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

stop by the station again or to give me a call.” He slid his card across the desk to her. “I’m sorry for your loss, Ms. Darling.”
    Moira was frustrated when she pulled out of the police station parking lot. Detective Jefferson had been polite enough, but she had the feeling that he was just humoring her. In his mind, Emilia’s death was just an accident. He had already moved on to the next case. Maybe if she found more evidence, something concrete that could show that there had been an intruder that day, or at least a stalker. She needed to go back to her friend’s house and see if there was any evidence of anything out of place. The only question, was how?

     

CHAPTER SEVEN
    Shoveling the sidewalk in front of the deli was a good outlet for her frustration. The physical exercise helped her to think more clearly. She knew her first step should be to talk to Martha, and to see if she had noticed anything odd, like someone following Emilia. If there had been someone suspicious hanging around Emilia’s house, that might be enough evidence that something fishy was going on for the police to start looking at her friend’s death more closely.
    A small gray car pulled up as she was working on clearing the snow. She glanced up to see her new employee Dante step out. She had been so distracted by her conversation with the police that she had forgotten that he was supposed to work today. She glanced at her phone, frowning. He was late by about twenty minutes.
    “Sorry, Ms. Darling,” he said when he drew even with her. This close, she could see that his face was pale and he looked worried. “It won’t happen again.”
    “It’s okay, but next time, please give me a call if you’re going to be more than five minutes late,” she told him. “Go on inside. Darrin will find something for you to do.” She watched him walk away, debating with herself whether or not she should ask him why he hadn’t been on time. She decided not to; the kid seemed nervous enough as it was. She didn’t need to be prying into his personal life. As long as it didn’t happen again, she would let the incident slide.
    Moira had Darrin and Dante work together in the kitchen so that she could stay up front at the counter all day, worried that she might miss Martha if the other woman came while she was in the back. It wasn’t until nearly three that she saw a familiar silhouette come through the front door. As soon as she had finished ringing up the customer she was with, she slipped out from behind the counter and hugged Martha.
    “Martha,” she said. “I’m so sorry about Emilia.” The other woman had red-rimmed eyes, and seemed to be staring at the world with a disbelieving gaze.
    “I just can’t believe she’s gone,” she said. “I didn’t even get a chance to say a real goodbye. There was so much I wanted to thank her for.”
    “I know. I can’t believe it either. I wish I had gotten there sooner,” Moira said. “I might have been able to do something to save her.”
    “No.” The other woman shook her head. “I talked to the coroner. He said that she died instantly. She didn’t suffer at all, and even if you had been there when it happened, there wouldn’t have been anything that you could do. I’m just sorry you had to find her like that, Moira.”
    “I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to get the image of her lying on the floor out of my head.” She paused, not certain how to broach the subject of Emilia’s call with her sister. “A few hours before she—” she began, only to be interrupted by a man who came through the deli’s front door in a swirl of snow. He walked straight over to Martha and placed his hand on her shoulder.
    “James,” he said by way of introduction. He extended a gloved hand, which Moira shook. He looked to be about ten years younger than she and Martha were, and was dressed in a thick wool coat and expensive-looking boots. She hadn’t the slightest idea who he was—Martha wasn’t