Grilled Rye Murder: Book 16 in The Darling Deli Series Read Online Free PDF Page A

the prosecutors could have a real case against you.”
    “Oh! Um…”
    “What?” he glanced over at her again. “What did you do?”
    “I might have touched the gun that was used to kill Zander,” she said. “As in, I picked it up and put it on the desk.”
    “ What?” The car swerved.
    “Flower kept trying to pick it up!” she exclaimed. “I didn’t want it to go off or something. I wasn’t thinking straight. I had just found my friend brutally murdered, for goodness sake. I didn’t even remember that I did it until just now.”
    She looked over at David, who was gripping the steering wheel with white knuckles. She knew what he was thinking; first, someone had called the police to report a murder, and had described her to a T as the suspect. Now the police were going to find her fingerprints on the gun used in the crime. At this rate, it won’t be long before I’m back in that cell.
    “You need to call Jefferson,” he said at last. “Right away. Tell him anything else you can think of while you’re at it. I’m going to do my best to get us home through this monsoon without crashing.”
    The ensuing phone call with the detective wasn’t the most pleasant one that she had ever had, but by the time it was over, she was glad that she had remembered about touching the gun before they ran the thing for prints. At least she would look less guilty this way.
    “This is terrible,” she groaned as David pulled into her driveway. “The wedding is only a couple of weeks away. I can’t deal with all of this on top of that. Any how are we supposed to go away for our honeymoon if I can’t leave the state?”
    “I’m sure it will all be figured out by then,” he said. “And if not, we’ll have a perfectly nice honeymoon somewhere in Michigan.”
    “Just as long as we don’t have to hold the wedding in a prison.” She bit her lip. “I’m really afraid, David. What if the police don’t find the real killer? What if whoever made the fake call planted more evidence against me?”
    “Easy now. Detective Jefferson—and even Detective Wilson, even though she doesn’t like you—they’re both good detectives. You’re innocent; no amount of fake evidence or fake witnesses will change that. There’s no such thing as a perfect crime; the real killer will have left some evidence behind, and one of us will find it. Now, let’s go in and see how your daughter fared with the dogs last night.” He kissed her on the cheek and gave her an encouraging smile. “I love you. Everything will be fine.”
    Maverick and Keeva greeted Moira at the door, nearly trampling her in their excitement. She felt a swell of happiness wash over her as she let each dog give her kisses. They didn’t know or care that she was a suspected murderer—they were simply happy that she was home. Her daughter, on the other hand, was a different story.
    “Oh my goodness, Mom! I can’t believe they actually arrested you. You wouldn’t hurt anyone.”
    The second the dogs switched their attention from Moira to David, Candice flung herself at her mother and wrapped her arms around her.
    “It’s okay, sweetie. I’m out now.” The deli owner gave her daughter a squeeze in return. “Thanks so much for coming here and taking care of these two crazies.” She glanced affectionately back at the dogs. “It was a relief not to have to worry about them.”
    “It was the least I could do, Mom. I just can’t believe that you went through all of that. How did you manage to get out? How did you afford the bail?”
    Moira glanced at David. She had no idea how much Candice knew or didn’t know. Everything had happened so quickly while she was in jail that she still felt out of the loop.
    “I told Candice how much your bail was to see if she could help me come up with a solution,” he explained. “She’s a successful businesswoman just like her mom, after all. I thought she might have some good ideas.”
    “I didn’t though,” the young