Grilled Cheese Murder: Book 4 in The Darling Deli Series (4 page)

BOOK: Grilled Cheese Murder: Book 4 in The Darling Deli Series
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“So,” she said to David once Darrin had cleared out. “Where should we start looking?”

“We aren’t,” he said, shaking his head. “It’s too dangerous. He may have killed someone, and even if he didn’t, there is someone else out there who
did
, and who is also likely going to be looking for him.”

“That’s all the more reason why we need to find him first,” she pointed out. “To offer him help before whatever he’s running from catches up to him.”

“You shouldn’t get yourself involved with this any more than you already are,” he told her. Then he added quietly, “I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

“I can’t just stand around and do nothing when I know that someone I care about is in danger,” she said. She was touched by his concern, but she knew that she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if Dante got hurt and she didn’t do everything she could to try to help him. David sighed.

“Fine, but I’m coming with you. I don’t want you out there looking for him alone.”

“It’s a deal,” she said with a grin. “That brings me back to my earlier question—where should we start looking for him?”

“Probably at his apartment,” he said. “I don’t know if we’ll be able to get into his actual unit, but we can look around and ask people if they remember seeing anything out of the usual. If they have video cameras, I may be able to talk one of the security guys into letting us see the tape. You might recognize someone. It seems like half the town comes through the deli on a daily basis.”

* * *

She was tempted to close early so that they could go investigate sooner, but she couldn’t really justify it, not with the steady stream of customers that had been coming in all day. It wasn’t until the ladle for the spinach orzo soup was coming up dry that she finally called it a day. Her stomach gave a hungry growl as she began rinsing out the pot. It was a pity that all the soup was gone—the rich, creamy flavor would have served well to warm her and David against the chilly night.

“Ready?” he asked when she came out of the kitchen.

“Yes,” she responded. “Let’s go.”

“You checked the side door?” he asked, giving her a quick grin to show that he was half joking. Recently, someone had fixed the side door that they usually used for deliveries so that it couldn’t latch shut, and had used it to sneak in without her knowledge. She had been terrified when she had discovered it, but thanks to David she now had surveillance in the deli in the form of a video camera and a motion detector. She had also added double-checking the door into her daily closing routine.

“You know it,” she replied, surprised to find herself in such a good mood even though it had been such a grim twenty-four hours. She supposed that David just had the effect of making her feel safe. There was no one she would rather be spending the evening with.

“We can take my car. The roads are still icy, and it handles better in this sort of weather than yours does.” He held the door for her on the way out, and then waited while she locked the deli up. If only Dante weren’t missing and in trouble, the moment would have been perfect. She realized just how nice it was to have someone to spend time with. She had been far too solitary over the last few years.

CHAPTER NINE

It was twilight by the time they reached Dante’s apartment complex. Another quick sweep of the parking lot showed them that his car still wasn’t there, so they parked in front of his building and got out. If she remembered correctly, his apartment was on the second floor.

“So, should we just go up?” she asked David. “Or should we go to the office or something first?”

“Let’s just see what we can see for now,” he suggested. “I doubt management would be much help at this point. Maybe we can stop in on our way out of here, if they’re still open.”

As they approached the building, Moira kept her eyes peeled for signs of anything out of place. She didn’t see any security cameras, which was disappointing, though she knew that realistically she and David probably wouldn’t have noticed anything that the police hadn’t. The hallways of the apartment building smelled of stale cigarette smoke and some sort of industrial lemon-scented cleaner. The murmur of voices, possibly from a TV, came from behind one of the doors on the ground floor. The carpeting had stains on it, and one of the mailboxes was missing a door. She shuddered at the thought of Dante living in such a place. He was such a smart, hard-working young man. What must he have been running from to end up in a place like this?

Once they made their way up to the second floor, his apartment wasn’t hard to find, as there was still torn crime scene tape across the door. It didn’t take her long to see that there was nothing in the hallway that would be of any help to them.

“What now?” she asked, feeling oddly let down. What had she been expecting? To find Dante himself waiting for them?

“We could try talking to the neighbors if you want,” David said. “Just keep in mind that they don’t have to tell us anything.”

“I think it’s worth a shot.” Before she lost her courage, she walked over and knocked on the door across the hall from Dante’s. An older man with a yappy little dog in his arms answered. He gave the pair of them a questioning look.

“Hi,” Moira said. “I hope we’re not bothering you, but I’d love it if we could ask you a couple of questions about your neighbor, Dante.”

“Who are you?” the man asked gruffly. “How do you know the kid?”

“David Morris, PI,” David said, cutting in and flashing his identification to the man. “We’re just trying to find him, and find out what’s going on. This is Moira Darling, his employer.” The man eyed them warily for a moment, and then seemed to come to a decision.

“All right, then,” he said. “My name’s Harrison. I’m the one that called the cops when I heard a gunshot. They didn’t believe me at first, not until I told them I’m ex-military and definitely know what a gun sounds like.” He snorted. “You’d think someone would come running when you say the word ‘gunshot.’ I guess that’s not how things work these days.”

“Did you see anything after you heard the gunshot?” Moira asked him, darting a glance towards the peephole in his door.

“No, the last tenant painted over the peephole,” he explained, following her glance. “And I’m not going to open my door and stick my head out into the hallway when someone’s shooting.”

“Oh.” She sighed. She had hoped for a second that it would be as easy as getting a blow-by-blow description of the events from Harrison, but she supposed that that would have been too easy. If he had seen anything, he would have already told the police, and from what Detective Jefferson had told her, they had no idea what had happened.

“How well did you know Dante?” David asked.

“He’d say hi to me if we passed each other in the hallway, but that’s about it.” The old man shrugged. “There’s not much to say about him. He’s quiet, kept to himself. He never had parties or anything, never even had anyone over that I noticed.”

“Did you hear anything besides a gunshot the evening that the young man was killed?”

“No,” the man replied. Then he frowned. “Well, come to think of it, yes. I heard a few people talking or arguing a few minutes before, but they could have come from anyone on this floor. Someone slammed a door also.”

“A few? So more than just two? Did you tell the police this?” Moira asked.

“I didn’t think of it then. Someone had just been shot, and everything was so chaotic. And like I said, it could have been anyone. I’m pretty sure it was more than two people, but it’s hard to be certain. The walls may be thin, but they aren’t that thin.”

“You should call the station,” the private detective told him. “Tell them what you remembered. Is there anything else? Any strange cars hanging around? Did anything unusual happen after the shooting?”

“No, no, nothing,” Harrison said, shaking his head. “I’m sorry I can’t be of more help.”

“You’ve been plenty helpful,” Moira assured him. “Thanks for your time.” David reached into his pocket and took out a business card to hand to the old man.

“If you remember anything else, I’d appreciate if you gave me a call… right after you let the police know, of course,” he told the man.

“I will. And good luck finding him. He was a good neighbor.”

CHAPTER TEN

None of the other neighbors answered their knocks, so Moira and David were forced to call their impromptu search to a close. The management office was empty and dark when they passed it on their way out of the complex, though David assured her that they would probably be reluctant to talk about one of their tenants anyway. She tried not to feel disappointed, but she had hoped to find more than just a grumpy neighbor to talk to. Where could Dante possibly be? Was he even still alive? She had been going on the assumption that the fact that his car was gone meant that he had taken it and fled, but she could be wrong. Maybe whoever had shot the other young man had stolen Dante’s car too.

David took her back to the deli, where she bade him goodnight and got into her own car. It was full dark by then, and the town was almost eerily still. It seemed hard to imagine that her young employee could be out there alone and scared—or worse. She wished that there was more that she could do to find him, but she couldn’t think of anything else that she could try. If he was still alive, he was on his own.

* * *

The next day, Friday, was supposed to be one of the rare days that neither Moira nor Candice worked at the deli, but with Dante missing, she knew that she would have to go in. Instead of canceling their plans to go back into Lake Marion and continue the search for the perfect store location for her daughter, she decided to wake up early and walk around Lake Marion before the deli opened.

“I know that you really like the toy store,” she told Candice as they navigated the slippery roads between Maple Creek and Lake Marion. “But David still hasn’t heard back from the owner, and he may end up not selling it. It would be great if you could find a place that you like almost as much in case the toy store falls through.”

“I’ll look,” her daughter said doubtfully. “But it’s not a huge town, and only a few buildings are up for rent.” She sighed. “It’s just that location is so important when it comes to having a successful business, and that place is perfect.”

Moira smiled to herself, mentally comparing the difference between how her daughter was now and how she had been only a few short years ago. Even as a teenager, Candice had been relatively responsible. She had only really gotten in trouble twice that Moira could remember, and even those two incidents paled in comparison to some of those that she had heard about her friends’ kids. Teenage Candice hadn’t paid much attention to the future, and rarely took the time to talk to her mother; traits that seemed to have completely reversed after her daughter had come back from college. She often wondered what her life would be like without the young woman sitting in the car, and found it hard to imagine. Her daughter brought so much light and joy into her life that it was hard to think what it would be like without her.

“I’m sure you’ll end up finding the right place,” she reassured her daughter. “You’ve still got a while to look. Just take your time and don’t rush things. You’re welcome to stay at the house for as long as you want, you know.”

“Oh man, that reminds me, I’ve got to find an apartment too. I don’t want to have to make this drive every day.” The young woman groaned. “There’s so much that I have to do.” Her mother chuckled.

“Welcome to adulthood,” she said quietly, touching Candice’s shoulder gently.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

They got to town and decided to look at a building that had just gone up for rent. It was a bit farther from the intersection in the center of town than the toy store was, but it wasn’t so far out that people would be unable to walk to it. It was currently serving as a small leather repair shop. Moira wandered towards the back, trying to envision shelves of candy lining the walls. It just didn’t have the same feel that the toy store did. Her daughter was right; the toy store really was the perfect place for a candy shop.

“Mom, come here,” came an urgent call from the front of the leather shop. She rushed over, wondering what could possibly have happened.

“What is it?” she asked when she reached her daughter. The young woman was standing at the front window, looking out onto Lake Marion’s Main Street.

“I think… I think I just saw Dante’s car,” she said, keeping her eyes on the road as if expecting it to zip past again.

“Here? Really?” Moira joined her at the window. “Are you sure?”

“I’m not a hundred percent positive, but it definitely looked like it. It had that rusty patch on the door and everything.”

“Which way did it go?”

Her daughter pointed to the left, and Moira gave the real estate agent who had been showing them the building a quick apology. With Candice following, she left the building and strode across the sidewalk to her car. As soon as they were both in with their seat belts on, she started the engine and took off down the road.

“Keep your eyes peeled, and look down side streets,” she instructed her daughter. She kept her own eyes on the road and on the cars in front of her. She knew that she might be on a wild goose chase, but it felt good to be doing
something.

“I don’t see him,” Candice said after they had been driving for a few minutes. “Maybe it wasn’t even his car. I don’t think we’re going to find him like this.”

“We can’t just stop looking,” she told her daughter. “He could be close. What if this is our only chance?”

“If he wanted us to find him, then he would just show up at the deli,” her daughter pointed out. “We don’t even know if he’s alive, Mom. Even if it
was
his car that I saw, anyone could be driving it.”

Gritting her teeth, Moira slowed down and turned into a gas station parking lot, using the space to turn her car around. Her daughter was right. It was doubtful that they would find him by driving around in circles like this. At best, it was a waste of gas, and at worse… well, she wouldn’t want to end up like the guy who had been murdered.

BOOK: Grilled Cheese Murder: Book 4 in The Darling Deli Series
10.4Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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