Chicken Club Murder (The Darling Deli Series Book 21) Read online

  Logan fell silent again. He glanced at her, then at the door. She saw what he was thinking, and tensed slightly in case he decided to run.

  “Logan, I think we should go to the police,” she said. “Eric—the man from the deli—he was trespassing. He had a gun. What you did might be considered self-defense, but if you run away from it it’s going to look worse.”

  “I don’t want to go to jail,” he said, his voice breaking. He looked more like a panicked teenager than a young adult. “I don’t want to spend the rest of my life in prison. And I don’t want Aunt Denise to get in trouble, not after she took me in.”

  “You shouldn’t trust everything you read on the internet. She would only be considered an accomplice if she knew about what you did and hid you on purpose,” the deli owner said. “Even if you do go to prison, I don’t think it would be for the rest of your life,” she added. “Besides, running away isn’t the right thing to do. Turning yourself in is. Leaving might be easiest, but that doesn’t mean it’s best.”

  She thought that appealing to his obvious code of honor might be the key; he obviously cared about not letting other people down, or he wouldn’t have come here to keep his word to Candice before leaving. Her guess was right; she was rewarded when she saw his shoulders sag slightly. He heaved a sigh.

  “All right. Can… can you drive me? I don’t think I can do it myself.”

  Blinking quickly so he wouldn’t see the tears that were pricking at her eyes, she nodded. “And on the way to the police station, you should call your aunt. She’s worried sick about you, you know.”

  EPILOGUE

  * * *

  Moira shifted the basket to her hips so she could knock on her friend’s door. Denise looked tired. She had taken Logan’s arrest hard. The lawyer that she had hired was one of the best in the state, but Moira knew that would come at a price, and a very steep price. However, she didn’t think that the money was what was making her friend look so drawn. It was simply that she was worried about her nephew.

  “Hi,” the deli owner said. “Sorry, I tried to call first, but your phone went straight to voicemail, which was full.”

  “I turned it off. People keep calling, and I got sick of it,” she said. “But you’re fine. Come on in.”

  She turned and walked away, leaving the door open. Moira followed, closing it behind her.

  “Logan asked me to bring this to you,” she said as she joined her friend in the living room. She held out the basket in her hands. “He gave me the money and asked me to pick out what I thought you’d like. He wrote the card.”

  Denise took the basket and set it on an end table before opening the card. “It’s a Mother’s Day card.” She read it in silence, then wiped at her eyes. “He says that I’m like a second mother to him, and he loves me.”

  “See? He’s a good kid.”

  “I just… I can’t get over the thought that he killed someone. When this is all over, how do I look at him the same way again?”

  “Honestly?” Moira said. “I don’t know. Maybe it won’t be the same. But the two of you are family, and you’ll work things out.”

  “I do believe him,” Denise said firmly. “About it being an accident. It’s just hard to think about.”

  “David thinks that the judge will consider it self-defense,” Moira said. “It turns out that Mikey wasn’t exactly right about Eric being harmless. He’d been arrested multiple times and several people have taken out restraining orders against him. Once he even tried to kidnap a lady, and spent a couple of years in prison and then on probation. It’s entirely possible that I owe Logan my life. If he hadn’t been there, I would have walked right into Eric at work that morning.”

  “Gosh, that’s horrible to think about. Thank you again for finding him. Whatever happens, it will be good to know that he’s safe.”

  “I know what it’s like to be worried about your child,” Moira said simply. “Besides, you’re my friend. How could I not help?”

  She said her goodbyes to Denise, then left her friend to finish opening the gifts on her own. She knew that Logan and Denise both had a long path ahead of them, but she was glad for both of them that they were able to remain a family through all of this.

  Poor Logan, she thought. Even if it’s determined that he was acting in self-defense, he’ll never be the same. She felt a surge of anger towards the unlicensed private investigator. If Mikey had gone to the police sooner, he might have prevented all of this. David, she knew, was particularly disgusted with him. He would never put someone in danger just to keep a job going longer. It seemed that there were dishonest people in every profession. At least she knew that the people she cared about were good and honest.

  Her phone buzzed and she smiled. It was Candice, inviting her and David over for dinner. Reggie, Eli’s grandfather, would be there, and they had the grill set up. She replied in the affirmative right away. What better way to spend the evening, than with the people she loved the most?

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