

  Summer Prescott Books Publishing

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Epilogue

  Author’s Note

  Contact Summer Prescott Books Publishing

  Also by Patti Benning

  Copyright 2018 Summer Prescott Books

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication nor any of the information herein may be quoted from, nor reproduced, in any form, including but not limited to: printing, scanning, photocopying, or any other printed, digital, or audio formats, without prior express written consent of the copyright holder.

  **This book is a work of fiction. Any similarities to persons, living or dead, places of business, or situations past or present, is completely unintentional.

  Created with Vellum

  Chapter One

  Moira Darling shut off the vacuum cleaner and glanced out the window, where the clouds had taken on the pink glow of sunset. She looked around the old farmhouse’s living room, a grin on her face. Thelma had left the house in wonderful shape, but it had been sitting empty for a couple of weeks, and the extra round of cleaning had vanished the dust and brought a glimmer of color to the interior of the house. After a long day of work, Moira was finally satisfied that it was ready for Candice.

  To say she was excited for her daughter’s arrival would be an understatement. Maple Creek just didn’t feel the same without her daughter in it, and for a while she had been worried that her daughter might decide to stay in the city. Now that Candice was finally coming back, Moira felt like things were getting back to normal.

  “Are you done in there?” David asked from the other room.

  “I just finished,” she called back. “How’s it going in the kitchen?”

  She heard footsteps, and a moment later her husband appeared in the doorway. “Everything’s ready, though I still think it would have been better if you had been the one to arrange the bouquet. I don’t know a thing about flower arrangements.”

  “It was your idea,” she pointed out cheerfully.

  “I just want everything to be perfect for Candice and Eli when they get here,” he said. “Moving isn’t easy, and I know they’ve both got a lot on their plates.”

  The deli owner frowned, winding up the cord to the vacuum cleaner. “She still has so much to do to open the candy shop. I start to worry whenever I think about it. I know she told me she has everything under control, but I wish she’d let me help more.”

  “She needs to prove to herself that she can handle things on her own,” David said. He came over to her and brushed his lips across hers. “She knows you’ll always be there for her if she really needs you, which is why she’s comfortable enough to take chances like this.”

  Moira smiled at him. “Thanks. As long as she knows that I’d help her if she asked, I guess I’ll have to be okay with that. At least she’s moving back. I missed her so much.”

  “I know,” her husband said. “Our little family will finally be complete again.”

  She took one last walk through the house, making sure that nothing of Thelma’s had been left behind. She was glad that the older woman had found a house to buy so quickly after Candice had mentioned her plan to move back in, and was equally glad that Thelma was staying in Maple Creek. She had quickly become a close friend, and they all would have missed her if she had left town completely.

  After Moira reassured herself that the house was perfect, she slipped on her boots and went outside to the front porch, where Keeva and Maverick, her two large dogs, had been waiting for her. She had put a baby gate up across the porch stairs in order to keep them from wandering; part of Candice’s property was leased out to a dairy farmer, and she didn’t want the dogs to bother the cows.

  “Hey, you two,” she said to them. “How are you doing? Sorry we took so long.”

  The dogs, it seemed, didn’t harbor any hard feelings toward her for being left outside while the house was cleaned. They both came up to her, tails wagging and happy expressions on their faces.

  Moira smiled as she pet them. She knew that both dogs would be thrilled that Candice was back. Maverick, especially, liked the young woman. Now that Candice was back, she would be seeing all of them a lot more often. Moira grinned for what must have been the hundredth time that day. Finally, things were getting back to normal.

  She was tossing a stick in the snow for the dogs when her daughter pulled up the driveway. David, who had stopped in at the microbrewery that was across from Candice’s house to pick up some of his special new draft for the celebration, came out at the sound of tires on gravel. He and Moira both waved as Candice’s vehicle pulled up in front of the house. She was the first one out of the car and was already making a beeline toward her mother while her husband, Eli, followed along behind. Moira embraced Candice, then pulled Eli into a hug of his own, careful not to jostle the cat carrier he held. Stepping back, she looked them both up and down.

  “You look lovely, Candice,” she said. “And Eli, it’s been far too long since I’ve seen you. You look great. I can hardly tell you have a limp.”

  “The doctor said it probably won’t get much better than this,” he said. He grinned and shrugged. “I’m just happy to be walking on my own. Those first few months were terrible.”

  “I can only imagine,” Moira said, shaking her head. Eli had sustained a severe injury when the candy shop had collapsed on him during a fire. He was lucky to be alive.

  “I’m glad you are both back, anyway. It’s been far too quiet around here without the two of you.”

  “I’m glad we’re back too,” Candice said. “I have to ask, though, how is Thelma doing?”

  “I stopped by her new house the other day to drop off some chicken tortilla soup as a housewarming present, and she seems to be doing well,” Moira said. “I think she’s glad that she owns her own home again, and it will be good for her to be closer to town. While she loved the farmhouse, she’s a very social woman, and it will be nice for her to be able to live only a couple of minutes away from all of the excitement. Not that we have much of that in Maple Creek, of course.”

  “I’m glad. I didn’t want her to feel as though we were kicking her out. The fact that she found a home that she is happy with makes me feel better about all of that. I’m glad to be back. I feel like I barely got any time at all to settle into this place before Eli and I left again.”

  Candice and Eli had moved away to a city a couple of hours south after Eli had gotten injured. They had both wanted to be closer to the best physical rehab specialist in the state, and Moira thought that they had made the right decision. Eli truly did seem as though he was almost completely recovered, and if she hadn’t known what to look for, she thought that she wouldn’t have even noticed his limp.

  Candice turned to greet David, and Moira waited while he said his hellos to her and Eli. The four of them turned to head inside, the dogs racing back and forth and stopping occasionally to sniff at Felix’s cat carrier. David was holding four bottles of his newest draft, and he was chatting happily with Eli while Moira and Candice lagged behind a short distance, laughing as the dogs ran circles around them. Moira felt her heart swell. It was the perfect day, and everything was as it should be. She didn’t think that she had ever been looking forward to the holidays more than she was this year.

  Chapter Two

 
Darling’s DELIcious Delights had embraced the chilly winter weather. Inside the building, it was warm and welcoming, the air heavy with the spicy scent of the daily special; vegetarian chili.

  The deli was like a second home to Moira. She had spent years lovingly growing the business, and now it was flourishing around her, almost as though it had taken on a life of its own. She smiled to herself as she rang up the next customer, feeling better than ever. The knowledge that her daughter was home buoyed her up and made everything she experienced seem ten times better.

  “Thanks for coming to Darling’s DELIcious Delights,” she said as she handed the customer the receipt. She grabbed a pamphlet from a stack next to the register. “We’re participating in the Lake Marion Winter Dive. All proceeds go to the local food pantry to help supply warm clothes and Christmas presents to the children of local families who can’t afford much.”

  She had said the line hundreds of times over the past couple of weeks. Jumping into a frigid lake wasn’t her idea of fun, but Darrin and her employees had latched on to the idea as soon as they saw the event advertised. Darrin and Allison were both going to be jumping into the icy lake for charity, and Moira had agreed to have the deli sponsor them. The jump was in just two days, and she had to admit that she was looking forward to it. She would be impressed if both of them managed to go through with it – impressed and most importantly, warm, since she would be standing on the sidelines, watching and cheering them on.

  As the lunch rush began to clear, Moira was able to take some time away from the register to check on her eat-in customers and chat with the regulars. She recognized almost all of the faces, but as usual, there were a few new ones. As a scenic town in northern Michigan, Maple Creek got its fair share of tourists during all seasons. Only twenty minutes from Lake Michigan, they were a convenient stop for beachgoers and boaters in the summer, but they also tended to get a lot of skiers and even hunters passing through in the winter.

  One man in particular caught her attention. He was sitting near the door, and appeared to be taking photos of the deli with his phone. He was familiar, but only just, and she got the feeling she had seen him weeks or even months ago. There were people who made a habit of visiting Maple Creek every year, and she had gotten to know a few of them quite well. She was about to walk over to the man and see if she could get a story out of him when someone else pushed their way through the front door, making the bell jingle. It was Vickie, one of the regular delivery truck drivers.

  “I just pulled up out back,” the young woman said as soon as she laid eyes on the deli owner, looking harried as she approached. “I’m doing the deliveries by myself today, so do you think you could spare someone to help me unload?”

  Moira smiled at her, knowing that things got crazy for everyone during the holiday season.

  “Of course. I’ll go send Darrin out.” Sparing one last glance at the strange man who was still taking photos of everything, she turned and walked away, going to find Darrin in the kitchen. She could deal with the customer later. Chances were, he was just an over-eager tourist wanting to record every moment of his vacation.

  With Darrin helping to unload the delivery, Moira had to cover both the kitchen and the register. She didn’t have much of a chance to think about the man with the camera, and by the time a snow-covered Darrin came in from outside and took back over in the kitchen, the man was gone.

  Trying to forget about him and the uneasy feeling he had given her, she focused instead on keeping up with the rush of customers as afternoon faded into evening. The snow began to flurry more thickly as darkness fell, and the forbidding promise of snow-covered roads eventually stemmed the tide of customers.

  Secretly glad for the chance to take a breather after the busy day, Moira began cleaning the deli’s main room, even though it wouldn’t be time to close for another two hours. The snow outside was falling more heavily by the moment, and she toyed with the idea of closing early, but she just didn’t have the heart to do it. If someone braved the weather for a bowl of hot soup, she didn’t want them to find the deli closed and dark.

  She did, however, decide to give Darrin the chance to get home early. Her manager had worked hard, just like he did nearly every day, and she knew that he would appreciate an extra hour or two of free time. The holidays always ran them ragged, and they had to take their breaks where they could find them.

  She gave the final table a last wipe and then slipped through the swinging door that led to the kitchen. Darrin was standing over the pot of soup, staring down into it and slowly stirring with a faraway expression on his face. Moira slipped into the back room to toss the rag into the small laundry basket, then returned to her employee.

  “Darrin?” she said. He jumped, even though she hadn’t meant to startle him.

  “Sorry,” he said, looking embarrassed. “I’m a bit out of it right now.”

  “That’s fine,” she said. She frowned slightly, wondering if he had been out of it all day and she just hadn’t noticed. She had been so distracted with thoughts of Candice, and then they had gotten so busy, she had hardly paid Darrin any attention at all, saying only a few words to him in passing. “Is everything okay?”

  “I’m just tired,” he said, but didn’t quite meet her eyes.

  Now Moira knew that something was definitely going on. She had known Darrin for years; he was one of her oldest employees, and she felt as though she knew him better than she did most people outside of her family. Still, she didn’t think it would be appropriate to push him for more information if he didn’t want to talk about whatever was bothering him.

  “Well, I was just wondering if you wanted to head home now instead of staying until close. The weather is just getting worse, and I don’t think we’ll have many more customers today, if we get any at all. I know Jade is probably feeling like the deli is taking up all your time these days.”

  At this, Darrin’s expression soured, which took Moira by surprise. Jade, his girlfriend, usually stopped in at the deli for a few minutes every day while Darrin worked, leading to the deli owner having gotten to know her quite well over the past couple of months. Moira had been under the impression that their relationship was still going strongly, but the look on her employee’s face told her she was wrong.

  Before she could apologize, Darrin blinked, and his expression smoothed out into something bland. “Thanks. I could use the extra time to myself. I need to figure some things out.”

  “Go ahead,” she said. “And drive safely. I doubt they’ll get the salt trucks out for a few hours. Remember, we’re supposed to meet early Saturday morning at the lake. The local news crew wants to get a clip of all of the jumpers and their sponsors.”

  “I’ll be there,” he said, giving her a tight smile. She watched as he walked to the door and raised a hand in a half wave before walking out front to clock out. She was left to puzzle over his strange behavior, because he didn’t return.

  Chapter Three

  Moira adjusted the vents as David pulled the car out of the driveway, aiming the heat directly at herself. It was one of the coldest days of the year so far, and she did not envy Darrin and Allison in the slightest. Resting her arm on the top of the window ledge, she leaned back against the seat and glanced at the clock. They were going to be a few minutes late, and after she had called both Darrin and Allison to remind them to get there early, but it couldn’t be helped. David had gotten a call from Lenny, his partner at work, just before they were about to leave, and had been forced to deal with the crisis before getting in the car. While not exactly exciting, the heat going out at the office during winter in Michigan was something that couldn’t be ignored.

  “You know, it’s going to take a while for the engine to heat up,” David said, raising an eyebrow at the blowing vents, which were just circulating lukewarm air at the moment.

  “I know,” she said. “But it’s still warmer than the air outside. It’s freezing out there. I should have scheduled someone else to work on Sunda
y. What if Darrin and Allison get sick? The water is going to be frigid.”

  “They’ll be fine,” he said. “They’re only going to be in the water for a few seconds, and they will be able to dry off and warm up right after. It’s bad luck for them that this lake jumping event fell on the coldest day we’ve had so far, but I’m sure the weather will just help draw more attention to the event. No one would care that much if it was in the fifties, like it was a few weeks ago.”

  She nodded, gazing out the window again. Everything was white. Winter had hit Michigan hard and fast, and she was already getting tired of it. At least they were in for a white Christmas. “I can’t believe they’re actually going to do it. I can barely stand going into Lake Michigan when it’s the middle of summer. I can’t imagine jumping in the water in winter.”