Pastrami Murder: Book One in The Darling Deli Series by Patti Benning Page B

at any point during the night. Suddenly worried, Moira slid out of bed and pulled her bathrobe on, keeping the phone pressed between her shoulder and her ear.
    “Is something going on?”
    “Henry Devou, you know, the guy that owns the Soup Shoppe… he’s dead.” Darrin told her.
    “Oh my goodness, what happened?” Moira asked. She couldn’t help feeling relieved that it wasn’t something to do with Candice—where was that girl, anyway?—but she felt terrible for Mr. Devou. Even though he hadn’t been very nice the few times that she had spoken to him, he definitely didn’t deserve whatever fate had befallen him.
    “They don’t know yet. I guess his sister was staying with him, and she found his body early this morning. I just thought you should know… people are going to be talking about it all day,” he told her. Henry Devou was the richest man in Maple Creek, thanks to his thriving Soup Shoppe. Moira knew that Darrin was right—not much happened in Maple Creek, so this would probably be the talk of the town for the whole week.
    “Thanks for letting me know, Darrin. Did you call Danielle yet? She’s working with me today, and I’d rather her hear it from one of us than one of the customers. She used to work for him, you know,” Moira said.
    “Yeah, I remember. I tried calling her, but she didn’t answer. I’ll try again a bit later. She might still be sleeping.” Darrin chuckled. “Oh, and sorry for waking you up, Ms. D.”
    “Don’t worry about it,” Moira told him. “Thanks for letting me know. I’ll try calling Danielle too pretty soon. Poor girl. I know that she and Henry had their differences, but it will still be a shock to her.”
    Moira got off the phone with Darrin and began her search for Candice. She peeked into her daughter’s room, but saw the bed still made. A quick check around the rest of the house showed that her daughter indeed wasn’t home. Concerned, Moira dialed Candice’s number. She was relieved when her daughter answered on the third ring.
    “Mom, I’m so sorry; I forgot to tell you I decided to stay the night at Samantha’s,” Candice said immediately. “I know you want me to let you know if I’m not coming home for the night… are you mad?”
    “No,” Moira told her. “I was just worried. I’m glad you’re all right. Have fun, and we’ll talk later.” After hanging up the phone, Moira sank into a kitchen chair and leaned back, closing her eyes. Of course Candice was with Samantha—what else had Moira thought? Why did she feel so uneasy, like something bad was about to happen?
     

CHAPTER 4
    Moira got to the deli early again, since she hadn’t been able to get in touch with Danielle. She was concerned about her young employee. Had she already heard the news? It was with relief that she recognized the small dark blue sedan parked in the deli’s lot. Danielle was already there, and Moira would have a chance to talk to her before they opened up for lunch.
    As soon as she saw the young woman, she knew that Danielle had already heard the news about Henry Devou’s death. Danielle’s face was pale and her hands were shaking as she greeted Moira. Even though Moira wasn’t as close to Danielle as she was to Darrin, she didn’t hesitate to take her employee into a comforting hug.
    “I’m sorry, Danielle. I know it’s a shock. Did Darrin manage to get in touch with you, or did you see it on the news?” Moira asked.
    “On… on the news.” Danielle’s voice was shaky.
    “I know it must be hard for you, since you worked for him for so long. Do you want to take the day off? I can ask Candice to come in and help if it gets busy,” Moira suggested. She wondered if she should close down the store completely today, out of respect for Henry Devou. It was a small enough town that everyone would know what had happened soon enough.
    “No, please just let me work like normal today. I need something to take my mind off what happened,” the girl