Salami Murder: Book 8 in The Darling Deli Series Read Online Free Page A

police, Moira made her way up the stairs that led to her daughter’s apartment. She took a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself. The sight of the dead man seemed to be burned into her eyelids. She couldn’t believe that she hadn’t noticed him as soon as she had walked into the kitchen. As soon as she had laid eyes on him, she had been unable to look anywhere else.
    Candice answered her mother’s knock at the door just as the wail of sirens started in the distance. The young woman’s happy, excited expression dropped as soon as she saw the look on Moira’s face.
    “What happened?” she asked.
    “One of the workers that you hired is dead,” the deli owner told her daughter, her voice shaking. “I think you need to come downstairs. The police will have questions for you.”
    Within minutes, the candy shop was full of people. Police officers and paramedics crowded into the building, and the intermittent flash of a camera eerily lit the back hallway as a crime scene photographer did his job. Moira glanced at the clock and realized that the candy shop’s grand opening was supposed to begin in only a few minutes. It looks like the only crowd in this store today will be one made up of law enforcement, she thought. The grand opening would have to wait until another day, when the candy store was no longer a crime scene.
    She was sitting at the counter, having already given her statement to the officer who had been the first on scene. Now she watched as Candice and David gave theirs. Was it murder? she found herself wondering. Or could it have been an accident? Maybe he slipped and hit his head on something. She closed her eyes, then snapped them open again as image of the dead man appeared in her mind’s eye.
    David’s gaze met hers from across the room, and she knew from the cloud of worry in them that he assumed the worst. Surely we would have heard a murder happening right under our noses, she thought, feeling the hairs on the back of her neck rise at the thought that the killer had been in the building with them while they were laughing and eating cake.
    “Matt was so nice,” Candice said sadly a few minutes later once she had given her statement to the police. “I feel terrible for his family. I met his daughter. She was so excited for the candy shop to open.”
    The three of them had been allowed to leave the crime scene, and were now sitting in David’s office while the forensics team finished combing through the candy shop. David had called and rescheduled his meeting with the client, for which Moira was grateful. If anyone could help her and Candice figure out what was going on, it was him.
    “Her life will never be the same,” she said, agreeing with her daughter. “I hope his family gets answers quickly.” She knew firsthand just how deeply this man’s death would affect his family—she and Candice had gone through the same thing not long ago. The three of them fell into a subdued silence.
    “Did they tell you how long it will be before the candy shop can reopen?” David asked after a moment.
    “The detective said the day after tomorrow. But…” Candice paused for a moment, looking uncomfortable. “Well, I’m not sure I want to open the candy shop right away, not after this. It feels wrong somehow.”
    “I understand,” Moira said gently, patting her daughter’s hand. “I don’t think it would be right to have your grand opening right away either. Give the family some time to grieve, first, at least.”
    “You don’t think I’ll lose too much business?” Candice asked anxiously. “I don’t want to wait too long, either. Summer is almost over, and I’ve hardly even gotten my name out there yet.”
    “I think it will be much better for business in the long run if you wait,” David said, chiming in. “I think the people of this town will be much more impressed by your respect for Matt than if you rushed the grand opening.”
    Candice nodded, and Moira was glad that the