Cold Cut Murder: Book Three in The Darling Deli Series by Patti Benning

red-handed.

CHAPTER TWELVE
    “I’ll have the Tuscan bean chili, and also this smoked cheddar and half a pound of the honey turkey breast.” The woman placed a wedge of cheddar on the counter and gazed at the drink fridge. “Oh, and a bottle of that raspberry sparkling water if that’s all right. The soup’s for here.”
    “Okay, your order will be ready in just a moment. Dante here will ring you up, and I’ll go get your soup. Are you sure you don’t want a sandwich with that?”
    “Oh, I’d better not.” The customer chuckled. “I’m watching my weight. The soup’s a treat for me; it was a long day at work.”
    Moira ducked into the back to ladle some of the chili into a bowl. The scent of the rich vegetarian chili made her stomach grumble. It was well past lunch, and she still hadn’t had a chance to eat. After this customer, she would have to leave Dante and Darrin to manage things while she took a break.
    “Here you go,” she said when she got back out to the register. “Enjoy, and have a nice afternoon.”
    “Thanks.” The woman took the soup with a grateful smile and headed over to one of the corner tables to enjoy her food.
    “I’m going to grab lunch really quickly,” she told her two employees. “Do you think you two can handle things for a bit?”
    “Sure, Ms. D,” Darrin said. “We’ll come find you if we need help. I think it’s starting to slow down a bit, anyway.”
    She settled herself down on a stool in the kitchen with a bowl of chili in front of her. The first spoonful was amazing: the fresh tomatoes were cooked to perfection and burst with flavor in her mouth, and the basil and oregano gave the unique soup some familiar flavors. She sprinkled extra parmesan cheese on top; the cheese was freshly grated and came from a local cheese maker that she knew personally. With some sparkling water to wash it down, it was the perfect meal.
    When she got back out to the front, the line of customers had dwindled to just a few of her regulars, and Darrin was changing a light bulb in one of the refrigerated display cases while Dante rang someone up. As she watched her employees work, she began to realize that they were more than capable of handling the daily goings on at the deli. She really didn’t need to be there as much as she was, and she was certain that the two young men and her daughter would appreciate the extra hours. Maybe she could start working one or two fewer days each week—once the Winter Festival was over, of course. That would leave her time to focus on other aspects of her life. Maybe she could get a hobby, or join some sort of local club.
    The rest of the day passed slowly until five o’clock, when most people left work and the dinner rush. Moira spent most of the time tending to some necessary minor maintenance, spackling over old nail holes in the wall and cleaning the glass in the display cases. She kept checking her phone for any news from David, but he didn’t call. She hoped that he was all right; if he still hadn’t contacted her by the time they closed the deli, she would call him.
    Once the dinner rush began, she returned to her chosen job of fetching people’s orders; she preferred ladling soup and making sandwiches to hearing people talk about the food critic’s death, which was still the talk of the town. It didn’t help that there were more tourists than ever; as the Winter Festival progressed, more and more shops put up beautiful light displays and had special sales for charity. There was an ice carving contest in the park and sledding races on the hill by the high school. She secretly thought that some of the tourists in her deli hadn’t come for the festival at all; they just wanted to stop by and speculate about the murder.
    “Hey, you,” a male voice said, distracting her from the mental math she was doing as she counted the customers and estimated how much soup they had left. They were running low on cheese too; she would have to order another