Grilled Rye Murder: Book 16 in The Darling Deli Series (7 page)

The kid’s age was impossible to tell. He could have been anywhere from twelve to fourteen, and was sorely in need of a haircut. But when he approached the register, she knew right away that he was the one.

“Are you Mrs. Darling?” he asked.

“Well, I’m not married, but yes. You stopped in yesterday about Hazel?”

He nodded. “I’m Adam. She was my dog, and I just wanted to know how she was doing. Did you keep her? Did she have her puppies?”

“She had six wonderful, healthy puppies. I didn’t keep her myself, but my fiancé’s sister took her. She’s very happy and spoiled now.”

“That’s good.” Adam beamed. “I know you probably don’t want me to, but is there any way I could see her one more time? I miss her, and she probably misses me too.”

“Well… I’ll see. I’ll have to ask the lady who owns her now, okay? If you don’t mind me asking, why are you asking about her after all this time? It’s been almost a year.”

“I didn’t want to before, in case my dad saw me hanging around here. I told him that she ran away, and he’d be mad if he found out I was lying. He wasn’t a very good guy, but he’s gone so now I don’t have to worry about it.”

“Oh… I’m sorry.” The deli owner wasn’t quite sure what to say. A parent leaving was never a good thing… was it?

“It’s ‘kay,” the kid said with a shrug. “My mom got a new job, and we moved into town, and she even said I could get another dog if I want, as long as it’s fixed this time. I thought I’d see if you wanted to keep Hazel. But if she’s happy, I don’t want to take her away.”

“She is happy, but I’m sure it would be okay if you visited her.” An idea was beginning to form in Moira’s mind. Adam was looking for a dog… and Flower was looking for a home. It was too good of a coincidence to ignore, but before mentioning anything to the kid, she knew that she needed to check with his mother. “Where does your mom work, Adam? I’d love to stop by and talk to her about something.”

“Oh, she runs D’s Donuts. It’s right down the street, you can almost see it from here.”

“I know where it is,” she said with a smile. The donut shop had opened up a few weeks ago, wafting tantalizing smells down the street. Although she hadn’t stopped in yet, she had been meaning to. “I’ll talk to my friend about setting up a time for you to see Hazel, then I’ll stop by the donut shop and talk to your mom, okay?”

The kid nodded, seemingly pleased with this plan. The deli owner was surprised but glad that she had finally found out who Hazel’s old owner was—she just hoped that Adam and his mother didn’t complicate matters. Karissa would not be happy if they tried to take her dog from her.

After getting the go-ahead from Karissa, Moira made good on her word and stopped at the donut shop on her way home from work. It was an interesting place; the sign, in sprawling cursive letters, welcomed her to D’s Donuts. When she stepped through the doors, she noticed a scattering of arcade machines to her left. Several teenagers were playing at the machines. On the other side of the store were a few tables, the register, and a large, well-lit display of donuts.

“Hi, welcome to D’s Donuts. Can I help you?” the teen working at the counter asked as she approached.

“Um, yes. I’m looking for… Adam’s mom.” She didn’t know his mom’s name, something that she wished she had realized before. Hopefully this girl knew who she was talking about.

“Oh, Robyn? She’s in the back. Hold on a sec.”

The girl slipped through a swinging door and reappeared a moment later with a middle-aged woman in tow.

“Did Adam do something?” she asked nervously, wiping her the flour on her hands onto the apron that she was wearing. “Is he in trouble?”

“No, no, nothing like that. I don’t know if you know… but he left his dog behind my deli last year.”

The woman winced. “It sounds terrible when you say it like that. I told him he should take her to the pound, but he was worried they would put the puppies down. I guess one of his friends saw your dogs at the fair last year, and he got it into his mind that you were the perfect person for Hazel. I was going to send her away to someone who rescues dogs, but he snuck her out before I could do anything. His father was a real piece of work. I don’t think he’d actually have hurt the dog, but Adam took his threats seriously. You can’t fault him for trying to protect her. He loved Hazel.”

“I gathered some of that from what he told me, but it’s nice to hear the full story. I’ve been wondering about it since I took her in. Like I told Adam, she got adopted by a friend of mine and is very happy and spoiled,” Moira told her.

“That’s good news. I told him that she would probably be settled in with her new owners, but he still wanted to check.”

“That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about… he mentioned you said he could get another dog?”

The other woman nodded. “He was half-hoping to get Hazel back, but I’m sure he’ll understand that she’s happy and her new owner doesn’t want to give her up. He’s a good kid, he’ll want what’s best for her.”

“He seemed fine with that, but I actually had another idea. I have one of Hazel’s puppies at my house right now. She just lost her owner, so I was thinking, if she and Adam get along and it was okay with you… maybe he could take Flower? Obviously it wouldn’t be the same as him getting Hazel herself back, but it would be a great solution all around. She’s a very sweet, happy dog.”

“Flower… that’s a pretty name.” Robyn smiled. “I think that’s a wonderful idea. What did he say?”

“I haven’t mentioned it to him yet—I wanted to run it by you first. The friend of mine that ended up adopting Hazel said she’d be happy to let them get together and see each other, so I thought if it was okay with you we could find a time to let him see Hazel and meet Flower all at once. Here, I’ll leave you my number, and you can call me after you talk it over with him.”

“Thanks so much. You didn’t have to do any of this.”

“I’m just glad that I was able to help. Hazel is a wonderful dog, and Adam seems like a nice kid.” Moira smiled at the other woman. “This is a neat place that you have here. I bet once school starts, a lot of kids will stop in after class. Do you own this place? What does the D in the store’s name stand for?”

“I just manage the store, it’s a franchise,” Robyn said with a chuckle. “I wish I owned it—I’d be rich! The D stands for the owner’s name, Danehill. I guess he thought ‘Danehill’s Donuts’ just didn’t have quite the same ring to it.”

The rest of their conversation went by in a blur to Moira. She did her best to act as normally as she could, but inside she was reeling. Danehill—that was the name of the person that had tried to buy Zander’s farm twice. Did David know that he owned a donut franchise? What on earth could Danehill want Zander’s property for? What would the donut man be willing to kill for?

Itching to talk to David, she invited him over to her house for an impromptu dinner. She didn’t mention anything about the case to him; she had discovered long ago that it was easier to get him to talk if she caught him unawares with her questions. She would just slip the subject of Danehill in between talk of their wedding and plans for their honeymoon.

First, though, she needed to figure out what she was going to make for dinner. A quick call to the deli solved that; she asked Allison, who had the afternoon shift, to put aside a couple of servings of the pot roast stew for her. Paired with some of the delicious bread from the deli and a fresh salad, it would make for a hearty meal—and best of all, she wouldn’t have to take any extra time out of her day for cooking. She had plenty of time to run her errands before swinging by the deli in the evening and picking up a nice warm meal to bring home to David.
Sometimes things work out perfectly
, she thought.
Too bad it never seems to happen with the big stuff.

She had planned just to swing by the deli for the food and then hurry home to get everything prepared for David, but when she saw the refrigerated truck parked in the alley around back, she decided to stay for a little bit and help Cameron and Jenny unload. Even though they had been working for her for months, she still didn’t feel that she knew them as well as the others. Since they were responsible for most of the catering jobs, they didn’t spend anywhere near as much time at the deli itself as everyone else did. Still, they were part of the crew, and it never hurt to spend some extra time with her employees.

“Hey Jenny, how did the job go?” she asked, setting down her purse next to the big take-home container of soup that Allison had waiting for her.

“It went well, Ms. D. Shelby was happy with everything, and she even said to tell you that she was planning on hiring the deli to cater her other daughter’s open house this fall.”

“That’s what I love to hear,” said Moira with a smile. “You and Cameron have been doing great here. I’m so glad I hired you.”

“Thanks. I love this job, I really do.”

The deli owner watched as the young woman walked away, noting that she still seemed unusually subdued.
She must really be taking Zander’s death hard
, Moira thought.
I wonder if Cameron has noticed?
She knew that the red-haired young man was smitten with Jenny, but wasn’t sure how much they really hung out outside of work.

She got her chance to ask him soon enough. He was out in the refrigerated truck, taking inventory to make sure nothing was missing.

“Hey,” she said, stepping up into the truck. She hadn’t once regretted buying it—the ability to transport their own food without renting a vehicle was wonderful, and she had been able to lower their catering prices too, once the truck had been paid off. “I heard the open house went well. Congratulations on another job well done.”

“It was a piece of cake,” he said with a grin. “I love open houses. People are just there to have fun and eat some good food. It’s not like a wedding, where everyone’s emotions are running high.”

“You know you don’t have to work during my reception if you don’t want to—”

“Oh, I didn’t mean it like that, Ms. D. I’m looking forward to your wedding.”

Cameron, Jenny, and Allison had all volunteered to work at Moira’s wedding reception as caterers for free as a wedding gift to her. Though she would still be paying for the food, of course, having the deli cater her own reception was saving her a lot of money.

“I just feel bad that the three of you are going to be doing so much work,” she said. “But thank you. Not having to find a caterer makes things so much easier for me.”

“And hey, at least you know you’re going to get good food,” he added.

“That’s true. I couldn’t ask for anything better.” She hesitated, glancing back towards the deli to make sure Jenny, who had taken a box of dirty tablecloths in to be washed, was still inside. “I’ve been wanting to ask you… do you think Jenny’s doing all right? You spend the most time with her out of all of us.”

“You mean Zander? She’s taking it pretty rough. To be honest, I don’t know what she saw in the guy.”

“You didn’t like him?”

“He was too old for her.” He shrugged, and changed the subject. “Any luck tracking down the person that paid your bail?”

“Not a single clue, as far as I know,” she told him. “It’s a real mystery. I don’t think I even
know
someone with that much money lying around.”

“I’m sure you’ll find out eventually.” He gave her a quick smile. “Oh, did we leave you enough soup? Allison was concerned that we should have left more.”

“It looks like enough—it just needs to feed David and me. Which reminds me, I should probably get going. It was good to catch up, Cameron. Keep up the good work. I’ll see you later.”

With that she climbed out of the food truck and hurried back inside. Somehow the time had gotten away from her, and if she didn’t hurry, she was going to be late.

“This looks amazing,” David said, sitting down at the table across from her. “Doubly so, since I didn’t have time for lunch.”

“Thanks. It’s just leftovers from the deli. I didn’t have time to make something fresh.”

“It looks perfectly good to me.” He glanced to the side, where Maverick, Keeva, and Flower were lined up, each dog watching them closely. “The dogs definitely seem interested.”

“I haven’t fed them dinner yet,” she admitted. “I barely got back in time to heat the soup up and throw the salad together before you got here. It was a busy day. I’ll tell you about it while we eat.”

She filled David in on what had happened with Adam, picking at her salad between sentences. He was surprised that Hazel’s former owner had gotten into contact with her after all this time.

“I do think that your idea to give him Flower is a good one,” he said. “As long as they like each other and they seem like a good family. From what you said it sounds like they are, even though they were in a bad situation before.”

“It seems like a good solution for everyone,” she said. “But… there is something else that I’m worried about.”

“What is it?” he asked, concerned.

“Robyn, Adam’s mom… while I was talking to her I found out who owns the donut shop. It’s Mr. Danehill.”

David put his spoon down, frowning. “That’s… interesting. I ran a background check on him, but hadn’t gotten results back yet. I know that he runs a corporation called Danehill, LLC, but haven’t been able to get a line on what they actually do. The company seems to have links with a lot of different industries.”