Murder, My Darling

by Patti Benning

  Chapter Five

  Moira woke up in the morning to a pounding headache and a queasy stomach. It was a moment before everything came back to her, and when it did, she closed her eyes again.

  Her life hadn’t always been as peaceful and quiet as she may have liked, but at least she had, for the most part, always managed to keep the worst of it from affecting her daughter. Sometimes she felt as if she could handle anything as long as she knew Candice was safe, but yesterday her worst fears had nearly come true. When she had heard the sound of the ambulance siren approaching and couldn’t find her daughter anywhere, she had felt as though the world had dropped out from under her. She suspected that any mother would dread the sound of sirens when they were missing a child, even an adult one. In that horrible moment, the worst of all possibilities had flashed through her mind.

  Then, just minutes later, she had spotted her daughter, safe and kneeling in the snow, and she had nearly fainted from relief. The four of them had stayed up late the night before, waiting for news about Darrin, and had gotten it in the early hours of the morning. He hadn’t made it.

  It was as though his death was too important and large for her brain to register. It didn’t seem like it could be real. She kept thinking of inconsequential things, like what time she had to be at the deli, what she had to buy when she next went shopping, or whether she had remembered to take the clothes from the washer and put them in the dryer last night. Then she would remember again about Darrin, and the shock was just as bad as the first time she had heard Candice say he had been shot.

  Candice and Eli had decided to stay in the guest bedroom instead of returning to the farmhouse that night, which Moira was thankful for. Even though she knew her daughter was okay, she still wasn’t ready to let the younger woman out of her sight just yet. It terrified her that Candice had been so close to the shooter, and her brain couldn’t stop tormenting her with what-ifs.

  Thoughts of her daughter dragged her out of the spiral of thoughts. She blinked at the alarm and realized that it was still early. No wonder she felt terrible; she had hardly gotten any sleep. Yet, the bed beside her was empty. Where was David?

  As if in answer to her thoughts, she heard a crash from downstairs. David was up, and by the sound of it, in the kitchen. She pushed the covers off and automatically found her slippers with her feet before going downstairs. Maverick, who had been laying on the floor by the front door, jumped up and greeted her cheerfully. That simple gesture made her heart twist in her chest again. It seemed absurd that anyone, even a dog, could be so happy this morning, but of course the German Shepherd had no idea what had happened. She went downstairs to find David in the kitchen, surrounded by the scent of a burnt breakfast. The crash must have been a plate of toast, pieces of which were still spilled on the floor.

  Somehow, he still managed to produce a plate of somewhat blackened bacon, buttered toast, and one perfect golden waffle fresh out of their waffle maker.

  “Candice just ate,” he said, placing the plate in front of her. “She went to take a shower.”

  Moira nodded and sat down, beginning to eat without thinking about it. After a moment, she looked up. “Thank you.”

  “It’s the least I could do,” David said.

  Moira felt a rush of gratitude toward her husband. Here he was, taking care of them all. He had known Darrin almost as long as she had, if not quite as well as she had. He would know what this loss meant to both her and Candice. She felt prickling in her eyes, and quickly wiped the tears away before returning to her waffle.

  “Do you want butter or syrup on that?” he asked.

  She blinked. She hadn’t even realized that her waffle was plain. It didn’t seem to matter whether or not she put anything on it, so she shrugged her shoulders. “I’m fine.”

  David was giving her a concerned look, but before he could say anything, she heard the front door slam, then footsteps coming closer as Eli walked into the kitchen. He was fully dressed, with snow sprinkled across the shoulders of his winter coat, and she realized that he must have been outside.

  “Felix is all set,” he told David.

  David nodded as if this made sense. Moira still felt as though she was in a daze, but between the food and the conversation, she was beginning to come out of it a little.

  “Felix?”

  “Candice woke up early this morning worrying about him,” Eli explained. “She was concerned about him missing both dinner and breakfast. I told her I would go feed him and make sure he was okay. She has enough on her mind this morning, she doesn’t need to be worrying about him as well.”

  Moira gave him a small smile. It seemed that both she and Candice had lucked out in their choice of husbands.

  “We have to be at the police station in an hour,” David said.

  “What? Why?”

  “Detective Jefferson called this morning. That’s why I woke up so early. He actually called your phone, but you were still sleeping, so I answered instead of waking you up. I think he has some questions for you in particular about Darrin, since he worked for you, and of course Candice is the one who found him and needs to give a statement. After I told him that Candice and Eli had spent the night here, he said we might as well come down together. I figured that would be easier for us all.”

  Moira nodded. “Thank you for handling all of this, David. I feel like I can hardly focus on what’s right in front of me. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

  “I know this is hard for you and Candice both,” he said. “Have you thought about what you’re going to do with the deli today?”

  “I should call someone, I suppose. We’ll have to close it down until next week, at least. There is so much to do. Oh, my goodness, do his parents know?”

  “I’m sure the police have contacted them,” David told her. He placed his hand over hers. “You look like you’re done with your food. Why don’t you get ready to head out to the police station? Between Eli and I, we can handle cleaning up here and letting your employees know what happened. Allison might already know, but I doubt anyone else does, and they deserve to find out from us instead of from the news.”

  “You’re right,” she said. “Of course, you’re right. I’m not really thinking clearly right now. Everyone is listed in my cell phone. Thank you, David, and Eli, for taking care of all of this. I don’t think I would be able to bear giving out the news of his death.”

  She took a deep, slightly shaky breath, and stood up, taking her plate over to the sink and running water over it before turning to go upstairs. She knew that talking to Detective Jefferson would be hard, but maybe she would be able to help with the case somehow. At the very least, they might get some answers. It would be a long road for everyone involved, and she would just have to take it one step at a time.

  Chapter Six

  The police station was familiar, which Moira didn’t think was a good thing. She had been there many times over the years, as both suspect and victim, and sometimes even as a guest. Her occasional visits to Detective Jefferson were nice, but she could have done without the other times she had been forced to come there. She had hoped never to see the inside of this building again as anything but a friend.

  Candice went back to be questioned first, and Moira, David, and Eli waited in silence for nearly an hour. The deli owner drank cup after cup of coffee, even though she knew it was a bad idea. The caffeine would just make her jittery, but she found the warm drink comforting.

  When Candice finally came out, her eyes were puffy and red, as if she had been crying. The deli owner had to force herself to stay in her seat while Eli rose to comfort her.

  “Mrs. Darling?” Detective Jefferson said. “Can you come with me? I just want to ask you some questions about Darrin’s behavior over the past couple of weeks, and as his employer, you might have noticed things others haven’t.”

  She rose and followed him, pausing to squeeze her daughter's hand reassuringly. Everything would be all right. She would make s
ure if it.

  Jefferson led her back to the interview room, after asking her if she wanted anything to eat or drink. Her stomach was twisting with nerves, so she politely declined.

  She sat down at the plain table in the interview room and waited while he shut the door and then joined her at the table, sitting across from her. She didn't know why she was so nervous; surely, she wasn't a suspect this time. She hadn't been anywhere near Darrin at the time of the attack and besides, what motive could she possibly have for wanting to kill one of her best employees?

  “How are you holding up?” Jefferson asked her after a moment.

  “Not great,” she admitted. “None of this seems real. Just Friday I was talking to him and working with him like usual. The fact that I'll never see him again...” She shook her head, feeling her throat close up.

  Jefferson gently nudged a box of tissues closer to her. She plucked one out just in case, but wasn't sure whether she would be able to cry. Grief twisted in her heart, but the tears hadn't come yet.

  “I know it's hard, but I do need to ask you some questions, so we can try to figure out what happened. According to your daughter, he was spotted by a coworker talking to someone just a few minutes before he was killed. We're still trying to figure out who that person was, and we don't know yet if they had anything to do with his death. Due to the nature of the attack, my gut is telling me this wasn't random. I believe someone targeted Darrin specifically, likely someone he knew. Do you know if he was having any problems in his personal life?”

  “I don’t know,” Moira said. She felt a rush of guilt. “We’ve been so busy lately, with the holidays coming up and this charity event, I haven’t had much time to talk with any of my employees. Although… he was acting a bit off the other night.”

  “Off how?”

  “Well…” Moira bit her lip, trying to think back. It had only been two days ago, but so much had happened since then. It felt like a lifetime ago. “It started snowing heavily Friday evening, a couple of hours before we normally close, so I offered to let him go home early. We don’t usually get many customers when the weather is that bad. No one wants to drive in the snow. Anyway, I mentioned something offhand about his girlfriend, and he looked like I had punched him in the face.”

  “His girlfriend? Do you know her name?”

  “Her first name is Jade. I don’t know her last name, or any way to contact her.” She frowned. “Now that I think about it, he was acting strangely even before that. He seemed really jumpy and out of it before I even started talking to him.”

  “Had he been acting that way all day, or did something set it off? Maybe a visit from a certain customer, or a phone call?”

  “No… not that I can remember.” The guilt in her chest constricted. “I… I barely said a handful of words to him prior to that. Candice had just gotten back, and I was so busy with everything else. I feel terrible about it.”

  “It’s not your fault,” Jefferson said. “There’s no way you could have known something like this was going to happen. If you do think of anything else later on, you have my number.” He stood, pushing back his chair with a sigh.

  “Wait,” Moira said, her heart beginning to pound. “There was something else that happened. Something weird. One of the customers was taking photos of the deli with his cell phone. He seemed to be taking a lot of them. I didn’t get a chance to talk to him. I sent Darrin out to help unload a delivery, so I had to cover for him in the kitchen, and by the time I remembered the man, he was gone. I don’t know if it had anything to do with what happened to Darrin, but it was strange.”

  Jefferson sat back down. “Do you know this man? Is he a regular?”

  “He’s not a regular, but he looked familiar, as if I’d seen him before. It’s possible he came in once or twice during the summer, or even last winter. I usually have a pretty good memory for faces.”

  “And he was taking pictures? Was he focusing on the building, or on the people? Did you happen to notice if Darrin seemed to know him?”

  “Not that I noticed. It just struck me as odd. Sometimes people will take a picture or two, or pose in front of the sign out front, but this guy was taking pictures of everything.”

  Jefferson frowned. “Well, it might mean something, and it might not. Give me a call if you see him again, or remember why he seemed to look familiar. And if you can think of anything else that might help us figure out what happened, anything at all, don’t hesitate to call.”

  “I won’t.” she promised. “Darrin was like family. I want to find out who did this as badly as you do.”

  Jefferson rose for a second time, and this time Moira followed him to the door. She felt tired and sad, and also felt the beginning of anger. Whoever had killed her employee was going to answer for what they had done. She would make sure of it.

  Chapter Seven

  By the time they got back home, Moira was exhausted, both mentally and emotionally. Candice had been unusually quiet all morning, and she wanted nothing more than to have a long talk with her daughter about everything that had happened the day before. However, she knew that sometimes space was the best gift one could give.

  She had assumed that they would all stay at home for lunch, so she was surprised when shortly after they got back, Candice and Eli appeared in the kitchen to announce that they were going to head to their house.

  “Allison’s going to come over,” Candice explained. “I need to tell her about what happened.”

  “David called her this morning,” Moira said. “You don’t have to worry about giving her the news.”

  “I know, but I need to tell her my side of things. She was the one who first realized he was missing, and she might know more about who he was with before he disappeared. She just called to let me know she’s heading into the police station, and she wants to come over afterward.”

  “Are you sure you’re up to doing that right now?” Moira asked, feeling a surge of worry for the young woman.

  “Mom, Allison is my sister. She knew Darrin a lot better than I did. She’s going to be having a really tough time with all of this. She’s worked with him almost every day for the past few years, hasn’t she?”

  Moira knew her daughter was right. They weren’t the only ones who would be having a difficult time right now, and of course Allison would want answers, the same as any of them.

  “Are you sure you’re up to it?” Moira asked a bit helplessly.

  “Yes, I am, Mom. I have to do this. It’ll be okay.”

  “I’ll take care of her, Mrs. D.,” Eli said.

  Reluctantly, Moira bade goodbye to her daughter and her son-in-law. She felt a surge of worry as she watched them go. They had no idea who had attacked Darrin, and it didn’t feel safe to let her daughter go out when the killer was still on the loose. What if Detective Jefferson was wrong and the attack had something to do with the deli, instead of something in Darrin’s personal life? Her daughter could very well be a target too, if that was the case.

  There was no denying that whoever had killed Darrin would have been quite close to Candice during the attack. It still frightened her to think just how close her daughter had been to the bullet that had ended Darrin’s life. From what Candice had told her, she would have been within shouting distance of the killer with the gun.

  She and David spent the rest of the day at their house, talking occasionally, but mostly giving themselves time to come to terms with what had happened and get some much-needed rest. Twice, Moira broke down in tears, and was glad that her husband was there to comfort her. It felt good to cry, but her heart was still heavy with grief.

  It wasn’t until the next morning that Moira felt some semblance of being back to herself. The first thing she did when she woke up was to check her voicemail for any messages from Detective Jefferson. Finding nothing, she got on her computer and searched the local news websites. She found multiple articles about Darrin’s death, but nothing about any progress being made on the case.

 
Disappointed, she shut the laptop and made herself a cup of coffee before getting into the shower. She left the coffee maker on warm, knowing that David would want some when he woke up. She was happy to let him sleep in; they had all gotten very little sleep the day before, and he had gotten up even earlier than her to make breakfast.

  She had showered, dressed, and was just starting to make French toast when David joined her in the kitchen. He greeted her with a kiss.

  “What are your plans for the day?” he asked.

  “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I was thinking of going into the deli. If it’s going to be shut down for a couple of days, I’m going to need to clean out the perishable food before it spoils. Plus, I want to go through the back room to see if I can find anything of Darrin’s. If he left something behind, his parents might want it.”

  “Do you want me to go with you?” David asked.