Peppered With Murder Read online

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  PEPPERED WITH 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

  EPILOGUE

  Peppered

  With

  Murder

  Book Twenty-Six

  in

  The Darling Deli Series

  By

  Patti Benning

  Copyright 2017 Summer Prescott Books

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication nor any of the information herein may be quoted from, nor reproduced, in any form, including but not limited to: printing, scanning, photocopying or any other printed, digital, or audio formats, without prior express written consent of the copyright holder.

  **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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  PEPPERED WITH

  MURDER

  Book Twenty-Six in The Darling Deli Series

  CHAPTER ONE

  * * *

  Moira Darling sipped her hot apple cider and watched as her dogs chased each other around the backyard. Her house was nestled in five acres of woods, and the colors of autumn surrounded her. She loved the smell of dry leaves and the hint of smoke from her neighbor’s wood-burning stove. This was her favorite time of year, even though she wasn’t looking forward to the cold, snowy weather that would soon follow. She couldn’t imagine anything more beautiful than Michigan in the fall, when the trees turned from green to red, yellow, and orange.

  The end of the year had snuck up on her. It was almost Halloween, but she still felt stuck in summer. So much had happened recently that it felt like the last few months had flown by in the blink of an eye. The year had slipped past without her noticing, and somehow it was already time to start preparing for the coming holidays.

  She was still a long way from thinking about Christmas or even Thanksgiving, though. With scarecrows and ghosts lining the yards of Maple Creek, it was impossible to so much as drive into town without being reminded of Halloween. Normally she loved the festivities, but this year she was worried that she had gotten in over her head.

  How did Denise convince me to do that fundraiser? She sighed and sipped her cider. With Logan’s hearing on November first, she couldn’t blame her friend for being overwhelmed. Denise usually stuck to her commitments, so for her to come to her friend at the last moment and ask for her to take over was a rare thing indeed. Moira wouldn’t have minded at all, if only Denise had come to her sooner. Less than two weeks to plan a haunted house, get volunteers, and advertise. At least I have David to help me, she thought. We’ll manage, I’m sure.

  The truth was, part of her was glad to have something to focus her energy on this Halloween. The holiday always brought back bittersweet memories of taking her daughter trick-or-treating. It was difficult to come to terms with the fact that that part of her life was over. Where had the time gone? Candice was married, and hadn’t lived with her mother for nearly two years. She had matured from the bubbly little girl she had been, to a responsible and busy young woman.

  Moira’s cell phone buzzed, and she shook her head, clearing her mind of nostalgic thoughts. Her time to relax was up — she had to get to work.

  Darling’s DELIcious Delights had blossomed from its original humble beginnings as a part-time hobby into a thriving, successful deli. Moira had spent countless hours there in the past few years, and regretted none of them. Sometimes she could hardly believe how far the little restaurant had come. Their hours had doubled since she had first opened the deli, and she had four dedicated employees to rely on. The shop had evolved from serving just sandwiches and soup, to including a variety of breakfast items such as quiches, crepes, and freshly made breakfast cookies.

  Moira smiled as she walked through the doors that afternoon. The deli was like a second home to her. In fact, I’ve owned this building for longer than I’ve owned my house, she thought. She had bought the little stone house in the woods after the home in town in which Candice had grown up in had been burned down.

  Arson had touched her life twice, both times changing it forever. More recently, her daughter’s candy shop, Candice’s Candies, had been destroyed and Eli, her son-in-law, had been seriously injured. It had been a dark time for them all, but now Candice was finally returning to Maple Creek for a visit. Eli would remain at the rehab center a couple of hours to the south for a while longer while he worked on regaining full range of motion in the leg that had been shattered in the fire. She was glad that he was recovering; his health had been touch and go when the incident had first happened.

  “Good afternoon, Ms. D.,” Darrin greeted her, coming out from the kitchen. She smiled.

  “Good afternoon, Darrin. What are you wearing on your head?”

  “Oh, this?” He chuckled and touched the pirate’s hat as if he had forgotten about it. “Allison brought a box of dress-up hats in earlier and we picked some out for everyone. She thought it would be fun to dress up a little bit, since we haven’t done much else for the holiday yet.”

  “Sorry, I’ve been so distracted I forgot to bring in the box of decorations,” she said. “I’ll grab it before I come in tomorrow, if I remember. I like the hat. Excellent job getting into the spirit of things.”

  “We have one for you too,” he said, grinning. “Hold on.”

  He ducked through the door that led to the kitchen and returned a moment later with a tall, pointed witch’s hat. She raised her eyebrows, amused.

  “So, this is what you guys really think of me, huh?” she joked as she put it on.

  “It’s because you spend so much time making soup,” he said. “You know, like a witch stirring potions in a cauldron.”

  She laughed, and his worried look changed to one of relief. “I like it,” she said. “Tell Allison thanks. What was she doing with so many hats, anyway?”

  “She’s bringing them in to that elementary school she’s been helping out at,” he replied. “They’re having a Halloween party next week.”

  The deli owner blinked, surprised to hear that Allison had been volunteering at a school. She had known that the young woman was interested in working with children one day, and had been taking courses in early childhood development and language acquisition, but hadn’t realized she was quite so far down the path already. Of course, she didn’t expect her employees to share everything with her. Normally she would have heard something like this from Candice, who was clos
e friends with Allison, but with her daughter out of town, she was out of the loop.

  “That’s nice of her. I bet they’ll have a lot of fun. I always loved Halloween when I was a child.”

  Darrin grinned. “Who didn’t? It’s every kid’s second favorite holiday, other than Christmas.”

  “Speaking of Halloween, I just agreed to do a haunted house. It will run for two days; the thirtieth and the thirty-first. I’m still in the planning stages, but I’ll need volunteers. Would you be interested? I’ll mention it to the other employees too.”

  “Sure,” he said. “That sounds like it could be fun. Where will it be?”

  “I’m not a hundred percent sure yet, but I’m thinking of using the deli,” she said. “We could close a little bit early the evening of the thirtieth, and we’d have to be closed on Halloween, but it will be a slower day anyway. If I can find a large event tent to borrow, we could set that up by the side entrance. If we section off the main area, we’d have room for a couple of different areas in here, plus the kitchen and the tent outside. It wouldn’t be bad at all, plus I wouldn’t have to try to find somewhere to rent on such short notice. It’s a fundraiser, and all of the proceeds will go towards a charity that provides meals for children that live below the poverty line. My friend Denise was going to do it originally, but she just has too much going on right now.”

  “Well, count me in. I’m already scheduled to work on Halloween, so it’s not like I have any other big plans. I’ve always thought working in a haunted house would be fun, anyway. Dressing up in a costume and scaring people sounds like a blast.”

  Moira smiled. Darrin’s enthusiasm was contagious. This haunted house would be fun. She was sure of it.

  She worked alongside Darrin for the busy lunch hours, then as things calmed down, he said his goodbyes and headed home. Alone at the deli, she spent most of her time in the kitchen other than when she had to go out front to help a customer. The kitchen was filled with the nutmeg scents of butternut squash soup, and felt just as familiar and comforting as home.

  When Jenny called her a little bit before she was supposed to get there to help with the evening rush to tell her that she had a flat tire, Moira didn’t mind until she realized that meant she would have to unload the shipment of deli meats by herself. It would be a pain, especially with the busier hours as people began to get out of work.

  She was out front helping a customer when she saw the truck pull in. Reluctantly, she excused herself. “It’s just me here today,” she told the woman and her young adult son. “I’ll bring your order out as soon as it’s ready. If you need anything in the meantime, just holler.”

  “If you need help, Chance here can help you,” the woman said. “He’s been looking for a job. I keep telling him the sooner he gets one, the sooner he can move out, and the sooner I’ll be out of his hair.”

  “Mom,” the young man said, embarrassed. “I don’t need you to find work for me.”

  “I’m just trying to help this nice lady out,” his mother said. “If you help her now, maybe she’ll hire you when she has an opening.”

  “We might be looking for the holiday work around Thanksgiving and Christmas,” she said. “If you’re up to it, come on back. I’ll pay you ten bucks and your meal will be in the house. I hate unloading deliveries on my own.”

  The young man shrugged. “Sure, I guess. Thanks.”

  She took Chance into the kitchen and showed him how to prop open the employee entrance and where to stack the incoming boxes. She was glad for his help, because before she knew it, the bell out front rang again, and she had another customer. This time it was a middle-aged woman alone. She looked tired, and ordered enough food to go for three or four people.

  “All right, I’ve got your order rung up. Just let me pop into the back and make it, and I’ll be right out.”

  She returned from the kitchen a few minutes later with both Chance’s mother’s order, and the new woman’s order. “Thanks,” the new woman said. “This is a lifesaver. My dad and my husband are always on me about cooking dinner when I get home, but I’m exhausted. Neither of them can do much beyond microwave a frozen meal. Men drive me crazy sometimes.”

  Chance’s mother and Moira both chuckled. “I know what you mean. I hope the three of you enjoy dinner tonight. Have a nice evening,” the deli owner said. Privately, she was grateful that David didn’t expect her to make dinner every night. They took turns providing meals, which often ended up being takeout since both of them worked most days.

  She remembered Chance in the kitchen, doing all of the work that she and Jenny should have been doing together, and hurried back to help him. She was impressed see how much he had unloaded already. If he was still interested when the time rolled around, maybe she would keep him in mind for the holiday position. After that, they would just have to see how things went. It wouldn’t kill them to have another employee around there, and a hard-working young man like this definitely wouldn’t be a bad choice. With Allison getting more and more distracted by her future career, they may need someone new sooner than she had expected.

  CHAPTER TWO

  * * *

  Moira stood over her kitchen sink, scrubbing her hands with apple-scented soap. The dogs, staring at her from behind the baby gate in the doorway to the mud room, whined softly. They didn’t like being kept separate from the rest of the house, but she was determined that everything would be perfect when her daughter arrived. That meant no stray dog fur flying into their meal, and no dogs charging the door when Candice got there. The last time she had checked, Felix, her daughter’s cat, was curled up on the couch, and with luck he would stay there until his owner arrived.

  She didn’t usually feel this nervous when her daughter came over, but this would be the first time Candice had returned to Maple Creek in weeks. She wanted the young woman to feel at home. Besides, Moira thought, there’s something she isn’t telling me. Candice had acted strangely the last time she had spoken to her. Her daughter was usually forthcoming with information, but when Moira had asked her when she and Eli planned on coming back for good, her daughter had become coy, promising only to talk with her more that weekend.

  She couldn’t imagine what the young woman might be reluctant to talk to her about. She had thought that she and Candice had a good, relatively close mother and daughter relationship. Maybe it’s not anything bad, she thought. Maybe it’s just something she wants to say in person instead of over the phone. Was it possible that Candice was pregnant? While she loved the idea of having grandchildren, it wasn’t exactly the best time for the young couple to start their family. With the candy shop burnt to the ground, Eli out of work for the near future, and the two of them paying for a house they hadn’t even been living in for the past few weeks, finances must be getting tight for them. She still had no idea what her daughter’s plans for her store were. Rebuilding would be a lengthy process, though insurance would hopefully cover the majority of the expenses. Moira wondered if her daughter would decide to cut her losses and start over at a new location instead.

  Her phone buzzed. She dried her hands off on the kitchen towel and checked it. It was a text from her daughter. I’ll be there in twenty minutes. She sent back a text telling her daughter to drive safely, then slid her phone into her apron’s pocket. It was time to start cooking.

  She liked experimenting with new dishes, but something about autumn always made her feel wistful. For tonight’s dinner, she had decided to go with an old favorite; stuffed green peppers, with a side of homemade cornbread and apple pie for dessert. After turning on the oven so it would have ample time to preheat, and putting a pot of water on the stove to boil, she pulled out her nearly-new rice cooker and set it up on the counter. It would take twenty minutes for the rice to cook, by which time the rest of the ingredients should be ready to go together.

  She took the green peppers out of the fridge and washed them thoroughly in the sink before cutting the tops off and scooping the seeds out. After pla
cing the hollowed-out peppers in the boiling water, she scraped the cutting board off and started dicing the onions. By the time she was done with that, it was time to take the peppers out of the boiling water and set them aside. She lined them up on a foil-covered baking sheet, then turned her attention back to the next step; browning the beef.

  The scent of beef and onions sizzling in a pan made her stomach growl. She hadn’t eaten since earlier that morning, when she had grabbed a couple of spare breakfast cookies at work. Sitting down with her family for a hearty dinner like this would be the perfect end to a long day.

  Once the beef and onions were done cooking in the pan, she stirred in a can of diced tomatoes, some shredded cheddar cheese, and seasoned it all with salt and pepper before checking the rice, which needed a few more minutes to cook. Once the rice cooker beeped at her, she mixed the rice in and spooned the mixture into each of the green pepper shells. She poured tomato sauce over them, then covered each pepper with aluminum foil and put the baking sheet in the oven.

  After that, she got started on the cornbread. She used a mix, but added her own touch in the form of a couple of spoonfuls of local honey. She poured the batter into a glass pan and slid that onto the rack above the peppers. The pie, she saved for last. She had made hundreds of pies over the years, and could have made the crust in her sleep. It was the recipe her mother had taught her, and almost always turned out perfectly flaky and rich.