Tomato Basil Murder: Book 7 in The Darling Deli Series by Patti Benning Page A

inside the building, she got into her car and leaned her temple against the warm glass of the driver’s side window. It looked as if she had once again found herself the prime suspect in a murder investigation.
    Even though she was exhausted and emotionally drained, she knew that she had to tell both David and Candice of the new turn that the investigation had taken. She checked the time—it was still early enough that chances were neither of them had eaten dinner yet. I’ll see if they’re free; it would be nice to talk to both of them at once, she thought.
    Half an hour later, laden with two boxes of pizza, breadsticks, and a salad, she knocked on the door to Candice’s apartment. Humming to herself as she waited, she fell silent when she heard raised voices coming from the soon-to-be candy shop below. What in the world…? She set the boxes of food down outside Candice’s door and made her way back down the stairs. The back door to the candy shop was unlocked and, hesitating for only a second, she let herself in.
    One of the voices she recognized immediately as Candice’s, but she didn’t recognize the other person’s until she made her way to the main room of the candy shop and found herself face to face with an enraged Adrian.
    Candice’s on-again, off-again boyfriend glared at her for a moment until he realized who she was. Immediately, his face relaxed slightly and a strained smile appeared on his lips.
    “Sorry, Ms. Darling. I didn’t realize you were here,” he said.
    “What exactly is going on?” She peered around him to make sure her daughter was okay. Candice’s face was red with anger, but her eyes were dry. She crossed her arms and stared at Adrian with pursed lips.
    “Candice and I were just, erm… discussing… the schedule for opening the candy shop. I think it would be best to have the grand opening before kids start going back to school in September,” he told her.
    “And I told you that I’m going to take as much time as I need to grieve for my father,” Candice snapped. Adrian raised his hands in evident surrender.
    “I was just trying to help,” he said.
    Moira stood next to her daughter as he said goodbye and left, trying to keep her own anger from showing on her face. Who was Adrian to pressure her daughter to do anything? The candy shop was Candice’s business, not his, and as far as Moira was concerned, he didn’t need to be involved with it at all.
    “Sorry, Mom,” the young woman said once her boyfriend was gone. “Adrian told me he wanted to talk, and I didn’t know it would take this long. I meant to meet you upstairs.”
    “It’s fine, sweetie. I don’t like the way he was talking to you, though,” she said, following her daughter out of the candy shop and up the stairs to her apartment. “He should respect your need for space and time. Losing a parent is hard.”
    “He’s just business minded,” Candice said with a shrug. “And he is right. It would be better to have our grand opening before school starts again in Lake Marion. Kids will be our main customers, and if we don’t open until fall or winter, we’ll lose out on a lot of business.”
    “I think you should do what feels right to you. ” Moira bent down to grab the pizzas, then straightened up and followed her daughter into the apartment. “Take care of yourself first. You won’t be able to run a business well if you’re distracted.”
    “I want to wait until they find whoever killed Dad,” Candice told her, flinching slightly as she said the words as if saying it made it more real. “But I know that could be months, or years, or even never.”
    Hearing her daughter talk about the murder case reminded Moira why she was there. How would Candice react when she heard that the main suspect the police had was herself? She hoped her daughter wouldn’t give up hope that the killer would be caught. Neither David nor I will rest until he’s behind bars , she thought, glad that the private