Corned Beef Murder: Book Two in The Darling Deli Series Read Online Free PDF Page A

“I’ll page him. Can I have your name?” After Moira told the receptionist her name, the woman picked up the phone and murmured into it, then gestured at the row of worn chairs along the wall.
    “Go ahead and take a seat. It will be a few minutes,” she said.
    The chair was uncomfortable, and reminded Moira of her time as a suspect in the case of Henry Devou’s murder. Detective Jefferson had been on that case too. At least this time she wasn’t a person of interest in the case; she was just an interested person. Emilia hadn’t deserved to die, and if there was any chance that there was foul play, then the police deserved to know.
    “Ms. Darling, it’s nice to see you again,” the young detective said. She looked up to see him standing in a doorway next to the secretary’s counter. He looked more tired than he had the last time she had seen him, but other than that he hadn’t changed. With a tilt of his head, he gestured for her to follow him.
    “Right this way, ma’am.”
    At first, she thought that he was taking her to the same room that she had been interviewed in before. The long hallway looked the same, bringing back more memories of her previous visit there. She was relieved when he turned right instead of left at the end of the hallway, and led her to his office instead of an interview room.
    There was only one small window in the room, but it had a nice view into the woods behind the police station. The dark wooden desk was slightly worn, probably secondhand, and was covered with papers, files, and framed photographs of a woman and a young boy. Moira saw a wedding picture of a younger Detective Jefferson in a black suit standing next to the woman. His wife, she realized. He was married, with a child. She had never even wondered about his personal life before, and suddenly felt bad for resenting him for suspecting that she had murdered Henry Devou. He had just been doing his job.
    “Sit,” he said, gesturing at a rolling leather chair in front of his desk. She did as he said, glad that she wasn’t being treated like a suspect this time.
    “So,” he began. “Harriet told me that you have some information regaling Emilia Washburn’s death?” He steepled his fingers, gazing at her. “You found her, didn’t you?”
    “Yes,” she said. “She was my friend. She babysat my daughter years ago, and we’ve kept in touch even after Candice grew up.”
    “I see. I’m sorry that you had to see her like that. What was it that you wanted to tell me?”
    “Well, the night before I found her, when the snow was really coming down hard, she called me. I couldn’t hear her very well, the reception was pretty bad, but it sounded like she said something about someone watching her.” Moira sighed. “The call got dropped before I could ask her what was going on, and I couldn’t get hold of her when I tried calling back. This happened before the roads were plowed, so I couldn’t drive over to see what was wrong.” She took a deep breath. “And then when I did get a chance to check on her… well, you know. She had already passed.”
    “And you think that this call had something to do with her death?” Jefferson asked gently.
    “I don’t know. It just seems like such an odd coincidence. She sounded scared on the phone, and then just a few hours later, she was gone.” She bit her lip. “I really don’t know what to think. I just thought that you should know about the phone call.”
    “Thanks for stopping by to tell me, Ms. Darling. You did the right thing.” He gave her a reassuring smile. “I’ll put what you said about the phone call into my final report.”
    “Do you think that she was being stalked by someone?” she asked.
    “Not necessarily. Right now, I still think that her death was an accident; she was an elderly woman who was alone during a snowstorm. Chances are she was just cold and confused. But if you can think of anything else that seems suspicious, please don’t hesitate to