“I’m so sorry,” he said.
“Me, too. She was a good person,” Moira said.
“She was. A lot of people knew her. She helped so many people in town with their cars.”
“She was always willing to work with people if they were in a tight spot financially,” the deli owner said. “She didn’t deserve this.”
“People never do,” David said with a sigh. “Come on, let’s set the table. I haven’t eaten all day. We can talk more over dinner.”
Moira poked at her honey walnut shrimp. It was one of her favorite dishes, but she didn’t have much in the way of appetite. She couldn’t get over how unfair it was. What gave anyone the right to end someone else’s life like that? Her anger over her wedding ring being stolen seemed like such a small thing now.
“When I first heard what had happened, I was worried that it was you,” David said suddenly. He had noodles twirled around his fork, but was staring at them instead of eating. “All that people seemed to know was that someone in Maple Creek had been shot. I was picking up my phone to call you when Detective Jefferson called. He knew I’d be worried, and clarified what had happened. He’s a good man.”
“He is,” Moira agreed. “Sorry to have worried you. I should have thought to call and let you know I was okay. I didn’t even know what had happened until a customer came in and told me.”
“It’s all right,” he said. “I was actually hoping you wouldn’t hear about it at work. I knew you would be upset, since you knew her. I should have been there when you heard.”
She smiled at him, touched. She was so lucky to have found a man that was not only handsome and kind, but cared about her so deeply. It made what she was going to say next even harder. She took a deep breath.
“I want to be involved.”
“Moira —”
“No, listen to me before you say anything. I understand where you’re coming from. I’m not trained to defend myself, I don’t even have a gun, the killer might recognize me… I get it. But I can help. Meg and I both saw him. Yes, he was wearing a mask, but I can recognize his body type and his voice. Candice knows the first person he stole from in Lake Marion; maybe together we can compare our descriptions and come up with something to identify him. Lastly, the guy who robbed me seemed pretty prepared, with the cameras and whatnot. That means that he was probably in the deli before to case it. It will take a while, but I can have the employees help, and together we can go over the footage from the days before the cameras were blacked out. I already saved it. Maybe we can catch the guy on video — I might be able to recognize him by the way he walks or his clothes or something. It’s worth a shot.”
“Wow,” David said when she had finished, his eyebrows raised. “You really thought this through. I think your last idea is a good one. I didn’t see him, so it wouldn’t make much sense for me to go through the footage alone. If you’re willing to do it, it would be helpful. Keep an eye out for anyone who looks suspicious or shady. I’ve got a book on body language you can have. If he came in to case the deli before robbing it, he was probably feeling nervous or guilty.”
“I’ll get started during work tomorrow,” she told him, feeling just a bit triumphant. She had finally convinced him to let her do something to help. “What about everything else?”
“Well, I can’t stop you from meeting with the other woman. If you do, though, please be careful about it. There’s a very good chance that the robber is someone local. If he sees his first two victims getting together, he might start to get worried. He’s just going to get more dangerous if we spook him.”
“If she agrees to meet with me, I’ll make sure it’s somewhere private,” Moira said. “I want to do more, though. I was thinking of maybe going around to some of the stores near the deli and the auto shop and asking if anyone inside witnessed anything.”
David shook his head. “No,” he said firmly. “That’s a bad idea. I don’t want the killer to think you have anything to do with the case. It would be too easy for him to find out that you’re going around and asking questions about him. I don’t want to risk that.”
“But —”
“Moira, please… for me. I couldn’t bear it if you were the next victim. This guy has already killed someone. I don’t want to give him any reason to even think about you.”
The deli owner fell silent, defeated. She didn’t need his permission to do any of that, of course, but it would be hard to go directly against her husband’s wishes when she knew he just had her best interests at heart. She didn’t want to worry him. She could imagine how she would feel if their positions were reversed — or even worse, if Candice was the one that wanted to chase after a killer.
“All right,” she sighed. “I’ll stick with going over the security footage for now. If there’s anything else I can do to help, just let me know.”
“I will,” he promised. “And thank you. I know you’re good at putting the pieces together. It’s not that I think that you can’t do it — I’m just afraid of what might happen if the killer finds you before you find him.”
Moira shivered. She hadn’t thought of it that way. Despite how eager she was to help, she definitely didn’t want to end up on the wrong side of another gun.
CHAPTER NINE
* * *
True to her word, Moira began reviewing the video footage the next day. It was painfully slow going, even though she watched it on fast forward. Meg volunteered to help, so the two of them took turns during the slower parts of the day. It would have been a lot easier if they knew exactly who they were looking for, but all they had to go on was what they remembered of the masked robber, and that didn’t give them much. There seemed to be no end to the number of somewhat larger guys around Moira’s height on the tape. She was holding out hope that they might get lucky and the guy would be wearing the same green coat that he had worn when he took her wedding ring, but so far they’d had no such luck.
“What about him?” Meg asked. There was a lull in activity, and they were both in the back watching the footage on Moira’s tablet, relying on the bell to tell them when someone came in.
“I think he’s too tall,” Moira said. “The person that robbed us was my height, and I’m pretty short. Look at him compared to Darrin. Darrin’s taller than me, and this guy is taller than him.”
“You’re right,” her employee said with a sigh. “Do you think we’ll actually be able to identify him like this? For all we know, he could have been in the first few minutes of the first video that we watched.”
“I don’t know. I hope we’ll be able to notice if someone is acting nervous. If a guy comes in and keeps glancing at the cameras, fidgeting, and shifting his weight, he’ll probably stand out. Most people don’t get nervous just ordering a sandwich.”
“That’s true,” Meg said. “Man, I’m going to feel really bad if he came in while I was working.”
“It’s not your fault if he did. It’s not anyone’s fault. None of you could have known what he was planning.”
Unless it was an inside job, a little voice in her head said. She hated the thought. She trusted all of her employees, but couldn’t help but think of how convenient it was that the man had come for the robbery not only after she got back from her honeymoon, but during one of her shifts, too. Had he been watching the deli, waiting for her return? Or was it just a coincidence that he had gotten the ring? She couldn’t imagine someone committing an armed robbery for cash register change, but she supposed it was possible. Perhaps the criminal had been driven by desperation, not greed.
“How about him?” Meg said.
Moira focused her attention on the screen. Frowning, she rewound the video by a few seconds and watched it again. It showed a large man with a head of thinning, black hair come in from outside. He paused just inside the front door and looked around as if confused. After a moment, he shook himself and continued on up to the counter, where he gave his order. Darrin was at the register, and when he went into the kitchen to g
ive the order to whoever was on staff, the man looked directly up at the camera. He shifted his weight to the other leg when Darrin came back, keeping his hands in his pockets until it was time to pay. When he pulled his wallet out, Moira gasped. He was wearing black leather gloves.
“That must be him,” she said, feeling excited. “Good eye, Meg. Now we just have to find out who he is.”
“I think I sort of recognize him,” the other woman said, squinting at the screen. “I wish he’d look up at the camera again.”
Moira rewound the video and paused it in the spot where the man stared up into the security camera. Meg bit her lip, then her face brightened.
“I think he’s the pawn shop guy. The one just outside of town. I think it’s called Up the Creek or something like that,” she said.
“Perfect,” the deli owner said. “Thanks a ton, Meg. Do you think you can watch the deli for a little bit? I want to drive over and see if it’s the right person before the shop closes. I don’t want to waste anyone’s time if it’s not.”
“Yeah, it’s not that busy. I’ll be fine,” Meg said. “Good luck.”
Moira donned her coat and grabbed her purse off the counter. She couldn’t wait to see the look on David’s face when she told him she had found out who the killer was.
The full name of the pawn shop that Meg had sent her to was Up the Creek — Hidden Treasures for All Your Needs. It was a run-down little place just outside of town. She must have driven by it a hundred times without stopping. It was a wonder that it had managed to stay in business this long. She didn’t know exactly how many years it had been there, but from the look of the place, it had been quite a while.
She pulled into a parking spot and went inside, too eager to see if she was right to be nervous. Yes, David had warned her to keep out of the killer’s attention, but surely just going onto the store couldn’t hurt. Anyone could stop in and shop. It wouldn’t be suspicious at all.
The interior of the store was crowded, packed from floor to ceiling with various knick-knacks. She pretended to browse for a moment, then picked up a casserole dish with a floral pattern on the side and approached the counter.
“Excuse me,” she said. “How much is this?” She kept her eyes on the man as she spoke. He was definitely the same one from the video. The only question was, was he the man who had robbed her?
“Six dollars,” he said, barely glancing at the dish. “Plus a three percent fee if you use a card to pay.”
“I’ll be paying in cash,” she said. She thought it would be best to buy something, otherwise it might seem odd. An idea occurred to her. “Do you have any rings?”
He nodded and led her over to a glass display case. “Let me know if you want to see one.”
She bent over and peered at the rings, hoping against hope to see her wedding band among them. When she didn’t, she felt a stab of disappointment, but quickly admonished herself. Of course, he wouldn’t have the ring on display already. It would make a lot more sense for him to wait until the panic about the robberies had died down to try selling any of the stolen goods.
“Just the dish,” she said, walking back to the register. “Thanks.”
As he rang her up, she watched him closely. It was harder than she thought it would be to be sure that he was the man who had pointed a gun at her. He was the right height and about the right size. It was his voice that was the hardest for her to feel certain about. The man who had robbed the deli had a deep voice. This man’s voice was slightly higher, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t him. He could have been trying to disguise his voice during the robbery.
“Four dollars back,” he said, counting the ones into her hand. “You’re all set.”
She left, clutching her new casserole dish as she tried to come to a decision. Was it him? She thought back to the video and those black gloves of his. It has to be, she decided. Now to tell David. Hopefully by this time tomorrow, the man would be in jail, she would have her wedding ring back, and Edna would have justice.
CHAPTER TEN
* * *
“I’m sure you’re tired of talking about the robbery,” said Martha Washburn. “Tell us about your trip, instead.”
Martha, one of Moira’s closest friends, and Denise were sitting with the deli owner around a round table in a corner cafe. All three of the women worked a lot, so on the rare occasion they were all free at the same time, they grabbed the opportunity to get lunch or a coffee together.
“I want to hear about it, too,” Denise said. “I bet Europe was just beautiful, even in winter.”
“It was,” Moira agreed. “I don’t regret going in January at all. Tickets were much less expensive, and there were fewer other tourists around. Everyone was super nice, too.”
“How many different countries did you go to?” Martha asked.
“Well, we took the train to get around, so we went through more countries than we actually stopped in. We stayed over in Germany, Belgium, France, and Italy.”
“Which was your favorite country?” her friend asked.
“It’s hard to say. I liked the food in France the best. Germany and Belgium had some really beautiful natural scenery though, and I’d love to see Italy in the summer.”
“I’m so jealous,” Martha said with a sigh. “I’d love to go to Europe sometime in the next couple of years.”
“It’s nice there,” Denise said. “I went to Greece a couple of years ago. Were you sad to leave, or was it good to get back?”
“A little bit of both,” Moira admitted. “I miss spending so much time with David. It was nice to be able to just focus on being together.”
“I bet it was,” Denise said wistfully. “I loved being on my honeymoon when I got married. We went to the Bahamas, and it was like paradise. I wish we could have lived like that forever; no stress, good food, and amazing weather.” She laughed dryly. “Maybe my marriage would have lasted if we had never left.”
Denise had gotten divorced the year before. Her husband had been having an affair, and hadn’t even argued when she had mentioned ending their marriage. Moira knew that she was happy to be out of a bad relationship, but she was sure her friend still missed the man her husband had been when they had first married.
Thoughts of Denise and her ex-husband made Moira think of her and David. They hadn’t fought at all on their honeymoon, but had already had two arguments since they had been back. Not only that, but she still hadn’t told him that she had broken her promise to him and had gotten physically involved in the investigation. After visiting the pawn shop the evening before to verify that he was indeed the man in the video, she had returned to the deli and had simply told David where to look. He had access to the footage himself, so it was easier than having him come all the way over from Lake Marion, where his office was. Knowing that the truth would only concern him, she hadn’t mentioned that she had stopped by the pawn shop first.
Truth be told, she still wasn’t certain that he was the right person. She had thought it would be easy to recognize the man who had threatened her with a gun, but it was proving to be harder than she thought. Had he really been as large and deep voiced as she thought, or had her fear made him seem bigger than he really was? Still, the man in the video was a pretty good match. The fact that he looked so shifty when he came into the deli, paired with the black gloves, made her think that it was probably him.
She didn’t know if David had checked him out yet. He had promised to call if the police made an arrest, so the fact that her phone remained silent probably meant that if he had been to see the man, he hadn’t found anything to tie him to the crime.
“Are you all right?” Martha asked. “You seem distracted.”
“I’m fine. Just thinking about the robbery and what happened to Edna,” she replied.
“It’s horrible,” her friend said. “I know someone whose brother worked for her. He was there when it happened.”
“Really? Did he see anything that might help catch the guy that did it
?” Moira asked.
“He already spoke to the police. I don’t think he saw anything different than what you saw — a hooded guy wearing gloves and a mask.”
“This guy sounds like he’s pretty cautious,” Denise said. “That’s not a good thing. I don’t like smart criminals.”
“I wonder why he shot her,” the deli owner mused. “He didn’t try to hurt me or Meg when he robbed the deli.”
“From what I heard, she attacked him with a bat,” Martha said. “He shot her when she swung at him.”
Denise gave a low whistle. “Wow. Poor woman. I can’t blame her for wanting to stop him, but it cost her her life.”
A Quiche To Die For: Book 17 in The Darling Deli Series Page 4
