She smiled, their obvious joy lifting her spirits. I guess there’s nothing else I could have done, short of lie to him. And even then I wouldn’t have had the time to go chasing after a killer that didn’t exist.
“Come on, you two,” she called as they rounded the last bend before the trail opened up to her yard. “It’s time to go in.”
Back inside she got the dogs settled, refilling their water bowl and checking them over for ticks, before heading upstairs to shower and get ready for the lunch with Karissa, Martha, and Denise. She was glad the three women had become friends. David’s sister was new to town, and could certainly use people to talk to, and it never hurt to have someone else to bounce ideas off of. The only problem was that she still didn’t feel quite as comfortable around Karissa as she felt around the others. How could she, considering the embarrassing mistake she had made of thinking Karissa was David’s secret girlfriend when she first met her?
“I’m so glad you could make it,” Karissa said as she opened her door to Moira’s knock. “The others should be here soon. Lunch is almost ready… get back, Hazel. Let her get inside before sniffing her, at least.”
The last part was directed toward the beautiful chocolate lab that had shoved her head between her mistress’s leg and the door-frame. Not just her tail but her entire body was wiggling back and forth as she tried to get to Moira. The deli owner smiled, and after stepping inside and closing the door behind her, she crouched down and gave the excited dog some love.
“How’s she settling in?” she asked Karissa.
“It’s like she’s been here her whole life.”
A few weeks ago, a very pregnant Hazel had been abandoned behind Darling’s DELIcious Delights. The deli owner had taken her in, unwilling to drop such a friendly dog off at the animal shelter—that was no place for puppies—and had ended up raising the entire litter until they were old enough to go to new homes. Karissa had originally planned on adopting one of the puppies, but had fallen in love with Hazel when they met and had ended up taking her home instead. Sending all the puppies and Hazel off to new homes had been an emotional experience for Moira, but she was confident that all of the dogs would be loved by their new owners.
Hazel certainly seemed happy with her new lot in life, and the deli owner didn’t blame her. A plush dog bed lay by the couch, and there was a big basket of toys by the gas fireplace. The dog was wearing a nice new collar, with a brass nameplate riveted to the black leather.
“David got that for her,” Karissa said as Moira admired the collar.
“It’s nice,” the deli owner said. “It looks great on her. She’s a lucky dog.”
Martha and Denise arrived within minutes of each other. By the time both women were inside and had found somewhere to set their purses and shoes, the oven timer was beeping. Karissa disappeared into the kitchen to check on the status of whatever it was she had made. Judging by the smell, whatever the dish was, it would taste amazing. Moira’s stomach growled, and she exchanged a grin with Martha.
“Sorry I had to run out so quickly during coffee on Wednesday,” she said. “Somehow the stove got unplugged, probably while one of us was cleaning, and it wasn’t working. Would you believe it took Dante, Meg, and me half an hour before we finally thought to check the outlet?”
“At least it wasn’t anything you needed a repairman for,” the other woman said. Moira agreed. She had been terrified that one of the gas pipes had burst somewhere and that the entire deli would go up in flames at any minute.
“All right, it’s time to eat,” Karissa said, reappearing from the kitchen and carrying a casserole dish between two oven mitts. “Let me just set this down, and I’ll bring the salad out.”
The deli owner could tell even before serving herself the first spoonful of casserole that the