Curried Lobster Murder: Book 14 in The Darling Deli Series

by Patti Benning

  Nadine got fourth place, and the judges moved on until only one was left. Antonio Cross accepted his disqualification with lips pressed thinly together and an angry glint in his eye.

  “We’ll be sorry to see you go, Antonio,” Damien said gravely. “Remember that this in no way means you are a bad cook. You have a successful business, and I’m sure you will keep on succeeding where it counts. Feel free to enjoy the rest of the now stress-free cruise, and be sure to keep up with the competition as the videos are released each night. I’m sure you’ll want to see how your fellow contestants are doing.”

  “Screw this.” Antonio stormed out of the room. The other contestants were quiet for only a moment before congratulating each other, each of them happy not to have been disqualified. Moira and Sofia exchanged a quick hug, and Nadine beamed at them both.

  “I’m so glad I made it,” she said to them. “I hardly slept last night, I was so worried about today.”

  “Me too,” Sofia said. “I know the chances of me winning aren’t very high—I think I’m the least experienced out of all of us—but I could really use that money.”

  “We all could, I think,” said Nadine. “Ten grand is a lot. We all got lucky—I’m sure it was a very hard decision for the judges. None of us is bad at what we do. This is going to be a close competition.”

  “I’m envious of Daphne,” Moira admitted. “For the next challenge, she won’t have the stress of worrying that she’ll get disqualified, so I bet she’ll do even better.”

  “Ugh, that’s not fair,” Sofia groaned. “They should let the person who came in second to last have immunity, since they obviously need the help. I wish they would tell us what we’re going to be making ahead of time so we can plan our dishes—that would help me a lot.”

  The deli owner and Nadine both agreed with her. Maybe they will for the next challenge, Moira thought. Maybe they only wanted us to think on our feet for the first one. However, when Damien spoke again, she realized they would have no such luck.

  “Congratulations to the five of you,” he told them after standing up to get their attention. “You’ve all made it to the next round. The second challenge will take place tomorrow at eleven. You will report to the same kitchen that you did today where Charlie will give you further instructions. Until then, enjoy the cruise and feel free to catch the footage of this morning’s challenge on the ship’s television network tonight after dinner. Good luck to all of you. I look forward to trying the food that you prepare for tomorrow’s challenge!”

  With that, they were dismissed. Moira followed Sofia out of the banquet hall, still floating on the feeling of placing third. She had a whole day before she had to worry about the next challenge, and looked like it was time to catch up with David and her crew at the deli at last.

  She met Candice on her way back to her room. Her daughter was eager to hear what had happened, so she gave her a quick rundown of the challenge, adding that an edited version would be playing on the cruise ship’s closed circuit TVs that evening.

  “What did you do with your morning?” she asked the young woman as she unlocked her door.

  “I spent most of it at the pool,” Candice told her. “The sky cleared up, and the water was just perfect. It was just amazing. Everyone’s in such a good mood, the food and drinks are amazing—and free—and the air is so fresh. Will you have any time to relax at all while we’re here?”

  “Well, I don’t have anything else I have to do for the challenge until tomorrow at eleven. I was going to check my computer and try video calling David, after that we can hit the pool together if you want.”

  “Sounds great,” her daughter told her with a grin. “I’m going to go rest in my room for a bit—all of this sun made me tired—so just knock on my door when you’re ready to go out.”

  With that, Candice disappeared into her own room and Moira shut the connecting door behind her and sat down at her desk. She pressed the space bar on the detachable keyboard to wake her tablet up, then pulled up her email. There was one from the deli’s email address, and one from David. She opened the deli’s first.

  Hey Ms. D,

  I just wanted to let you know that everything is going well here. All of us wish you luck and hope you’re kicking butt at the competition. We can’t wait to hear how it’s going!

  -Allison

  The deli owner smiled and replied with a quick message telling them that she had gotten third place in the first competition, and might have come up with a new option for their breakfast menu. She ended the email by saying she had high hopes for the rest of the competition, thanked them for their support, and promised to keep them updated. Next, she opened David’s message.

  Moira,

  The dogs are doing well, though they seem to miss you. Maverick kept running up to your room this morning and wouldn’t eat breakfast until I let him in and showed him you weren’t there. Keeva keeps watching out the window—I think she expects you to show up at any moment. I took them out on a walk after breakfast, and plan on letting them spend the day at the office with me. I think my clients will love them.

  I’m glad to hear that everything has gone well for you so far. Don’t worry about the ship. Those things are pretty safe these days, and as long as you pay attention during the safety drills and remember where the life jackets and lifeboats are, you’ll be perfectly fine even if something does go wrong. It’s not like the Titanic—modern ships have enough emergency equipment for everyone.

  By the time you read this, you’ll probably have started the competition. I would wish you luck, but I know you don’t need it. I can’t wait to hear all about it.

  With love,

  David (and two very spoiled pooches)

  Moira started to reply, then decided to try giving him a video call instead. He would probably be at his office by now, which meant that as long as he wasn’t with a client, he would be at his desk with his open laptop in front of him.

  Sure enough, he answered the call right away. The deli owner adjusted her tablet’s screen until the camera was at a good angle, then did her best to ignore the small screen showing her own face in the lower corner. Instead, she looked at David and smiled.

  “I was wondering when I’d hear from you,” he said with a grin. His voice was only slightly distorted by the wireless connection and the tablet’s cheap speakers, and the video quality was surprisingly good. “How’s everything going?”

  “Great,” Moira told him, still giddy with her high score in the first challenge. When she remembered the dead man, she sobered.

  “Well, I placed high in the competition,” she amended. “I’ll get to that soon, but something else happened that you’re probably going to want to hear about.”

  “What happened? Are you and Candice okay?” He leaned forward, his voice now full of concern.

  “Yes, we’re both fine, but one of the other contestants isn’t. In fact, he’s dead.”

  She told David everything she knew about Bobby Babcock, starting with the dinner she had with him on the first night to witnessing his final moments in the hallway. She told him about the conjectures of the other contestants, and what Charlie had told them about the man’s death being suicide.

  “And what do you think?” David asked when she was done. “You were there, and I trust your judgment more than that of someone I’ve never met.”

  The deli owner hesitated, knowing that what she was about to say would only concern David more, but not willing to lie to him even to spare him worry.

  “I don’t think he killed himself,” she said at last. “But I also don’t think his wife killed him. The way she was acting… I don’t think anyone could fake that kind of emotion. She was hysterical.”

  “What makes you say it wasn’t suicide?” he asked. “Not that I disagree, I just want to hear your reasoning.”

  “Well, at dinner he seemed like he was really looking forward to the competition. He seemed to think that he had a pretty good chance of winning and, well,
he seemed happy. I know that I’m basing all of this on a couple hours’ worth of conversation. He could have had a lot going on that I don’t know about, but it really just doesn’t make sense to me that he would have killed himself before the competition had even started.”

  “I agree with you. Do you think it could have been one of the other contestants?”

  “I honestly don’t know,” she said with a sigh. “Like I said, the competition hadn’t even started yet. He hadn’t won anything; we hadn’t even seen him cook. Why would anyone take that kind of risk before even knowing if someone was going to be a threat or not? Why would anyone take that kind of risk at all? Ten thousand dollars doesn’t seem like enough to risk going to jail over.”

  “People have killed for less,” he told her. She sighed.

  “Let’s talk about something else,” she said. “Are the dogs there? How are they doing?”

  He turned his computer so she could see the German shepherd and Irish wolfhound lying peacefully in front of his desk. Moira smiled, glad that they seemed so happy. He turned the screen back to himself and asked her how the first challenge had gone. Feeling the excitement bubble up in her again, the deli owner began rehashing the events of the morning with him, glad that she had someone so special to her to share these once-in-a-lifetime moments with.

  CHAPTER NINE

  After ending her phone call with David, Moira took a relaxing shower, relishing in the endless hot water on the cruise ship, then put her swimsuit on. She pulled a cover-up over her shoulders, slipped her feet into her sandals, grabbed her room card, then knocked on Candice’s door. It was time to start having some fun on this cruise, and push thoughts of the murder and the competition out of her mind, for the time being at least.

  It was hot out, much hotter than she was expecting. Of course, we’re further south now, she thought. Way past Florida. I bet it will get even warmer as we keep moving down into the Caribbean. It was a pleasant change from the chilly Michigan weather that she had been tolerating back at home for the past few weeks, and she couldn’t wait to set her sights on the first tropical beach.

  The pool that Candice led them to was absolutely gorgeous. The water was crystal clear and looked inviting, and there were fountains around the edges. The pool was lined with reclining lounges and round tables with umbrellas over them so people could catch some shade if they got tired of sunbathing. There was a drink bar at one end, and one of the restaurants a little bit farther away had live music playing.

  “This has got to be one of the best vacations ever,” she told her daughter as they each grabbed a towel and settled themselves onto a pair of reclining chairs. “I don’t think I’ve ever even seen a pool with fountains anywhere other than on TV.”

  “Thanks again for inviting me to go on this cruise,” Candice said. “Though of course it would have been fine if you had invited David. I have to admit, I kind of wonder why you didn’t invite him.”

  “I thought about it,” Moira admitted. “But I figured that as long as things keep going well between us, we have years ahead of us to spend time together. But you… you’re going to have more and more things to keep you busy as time goes on. Who knows, in a few years you could be married, you could even have kids. You might move to another city, or another state, or even another country if that’s what you want. I wanted to take this time together while we can, because I know that it won’t be as easy once you have a family of your own.”

  “Aww, Mom, that’s so sweet. Don’t worry, though, I don’t plan on moving to another country any time soon. Or having kids. I’ve got a career to build first, after all.”

  “From what you’ve told me, you’re doing a great job of that.” The deli owner smiled over at her daughter, then glanced at the pool. “I think I’m going to take a dip to cool off, then catch some sun for a while. Martha and Denise are going to be jealous when I come back home with a tan in the middle of fall.”

  Just as Candice had promised, the water was perfect; cool enough to help wash away the heat of the sun, but not so cold that she was reluctant to go in. She realized that being disqualified from the competition might not be so bad after all—the people who got disqualified early on would have the entire rest of the cruise to do whatever they wanted, something that was probably a rare occurrence for all of them. She knew firsthand how much work it took to run a restaurant. Of course, I’m still going to try my hardest to win, she thought, resting her elbows on the side of the pool and gazing out through the ship’s railing at the endless sea beyond. That cooking segment would be amazing, not to mention how nice the $10,000 would be. Think of everything I could buy for the deli!

  She sighed and closed her eyes, feeling truly peaceful for the first time since boarding the cruise ship. Whether she won or lost, she was going to have fun and enjoy herself. I hope Antonio doesn’t feel too bad about being disqualified, she thought idly. He looked pretty upset. I hope he ends up enjoying the rest of the cruise.

  It was well into the evening by the time she and Candice decided they’d had enough of the pool. All the free drinks in the world couldn’t curb the hunger that had begun gnawing at her. She had skipped lunch, being too excited about her good score in the competition to even think about it, and now that it was almost dinner, she was ravenous.

  The cruise ship had countless places to eat, from buffet halls, to formal dining experiences, to chain restaurants with tropical themes. They decided to try out the dining hall that they had been assigned to when they first came on board. After a quick stop at their rooms to change, they found their way to the right room and were seated by a friendly maître d’ who left them with menus that presented their options for the four course meal. A few moments later they were joined by Daphne, her boyfriend, and the other contestant, a man named Hector.

  “What did you think of the first challenge?” Hector asked once introductions had been made all around. “Breakfast isn’t really my strong suit. The pub that I work at doesn’t open until two.”

  “I enjoyed it,” Daphne said. “I work best under pressure. The time limit and ingredient limitations really forced me to think, and it let me forget about the cameras and the high stakes.”

  “It wasn’t as bad as I was expecting,” Moira told them. “Maybe I watch too many cooking shows, but I was thinking it would be a lot more intense. The judges are actually pretty nice, and even when they were telling us what we could improve on, they weren’t rude.”

  “And the contestants too… it’s nothing like what you would think. No one had been rude at all,” Daphne said. “Well, Antonio was a bit grumpy when I ran into him earlier. But I had lunch with a few other contestants, and everyone was perfectly nice.”

  “I think most of the drama on reality TV cooking shows is scripted,” Hector said. “Normal people just don’t act like that.”

  “I don’t know,” the deli owner said. “In my experience, people can be pretty petty. I wouldn’t be surprised if people begin losing their tempers once things start to heat up in the competition.”

  “You may be right,” Daphne said. “But personally, I don’t think any contest is worth losing your basic human decency over.”

  The waiter appeared with their first course: salad for Candice and Hector, a bowl of clam chowder for Moira, and a seafood appetizer platter for Daphne and her boyfriend. With music playing in the background and the friendly chatter of other guests around her, the five of them dug in.

  Their meal was interrupted a moment later when Daphne rose suddenly from the table, her hand clamped over her mouth.

  “I feel sick,” she blurted out before rushing from the table. Her boyfriend followed quickly after her. Moira, Candice, and Hector all exchanged glances.

  “I hope she’s all right,” Candice said.

  “Me too.” Hector paused, then sheepishly added, “Though I wouldn’t really mind if she felt too sick to take part in the second challenge tomorrow. I’d hope that she got better right after, of course.”

&nbs
p; “Don’t say that; the poor woman would be crushed if she missed out on the next challenge,” Moira said, trying to take the high road. But she couldn’t help thinking that if Daphne was too sick to compete tomorrow then maybe, just maybe, she might have a better chance of winning herself. The other woman had already proven herself to be a good cook… without her in the competition, might Moira have a shot at winning this round?

  CHAPTER TEN

  “Yesterday we told you what ingredients you had to avoid,” Charlie began once all five of the contestants still in the running were gathered in the kitchen the next day. “Today, we’re going to give you a list of ingredients that you have to use. What you make with them is up to you, and you are free to use any additional ingredients that you want, but forgetting even one of the required ingredients is grounds for instant disqualification. The list of ingredients is next to each of your stations. Once again, you will have forty-five minutes to complete the dish. I’ll be walking around just like last time, so if you have any questions, feel free to give me a shout. Is everyone ready?”

  She beamed at them, sweeping her gaze across the room to make sure no one looked confused before giving a satisfied nod and reaching over to start the timer. The buzzer rang, and the five of them ran to their stations to get started.

  Moira grabbed the ingredient list and began reading:

  Bok choy

  Lobster

  Carrots

  Curry powder

  Red dates

  Candied ginger

  The candied ginger made her think of Candice and her homemade candies; she smiled briefly, then the reality hit her. She had to make a dish, in forty-five minutes, including all of these ingredients. Not only did the dish have to be palatable, it had to be better than everyone else’s dish. Or at least better than one other person’s dish, if I don’t want to get disqualified, she corrected herself. Still it was going to be a challenge, and she could only hope that she was up to it.