Pastrami Murder: Book One in The Darling Deli Series (3 page)

BOOK: Pastrami Murder: Book One in The Darling Deli Series
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She started looking for the
Maple Creek News
telephone number when she heard a key in the front door. A moment later, the door opened and she heard Candice call out, “Mom?”

“In here, sweetie,” Moira called back. She could deal with the bad publicity from the news later. Right now, she wanted to spend some quality time with her daughter—and catch Candice up on the day’s events.

 

CHAPTER 6

“Wow, Danielle, this is delicious.” Moira took another bite of the sandwich her employee had surprised her with. The toasted olive bread crunched as she bit into it, then the savory flavors of roast beef, caramelized onions, melted swiss cheese, and steak sauce flooded her mouth.

“I thought it would go well with a French onion soup. Maybe we could serve it later this week.” Danielle bit her lip. “If you think it’s good enough, of course. It’s just something I whipped up this morning. I was feeling creative.”

“I think it will be perfect.” Moira gave her employee an encouraging smile. “Do you think you can make another couple of these? We can try them out on Darrin and Candice when they come in later.”

“Sure, I’ll get started right away.” Danielle beamed at her and then hurried back into the kitchen. Moira was glad to see such enthusiasm from the young woman. Ever since Henry Devou’s death a week ago, she had been unusually withdrawn and emotional. A quick peek through the swinging door showed Danielle humming to herself as she worked. The sight of her eagerly slicing roast beef was definitely an improvement from her demeanor just a few days ago.

Moira decided to let Danielle work in peace, and returned to the counter. There was a lull between customers, and she took the opportunity to straighten up. Keeping the store tidy seemed to be a never ending job, but it was one that she didn’t mind.

She was crouching in front of the cheese section, trying to figure out how on earth the packages of swiss had gotten mixed in with the white cheddar, when she heard the front door open. She looked over her shoulder with a smile on her face, ready to greet a customer, and was surprised to see the familiar face of Detective Fitzgerald looking down at her. Moira stood up quickly, self-consciously straightening her apron as she turned to face him.

“Can I help you?” she asked, keeping her tone polite even though just seeing the detective set her on edge.

“I would like to ask you a some more questions, Ms. Darling, if you don’t mind. Can you accompany me to the station?” he said.

“Right now?” Moira frowned. “It’s the middle of my business hours, detective. We’re just about to get our evening rush. I really can’t leave the store right now.” Detective Fitzgerald sighed and looked around at the empty store.

“How about I ask you a few questions here, and then you come down to the station later if we need to ask you anything else. Does that work for you?” he asked.

“Yes, thank you.” She glanced outside, but the younger detective was nowhere in sight. If she had two answer more questions, she would rather talk to Jefferson; he had seemed like the nicer of the two. “Um, would you like something to eat or drink?” She almost added
it’s on the house
, but at the last moment she realized that it might sound like she was trying to bribe him.

“No thank you.” He gestured to the nearest table. “Please take a seat Ms. Darling. This won’t take long.” Moira sat down, her mouth suddenly dry. She hadn’t done anything wrong, so why did she feel so nervous?

“Where were you last Saturday evening?” He touched his pen to his notepad, and looked up at her expectantly.

“I was at home,” she said, thinking back. “Well, actually, I went shopping after work, and then I went home.”

“Where did you go shopping?” he asked.

“Tulman’s Fresh Market,” she said, naming the local grocery store. “I was buying some things for dinner.”

“Did you go anywhere after you went home?” He made a note.

“No. I stayed in all night. I watched some television, and then went to bed.” She hesitated, then decided that it would probably be safe to ask him a question of her own. “Have I done something wrong, Detective Fitzgerald?”

“I’m just gathering information, Ms. Darling. Nothing to worry about.” He held her gaze until she looked away, and then continued with his questioning. “Is there anyone that can confirm your whereabouts for last Saturday evening?”

“Well, the cashier at the store would probably remember me being there. Her name’s Rachel, she’s a friend of my daughter from when they were in high school,” Moira told him.

“How about after you left? Can anyone confirm that you were at your house?” He tapped the pen against his lips, a mannerism that she remembered from the last time he had questioned her.

“No,” she said, remembering with a sinking feeling in her gut. “Candice, my daughter, lives with me, but she spent last Saturday night at a friend’s house.”

“Hmm.” Detective Fitzgerald took a few more notes, and then slipped his pen back into his pocket. “That’s all for now, Ms. Darling. We’ll be in contact with you if we need anything else.” He glanced at his notepad. “Do you have any employees in today?”

“Yes, Danielle is in the back.” Moira straightened in her seat. “But please try not to be too hard on her. She’s been very upset by all of this.”

The detective raised an eyebrow but only said, “Could you please send her out?” Reluctantly, Moira rose from her chair to go find her employee. She didn’t like the thought of Danielle being interviewed by the stern detective, but she knew that there was nothing she could do about it.

“Did he say why he wanted to talk to you guys?” Darrin asked. The sandwich that Danielle had made for him was sitting untouched on his plate. She had just closed the store for the evening, and the four of them—her, Danielle, Darrin, and Candice—were sitting in the dining area together. Soon after hiring Danielle, Moira had started a tradition of having employee dinner meetings once a week, where she supplied a free dinner and they all got a chance to talk about business and plan the next week’s specials. Normally the topic of conversation stayed on food, but tonight they had gotten sidetracked when Moira mentioned Detective Fitzgerald’s visit.

“No.” Moira shook her head. “He just asked me where I was the night that Henry Devou died, and then told me he’d be in contact if he needed anything else. Did he explain anything when he talked to you?” She glanced over at Danielle, who shook her head.

“Nope, he just said the same things as he said to you. He asked where I had been, and if I had anyone who could confirm it.” Danielle’s eyes darted over to Darrin, and then away again. The motion was so quick that Moira thought she must have imagined it.

“Do you think that detective is going to question Darrin and me too?” Candice asked.

“I don’t know, Candice. But there’s nothing to worry about if he does. Just be yourself and answer truthfully.” Moira gave her daughter what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

“So have they decided that Devou’s death was actually a murder?” Darrin looked around at the rest of them. “I mean, the police wouldn’t be questioning people if he had like, had a heart attack or something, would they?”

“I doubt it,” Moira said. “I don’t know much about how this stuff works though. Maybe something will be on the news tomorrow.” She shook her head. “A murder in Maple Creek. Things like that just don’t happen here. If someone
did
kill Henry Devou, I hope they catch him quickly. The thought of a murderer in town is just terrifying.”

 

CHAPTER 7

At first Moira thought the pounding was part of a dream, but she quickly realized that it was the sound of someone knocking on the door. Knocking
loudly.
She stumbled out of bed and pulled on her bathrobe as she stepped into the hallway. Candice poked her head around her bedroom door, her brown eyes wide.

“Who is it?” she asked.

“I’ve got no idea.” Moira hesitated at the top of the stairs. “You stay up here, alright?” She remembered the conversation from last night. The talk of killing and murderers had put her on edge. Candice nodded, biting her lip in concern before ducking back into her bedroom. The pounding came again, and she made her way down the steps.

She opened the front door to find two uniformed police officers on her porch.

“Moira Darling?” one of them asked.

“Yes, that’s me,” she said. “What can I do for you?”

“We’re going to need you to come down to the station.”

“Am I… am I under arrest?” The two officers traded a glance, then the one who had been speaking shook his head.

“No, you’re not. We just need to ask you some questions,” he told her.

“Is it alright if I get dressed first?” Moira glanced down at her bathrobe. She really didn’t want to go down to the police station in her pajamas.

“Go ahead,” the officer said. “We’ll wait for you out here.” She hurried upstairs, where Candice was waiting by her bedroom door. Her daughter had taken the time to get fully dressed, and was looking at Moira with concern.

“I heard everything,” she said to her mother. “Why do they need to question you?”

“I don’t know, but I’m sure it’s just normal procedure.” Moira gave her daughter a reassuring smile. “Can you go to the store for me if I’m not back before it opens? Tell Darrin that all of the ingredients for the Soup of the Day are in the fridge, and that we need to order more of the bread and butter pickles.”

“Of course I’ll go to the store. I’ll help out however I can, and I’m sure Darrin and I can call Danielle in if we need more help. But what about you, Mom? Do you want me to call anyone? What if they, I don’t know, arrest you or something?” Candice bit her lip, concern making her look even younger than she was.

“I’ll be fine, sweetheart. If you get too worried, you can always call your father. I know he and I don’t get along very well, but he does love you.” She glanced down the stairs. “I’d better get dressed, Candice. They’re waiting for me.”

Moira followed the officers down to the station, relieved that she had been able to drive her own car. She wondered what all of this was about. Why did the police keep questioning her about Henry Devou? She knew that she was innocent, but she couldn’t help feeling like she had done something wrong whenever she spoke to the police. She hoped that they weren’t questioning Danielle as much as they were questioning her. The poor girl didn’t need thoughts of her former boss’s death dragged up again and again.

“Right this way, ma’am.” Moira followed the officer as he led her down one of Maple Creek Police Department’s hallways. She couldn’t believe that an hour ago, she had been asleep in her bed. Now she was about to be questioned by the police for the third time, and she hadn’t even had her coffee yet.

“Through here.” The officer opened a door for her. As Moira walked past him, he added, “It will probably be a few minutes.” It was a small room, with blank walls and a simple square table that had a few metal chairs set up around it. There was no two-way mirror, but she could see a camera on the ceiling. She pulled out one of the chairs and sat down, keeping her coat on since the room was chilly. She hoped Candice wasn’t too worried; she would call her daughter the second she got out of here. Then she would see if Danielle could meet them at the deli—it looked like they might need to have another staff meeting. If Henry Devou’s death
was
somehow linked to the deli, her employees deserved to know.

She quickly became bored just sitting at the table, so she began planning new soup recipes. She tried to come up with a few new soup and sandwich combos each month, to keep things interesting for her customers, and herself. During the busy summer months, she usually had a couple of different soups available, but there usually weren’t enough customers during the winter to have more than one pot of soup boiling away at a time. Of course, she offered prepackaged versions of some of her most popular soups occasionally, and offered catering services when someone asked her, though she didn’t advertise them.

Maybe I can do some sort of beef stew next,
Moira thought. Hearty recipes sold best during the cold winter months, and stews were always popular.
Yes, beef stew, with lots of carrots, pearl onions, and rosemary. Should I do potatoes or dumplings?
Beef Dumpling Stew sounded good to her, but she would have to play around with the dumpling recipe a little bit and add some seasonal spices.

She was so involved with imagining what flavors would make the stew just perfect, that she jumped when the door to the interview room opened. Detective Fitzgerald and Detective Jefferson walked in, the latter carrying two cups of coffee. He placed one in front of her, the rich scent going to her head and reminding her that she hadn’t had anything to eat or drink yet.

“I can get you sugar or cream to go with that, if you’d like,” said the detective.

“No, thanks.” Moira wrapped her hand around the warm mug. While she didn’t usually like the taste of black coffee, she knew that the bitter taste would help keep her alert.

“I’m sorry that we asked you to come down to the station so early, but we didn’t want to disturb you while you were at work.” Detective Jefferson sat down across from her, and Detective Fitzgerald sat next to him. The older detective nodded in greeting, but said nothing.

“Do you know why you’re here?” Jefferson asked.

BOOK: Pastrami Murder: Book One in The Darling Deli Series
8.01Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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