Chicken Pesto Murder: Book 5 in The Darling Deli Series by Patti Benning Page B

Moira. The stress of worrying about you is going to be the death of me.”
    “It’s not my fault. I think I’m cursed,” she joked.
    “You definitely lead quite the life for someone who runs a deli.”
    “Not by choice.” She sat the rest of the way up, trying to think through the pain medicine. “So, why did Strauss kill Detective Fitzgerald?” she asked. “Was it just a coincidence?”
    “No. It was premeditated. Several years in the planning, in fact.” David sighed. “Five years ago, Fitzgerald arrested Mikey Strauss’s father—his only family. Strauss Senior got life with no chance of parole for a double homicide. This was a revenge killing.”
    “Wow.” She sat back, leaning against the couch cushions. “I would almost feel bad for Mikey, if he weren’t a murderer, of course. Why did he try to frame you? Did you have something to do with sending his father to prison?”
    “No, I think my involvement was just bad luck on my part. He must have realized that with the public argument and my wallet as evidence, I would be a pretty convincing suspect. I don’t think he was planning on staying around for too much longer. He had a big stack of cash in his friend’s apartment, likely from selling the stolen pets and pawning some stuff he’d stolen,” he said.
    “Speaking of the argument,” she began.
    “I’ll tell you what it was about,” David said, surprising her. “But I don’t want you to get upset.”
    “I can’t promise that until I know what it was about,” she pointed out.
    “Of course you can’t,” he said, the ghost of a smile appearing on his lips. “It was about you.”
    “Me?” she asked.
    “Fitzgerald made a comment to me about how he wished that you would keep your nose out of police business. He thinks you’re deliberately putting yourself in harm’s way. Apparently, he thought we are… um… closer than we really are. He told me that I should be able to keep a tighter rein on ‘my woman,’ and that he’d rather you stayed home altogether.”
    As Moira gaped in shock, David continued with a grimace, “I couldn’t just let that pass. Any of it. So I told him that it wasn’t my place to keep you anywhere—that you were a free agent and could handle yourself. That even if we were… um… closer, that you were perfectly capable of making your own decisions and maybe you wouldn’t have to get so involved with solving crimes if he was better at his own job. Which, as you can imagine, he didn’t like very much.”
    Moira was stunned. Her emotions were mixed; part of her was hurt that the detective had thought so little of her. It wasn’t like she sought out murderers and thieves. On the contrary, it seemed like she couldn’t avoid them. She was also touched that David would defend her, and speak up on her behalf even when she wasn’t around.
    “Thank you,” she said at last. “For telling me, and for defending my honor.”
    “You’re welcome.” He grinned at her. “One more thing before I let you rest. Do you still want to get a dog?”
    “Yeah, I do,” she said. “I think it’s time to open up my heart to another pet, and I don’t think I’d be able to stand living completely alone when Candice leaves.”
    “Wait here.” Moira gave a snort of unladylike laughter—as if she was going anywhere with her sprained ankle. A moment later, David came back. To her surprise, Maverick the German shepherd was trailing behind him on a leash. As he saw Moira, Maverick rushed forward and put his head on her lap.
    “Couldn’t you find his family?” she asked, leaning forward and petting the dog.
    “He wasn’t stolen. He belongs—belonged—to Mikey Strauss,” David explained. “Strauss relinquished him voluntarily when his friend began telling Jefferson about how Mikey treated the dog. He’s yours if you want him. Otherwise, he’ll probably find his way to a rescue group of some sort.” He gave the dog a fond look. “This guy saved your life, you