Read Online Salami Murder: Book 8 in The Darling Deli Series by Patti Benning - Free Book Online Page A

thought I’d stop in and say hi.” He looked around the flooded room. “What on earth happened here?”
    “Someone cut through one of the copper pipes,” she said. “We have no idea who, but as you can see, it flooded the whole room.”
    “Wow. Yeah. What did you do to make someone so mad?”
    “Nothing.” Candice gave a frustrated sigh, leaning on the mop. “All of this bad stuff keeps happening for no reason. It’s like someone really doesn’t want this candy shop to open.”
    “Do the police know about this?” he asked, concerned.
    “Well, they know about Matt, obviously. And my brakes. I haven’t reported this yet, though.” She glanced up at her mother, and Moira guessed she was wondering if she had told David yet. She gave a small shake of her head.
    “You should report it as soon as possible,” Eli told her. “If someone is really trying to stop you from opening the candy shop, there’s no telling how far they might go.” He looked at the broken pipe with worry. “I wish I had stayed longer after lunch. We might have caught the person who did this.”
    Moira looked at him sharply. He had been here earlier? If he and Candice had eaten lunch in her apartment upstairs, he could have made an excuse to leave at any time and simply walked in to the candy shop on his way out and cut the pipes. Candice likely wouldn’t have noticed it for hours. The candy shop was bound to take business away from Eli’s ice cream parlor. Would he really be foolish enough to return to the scene of his crime, though? And if he didn’t want the candy shop to open, why had he been so welcoming and helpful to Candice?
    “Did you check the security cameras?” she asked. The question was directed towards Candice, but she kept her eyes on Eli.
    “Not yet. I haven’t had a chance.”
    “Let’s do it now,” Moira said. “If whoever did it did get caught on film, every second we wait is a second he—or she—has to get farther away.”
    She hadn’t brought her tablet, so the three of them, Eli included, crowded around Candice’s phone. She brought up the security footage and played around with it until she found the right time. A hooded figure walked through the camera’s view field and disappeared, reappearing a few minutes later. The figure walked out of the building as casually as if he or she lived there, without a trace of hesitancy or guilt.
    Just like last time, no matter how much they messed with the footage it was impossible to see the person’s face, or even tell the gender. Moira was pretty sure that it was the same person as the one that had been caught on film during Matt’s murder, but it was impossible to be certain without any identifiable features.
    “I guess I’ll show this to the police,” Candice said dubiously. “I doubt they’ll be able to get anything from it, though.”
    Moira didn’t like the defeated tone in her daughter’s voice. What happened to the plucky, optimistic girl of just a few days ago? She found herself hoping that whoever was responsible for this was caught, and soon.
    “Well the new pipe is installed,” the plumber said, startling her. “I’ll take a look at the fridge now, if you want.”
    Candice nodded. “Sure, if you would. Thank you.”
    Moira watched Eli and Candice replay the video once again and kept her eyes on the young man’s face, looking for any hint of guilt. Nothing. He looked concerned and interested, and kept glancing over at Candice with a tender expression on his face. Moira sighed. It wasn’t fair to suspect him when he had done nothing but help her daughter.
    “What’s this?” came an angry voice. The plumber was standing by the open freezer, a plastic bag clutched in his hand.
    “What’s what?” Candice asked, looking puzzled.
    “Why do you have a bag of jewelry in your freezer, missy? This looks like my grandmother’s ring—which went missing a week ago.”
    Candice blinked, confused. Moira stepped forward, uncomfortable with how