Cold Cut Murder: Book Three in The Darling Deli Series Read Online Free PDF

coat standing in its entrance, silhouetted against the bright sunlight outside. It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the contrast, but when she recognized David’s blue eyes and amused expression, she let out a huge sigh and put down the spoon that she had been holding in front of her like a sword.
    “You scared me half to death,” she said.
    “Sorry. I didn’t mean to.” He let himself the rest of the way in, and shut the door behind him. “I tried knocking at the front door, but you weren’t answering, so I thought I would try back here.”
    “I was listening to music.” Embarrassed, Moira turned the radio down. “But how did you get in? That door is always locked. It locks automatically. I have to prop it open.”
    “It wasn’t locked this time,” he said with a frown. He pulled the door partway open again and crouched down. She watched as he slowly peeled a piece of tape away from the latch. Their eyes met, and she felt a shiver go down her spine. Someone had kept the door from locking, and had had access to the deli for who knew how long without her having a clue.
    “Oh my goodness,” she said, sitting down on one of the tall stools and staring at David. “Should I tell the police?”
    “Definitely,” he said. “Do you have a sandwich bag?”
    Confused, she stood up and got the container of plastic bags from the cupboard. She handed him one, and watched as he carefully put the piece of tape that had been holding the latch down inside of it.
    “I don’t want to contaminate it, in case they can use it as evidence,” he told her. “They may be able to lift fingerprints from it.”
    “Oh, that makes sense. Can you stir the soups? They’re simmering, I just don’t want them to burn.” She grabbed her cell phone. “I’m going to call Detective Jefferson and tell him what we found.”
    When she came back into the kitchen, she was amused to find the private investigator carefully stirring the curried corn chowder. He was peering at the soup doubtfully, as if he wasn’t quite certain what it was supposed to be.
    “What are you doing here, anyway?” she asked, taking the spoon from him and giving the soup a quick stir before moving on to check on the minestrone.
    “Oh, I came over to help you install a couple of things that I picked up—if you want them, of course,” he said.
    “Like what?” She raised her eyebrows, surprised by his thoughtfulness.
    “There’s a motion detector and a wireless security camera that you can access from your phone,” he told her. “They’re yours if you want them. I figure that with everything that has been going on here, you’d appreciate a little added security.”
    “I do appreciate it, but you didn’t have to do all of that for me. I was planning on getting something. Eventually.” She sighed, knowing that likely she would have kept putting it off. She was okay with technology, but she thought that choosing which security camera to go with and installing it would probably be beyond her.
    “They’re nothing fancy,” he said quickly. “I just thought it might help.”
    “Thank you.” She gave him a quick smile. “Oh, Detective Jefferson and Detective Fitzgerald are going to stop by. They said they want to pick up the tape, and also talk to me. You can stay though, if you want,” she added quickly.
    “All right, I’ll get started on installing the camera and motion detector if you want. Just tell me where to put them.”

CHAPTER SEVEN
    The detectives arrived only a few minutes after David began to install the security camera. Moira had opted to put it up front by the register, as she had seen many stores do. She figured that if the deli were ever robbed or there were any problems with a customer, it would all be on film. She thought it was neat that she would be able to check in through her phone even when she wasn’t there, though she hoped that her employees wouldn’t feel like she was spying on them. She trusted them completely, she just