Grilled Rye Murder: Book 16 in The Darling Deli Series (9 page)

“I was just telling her the facts,” he said, spreading his hands in a gesture of innocence. “I’d love to get
your
side of the story, of course. Maybe then I’d have something else to tell people.”

She glared at him, feeling trapped and hating it. What could she do, though? She couldn’t afford the bad publicity that he was spreading about her. Maybe an interview
would
help.

“Fine,” she said at last. “Come on in. I don’t have long, though, all right?”

“Of course. We’ll be out of your hair like
that.”
He snapped his fingers, then waved his cameraman forward. “This is Rodney, by the way. He’ll be filming. Just ignore him.”

Brendan followed her inside, then arranged her at one of the corner bistro tables. Moira waved back Darrin and Cameron, who had both approached her with concerned looks on their faces. It seemed to take him ages to be happy with the camera angle, but at last he gave Rodney a thumbs up, and Moira saw a red light on the front of the camera blink to life.

“I’m Brendan Anaheim with Beyond News, and I’m joined today by Moira Darling,” he began, facing the camera. She listened in mute silence while he gave the camera a quick run-down of her story. She winced at the parts that made her sound guilty, but she couldn’t deny that everything he said was a fact. Moira felt a flare of anger towards whoever the leak at the police station was. They had no right to give out information that was supposed to be secret, like the fact that her fingerprints had been found on the gun.

“We’re here today to see if we can solve what may be the biggest mystery of the case so far,” he continued. “Moira, can you tell us
who
exactly posted your $60,000 bail?”

“I don’t know,” she told him, doing her best not to look at the camera. “I was, um, hoping that we could talk about some of the accusations against me, actually. I want people to know that I’m innocent.”

“I think what the public is the most curious about is your bail,” he said. “Your mysterious benefactor has made this tale unexpectedly spicy. Aren’t you getting married pretty soon?”

“I am, but—”

“Is that why you’re reluctant to give out the name of the person that paid your bail? Is he an old flame, maybe? Someone you’ve been having a secret affair with?”

“Oh, this is ridiculous,” Cameron said. Moira didn’t know who was more surprised at his outburst—her or the reporter.

“Do you have some juicy details?” Brendan asked, swiveling to thrust the microphone into her employee’s face.

“Yes. I paid it. Happy? Ms. D’s a good boss, and I didn’t like the thought of her sitting in jail.”

Cameron refused to answer any more questions. Darrin helped him shoo the reporter and cameraman out of the restaurant, then they both returned to Moira, who was gaping at her red-haired employee.

“What? How? You don’t have that kind of money. I know I don’t pay you
that
much.”

Cameron sighed. “Look, I didn’t want this to get out… but I’ve got money. A lot of it. I come from a wealthy family, and it makes a lot of things easier, but it wasn’t something I wanted everyone here to know. Especially not Jenny.”

“If you’ve got that sort of money, then why on earth are you working for me?” Moira asked. “And why on earth wouldn’t you tell Jenny? It’s obvious to everyone how you feel about her.”

“To answer your first question, I like working here. I’ve always enjoyed working with food, but I hate the high-stress environment of the big restaurants. Working as a caterer here is fun… but to be honest, I only decided to take the job after I saw that Jenny was working here. It was love at first sight, for me at least,” he admitted. “And that leads to your second question. I didn’t want her to find out about my money because… well, if I started dating her, I wanted to know it was real. I’d want to know that she actually liked
me
, not just my money. Of course, that plan seems to have backfired. She hardly gives me a second glance.”

The deli owner stared at him for a long moment, then slowly shook her head. “David and I have spent hours trying to figure out who would have posted bail for me. I can’t believe it was you all along. Thank you.”

“It’s the least I could do,” he told her. “Even just working here for half a year, I’ve been able to see everything that you do for your employees. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to help you out a bit. Sorry it caused so much trouble—maybe I should have just come clean then, but I still had my hopes that I’d be able to win Jenny over with my personality instead of my bank account.” He sighed. “I guess the cat’s out of the bag now.”

“Not necessarily,” Moira said after a moment’s thought. “Beyond News isn’t exactly a huge station. Brendan himself said that they were ‘up and coming,’ and I get the feeling that this is the first really big story that he’s covered. There’s a good chance that Jenny won’t see his broadcast.”

“I hope you’re right,” he said.

The deli owner shook her head again, grinning. “I guess you didn’t really need that raise I gave you, huh?”

Moira promised Cameron that she wouldn’t mention his secret to Jenny, but she had made no such promises about telling anyone else. Candice and David were both floored at the news.

“I wish he had told us right off the bat,” David said. “It would have saved me a lot of fruitless work trying to find out who posted your bail.”

“I can understand why he didn’t want anyone to know,” Moira said. “I do think of him differently now, even though I try to act the same as ever towards him.”

“Still, it would have been nice to know.”

Moira had half-expected Cameron’s revelation to lead to more headway in the case. With one mystery solved, shouldn’t that make it all the easier to solve the other? But the days kept passing without more leads, at least, none that she or David could find. Neither of them had any idea what to police were doing, and when Moira called Detective Jefferson, he simply gave her the same tired answer as always. “I’m working on it, Moira. I’ll let you know when I have something new.”

At last, almost before she knew it, the evening before her wedding had arrived. Her belly felt full of butterflies as she stared at herself in the mirror. Tonight would be her last dinner with David before they were married. The next time they ate together would be at their reception, as husband and wife. The thought sent a thrill through her.

This is also going to be the last night I spend without him
, she thought.
Tomorrow night, we’ll be sharing a bed.
That sent a different kind of thrill through her, and she blushed.

Closing her eyes, she tried to calm her nerves. Tomorrow was going to be the happiest day of her life, but also, in a way, the most terrifying. This was a huge step that she was about to take. Tomorrow would be the first day of the rest of her life… but tonight would be a wonderful reminder of the past eighteen months.

They had arranged their last dinner together as an unmarried couple at the Redwood Grill—the site of their first real date, and many dates since. She was wearing one of her very favorite black dresses, a comfortable pair of flats, and simple makeup. Tomorrow she was going to be spending most of her time completely done up, and she was determined to take her comfort when she could.

“Don’t be nervous,” she whispered to herself. “It’s just a date like any other. You’ve got this.”

After the date, she wouldn’t see David again until she was walking down the aisle. Candice and Martha, her two maids of honor, were spending the night at her house tonight, and bright and early tomorrow morning they would begin the arduous project of getting her—and themselves—ready for the ceremony. Moira’s one comfort was that everything was out of her hands now. All of the arrangements for the wedding had been made, and most were supervised by people whom she trusted deeply. As long as nothing unforeseen came up, all she would have to worry about was not falling on her face while she was trying to match her step to the bridal march.

At the sound of tires on the gravel driveway she straightened up and gave each of the dogs a quick pet goodbye. “Maverick, Keeva, you two be good, all right? Candice should be here soon, and I’ll be back in a few hours.”

She left them inside and met David just outside her front door. He took her in his arms, then kissed her before uttering a word.

“Ready?” he asked.

She nodded, trying to quell the newest swarm of butterflies in her stomach.
Just another date
, she reminded herself.
“Let’s go.”

Their regular table was waiting for them at the Grill, but Denise had gone the extra mile and had dressed it up with candles and roses. Moira smiled at the sight. She really did have great friends.

“So,” he said, sitting down across from her. “How was your day?”

“Busy,” she admitted. “There were a lot of last-minute arrangements to make, but at least everything is done now. I’m glad I made a checklist. Whenever I worry that I forgot something, all I have to do is look at the list.”

“I wish you’d let me help more,” he said. “I feel bad that you’ve had to do so much by yourself.”

“You’ve been working on the case,” she pointed out. “That’s just as important. Being married to someone in prison wouldn’t be much fun.”

“That’s true, I suppose.” He gazed at her for a moment, then added, “You’re beautiful.”

“This is one of my favorite dresses for a reason,” she joked.

“I don’t mean just tonight,” he said, taking her hand. “I mean always. You’re the most beautiful, the strongest, the most good-hearted person I know. Every day I feel lucky that you agreed to spend the rest of your life with me.”

“That’s—” She cleared her throat. “Thank you. I don’t even know what to say. I’m the one that’s lucky. Before I met you, I hadn’t even thought about getting married again.”

As they spoke, her nerves melted away. What had she even been nervous about? This was David. Yes, tomorrow would change both of their lives forever, but in the end he was still the same man that she had spent the last year and a half falling deeper and deeper in love with.

“Any news about the case?” she asked an hour later as they were finishing up some of the best pecan pie she had ever tasted.

“Yes, but unfortunately nothing good,” he said. “I finally tracked down some information about Danehill. He couldn’t have killed Zander. He’s been in Canada since before the murder.”

“So we’re back to having no idea who did it?” she asked, disappointed.

“I’m sure something will turn up,” David told her. “Let’s not worry about all of that now. I don’t want it to distract from our wedding.”

“All right,” she agreed, trying to push her concern to the back of her mind. “I don’t want anything to distract from the wedding either. I want it to be perfect.”

When he drove her home that evening, his goodnight kiss lingered. She wanted the moment to last forever, but eventually he pulled away.

“See you tomorrow,” he said softly, grinning. “I love you.”

She could hardly contain her own smile as she let herself indoors. She knew that tomorrow would be a hectic, crazy, wonderful day, and afterwards they would have the murder charges against her still looming, but right now, in that moment, there wasn’t a single thing to worry about.

“Just breathe out, Moira. I can’t get it tight if you don’t. Quit hyperventilating.”

Focusing on her breathing, Moira consciously slowed it down and exhaled deeply. Martha took the opportunity to pull the laces tight and tie them off.

“What do you think?”

The deli owner turned to the full-length mirror and gazed at herself. Her hair and makeup hadn’t been done yet out of fear of smudging something while she got dressed, but even so, she looked transformed. The dress was just as beautiful as she remembered, and she couldn’t wait for David to see her in it.

“It’s perfect. Thank you, Martha. I can’t even imagine trying to put this thing on alone.”

“You’d have to be a contortionist,” her friend agreed.

“Mom, the hair lady is here,” Candice called from the doorway. Moira looked up in time to see the cosmetologist stride in. She winced. Freya was supposed to be great, but the deli owner had never enjoyed having others do her hair and makeup for her. The thought of sitting still for the next hour while someone poked and prodded at her wasn’t a tempting one, but there was no getting around it.

“Take a seat right over there,” the woman directed. “Are you sticking with the plan that we went over before? Hair down, semi-natural makeup?”

“Yes, if you can. Thank you.”

She took her seat and tried to relax as the woman pinned a protective sheer around her neck to protect her dress from the hair spray and makeup. This would be over soon enough, and then the wedding would begin.

Freya had nearly finished when a knock sounded at the door of the dressing area that the church had let them use. Martha frowned, checked her watch, then went to answer it. Moira, who had been forbidden to move her head, kept her eyes on the mirror in an effort to figure out who it was. She was surprised to see Jenny walk in. The young brunette looked nervous, but she had a certain determination to her face. It was the deli owner’s turn to frown. Had something gone wrong with the food for the reception?