Thai Coconut Murder: Book 6 in The Darling Deli Series (8 page)

“I understand. I’m sorry I couldn’t be more help. Poor Henry, I just can’t believe it…”

They left a few minutes later, driving away from the town and Henry’s cabin in silence. In just a few hours, they would be back in Maple Creek.
What then?
Moira wondered. Did they have enough evidence to convince the police to look into Henry’s death further?

“It’s good to be home,” Moira said to the panting face of her dog. He pawed at her leg, then dashed down the hallway, spun around, and came rushing back, clearly glad she was home and eager to drag her outside for a walk. She laughed and gave him a quick pat on the head as she brought in her duffel bag. “Give me a second, Maverick. Let me get settled first.”

The drive back had taken a few hours longer than the drive up north, mostly due to the fact that they had stopped at a few small shops on the way down as well as grabbing lunch at the little diner in Point Baker again. It was evening by the time she got back to her own house, and she was looking forward to seeing her daughter and hearing Candice’s exciting news once the deli closed for the day.

For now, though, the dog that had become her furry child was begging for attention, and she was happy to give it. After sitting in a car for half the day, the prospect of a walk seemed like a great idea.

A quick change of clothes and a glass of lemonade later, she and Maverick were heading down the road and towards town. The weather was nice enough that she could walk to the deli if she wanted to, but she thought she probably wouldn’t go quite that far. Maybe she would stop at Twisty’s, the ice cream shop, and get a cone of chocolate for herself and a small bowl of vanilla for her dog.

She rounded the corner and was surprised to see someone she recognized in the ice cream shop’s parking lot. It was the short, burly man from the toy shop. He was with two other men; they were leaning against a van, and one of them was smoking. She was barely close enough to hear them, but she thought she caught the word “Alice.”

She couldn’t quite place her finger on it, but something about the men made her uncomfortable. She was glad she had Maverick with her; although she thought the German shepherd was more likely to lick someone to death than bite them, he was big enough to keep her safe just by standing next to her.

“Look tough, buddy,” she whispered to him. He looked up at her and wagged his tail. Chuckling at his confused, yet eager to please expression, she approached the window. “Hi, can I have a chocolate cone and a small bowl of vanilla for my dog?”

“Sure thing, it will be just a second.” The girl, who looked young enough to still be in high school, smiled at her and leaned over to pet Maverick after counting out Moira’s change. “You’re such a handsome boy,” she told him.

Moira thanked her once she got their ice cream, and led the dog over to a picnic table that was set up in the grass between the ice cream shop and the road. While Maverick gulped his down, she ate hers slowly, taking her time to enjoy the chocolatey flavor and to consider everything that had happened over the last few days. The trip up north with David had been pleasant—most of it was even fun. She just wished that they had been able to go as a vacation, not to try to solve the murder of his friend. She hated that nearly everything they did was haunted by death and crime.
I guess that’s what comes from dating a private investigator
, she thought. His life rarely seemed boring. While she sometimes enjoyed thinking back on their adventures, the worry and fear was never fun while it was happening.

Maverick suddenly exploded in frantic barking, startling Moira so badly that she almost fell off the bench. Dropping what was left of her cone, she grabbed onto his leash with both hands and looked up wide eyed, wondering what on earth could have set him off. He had never so much as growled at someone before. Her gaze landed on the short man from the toy shop, who had walked around the building to throw away a fast food bag in the ice cream shop’s garbage can. He was staring at her, and she couldn’t tell if he recognized her from the toy shop and the funeral, or if he was annoyed at the ruckus Maverick was making.

“Sorry,” she gasped out. “He never does this.”

The man just gave her a nasty look, shoved the paper bag into the trash can, and walked away. The moment he rounded the corner and was out of sight, Maverick calmed down. He looked back at her, panting and obviously proud of himself for driving the man away. Moira just stared at him, shocked and unsettled, until he began to lap up her fallen ice cream.

Candice’s car was in her driveway by the time she and Maverick got back within sight of their house. She checked her watch and saw that it was later than she had thought. The deli was closed, and her daughter must be wondering where she was.

The young woman opened the front door as Moira and the dog neared the house. The deli owner unclipped the leash from the German shepherd’s collar and let him run the last few feet to the house. He greeted Candice with just as much enthusiasm as he had greeted Moira earlier, then ran inside to slurp up the water from his dish.

“Hi, Mom. How was your trip?”

“It was nice. I enjoyed the drive, and David showed me this amazing little diner in Point Baker.” She paused inside the door to take her shoes off, then led the way into the kitchen, which Maverick had managed to flood with water from his enthusiastic drinking.

“It’s been way too long since we took a trip up there,” her daughter said, following her. “Maybe Adrian and I will go later this summer.”

“How was everything down here? Did everything go smoothly at the deli?”

“Oh, yeah. Business was great, and a few people even asked where you were. We didn’t have any problems. Meg is doing really well. I think she’ll be able to close on her own soon.”

“That’s great news,” Moira said, glad that her employees had done such a good job while she was away. Maybe she could start taking vacations more often. “You said on the phone that you had exciting news of your own. What’s going on? I’ve been dying to know.”

“You’ll never believe it,” Candice said with a huge grin. “Alice called and said she wants to meet and discuss my offer for buying the toy shop.”

Moira felt like someone had punched her in the gut. She stared at her daughter, not sure what to say. The young woman looked so happy, and she didn’t want to have to crush her hopes, but it was looking more and more like the shopkeeper had killed her grandfather, or at least had something to do with his murder. How could she let her daughter do business with someone who might be dangerous? But did they have enough proof for her to tell Candice yet? She knew that she really should wait to talk about her and David’s little investigation until he had turned the information over to the police. She didn’t want to risk messing it up somehow, or having Alice get wind of it and flee before charges could be filed.

“Oh, that’s… that’s great news, honey,” she said after a long moment, when Candice was starting to look at her in concern. “When does she want to meet?”

“Tomorrow morning,” her daughter said. “We’re meeting for coffee part way between here and Lake Marion.”

“Would it be all right if I tagged along?” she asked, her mind racing. She might not be able to tell her daughter everything yet, but she could still protect her.

“Of course! I already made sure the guys would be able to take the morning shift. I want you there; I don’t have any experience with buying something this big.”

“Do you mind if I tell David, too? He might have some good tips. I bought the building the deli is in from a real estate company; I don’t know quite how all of this works between two private parties either.”

“Go ahead,” her daughter said. She had a dreamy expression in her eyes.
She’s probably imagining her future candy store
, Moira thought with a pang. She hoped that everything ended up working out for her daughter. “We’re meeting at eight. I’m so excited, Mom. I might actually be able to start the next part of my life soon.”

The coffee shop where Candice and Alice decided to meet happened to be the same one that Moira had met David at for the first time. She smiled to herself at the memory. Her good mood faded quickly, however, when she saw Alice sitting at a corner table. The shopkeeper looked drawn and tired. She had bags under her eyes, and looked like she was losing weight. Was the guilt of killing her grandfather weighing her down?
But what possible motive could she have had?
Moira wondered. The shopkeeper just looked sad. She didn’t seem at all triumphant, which she thought she might expect of someone who had just gotten away with a crime.

She suddenly remembered something that she had overheard when the lawyer had been speaking to Alice. The shopkeeper had said that she had inherited everything that her grandfather had owned. From what she had seen, Henry had been relatively well-off. He may not have had a fortune, but he definitely had enough that Alice would be able to live comfortably with what she got from the will. And if her grandfather really had been planning to close the toy shop and retire, that might have given her the motive required to commit such a heinous crime; the thought of watching Henry spend all of his money in retirement might have been what pushed her over the edge, especially since closing the toy store would have meant Alice would no longer have had a job.

“Hi, thanks so much for meeting me here,” Candice said as they approached the table. “Do you want a coffee? My treat.” Alice had only a water bottle on the table in front of her. She shook her head.

“No, I’m fine with just water.” She sighed, glanced over at Moira without expression, then said, “Why don’t you have a seat, and we can get to business?”

The two women sat down, Moira attempting to trade glances with her daughter. Didn’t Candice see that there was obviously something weighing on the shopkeeper? But her daughter was too focused on the prospect of finally getting the perfect storefront for her candy shop to notice her mother’s look.

“Are you still interested in the place?” Alice asked, turning her water bottle slowly in her hands.

“Yes, definitely,” Candice replied.

“If you’re serious about it, I can get the paperwork drawn up tomorrow. I want to be done with all of this already.”

“What’s the price?”

“Um…” Alice hesitated, a surprised look crossing over her face, as if she hadn’t considered the question at all. “What’s your offer?”

The entire conversation was putting Moira on edge. This didn’t seem at all right. Weren’t there supposed to be inspections, and shouldn’t they have someone come out to do an appraisal? And what did Alice mean by she wanted to be done with this already? Why the sudden rush to sell the store?

“I looked the property up online,” Candice said. To Moira’s surprise, she didn’t seem at all fazed by the question. She named a price, and then continued, “That’s ten percent below the last appraisal, which I think is fair since property values have fallen in the area.”

“All right, I guess that’s fine.” Alice shifted in her seat, her eyes darting towards the coffee shop’s door as if she was worried that someone she knew might happen by. “How long do you need to get the money together?”

Moira knew that Candice had already been pre-approved for a loan far higher than the amount that she had named; with her mother as a co-signer, it had been a relatively easy process. She let her daughter discuss the details with the shopkeeper, and looked around the coffee shop instead. Why was Alice being so shifty? Was she trying to hide the fact that she was selling the toy store? From who? She had so many questions, none of which seemed to have obvious answers. She wished that David had been more helpful when she had told him about the situation. His only advice was to go to the meeting and listen to what the shopkeeper had to say. He had also suggested that she shouldn’t let Candice sign anything, but that didn’t seem to be an issue just yet. She tuned back in to the conversation just as the two women were making plans to meet and go over the paperwork later in the week.

“Thank you so much,” Candice finally said, standing up and shaking Alice’s hand. “You have no idea how much this means to me.” Alice tried to smile back, but didn’t quite succeed.

They headed back to Maple Creek soon after that. Moira was unusually quiet in the car, but her daughter didn’t seem to notice. Her heart ached as she listened to Candice chat happily about all of her plans for the toy store that was soon to be a candy shop. Her daughter was so excited. Moira could only hope that somehow things ended up working out for her, even if Alice was convicted of a crime.

Candice wanted to stop at the deli to share the good news with Dante, Darrin, and Meg, and Moira was more than happy to check up on her shop, even though her shift didn’t start for a few hours, so they took a slight detour on their way home. The deli’s parking lot was busy when they got there. It was always a relief to see business booming during the summer, and the sight of the busy store usually brought a smile to her face, but today she was just too concerned about her daughter to even care.

“Hey, Ms. D. Hey, Candice,” Darrin called out when they walked in. He was busy taking people’s orders at the cash register, but he nodded towards the kitchen. “Dante and Meg are back there, whipping up some more quiches. We’re busy today.”

“So I see,” Moira said, forcing a smile onto her face. “Great job. Keep up the good work.”

Dante and Meg were busily stacking fresh-from-the-oven quiches when she and Candice made their way back to the kitchen. The room smelled deliciously of garlic and sage, and Moira felt her stomach rumble. She hadn’t eaten breakfast yet, and those bite-sized quiches looked mighty promising.

“Hi, Ms. Darling,” Dante said when he noticed her. “How was your trip?”

“It went well, thank you,” she told him. “I heard from Darrin and Candice that everything went well here. I’m glad I can count on you guys to keep things in order while I’m gone.”

“It helps that the regulars all already know what they want, and the new customers are usually tourists in a good mood since they’re on vacation. Things didn’t get as crazy as they sometimes do.” He paused to grab a pair of small plates from the drying rack. “Do you guys want some food? These just came out of the oven, and I just finished shredding some cheese, if you want to sprinkle some on top. Oh, and Darrin made some homemade hot sauce that goes really well with them.”