Pastrami Murder: Book One in The Darling Deli Series

by Patti Benning

  “Alright, just let me pay for my clothes and I’ll be on my way.” Candice paused. “Is everything okay, Mom?”

  “I think I made a break in the case,” her mother replied honestly. “And I need to talk to you about it.”

  Just then, there was a knock at her door. Moira said goodbye to her daughter, and then walked to the foyer. She unlocked the deadbolt and let the door swing open, her mind on what she was going to tell her daughter when she saw her.

  Her breath caught in her throat when she saw Danielle standing on her porch. Her normally cheerful employee had a tear-streaked face and eyes red from crying. Moira was about to comfort her when she looked down and saw the gun in her employee’s hand.

  “Danielle? What are you doing?” she asked, automatically taking a step backwards.

  “I’m so sorry, Ms. D. I don’t want to go to jail.” The young woman choked back a sob. “I thought that they would just arrest you and it would all be over, but you kept making things worse.”

  “It was you. You killed him.” Moira backed up further, putting her hands up as she’d seen people do on TV. The entrance to the kitchen was right behind her. What could she do in there? Grab a knife?

  “I just don’t understand… why?” she asked, trying to bide for time while she tried to come up with a plan. “Why would you throw your future away? Why would you kill someone?” Moira’s voice broke on the last sentence. She had never felt such hurt and betrayal, not even when her ex-husband had filed for divorce.

  “What future?” the girl gave a short, harsh laugh. “I should have been the rich and famous one, not him. It should be me in all of the town papers, me who opened stores across the state. He took away my chance at success, so I took away his.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “All of those soups that made the Soup Shoppe so famous? They were my recipes, Ms. D. I did all of the hard work, I poured my soul into cooking, and he claimed it all for himself.” Her face twisted with anger, Danielle continued, “every single time someone mentioned his restaurant, or his franchise, or how good his food was, they should have been saying my restaurant, my food.”

  “He claimed all of the credit for the things that you did? I’m sorry, sweetie.” And she was. She knew how much went in to creating a new recipe, and how wonderful it felt when someone enjoyed it. But that came nowhere near excusing Danielle’s crime. Not in the eyes of the law, and definitely to Moira. “I don’t understand; why didn’t you just tell someone?”

  “Who would believe me?” The young woman asked in a defeated voice. “I was just some kid that was good with soups. He was the rich businessman with a team of lawyers. When I finally got fed up with it and told him I was going to stop coming up with new soups for him, he fired me.”

  “So you came up with a plan to kill him.” The level of hatred and resentment that had gone into this murder astounded Moira. Danielle had always seemed so sweet and quiet. “But why did you try to pin it on me?” She had kept backing up slowly, and now felt the back of her legs press into the kitchen cabinet. She didn’t dare look behind her for a knife or, better yet, her phone. Was there anything here that could save her? Her gaze drifted past Danielle’s shoulder to where her front door was still standing open. If only she could make it past her employee, she might be able to escape.

  “I didn’t, at first. But once the police started being all suspicious of you, I thought that it would be an easy way to get them off of my trail. All I really did was leave the extra hemlock in the fridge, so that if they got a search warrant, they would find evidence that would tie you to the crime, and I also told Detective Fitzgerald that you’d said the Soup Shoppe was running us out of business.” She shrugged. “I didn’t really have to do much. I felt bad about it I guess, but I just… I can’t go to jail.”

  “And the soup? How did you get him to eat it?” Moira managed to ask, keeping her eyes on the gun, which was pointed at her stomach now.

  “I just told him that I wanted my job back, and that the soup was a sample of a new recipe I had just come up with. He was so greedy, he didn’t even question it.”

  “Do you feel better, now that he’s gone?” the older woman asked quietly.

  “I did at first,” she admitted. “But then all of the investigations started, and I wished that I could take it back. Or at least do it smarter. It’s all that stupid investigator’s fault. He’s the only one that doesn’t think it’s you.”

  “David is far from stupid, I wouldn’t underestimate him.” Moira leaned against the edge of the counter and closed her eyes, emotionally exhausted. “Please, Danielle, just put the gun down. We can figure this out. Killing me won’t help things.”

  “I think I can make it look like you killed yourself,” her employee said. “And I’ll write a note on your computer saying you did it, and felt guilty. It’s the only way I can save myself, Ms. D. I’m sorry.” Moira opened her eyes to see the barrel of the gun pointed at her face. Her heart pounding, she watched as the desperate young woman clicked off the safety.

  “You can close your eyes again, if you want,” Danielle said, using one of her hands to wipe tears from her eyes. “It might make it easier.”

  For me or for you? Moira wondered. She was opening her mouth to talk more—to say something, anything, to stall – but her mind was blank. Was this really it? Was this how she would die? Oh my goodness, she thought. Candice will be home soon. She’ll be the one to find my body.

  The sound of a car pulling into her driveway made Danielle pause. Moira had no idea who it could be; it was way too early for her daughter to have made it home, and no one else would come over without calling first. Suddenly she realized that this was her chance; Danielle was looking back over her shoulder, and the gun was wavering.

  Reaching behind her, she hoped to find something that she could use to defend herself. She tried not to move too much, so that she didn’t draw the girl’s gaze back, but her hand only found empty counter.

  Then her fingers brushed something. A paper bag filled with something. She had no idea what it was, but it would have to do because Danielle was turning her head back towards her.

  “What are you-” she began, just moments before Moira swung the paper bag towards her and a cloud of flour filled the air.

  Moira dived to the side, and just in time—an earsplitting bang sounded, and chips of wood flew from the cabinets behind where she had been standing. The flour was already settling, leaving Danielle and half of Moira’s kitchen covered in the fine powder.

  The gun, Moira thought. The young woman seemed to have forgotten it as she tried to rub the flour out of her eyes, but she knew Danielle’s distraction wouldn’t last for long. She lunged for the weapon, her fingers closing over Danielle’s. She tried to tug it away, but the girl wasn’t giving up without a fight. They struggled back and forth for a few seconds, and somehow a second shot went off, missing Moira’s foot by an inch.

  “Freeze!” The command was shouted from the doorway to her kitchen, surprising both women badly enough that they stopped moving. She looked over to see the tall, imposing private investigator standing just feet away, his gun out and pointed at Danielle. Moira recovered from the shock first and wrested her employee’s firearm out of her grip.

  David glanced up at her, relieved. “Are you okay? She didn’t shoot you?”

  “No, I’m… well, I’m not hurt.” She had been about to say that she was fine, but that would be a lie. She felt like she would never be fine again. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes… hold on…” He reached into his pocket and tossed a pair of handcuffs to her. Nodding at Danielle, he said, “You know what to do.”

  Shaking all over, Moira gingerly put the gun down on the counter, well out of reach, before approaching the flour-covered young woman who was standing in front of her. Danielle didn’t resist as she put the handcuffs on her, and even after everything Moira couldn’t help feeling bad for her.

  “I’m glad you’re alright,” D
avid said softly when she was done. “When I saw her car in your driveway, I knew that you had figured it out too.”

  “I did, just in time. What now?” she asked, feeling numb as she looked at her former employee in cuffs before her.

  “Now, we call the police,” he said. “I’m sure they’ll be glad to know that we found their murderer.”

  CHAPTER 20

  When Moira saw the detective come through the front door of her deli, she excused herself and asked Darrin to take care of the customer that she had been speaking to. Business was back to normal—better than normal, in fact. It seemed like everyone in town wanted to talk to the woman who had been held at gunpoint by a killer.

  “It’s good to see this place alive again,” David said when she approached him. “I’m glad things are looking up for you.”

  “I am too. I just wish that it hadn’t come at such a price.” She didn’t know if she would ever be able to recover from the shock of finding out that one of her employees had killed someone. It would be hard to trust someone new after all of this, but with the extra business from all of the publicity that the news had been giving them, and with tourist season looming only a few months away, she would have to hire someone else soon.

  “You never really know people as well as you think you do,” he said softly.

  “Are you still planning on moving?” asked Moira. She found herself hoping that the handsome detective would stay around.

  “Those plans are on hold for now.” He grinned and sat next to her. “I’ve been picking up new clients left and right; it looks like all I needed was some TV face time to inspire people to hire me to solve the mysteries in their lives.”

  “I guess they realized that terrible things can happen even in small towns, and they want someone like you on their side.” She smiled at him. “Thanks for supporting me and helping me figure out the truth, no matter how terrible it was.”

  “It’s all in my job description,” he said.

  “Saving me from being shot isn’t,” Moira said, her tone soft but serious. “So, thank you.”

  “It was my pleasure,” he responded. Neither of them said anything for a moment, and then David cleared his throat. “Well, I should get going. I just wanted to stop in and see how things were. You know where to find me if you manage to get into trouble again.” He shook her hand once more, and then disappeared through the front door. Moira watched him go, feeling a twinge of loneliness for a moment. Then Darrin called her name, Candice walked out of the kitchen with a tray of cold cuts balanced on one hand, and Moira felt herself smile again. She had a lot to be thankful for and a lot to look forward to. Life might not always be easy, but with the people she trusted by her side, she could take it one step at a time.