Read Online Thai Coconut Murder: Book 6 in The Darling Deli Series by Patti Benning - Free Book Online

take much longer to Moira, probably because she didn’t fall asleep for any of it. As they got farther up north, the towns gradually got smaller and farther apart. The highway ended, and David began navigating smaller roads, some of which weren’t even paved. She was surprised that he knew the way so well—he didn’t even glance at a map. How many times has he been up here? she wondered. He never really talked about his past much, and she never pushed it. She knew firsthand what it was like to have periods in life that weren’t very fun to think back on. Thinking about the years she had wasted on her ex-husband was never pleasant, and she was grateful that David never asked her very much about that. She would extend the same courtesy towards him.
    “Is that the town the cabin is in?” she asked, nodding to a small, beat up sign that said North Lake—10 miles.
    “The cabin is a few miles north of town, but yes. We should be there in about twenty minutes.”
    She was relieved to hear that; her back was starting to cramp from sitting for so long and she was eager to get out, stretch, and walk around. Hopefully this trip wasn’t in vain, and they would manage to find helpful clues about Henry’s true fate somewhere in the cabin that he had spent so much time in.
    The town of North Lake was tiny, nothing like Maple Creek or Lake Marion which, while small, were relatively prosperous tourist towns. North Lake appeared to have only two stores: a bait shop that doubled as a convenience store, and a two-pump gas station, where David filled up before driving the last few miles to the cabin. Moira kept her eyes peeled for a motel, knowing that they would need to find one before driving back to Maple Creek the next day, but she didn’t see anything that looked promising. It looked like they would have find one on their way back.
    It was late afternoon by the time they finally pulled up the cabin’s long driveway. David parked the car and rolled the windows down. The only sounds were those that she had come to expect from Michigan’s forests: cicadas, birds, and the occasional angry chatter of a squirrel. She traded a glance with him, and was surprised to see that the private investigator looked uneasy.
    “What’s wrong?” she asked. “Are you worried that someone might be here?”
    “No. It’s just odd to be here without Henry. It looks like no one has been here in a while; the yard is overgrown, and it looks like the gutters are full. And look at the roof of the garage. A tree is leaning against it and causing damage. He was always careful to take good care of his things, so I doubt it would look like this if he had been here all winter like his granddaughter told us,” he said.
    “I’m glad Candice is out of her apartment and away from that toy shop, at least for a few days,” Moira replied, shivering. The thought of the shopkeeper murdering her grandfather was horrifying.
    “Let’s go in,” David said, grabbing his keys. “I want to check out the inside of the house.”
    Inside the small cabin it was dark and stuffy. A layer of dust covered everything and the curtains were drawn shut. It had the feel of a house that hadn’t been lived in for a very long time. A few dark pellets on the floor suggested mice, and the stack of wood next to the wood burning stove looked untouched. There was a pile of mail on the small kitchen table, and a stack of unread newspapers next to it.
    “If he hasn’t been here, who brought in the mail?” she asked.
    “One of his neighbors does it for him. I think she comes by once a week, brings it in, and checks the house to make sure there haven’t been any leaks or break-ins,” he said.
    “Should we ask her if she’s seen him at all in the past few months?”
    “We’ll do that next.” He looked around the small space. “I want to make sure there’s nothing helpful here, first.”
    He pulled open one of the curtains, letting the afternoon sunlight in, and Moira joined him