Creamy Casserole Murder: Book 15 in The Darling Deli Series by Patti Benning

he was probably freaking out, but Reggie’s life could very well be in danger. She had to save him, even if David never forgave her for what she was putting him through.
    Luckily, Eli answered the phone and gave her the code before asking what was going on. She gave him a quick explanation as she drove, and was relieved when he promised to meet her there. Just because she was rushing headfirst into danger didn’t mean she had a death wish, and there would definitely be safety in numbers.
    She got to the assisted-living home before Eli did, though, and knew that she couldn’t risk waiting around for him. Rushing through the first set of doors, she punched in the code for the second set and held her breath until the light turned green. She shoved the doors open and walked as quickly down the hall as she dared to without attracting unwanted attention to herself. Any one of the staff, or even the residents, could be the killer. It seemed to take her forever to reach Reggie’s room. When he answered her knock on the first try, she felt a flood of relief wash through her.
    “I’m so glad you’re okay,” she said when he opened the door. He hurried her inside and shut the door behind her, replacing the rubber doorstop. She was glad he still had it, even though she was sure the assisted-living home wouldn’t like it.
    “She hasn’t come back since the police came,” he told her in a low voice once the door was firmly shut. “It’s just a matter of time, though. Where’s David?”
    She told him what happened, how David had driven her back home and called the police to see what they had found.
    “They didn’t believe me,” Reggie said, settling into his armchair with a sigh. He looked exhausted. “I should have known—what did I really expect to happen when I told them Alberta Radisson was the culprit?”
    “The director?” Moira squeaked, utterly shocked.
    Reggie nodded. “I didn’t connect the dots until I went to go ask Griff if he was really the one that had killed Danny. He didn’t know what I was talking about, so I spent about an hour after dessert explaining everything to him.”
    “And he told you Alberta did it?” she asked.
    “No, no, he has no idea. What he told me was all about Delilah, and her will. Apparently just a couple of weeks before she died, she made Mrs. Radisson the sole benefactor of her estate,” he said.
    “Wow,” Moira breathed, the pieces beginning to fly together rapidly. It all made sense. Alberta must have learned that Beatrice was planning on leaving everything to her sister when she passed. Moira had gathered that both sisters were quite wealthy—you pretty much had to be to live in a place like this. When Delilah put the director in her will, that made it so Alberta stood to inherit everything from both sisters… as long as Beatrice died first.
    “She must have killed Beatrice to make sure her sister would inherit everything,” the deli owner said, thinking out loud. “If she waited too long and Delilah died first, then she would have only gotten half of the fortune. If she killed them both, that means that she must have killed Danny too—I bet he was getting too close to the truth. He might have even planned to kill her out of revenge when he came in here with that gun.”
    Reggie nodded. “I figured all of that out, too.”
    “Wait, when you called me, you said that she was going to be back soon. Reggie… did you confront her about all of this?”
    “No…” He hesitated, looking away from her. “I… ah… I tested my theory. I told her that Eli and I had gotten into a fight, and I wanted him out of my will, but I wasn’t sure who else to leave my money to. The second I told her how much money I was leaving, she practically leapt onto the computer to print out the right forms. She promised to run them in to my lawyer first thing in the morning. Then I told her I was having second thoughts, and she practically begged me to sign.”
    “Even if she wasn’t