Grilled Cheese Murder: Book 4 in The Darling Deli Series (5 page)

They had just left town when her cell phone started buzzing in the drink holder between the front seats. She glanced at it and asked her daughter to see who it was.

“The caller ID says ‘Jefferson,’” Candice told her. Feeling apprehensive, Moira took the phone from her and accepted the call. Whatever he wanted, it couldn’t be good.

“Hello?” she said.

“Ms. Darling, are you all right?”

“Yes,” she replied warily. “What’s going on?”

“There’s been an incident at your deli. I think you should get into town as soon as possible.”

“Is anyone hurt?” she asked, her heart pounding in her chest.

“No ma’am, at least, not that we’ve found.”

“Okay.” She took a deep breath to steady herself. “I’ll be right there.”

David was sitting at his desk, looking over files and enjoying a late lunch of cold Italian food, when Moira called him. The grin that appeared on his face when he saw her caller ID faded quickly as she spoke.

“I’m on my way over,” he promised. “You drive safely; don’t rush.” His pasta salad forgotten, the private detective shrugged into his coat, grabbed his keys, and headed for the parking lot.

The deli’s parking lot looked crowded with three police cruisers and a fire truck sitting in it. He didn’t see any smoke rising from the small building, for which he was grateful, but the shattered glass window in front was evident from the street. There was a huge fan blowing air out of the deli into the parking lot. David looked into the shop and noticed sparkling shards of glass littering the floor inside. Moira and Candice were standing in the parking lot next to the young detective who had spoken to them a few nights ago about Dante.

“David, I’m so glad you’re here,” Moira said when she saw him approaching. She looked pale and shaken. He didn’t blame her. In fact, he felt pretty shaken himself when he thought about what might have happened if she had been in the deli when the break-in happened.

“Was anyone hurt?” he asked, giving her a quick hug without thinking about it. She stiffened for a moment, and then relaxed.

“No, thank goodness. Darrin wasn’t here yet, and Candice and I were in Lake Marion looking at some leather place for her candy shop.” Her green-eyed gaze drifted towards the deli. “Why would anyone do this?” He was surprised to see tears in her eyes; she had been through so much in the past few months and he’d never seen her cry. He realized that the deli must mean a lot to her.

“I don’t know—do the police have any leads?” he asked, shooting a glance at Detective Jefferson, who shook his head.

“One of our patrol officers saw it while he was driving by,” he explained to David. “We haven’t been here for much longer than Ms. Darling has.”

“We’re right on Main Street,” the private investigator responded angrily. “Are you telling me that no one else noticed this all morning? No one saw anything? It’s a small town; everyone here knows Moira. Why wouldn’t they report that her deli had been
broken into
?” Detective Jefferson just shrugged.

“That actually happens pretty often,” he explained. “Everyone who saw the broken window just assumed either that someone else had already reported it or that Moira already knew. It’s in such a public place that they probably didn’t think there would even be a point in reporting it.”

“And you have no idea who did it?” David asked.

“I gave them a copy of the recording from the camera,” Moira cut in, referencing the video camera that he had installed for her a few weeks ago. “Its lens captures most of the front window; we should get a clear shot of whoever broke in easily enough.”

“That’s good, at least.” He frowned, gazing across the parking lot. “Why is there a fire truck here? Did someone set a fire?”

“Not a fire, no,” she replied. Hesitating, she chewed her lip. “But, well, whoever broke in
did
turn all of the gas burners onto high. Who knows what would have happened if a spark had somehow gone off in there before it was aired out.”

“Wow,” David said, stunned. “I’m just glad you’re all right.”

“I think we have everything we need here, ma’am,” Jefferson cut in. “We’ll get out of your hair. Feel free to start cleaning up as soon as the fire department gives you the all clear. We’ll let you know as soon as we catch the person that did this.” Moira responded to the detective with a distracted goodbye. After two firefighters carrying fans came out of the deli and told her it was safe, she turned back to David.

“I need to call my insurance agent,” she told him, staring past him at the broken window with shock still in her eyes. “I already called Darrin. He should be here soon.”

“I’ll stay and help,” he told her. “Just tell me what you need me to do.”

“I don’t even know where to begin,” she admitted in a quiet, defeated voice. “The entire place is ransacked. I’m going to need to throw most of the food out, and one of the walls needs repainting… not to mention the window, of course. I think my insurance covers it, but I’m not positive.”

“Let’s start by cleaning up the glass,” he said gently. “You handle the call to the insurance. I know where everything is.” She gave him a pale imitation of her usual bright smile and pulled her cell phone out of her pocket.

David turned his attention to the shattered window and was glad he was wearing his sturdy winter boots. Only a few jagged shards remained in the large window frame. The rest of the glass was scattered around the floor of the deli. Some pieces were as long as his forearm, but most were much smaller. He hoped that the insurance would end up covering most of the repair costs. He didn’t even want to think how much it would cost out of pocket to repair a window that size. Once he found whoever did this to Moira’s cherished store, he would do his best to make sure they spent as long as possible behind bars.

Moira put her phone back in her pocket, feeling much better after having spoken to her insurance agent. She had been assured that she would only have to pay a deductible and the insurance company would cover the rest of the cost of replacing the window. At least she wouldn’t have to use the money that she had set aside to help Candice open her candy shop, which had been one of her primary concerns.

She joined David inside, where he was staring at the wall to the right of the register, an unreadable expression on his face. Scrawled on the wall in permanent marker was a demand from whoever had broken in.
Give him up, or your next.
The threat put shivers down her spine. This hadn’t been some random robbery—in fact, nothing seemed to be missing at all, so it couldn’t properly be called a robbery. No, this was personal. Someone had targeted her specifically, trying to scare her into doing something. The only problem was, she didn’t know what it was that they wanted.

“What did the police think of this?” the private investigator asked.

“I don’t know. They took pictures—a lot of pictures—but they didn’t really say much.” She frowned, staring at the words. “Any idea what it could mean?”

“My guess is someone thinks you know where Dante is,” he replied. Moira gaped at him. Of course; it made perfect sense now that he said it. Who else would someone be looking for?

“But I don’t know where Dante is,” she pointed out. “I haven’t heard from him since…” she trailed off, remembering her and Candice’s impromptu search for the young man in Lake Marion earlier. She had forgotten it with all the excitement.

“What?” David said, giving her a sharp look.

“It’s just that Candice said she thought she saw his car when we were in Lake Marion this morning. We drove around and tried to see if we could find him, but we didn’t have any luck. Do you think whoever is looking for him knows that he’s still around?”

“Likely,” he said. “But if you really haven’t seen him, then why would this person think you know where he is?”

“Because according to everyone we’ve spoken to, Candice, Darrin, and I were the only locals Dante really knew,” she pointed out. A moment later she added, “Even if I
did
know where he is though, I wouldn’t betray him just because someone trashed the deli.”

“I know.” David gave her fond look. “You’re one of the most loyal people I know, Moira.”

The sound of a car pulling into the lot made Mora look away from the private investigator. It was Darrin, pulling up in his truck. She saw his eyes widen as he got out of the truck and got a good look at the place where the window had been. He gave a low whistle.

“Wow, someone really has it in for you, Ms. D,” he said. “A dead guy found in the deli during the Winter Festival, and now this?”

“It’s not as bad as it looks,” she said weakly. “The insurance covers most of it. It could have been a lot worse.”

“That’s true. How’s the rest of the place?” He stepped through the door, which had been propped open to let the police in and out easily. He paled when he read the words on the wall.

“Whoever did this took most of the stuff out of the fridges and the freezer,” she told him. “They also left all of the gas appliances on high, but the fire marshal took care of that. Other than the window and the wall, it will mostly be a lot of cleaning. You should have seen the floor in here before David started to clear out some of the glass.” The private investigator had swept most of the glass into paper bags, and had knocked out the deadly looking shards left in the window.

“Who would do this?” Darrin asked, shaking his head in disbelief. “What would have happened if one of us had been here?”

“I don’t even want to think about that,” Moira replied with a shudder. “Let’s just start cleaning. Candice is picking up some new paint for the wall. You and I can get started on taking care of the food.”

It took them a few hours, but eventually they got Darling’s DELIcious Delights back into an acceptable state. She had been devastated to find that only about half the food had been salvageable, but felt lucky the loss of food was the worst of the damage, besides the window. David had done a good job clearing up the broken glass, and except for the missing window, the front room looked almost normal thanks to Candice’s quick paint job. She was grateful that whoever had vandalized the place had left the expensive refrigerated glass display cases intact. She would likely be able to open the deli normally tomorrow, once she had gotten a sheet or tarp to cover the window frame.

“What did the camera catch?” David asked with a nod at the security camera above the register.

“It recorded the guy breaking the window and writing on the wall, but nothing in the back,” she said. “The recording isn’t very helpful, though. He was wearing a ski-mask and a big coat the whole time.”

“The motion detector in the back didn’t go off?”

“I, um, forgot to reset it when I left last night,” she admitted. “I won’t be making that mistake again.”

“That’s too bad, but it can’t be helped now,” he said with a sigh. “Mind if I take a look at the footage from the break-in?”

Moira got her tablet out and sat at one of the small bistro tables with Darrin, Candice, and David huddled around her. She could access the security camera footage wirelessly through her cell phone or tablet, which was very convenient. The police had been emailed a copy of the footage as well, and she was sure that they would have some sort of expert analyzing it. All she had were the eyes of everyone at the table with her; that would have to suffice.

She started the video a few seconds before the masked figure smashed the window in with a brick. The violence was astounding; it was obvious that he had meant to do serious damage to the deli, not just to find a way in. She almost wished that he had been a simple burglar. This spiteful vandalism was more frightening.

The figure in the video was tall, but every inch of his skin was covered. She was pretty certain that the criminal was a man; something about the way he moved just seemed masculine to her. He wrote the threatening message on the wall, then spent only a few minutes in the back, to dump large amounts of expensive food on the floor and to turn on the gas burners on the stove, before running back through the front room and leaving.

“Feel free to play it again if you want to,” the deli owner told the private investigator. “I’ve already watched it a few times though, and I can’t see a single clue as to who it could be.”

“I’ll watch it again later, if you’ll send me a copy of the file,” he told her. “I think I’ll be able to see it better on my computer. There wasn’t anything else abnormal from last night? Did you watch the footage from yesterday to see if anyone of a similar build came in?”

“I skimmed through it,” Moira said. “Plus, the police have it. Maybe I should also watch some of the other days from this week. That guy was pretty tall, I’m sure he’d stand out in the footage even with other people around.”

“It’s a good idea. You can never be too thorough.” He frowned. “What day did Dante disappear? Can you watch the footage from that night?”

She did as he suggested, fast-forwarding the footage of the dark deli until a shadowy form appeared on screen. Moira paused the video and zoomed in on the person’s face. When she saw who it was, she gasped.

“It’s Dante,” she said.

“You don’t think he’s the one that broke in, do you?” Candice asked, leaning forward to get a better look at the paused video on her mother’s tablet.

“Whoever broke in was much taller than Dante,” David pointed out. “But my question is, what is he doing in the deli the night of the murder? He would have already been on the run, wouldn’t he?”

“This is about six hours after we got the call to go and identify the body,” Moira told him. “So yes, he would have already been on the run.”

“Do you think he stole something?” Darrin asked. “Not, like, to be a jerk, but because he needed food or money and didn’t want to use his credit card?”

“I didn’t notice anything missing,” the deli owner said. “And I’m pretty sure that I had remembered to set the motion detector that night, so I would have been alerted if he went in the back.”

“He has to know about the camera.” Her daughter glanced up at the security camera that was constantly recording everything that happened in the front room of the deli. “It took us all a while to get used to it, and you showed each of us what parts of the deli it can record from up there. If he had wanted to be sneaky, he wouldn’t have walked right up to it.”