Thai Coconut Murder: Book 6 in The Darling Deli Series (3 page)

“What? No.” Moira gave her friend an odd look. “No, nothing like that. No, two people in a canoe found a body.” Both women gasped.

“Did someone drown during the fireworks?” Martha asked.

“I don’t think so,” she replied. “David said that it looked like the body had been there a while.” She grimaced, not wanting to think about the condition it must have been in when the young couple had found it.

“That’s horrible,” Denise said. “Do you know who it was?”

“No, but I’m sure it will be in the papers soon. I just feel bad that David had to see it in person. He went over and helped keep people away from the body while someone else called the cops.”

“At least you didn’t have to see anything.” Both of her friends shuddered. “You lead quite the life, Moira.”

“You don’t have to remind me,” she said with a groan. “Another date, ruined. I’m never going to have any sort of romantic life if this keeps up. Men will be running for the hills after just a few dates.”

“Well, David hasn’t run for the hills yet, has he?” Martha asked.

“As far as I know he hasn’t, but I haven’t actually heard from him since Monday night. He seemed pretty shaken by the body,” she admitted.

“I’m sure he’s just busy.” The two women traded a glance, and seemed to reach a mutual decision to change the subject.

They talked about Denise next, though the subject of her husband was always touchy.

“I know he cheats on me,” she said simply. “But what can I do about it? He knows I know, and he doesn’t care.”

“Have you tried marriage counseling?” Martha asked. “I’ve heard a lot of people say it helps.”

“When would we have time to go?” the other woman said. “We both run restaurants. Right now we aren’t even living together. Having our own places near the restaurants is easier than driving back and forth whenever there’s a problem.” She gave a rueful throaty chuckle. “It’s true that we’re both married to our jobs.”

“How is the Grill doing, by the way?” Moira asked. She thought that the steakhouse had superb food and was always impressed by how polite and helpful the wait staff was; she couldn’t imagine that it was doing poorly.

“Oh, we’re thriving,” Denise said. “I have no regrets about moving here; business is great and, for the most part, people are nice.”

“Going to the Grill makes me want to open a real restaurant,” Moira admitted. “Not that I don’t love the deli, but it would be fun to come up with a whole menu instead of just daily specials.”

“Parts of it are definitely fun,” Denise agreed. “But dealing with stressed out cooks, late deliveries, and the drama that comes with having over twenty staff members… well, you should be glad that you can skip all of that. I envy you your little deli. You have amazing food, nice customers, and a good group of employees.”

“They are,” she agreed. “Or, at least Dante and Darrin are. I don’t know Meg that well yet, but she seems like she’ll fit in well. And of course it’s nice to work with Candice, but she’ll be leaving as soon as she finds the right place for her candy shop.”

“Meg’s the one I met last week, isn’t she?” Martha asked. “How is she doing?”

“She’s a quick learner,” Moira said. “She’s a lot more outgoing than Dante is, which is nice, but she sometimes gets overenthusiastic and forgets to do something. I think once she’s more familiar with the routines at the deli she’ll be amazing; she just needs to slow down a little bit and make sure she isn’t missing a step.”

“You’re lucky,” Denise said with a chuckle. “I just had to fire someone for stealing twenty pounds of hamburger meat. What does a nineteen-year-old girl need with twenty pounds of grass-fed organic hamburger meat?”

“Yikes,” the deli owner replied. “I’m glad I don’t have to deal with anything like that.” Belatedly, she remembered her employee who had been arrested for murder last winter. She would rather deal with thieves than murderers any day.

She got to the deli just in time to catch the tail end of the breakfast rush. Candice and Meg were on duty, and she was pleased to see the two girls chatting like old friends as they tidied up the small dining area.

“Hi, Mom,” Candice said as she walked in. “How was coffee?”

“It was nice to catch up with Martha and Denise,” she said. “But I feel jittery now—I think I drank too much caffeine on an empty stomach.”

“Oh, we saved you a quiche,” Meg chimed in. “It’s in the back. I’ll go get it.”

She vanished into the kitchen, then reappeared a second later with a bite-sized quiche on a small plate. Moira took it gratefully, and bit into it. The rich flavor of garlic and onions burst in her mouth, along with the unmistakable taste of mushrooms, all lightly enhanced with the occasional melty bleu cheese crumble.

“Wow,” she said, swallowing. “This is amazing. Did Dante stop in?” Dante was their resident quiche expert; he had spent a few days giving them each all a crash course in how to make them, but he was still the best at it.

“No, but he left a recipe. It was Meg’s idea to add the bleu cheese, though. We saw that there was only a little bit left from when we made the sandwiches on the Fourth of July, so we decided to use it up,” Candice said.

“Great call,” Moira said, turning to Meg. She gave the girl an appraising look. With any luck, she would turn out to be a natural chef. “Let me know if you have any more ideas. I’m always happy to hear suggestions.”

She finished the quiche, which wasn’t quite big enough to be filling, but at least put something in her stomach other than caffeine-rich coffee. She didn’t need to eat big meals three times a day anyway. Since the extended hours had started, she had put on a few extra pounds. With less time to cook at home, she found herself often eating multiple meals at the deli every day, and she usually ate dinner one night a week at the Redwood Grill with either David or Candice, and would share a quick dessert with Denise if her friend had time. The extra food, combined with less time to go on walks, wasn’t doing her any favors.
I’ll just have a salad for lunch,
she promised herself.

If only I had more free time, I would exercise more… maybe even join a gym
, she told herself.
But as things are now, I’m just to exhausted by the end of the day to think about eating right or going on a jog. Poor Maverick is lucky if he gets to do more than just go around the block with me when I get home.
At least she had tomorrow off. She made a mental note to use the time to stock up on healthy food and take the German shepherd to the park for a game of fetch.

Today, though, she had work to do. With only an hour until they were supposed to start serving lunch, she was already behind. She had a special dish planned for today, and was eager to see how her customers liked it—but first, she had to cook it.

She heated a dutch oven and swirled a small amount of coconut oil around in it. Once the oil was melted, she added sliced mushrooms, red bell pepper, minced fresh ginger, fresh garlic cloves, and stalks of lemongrass. Soon exotic scents were swirling around the kitchen, and she thought that she might have to go back on the promise that she had made herself earlier. Maybe she would have a small bowl of this spicy Thai coconut soup alongside that salad.

Once the vegetables began to cook, she poured in the chicken broth and coconut milk, and added a spoonful of chili paste for some kick. As that slowly heated up to a simmer, she dug around in the pantry for one of her more rarely used sauces. She found the fish sauce in the very back, against the wall. She wasn’t usually a fan of the odd-smelling liquid, but it would go perfectly with the Asian-themed soup. A quick dash of the sauce, a sprinkle of sugar, and the soup was finished.

Not giving in to the temptation of sneaking a taste, Moira got to work on preparing ingredients for the sandwiches. The chicken breasts that she had cooked the night before came out of the refrigerator, and she took her time carefully carving thin slices from each one. Next, she made sure that the bean sprouts were washed, and in an easily accessible bowl in the front of the fridge. The sauce was easy—a simple mixture of fish sauce and chili paste, with just a dash of sugar. Hands on hips, the deli owner surveyed the kitchen, running through a mental checklist as she double-checked that everything was in easy reach for her employees. All she needed to do was slice the milk bread, and then her part of the food preparation would be done—from the busy sounds coming from the front of the deli, just in time, too.

When she slipped through the swinging door from the kitchen to the main part of the deli, she was surprised to see David sitting at a table in the corner near the window. He was gazing outside, with dark circles under his eyes.

“I was just coming back to tell you,” Meg said, following her gaze towards the private investigator. “He wanted to know if you would eat lunch with him.”

“Can you girls handle the register?” she asked. She wanted to find out why David looked so sad and tired, but she knew that the store was only going to get busier as people stopped in during their lunch breaks to grab something to eat.

“Yep,” her employee assured her. Candice, who was at the register, taking an elderly couple’s order, glanced back, and Meg said apologetically to Moira, “Sorry, I was supposed to be getting a bowl of soup for them. We’ll be fine though, so don’t feel like you need to rush.”

“Thanks. I’ll just duck back there with you and throw us together a few plates, then I’ll go join him. Feel free to interrupt us if you need anything,” she added.

Just a few minutes later, Moira bumped open the kitchen door with her hip and made her way around the edge of the counter towards the table where David was waiting. She balanced a plate in each hand, each had a bowl of soup, a sandwich, and a small green salad loaded onto them.
So much for my light lunch
, she thought. But David looked like something was weighing him down, and making sure he was okay was more important than watching her waistline. Besides, she
was
eating a salad… there just happened to also be other stuff on the plate with it.

“Here you go,” she said, setting one plate down in front of him before slipping into the chair across from him with her own. “How are you?”

“I’ve been better,” he said grimly. She waited, but he just stirred his soup, his spoon going around in melancholy circles.

“What’s the matter?” she prodded. If he had come all the way here for lunch, he must want to talk about it… right?

“They identified the body that was found in the lake on Monday.” He sighed and raised his face to meet her eyes. “They’re saying it’s Henry.”

“Oh my goodness, that’s terrible,” Moira gasped. “I’m so sorry, David.”

Henry and David were old friends, and even though she had never met him, she had the feeling the two of them had been pretty close. She knew that Henry had a granddaughter, who ran his toy store. The girl would surely be distraught, and Moira’s heart went out to her. It was never easy losing a family member. She knew firsthand the grief and shock of losing someone close to her; both of her parents had died years ago.

“I knew that something must have been going on since I hadn’t heard from him in so long, but nothing like this,” he said, shaking his head slowly. “I should have done something sooner. Gone to the police, made more of an effort to contact him, anything.”

“I’m so sorry,” she repeated, at a loss for what else to say. “Is there anything I can do? Should I bring flowers to his granddaughter?”

“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “I haven’t had very much practice at these sorts of things, thank goodness. There is one thing I wanted to ask, though.” He hesitated, uncertainty flashing across his usually confident face.

“What is it?” she asked gently.

“Would you go to the funeral with me?” he asked at last. “It’s Friday morning, at ten. I understand if you’re busy, or don’t want to go…”

“I’ll go,” she said firmly. “The deli can survive without me for a few hours at least.”

“Thanks, Moira. I still feel like I’m in shock. I’ve known Henry since I moved to Lake Marion; I can’t imagine the town without him. We used to go on a fishing trip every year, even though I was never very good at it.” He gave a wry chuckle. “I swear, that man was born on a canoe.”

“Do they know what happened?” she asked. He looked so sad. She wanted to take his hand, to comfort him, but she didn’t know how he would take the gesture. They had been moving slowly in their relationship so far—nothing more than a quick peck on the cheek or a hug goodnight between the two of them yet.

“He drowned, but beyond that, I haven’t heard,” he said. “Another buddy of mine thinks that Henry must have fallen through the ice during ice fishing season, but I just don’t think he would make a mistake like that. He was always careful, and took his time to do things thoroughly.” He sighed. “The coroner must have ruled it an accident, though, since they’re releasing the body for burial.”

“I’m sure that the coroner knows what he’s doing,” she replied, trying to be reassuring. “Sometimes things just happen, and it’s not anyone’s fault.”
Does David think his friend’s death might not have been an accident?
she wondered.
Who on earth could kill a defenseless old man?

“
I hope you’re right.” He frowned down at his soup, and Moira knew that he didn’t quite believe her. “Thanks for hearing me out. Sorry I’m so down today. You’d think, with my job, I’d be used to it, but it’s harder when it’s someone you know.”

“Of course it is,” she agreed. She had never told David about her parents, and now probably wasn’t the best time, but she did know what it felt like to lose someone close to you suddenly. “I think I’m going to stop by the toy store in a day or two to see if his granddaughter needs anything. I should tell Candice, too—she lives right above the toy store, and I’m sure she’ll hear about it eventually.”

“I feel bad about that too,” he admitted. “I’m the one that showed her the toy store, and now it looks like it’s going to be a while before she can rent it, and that’s if the granddaughter does end up deciding to sell it.”

“I’m sure she’ll understand.” Even though she would never say it, she couldn’t help feeling a pang at how unfair it was to her daughter. The hard-working young woman had everything prepared to dive into the world of small business, other than one small roadblock—she had yet to find a suitable building to buy or rent for the candy shop. The toy store would have been just perfect for her.