Creamy Casserole Murder: Book 15 in The Darling Deli Series Read online

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  CREAMY CASSEROLE MURDER

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Creamy

  Casserole

  Murder

  Book Fifteen in the Darling Deli Series

  By

  Patti Benning

  Copyright 2016 Summer Prescott Books

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  **This book is a work of fiction. Any similarities to persons, living or dead, places of business, or situations past or present, is completely unintentional.

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  CREAMY CASSEROLE

  MURDER

  Book Fifteen in the Darling Deli Series

  CHAPTER ONE

  It’s good to be back, Moira Darling thought when she woke up in her own bed the first morning after returning from her cruise in the Caribbean. The trip had been an experience that she wouldn’t soon forget, especially the beautiful scenery and summer-like weather, but nothing could compare to home.

  Maverick, her loyal German shepherd, perked his head up as she stretched. Keeva, the giant Irish wolfhound that she had taken in a few months ago, was already up, her large head resting on the bed near Moira’s pillow. Both dogs looked thrilled to see her finally awake, and she couldn’t blame them—it was past ten in the morning already.

  Yesterday must have really taken it out of me, she thought. She and Candice, her twenty-one-year-old daughter, had disembarked the cruise ship in the early afternoon, then had rushed to the airport to make their flight back to Michigan. It had been close, but they had managed to get on the plane at the last second, and just a few hours later, David had picked them both up at the airport in Traverse City.

  The dogs had nearly bowled her over when she got home last night, and both of them still seemed to be unusually clingy. She felt bad for having been gone from them for so long, but at least she knew David had taken spectacular care of them. If there was anyone she trusted to watch her dogs, it was him.

  “All right, all right, I’m getting up,” she told the two impatient pooches. She was supposed to be at the deli in just a couple of hours, and the list of stuff she wanted to get done first seemed endless. Whether she was ready or not, her day had to begin.

  She went downstairs, let the dogs out into the back yard, started the coffee machine, then turned her attention to the suitcases sitting by the front door. Last night she had been too tired even to begin the task of unpacking, but there wasn’t any putting it off now. With a longing glance at the still gurgling coffee machine, she got to work.

  David had stayed at her house for the duration of her stay on the cruise, and he had left it in stellar shape. The floors had been swept and mopped, the kitchen was spotless, and even the dogs’ yard had been cleaned. He’s definitely a once-in-a-lifetime sort of man, she thought as she finished loading the last of her laundry into the washing machine in the mudroom, which had also been swept out and mopped. I think the house is even cleaner than it was when I left. She felt a bit bad that he had done so much without asking for anything in return. She had been hesitant to even ask him to watch the dogs, knowing how busy he was.

  He definitely went above and beyond, she thought with a smile, watching the clothes begin to spin in the washer. I’ll have to think of some way to repay him. She would have to figure all of that out later, though. Right now she had to get dressed for work, then go and see how Darling’s DELIcious Delights had fared without her.

  An hour later, she pulled into the deli’s parking lot in her green SUV. The dogs had looked heartbroken when she left, but she had promised them that she would be back that evening—no more trips for her, at least not for the foreseeable future.

  The deli looked the same as it always had… except for the big banner hanging over the front door that read Welcome Home, Ms. D! She grinned at the sight of it and happy tears moistened her cheeks. She hadn’t expected anything like this and was reminded once again of why she loved her job so much.

  Darrin and Allison were waiting for her inside, both smiling in welcome as she walked through the door. She looked around, impressed to see how clean the deli was. It smelled amazing too; the little blackboard on the counter declared that the soup of the day was southern corn chowder, and her stomach growled at the thought of the sweet, filling, slightly spicy soup simmering away in the kitchen. She would definitely have to get herself a bowl of it before settling in to work.

  “Welcome back, Ms. D,” Allison said. “How was your trip?”

  “It was…” She paused, not wanting to wreck the happy return with stories of the events of the competition, which had been cut short due to a murder. “Well, the cruise ship was very nice, and the ocean and islands were just beautiful. I’ll tell you more about it later. How did things go here?”

  “Everything was fine here, though we did get a few catering requests that I left for you to look at, since I wasn’t sure how busy you’d be after getting back,” Darrin told her. “But as far as day-to-day things, everything went off without a hitch. A lot of the customers asked after you when they didn’t see you, and I’m sure a lot of people will be stopping in to say hi now that you’re back.”

  Moira smiled at that. One of her favorite things about running the deli was the personal connection with her customers. In a town as small as Maple Creek, especially in the off-season for tourists, she recognized almost every person that stopped at the deli, and they all knew her, too. It would be nice to see all of her regulars again, though she was sure talking about the cruise would begin to get old after a while.

  That reminded her…

  “I have pictures of the trip on my tablet if you want to see,” she told them. “I th
ought I would make a sort of a slideshow so people who ask about my trip will have a chance to look through them.”

  Showing people pictures of her trip turned out to be a good idea. It saved her a lot of time when one of her customers wanted to know how the cruise had gone, and everyone seemed to love the gorgeous photos. By the time five o’clock rolled around and people began getting out of work, business was booming. She had just finished serving a roasted chicken breast sandwich to an elderly man who had been especially interested in the pictures of the cruise, since he was thinking of surprising his wife with one for their anniversary, when two of her closest friends walked in.

  “It’s great to see you,” she told Martha and Denise when they approached the register. “I was hoping to get together sometime this week—I have so much to tell you, but I can’t do it here.”

  “Will you be able to make our normal Wednesday morning coffee?” Martha asked. “We can get a corner table. As long as it isn’t too busy, we should be able to talk pretty privately.”

  “Sure,” the deli owner said. “I gave myself a light schedule this week while I get back into the swing of things, so that works for me if you both can make it.”

  “Even though the Grill opens earlier now, mornings still aren’t a particularly busy time,” Denise said. “So that works for me, too. In the meantime, you’ve got to tell us how the cruise was.”

  It was wonderful to get caught up with her friends, though once she mentioned some of what had happened on the cruise ship, they were dying to know more. She felt bad making them wait until Wednesday for the full story, but she was reluctant to get into details with so many customers around. The last thing she needed was more rumors being spread about her and the trouble she kept getting herself into. The deli was doing really well now; she didn’t need any bad publicity to wreck that. As her friends left, each with a small to-go bowl of corn chowder, she swore she would go into more detail later. They wouldn’t be disappointed, she knew. The cruise had been many things, but boring was not one of them.

  Despite the busy day, she felt overwhelmingly good to be back. It was wonderful to work in the deli’s kitchen again, which she knew like the back of her hand, to prepare the food for the next day’s special, and it was even better to be able to take her time and cook stress-free. She hadn’t liked cooking with a timer ticking away—the pressure had taken a lot of the fun out of making food for her. Overall it was a good experience, though, she thought as she scrubbed the counters at closing time. I do feel that the competition made me more confident in what I do, and at least now I’ll always be able to say that I’ve done it.

  After closing, Moira paused outside the deli and looked inside fondly. She had built so much, and continued to build so much, both at the deli and in her personal life. Her business was thriving and her relationship with David seemed to be going better than ever. Her life was as near to perfect as she could hope for. What could go wrong?

  CHAPTER TWO

  “David’s going to be here any minute, and I still can’t find that other earring,” Moira muttered, digging through her vanity drawer once again in hopes that she had somehow missed it the two other times she had done exactly the same thing. The earring, a small diamond stud that her father had gotten her decades before, had been missing for a while, and she suspected that Candice’s cat Felix was to blame. She had watched the little beast for a week a while ago, and she was still finding bits of jewelry and socks that he had stashed away throughout the house.

  One of her rings seemed to be missing as well, though she couldn’t blame that one on the cat. She had worn it just a couple of days before leaving for the cruise. Where could it have gone? I really need to reorganize my jewelry, she thought. I’m sure I wouldn’t lose things as much if I actually had proper places to put it. Her old jewelry boxes had all been destroyed in the house fire a few months back, and she hadn’t gotten around to replacing them yet.

  Deciding that it might be smartest to think like a cat, she got down on her hands and knees and began looking under the furniture in her bedroom. Under her nightstand, she found a lipstick that had disappeared around the same time as her earring—Felix had been busy—and knew she must be getting close. Sure enough, she found the piece of jewelry under her bed, way back against the wall. Her fingers closed on it just as a knock sounded below at the front door.

  She managed to get the earring on without fumbling and gave herself a quick once-over in the mirror before hurrying downstairs. For their dinner date at the Redwood Grill, she played up her cruise-acquired tan by wearing a silver and pale green dress—not too dressy, but not too casual either. It would be the first time that she’d seen David since he had picked her up at the airport the other day, and she was feeling giddy at the prospect. She had missed him the most while she was gone, and no amount of video calls could beat actually seeing him in person.

  “Come on in,” she said when she opened the door, after greeting him with a kiss. “I’ve got to run to the ladies’ room really quickly, then I’ll be ready to go.”

  After freshening up, she stepped out of the bathroom and stroked Keeva’s head—the dog had been waiting outside the bathroom door for her, having been reluctant to leave her side since she had returned—and walked into the living room expecting to find David and Maverick. Surprisingly, the room was empty.

  “David?” she called, walking back out into the hallway toward the kitchen. He wasn’t there, either. She was just about to check the backyard, thinking he might have gone outside with Maverick while he was waiting, when she heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

  The private investigator reached the bottom of the stairs just as she did, and Maverick was close behind him. She thought she saw a flash of something like guilt across his face, but when she raised her eyebrows he just grinned at her and shrugged.

  “Maverick must have heard a mouse or something,” he said. “He raced up there after you went to the bathroom.”

  “I heard something skittering around in the attic the other day,” she said with a sigh, adding yet another thing to her mental to-do list. “I’ll have to take a peek up there sometime—but not right now. I’m ready to go if you are.”

  They said goodbye to the dogs and took their leave, Moira pausing to lock the front door behind them. She caught up with David slowly, still thinking about his mysterious behavior on the stairs. For some reason, she felt like he hadn’t quite been honest with her.

  The Redwood Grill was just as welcoming as ever, and despite having enjoyed all of the cruise ship’s fancy restaurants, Moira was glad to be back on more familiar ground. The hostess recognized them and offered them their usual secluded booth in the back. The deli owner ordered a glass of chardonnay to begin with, and browsed through the menu, taking her time to look at the new options. Every few weeks, Denise, who owned the Grill, switched out some of their less popular options with brand new ones or old favorites, which kept their customers coming back to try new things. Moira loved the variety offered by the Redwood Grill: the choices ranged from Tex-Mex, to seafood, to sizzling cuts of expensive steaks. David usually opted for something with red meat, but she liked trying some of the different options, and whenever something new popped up on the menu she usually ordered it.

  “I’ll have the soybean casserole, please,” she told the waiter when he showed up to take their order.

  “And I’d like the surf and turf platter,” David said. “Extra steak sauce, if you can.”

  “I’m glad we were both able to do this,” Moira said once the waiter had left. “I’ve missed you. Video calling you from my tablet just wasn’t quite good enough.”

  “I missed you, too,” he admitted. “So did the dogs, of course. I think they were disappointed whenever I got back without you with me.”

  “I’m sure they weren’t too sad,” she replied, chuckling. “After all, they did get to go to work with you a couple times. That must have made up for it at least a bit. Thanks again for watching them, by th
e way.”

  “Oh, it was fun. They’re good dogs, and hanging out together gave us all something to do while you were gone.”

  She smiled at him, thinking once again just how lucky she was to have met him. He seemed to be thinking the same thing, because he slid his hand across the table, wrapped his fingers around hers, and squeezed, smiling back at her.

  “So, what are your plans for this week?” he asked.

  “Rest, finish unpacking, and catch up with everything that’s been going on around here since I left,” she told him. “Then I’m going to start focusing on the deli more. We’ve been getting more catering requests than ever, so I’ve been thinking of expanding again, maybe hiring one or two new people to focus on the catering side of things. Being open seven days a week and nearly twelve hours a day is already a stretch for the team I have now, and adding catering to the mix just puts extra pressure on everyone.”

  “That sounds like a good idea,” he said. “I have to say, I am extremely impressed with how much the deli has grown just since I’ve known you. You’ve really got a gift for this, Moira.”

  “It’s something I enjoy,” she said simply. “I don’t know if I’m especially good at it, but I enjoy it enough to want to keep on going even when it gets tough. I just wish I hadn’t waited so long to open up the deli. I feel like all of those other years were just a waste—other than raising Candice, of course.”

  “Who knows,” he said. “Maybe if you had tried to start a business twenty years ago, it wouldn’t have succeeded as well as the deli has. Besides, if you had started a business back then, you’d probably be so successful that you would have moved out of Maple Creek, and then I never would have met you.”

  “I love this town, so I don’t think I’d leave even if I was a millionaire,” she told him, grinning. “You might have been better off with someone else anyway, though. Most women don’t have a near-death experience every time they step outdoors.”