Read Online Murder Down Under (A Darcy Sweet Cozy Mystery Book 17) by K.J. Emrick - Free Book Online
Authors: K.J. Emrick
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you sure? I mean, I know we agreed to only eat at the Inn.”
His stomach growled, too, and that seemed to decide it for him. “We’ll only eat prepackaged foods or things we can watch being made in front of us. I don’t see the risk in that. We can eat quick, and then get back to investigating.”
“Are you sure? I know this isn’t what you wanted to do today.”
He took her hand, and they passed by the bookstore together. “Tasmania isn’t going anywhere, Sweet Baby. Besides, you heard Alec. The poisonings have stopped. We might just be too late for this mystery. So. I say let’s take a break and get you something to eat. Then we can talk to the crazy bookstore lady.”
As they passed the Eye of the Beholder, Darcy peeked in through the tall windows. Mabel was inside, wearing a dress even more colorful than the one from last night, dancing in slow circles between the book stacks.
They got to the deli or whatever it was a few minutes later. It was the same one Darcy remembered from the taxi ride. Painted white boards overlapped each other up the two story building to the edge of the slanting tiled roof. In the tall windows were the signs for tobacco and medicine and the one that read “Food Here.” A black sign above the door had the name of the place written in scripted letters. “The Morris Milkbar.”
“What’s a milkbar?” Darcy asked.
Jon shrugged. “Not really sure. I hope they sell more than milk and tobacco, though.”
The floors inside were wooden planks. Every step was a hollow thump, thump, thump. Somehow, the place managed to look smaller on the inside than it had on the outside. Maybe it was the tall coolers along the outside walls, stocked with cold drinks and juices and, yes, milk. There were wrapped sandwiches that Darcy saw in one cooler, and boxed meals in another. Rows of shelves took up space on one side, while this side closest to the door was an open space with three round tables and chairs waiting for customers to sit down.
A counter to the left of the door had a cash register and debit card machine next to a display of lottery tickets, and past that was a glass case full of wrapped hams and other meats and blocks of cheese. A working deli, stuffed into a convenience store. Wow, Darcy thought.
Behind the counter, a woman was bent over a meat slicer, working a side of beef into thin slices. She looked up at them with a final slice. “Be with you in a jiff.”
The woman’s slender figure was hidden behind a long green apron. She was probably in her thirties, Darcy judged, a little older than her and Jon, even though the lines of her face made her look older. Her blonde locks were pulled back neatly under a mesh hairnet. Taking off clear plastic gloves she smiled and powered down the slicer.
“I’d love a sandwich,” Darcy told her. “Do you make those here? Turkey and maybe some Swiss cheese?”
“Get that right quick for ya.” The woman’s smile broadened. “You’d be Americans then? Could tell by the accent.”
Darcy wanted to say she didn’t have an accent, but she knew on this side of the world she was the one who sounded different.
Jon asked for a sandwich too, and they added chips and drinks, and had their snack in just a few minutes. Paying with colorful plastic notes, they thanked the woman in the green apron and took seats at one of the tables to eat.
After a few moments, she called over to them. “Everything super?”
“It’s very good,” Darcy told her.
“You two are tinny. You’re here before the lunch rush. Come eleven-thirty got my hands full. This place used to belong to my parents. They’ve passed on now, and here I am. Oh, sorry. You trying to eat and me talking your ears off. Name’s Cathy. Glad to have you here in Lakeshore with us.”
Jon looked at Darcy, chewed his bite of sandwich, and swallowed it back with a drink from his bottle of
His stomach growled, too, and that seemed to decide it for him. “We’ll only eat prepackaged foods or things we can watch being made in front of us. I don’t see the risk in that. We can eat quick, and then get back to investigating.”
“Are you sure? I know this isn’t what you wanted to do today.”
He took her hand, and they passed by the bookstore together. “Tasmania isn’t going anywhere, Sweet Baby. Besides, you heard Alec. The poisonings have stopped. We might just be too late for this mystery. So. I say let’s take a break and get you something to eat. Then we can talk to the crazy bookstore lady.”
As they passed the Eye of the Beholder, Darcy peeked in through the tall windows. Mabel was inside, wearing a dress even more colorful than the one from last night, dancing in slow circles between the book stacks.
They got to the deli or whatever it was a few minutes later. It was the same one Darcy remembered from the taxi ride. Painted white boards overlapped each other up the two story building to the edge of the slanting tiled roof. In the tall windows were the signs for tobacco and medicine and the one that read “Food Here.” A black sign above the door had the name of the place written in scripted letters. “The Morris Milkbar.”
“What’s a milkbar?” Darcy asked.
Jon shrugged. “Not really sure. I hope they sell more than milk and tobacco, though.”
The floors inside were wooden planks. Every step was a hollow thump, thump, thump. Somehow, the place managed to look smaller on the inside than it had on the outside. Maybe it was the tall coolers along the outside walls, stocked with cold drinks and juices and, yes, milk. There were wrapped sandwiches that Darcy saw in one cooler, and boxed meals in another. Rows of shelves took up space on one side, while this side closest to the door was an open space with three round tables and chairs waiting for customers to sit down.
A counter to the left of the door had a cash register and debit card machine next to a display of lottery tickets, and past that was a glass case full of wrapped hams and other meats and blocks of cheese. A working deli, stuffed into a convenience store. Wow, Darcy thought.
Behind the counter, a woman was bent over a meat slicer, working a side of beef into thin slices. She looked up at them with a final slice. “Be with you in a jiff.”
The woman’s slender figure was hidden behind a long green apron. She was probably in her thirties, Darcy judged, a little older than her and Jon, even though the lines of her face made her look older. Her blonde locks were pulled back neatly under a mesh hairnet. Taking off clear plastic gloves she smiled and powered down the slicer.
“I’d love a sandwich,” Darcy told her. “Do you make those here? Turkey and maybe some Swiss cheese?”
“Get that right quick for ya.” The woman’s smile broadened. “You’d be Americans then? Could tell by the accent.”
Darcy wanted to say she didn’t have an accent, but she knew on this side of the world she was the one who sounded different.
Jon asked for a sandwich too, and they added chips and drinks, and had their snack in just a few minutes. Paying with colorful plastic notes, they thanked the woman in the green apron and took seats at one of the tables to eat.
After a few moments, she called over to them. “Everything super?”
“It’s very good,” Darcy told her.
“You two are tinny. You’re here before the lunch rush. Come eleven-thirty got my hands full. This place used to belong to my parents. They’ve passed on now, and here I am. Oh, sorry. You trying to eat and me talking your ears off. Name’s Cathy. Glad to have you here in Lakeshore with us.”
Jon looked at Darcy, chewed his bite of sandwich, and swallowed it back with a drink from his bottle of
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