Beef Brisket Murder: Book 11 in The Darling Deli Series Read online

  Clint paled and stared at Reggie. For the first time, he seemed really unsettled.

  “Betty was an accident,” he said. “I didn’t mean to hurt her. Things got out of hand. When she tripped and hit her head on the rock, I ran. I didn’t push her; she really did trip. I didn’t know that it killed her, I swear I didn’t.”

  To Moira’s surprise he seemed almost apologetic. It was a far cry from the cold way he had spoken about Meredith and the others earlier.

  “Why did you kill the others, Clint?” she asked him, attempting to keep her voice gentle. She was determined not to let him hear how scared of him she was. “Didn’t they deserve to live, just like Betty?”

  “I tried,” he told her. “I gave them each every chance I could.”

  “Every chance for what, Clint?” she asked. Her gaze had fallen on the call button strapped to Reggie’s wrist. Designed to summon a nurse if he needed help, if she could just reach over and press it without the other man noticing, they would be saved.

  “I gave them every chance to be like Betty,” he said. “I showed them how to do their hair like she did, how to talk like she did… I tried to make it like she had never died, don’t you see? But they just kept being wrong.”

  He seemed to be getting agitated again.

  “I’m sure they tried their best,” she said, her voice shaky now.

  “None of them were good enough. I just wanted Betty back, but they didn’t understand. And Meredith especially, she talked too much. She kept asking questions just like you do. Eventually I had to make her shut up for good, or she would have made me crazy. It’s time for you to be quiet, too.”

  His eyes narrowed as a subtle change flicked across his face. Whatever part of him was capable of reasoning had left, and in its wake was simply a man bent on destroying everything in the world that he didn’t like; unfortunately, Moira was currently at the top of that list. She pressed herself against the wall as he reached over to snatch up the wooden cane leaning against the night stand. He walked slowly around the bed towards her, letting the cane drag on the floor as he approached. She was trapped. If she tried to climb over the bed, he would surely yank her back, and there was nowhere else for her to go.

  He raised the cane to strike at her. As his arm extended, she saw him wince. His split second of discomfort gave her enough time to react. She raised her hands to fend off the cane as it came down at her, and even managed to grab hold of it with one hand. Wrapping her second hand around it, she held on with both hands with all her might as he tried to pull it back. What ensued was a tug of war that might have been comedic if it hadn’t been so serious. The man would have easily overpowered her in his youth, but now, elderly as he was, their strength was matched. It wasn’t until the first police officer rushed into the room that Moira finally let go of the cane, which sent him stumbling backwards in surprise. Panting and shaking, she couldn’t help a small smile. Sure enough, David had called in the cavalry and they had saved the day.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  “How on earth did you know it was Clint?” she asked David as he helped her and Meg pack the rest of their stuff into the refrigerated truck. After one of the residents was arrested on a murder charge, Misty Pines had ended the party early, which she was glad for. Even though Moira liked the people at the assisted-living center, she couldn’t wait to leave.

  “It was the pictures,” he said. She raised an eyebrow, and he elaborated. “I was looking at those articles that Reggie found for you, and I realized something odd about them. The pictures used in the articles were almost all school pictures—pep rallies, team pictures, prize winners—and each one gave credit to the same photographer.”

  “Clint,” she guessed. He nodded.

  “That could have meant nothing, especially in a small town like this where there aren’t exactly that many professional photographers, but I noticed that even the girls that had disappeared from towns hours away had had their picture taken by him too. Now that was a link I could follow. So I did some digging, and found his past addresses. Since he was working freelance with the schools, he needed to keep an address on file. He moved around a lot, but do you care to guess where he lived during the summer that Meredith disappeared?”

  “My house,” she said, feeling sick. David nodded.

  “A quick search showed me that he was still alive and well—and that he lived at Misty Pines.”

  “So you called me,” she said. “But why was he trying to kill Reggie?”

  “Because he knew Reggie was digging stuff up on the murder for you. He must have overheard you talking about it somehow.” Moira guiltily remembered telling Reggie, Candice, and Eli about the girl who had been murdered, and Clint coming over to listen to the story. “Clint had been diagnosed with paranoia, among other issues, and that likely made him believe Reggie was more of a danger than he actually was.”

  “I’m so glad Reggie will be okay,” she said softly, horrified that all of this had happened because of her. Why hadn’t she been more careful when she told Reggie about the body in her basement? “I just don’t understand why anyone would take the life of an innocent young woman with so much to look forward to.”

  “He was a serial killer, plain and simple. Whatever it is in us that gives us empathy towards others must be missing in him. He must have used his job to get close to these young ladies, earn their trust, and then lure them away somewhere,” he said.

  “That just makes me sick,” she told him. “How could anyone be so cruel?”

  “Some people are just born bad. He was probably the type of kid that killed cats and dogs in his neighborhood for fun when he was a kid. What amazes me is that he managed to escape arrest for so long. If it wasn’t for you, he might very well have lived out the rest of his life as a free man.”

  “Thank goodness he’s going to get justice at last. I spoke to one of the nurses, and she thinks that Clint must have slipped him sleeping pills at breakfast. I guess they shared a table this morning, which would have given him the chance.”

  “Do they know what drug he was going to use to kill him?” the private investigator asked.

  “Not yet,” she said. “But I’m pretty sure that whatever it was, he dissolved it in water and was going to force Reggie to drink it. The reaction with the sleeping pills alone probably would have done it.”

  “Reggie is extremely lucky that you were there,” David said as he closed the truck’s doors. She could tell by his voice that he wasn’t happy with her.

  “I had to try to save him,” she said. “Would you have done any different?”

  “No,” he admitted. “But it’s different when I put myself in dangerous situations.”

  “Why?” she asked. “Because you’re a man?”

  He raised an eyebrow.

  “No, because I’m trained and armed.”

  “Oh.” She bit her lip, abashed. He had a point. What she had done had been dangerous, but she knew she would make the same decision again. She couldn’t just stand by and let somebody get killed, not if there was any way that she could help it.

  She told David as much, and to her surprise, he smiled.

  “I know,” he said. “And that attitude is one of the things I’m attracted to about you. That doesn’t mean I think it’s okay that you just put yourself alone in a room with a serial killer, but at least I can respect the courage it must have taken.”

  Alone in a room with a serial killer. When he put it like that, it really put it in perspective. Clint had killed not just Meredith, but who knew how many other girls. The only reason she hadn’t ended up dead or seriously injured herself was because the man was pushing eighty, and had been weakened by arthritis.

  “Come on,” she said, suppressing a shudder. “I want to get home. I need to take a long bath and try to put this day behind me so I can enjoy my birthday tomorrow. Are we still on for lunch and a movie?”

  “Yes.” His eyes twinkled mischievously, but he would say nothing more as he kissed her
goodbye and drove away.

  Moira dropped the food truck off at the deli, grabbed her own car, and headed home. She was tired, but mostly she just felt relief. Relief that it was over, and that Meredith would have justice at last.

  Halfway to her house, she got a call from Candice.

  “Can you come over, Mom?” her daughter asked. “It’s not an emergency or anything, I just need to talk to you about something.”

  “Of course, sweetheart,” she said. “I’ll be there soon.”

  She bypassed her house and continued on back to Lake Marion. She was happy to go spend some time with her daughter before going home, and she was certain Candice would want to hear her version of what had happened at Misty Pines.

  The parking lot behind the candy shop was unusually full when she got there, but she managed to find a nice spot right by the stairway. The door at the bottom was propped open, so she went right on up, pausing at the top to knock on her daughter’s door.

  “Come on in,” Candice called.

  Moira opened the door to find a sea of smiling faces staring back at her. David was there, along with Darrin, Allison, Denise, Logan, Martha, and even Candice. Even Felix was there, rubbing his little furry head against Logan’s leg. Above their heads hung a huge Happy Birthday banner. A grin spread across Moira’s face, followed quickly by the prickle of tears in her eyes. All of this, for her?

  “Happy birthday, Mom,” Candice said, wrapping her in a hug. “I know it’s not until tomorrow, but we thought this would be a nice surprise. Eli was going to be here, but he needed to be with his grandfather instead after what happened.”

  “Of course.” She looked around, touched beyond words. Somehow, without her even suspecting, her friends had all managed to get together and organize a surprise party for her.

  “This is what we were doing behind your back for the last few weeks,” said Darrin. “We were trying to plan everything without you guessing what was going on. We even ordered the cake from out of town, since you know the lady that owns the bakery in Lake Marion.”

  “Wow,” she breathed. “I just can’t believe how much effort you guys put into this. I feel so bad for snapping at you.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure from your perspective, all of our sneaking around must have seemed pretty suspicious.”

  “Still, I should have given you the benefit of the doubt. I just can’t believe that you managed to put all of this together without me finding out. Thank you so much, everyone,” she said, looking around at all of the people that had gathered to wish her a happy birthday.

  “Dante and Meg will be joining us as soon as they close at the deli,” said Darrin quickly. “We didn’t want to leave them out—they both did a lot of work on this, too.”

  “Wait until you see what your employees got you,” David said, gesturing her over. The crowd of her friends parted, and she saw, sitting on the dining room table, a huge cake shaped and frosted to look exactly like the deli.

  “Oh my goodness,” she breathed. “It’s wonderful. How did you…? I don’t deserve all of this.”

  “Yeah, you do, Mom,” Candice said with a smile. “You do so much for all of us, we thought it was time to do something special for you.”