Chicken Pesto Murder: Book 5 in The Darling Deli Series Read Online Free PDF

mouth. The cold sandwich was a wonderful pairing with the warm garlicky soup. This was definitely one of her new favorite combos.
    “Well, a few days ago, I was contacted by an elderly lady in Lake Marion who said her beloved dog had been stolen. Of course, at first I thought it must have just run away, but I agreed to take the case anyway since it was obvious that she was distraught.” He paused for a spoonful of soup. “However, when she showed me her house and her yard, I realized that it was very unlikely that the dog ran away. The gate to her backyard is on a spring, so it closes automatically—couldn’t have been left open—and she only ever uses the back door to go in and out. All of her windows have screens on them, so the dog couldn’t have gotten out that way. It was a real mystery.”
    “Did you solve it?” Moira asked, fascinated by the story. His life must be so much more interesting than hers, but more dangerous, too. “Did you find the dog?”
    “Not yet,” he said with a grimace. “But the really interesting part comes a few days later, when a few other people came in complaining of stolen dogs. The total is up to five now, and I’m sure there are more that haven’t reported it yet.”
    “So someone is out there stealing people’s pets? That’s terrible.” She hadn’t had a pet in a couple of years, but the dog that they had had while Candice was growing up had been a part of the family. It had been hard to let the fourteen-year-old Labrador go, and Moira and her daughter had both been too heartbroken to get another pet right away.
    “I’ve been doing everything I can to find them, but haven’t had a lead so far,” he told her.
    “I hope that nothing bad happens to those dogs,” she said. “People that hurt animals are especially terrible.”
    “You can help me out on this if you want,” he said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. “This has a picture of each missing dog on it. If you see someone walking one of these dogs, or driving with it in a car, you should call me right away.”
    “I’ll keep my eyes peeled,” she promised, taking the paper from him and unfolding it. Most of the missing dogs were purebreds. There was a picture of an apricot poodle, a chubby beagle, a gorgeous collie, a blue-eyed husky, and a little black mixed breed with long fur.
    “Remember, call me. Don’t get involved.” He looked like he was already regretting giving her the paper, so she folded it up and slid it into her pocket.
    “I’ll call,” she assured him. “Don’t worry, I want to stay as far away from criminals as possible.”
     

CHAPTER FIVE
    The following day was one of Moira’s rare days off. Dante and Darrin were at the deli, and though she would be available if they needed her, both of them had assured her that they would be able to manage fine without her. It was never easy leaving the deli in someone else’s hands, but she trusted the young men, and knew that going too long without a day off wasn’t good for her.
    She had a few things that she wanted to do during her free day; ironically, number one on her mental list was to figure out just how much more work would be required if they started opening the deli in time for breakfast. After waking up unusually early and grabbing a cup of steaming, rich Columbian coffee, she sat down at the dining room table with a pad of paper and her account book, and began looking at the numbers. She would definitely have to hire a new employee soon in any case, with Candice about to leave to start her own business. If she were to extend the deli’s hours, she would likely need to take on two new employees, which, along with the extra hours, would add up to quite a bit more that she would be paying in wages each month.
    The question was, would they end up bringing in enough extra money through the sale of breakfast items to make up the difference? It was a hard question to answer, but after she did some math