Thai Coconut Murder: Book 6 in The Darling Deli Series (13 page)

“I’m so sorry.” Moira was silent for a moment. “Vince is the one who burned down my house, wasn’t he?”

“Yeah. He wanted to warn you away from the store; he panicked when he heard you were going to get rid of everything.” A humorless grin appeared on the other woman’s face. “I guess his plan backfired, though. You didn’t listen to his message, and kept right on digging.”

“I don’t give up easily,” Moira said. She looked at the lines on her wrists where the rope had cut into them. “Though sometimes I wish I did. When you decided to sell the store to Candice, did you know Vince would find out?”

“I hoped he wouldn’t until it was too late. I was planning on using the money to disappear, and I hoped that by the time he realized what had happened, you guys would have gotten rid of everything in the store. I guess I didn’t really think about all the danger it would put you both in.”

“Well, it turned out all right, in the end.”

They sat in silence for a while longer, the only sounds the buzzing of the overhead light and the steady ticking of the wall clock.

“Alice,” she said after a moment. “I think Henry knew about the drugs for longer than you think. From what David and I found up north, we’re guessing he was trying to build a secret stash of savings to help the two of you move away. His main concern was to make sure you were provided for.”

The other woman didn’t answer, and Moira looked over to see her crying silently into her hands. Deciding to give Alice her privacy, she looked away, gazing out the window until she saw David’s familiar black car pull into the parking lot.

He pulled her into a hug the second he saw her, then led her straight to the car. He held the passenger side door open for her while she got in, then shut it gently behind her. Moira leaned her head back against the leather seat, relief at being back in familiar territory washing over her.

“I’m so sorry, Moira,” David said as the car rumbled to life beneath them.

“Why?” she asked, straightening up and looking at him with concern. Had something else happened?

“This is all my fault,” he told her. “I’m the one that asked you to get involved. I should have kept you far away from all of this.”

“I was happy to help,” she said. “Don’t feel guilty, please. I could have backed away at any time. Plus, all you did was ask me to ask Alice a few questions and go with you up north. I’m the one that kept digging deeper without telling you.”

“I can’t help but feel guilty,” he said, grimacing. “If I hadn’t dragged you into this, you wouldn’t have been kidnapped and almost killed.” He paused. “If I hadn’t asked for your help, your house would still be standing.”

She knew that David felt bad, but his guilt was only making things worse. She didn’t blame him for anything, and she hated seeing him upset.

“Vincent would still have burned my house down—Alice said he did that because of Candice buying the toy store and me not letting him in to get the stuffed animals that he was using to smuggle drugs,” she said. “It’s not your fault at all. If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s Alice’s for not going to the police, but honestly I’m not even mad at her. She was terrified.”

“Moira, I’ve never known anyone who attracted trouble the way you seem to.” David looked over at her, his face worried. “I can’t stand worrying about you so much. What if one day you don’t get lucky?”

“I’ll be fine,” she assured him gently. “I’m staying far away from dead bodies from now on, I promise.”

***

“Here, I just made this,” Candice said, handing her mother a steaming mug of coffee as she walked in the door. David, following close behind her, guided her to the table and pulled out the chair for her to sit down.

“Thanks,” she said, gazing at the dark brown liquid for a moment before her tired brain remembered that she was supposed to drink it, not just look at it.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” David asked, bending over to look into her eyes. “Did they have a doctor check you out? You must have taken quite a bump to the head.”

Moira raised a hand to gingerly touch the raised, painful spot over her left temple. She hadn’t even noticed it earlier in the night, with everything else going on.

“Yeah,” she said. “Someone in an ambulance did a check-up. He said I was lucky; no concussion, though he suggested that I try to stay awake for the next few hours just to be on the safe side.” She glanced at the clock on the stove. It was well into the early hours of the morning; her visit with the paramedic had been at least three hours ago. Staying up hadn’t been a problem.

“Do you want me to make you anything to eat?” her daughter asked, wringing her hands anxiously.

“No, thanks.” She suspected she would be starving in the morning, but right now all she felt was a vague nausea from the adrenaline and stress of the night. Maverick whined and laid his head on her lap. She stroked his soft fur, closing her eyes as she enjoyed the small comfort.

“Anything you need, Moira, we’ll get it,” David told her. He finally quit hovering, and was now seated at the table across from her.

“I know. Thanks.” She gave him a quick smile, then chuckled.

“What?” her daughter asked, her face surprised.

“One good thing came out of all of this; once the police are done bagging the evidence downstairs, we won’t have any work left to do. They’re going to take everything, in case any of it is tied to Vincent or the drugs he was selling.”

“I guess I’ll be one step closer to opening my candy shop then,” Candice replied, unable to help the grin that spread across her face. “You were right, everything did work out… sort of.”

“At least no one else got killed, and Vincent and his cronies will be going to jail for a long time,” Moira said.
The only thing stopping this from being a perfect ending to the case is my house
, she thought.
It’s still gone. Tomorrow I’ll have to call the insurance people again, but no matter what they pay, I’ll never get those memories back.

She knew she would have a place to stay with her daughter if she needed to, but she thought the sooner she started rebuilding her own life, the better. Maybe she would get a call back from one of those apartments she had called the day before, and she and Maverick could stay there until the insurance money came through and she was able to buy a new house.

For now, though, she would try to be happy with the simple things. She was alive, and surrounded by people who cared about her. The things lost in the house fire were just that—
things.
They were replaceable, for the most part. Tomorrow she would start rebuilding. It might take her a while, but eventually she would find a place that she could call home again.

With Candice and David both gazing at her in concern, it was hard to feel frightened about the long journey ahead of her. She knew that both of them would help her along the way in any way that they could, and she would do the same for them. Her daughter was growing into a confident, self-sufficient young woman and she and David were getting closer all the time. She might have a lot of rebuilding to do, but the future was still looking bright for all of them.

Author’s Note:
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