Free Curried Lobster Murder: Book 14 in The Darling Deli Series by Patti Benning

you have immunity for the next round.”
    He cleared his throat and looked at the other contestants. “There is an unexpected issue this round. Daphne, the winner of the last challenge, is dropping out of the competition due to a severe and unexpected illness. Since Nadine scored lowest of the contestants that actually competed this round, she would normally be disqualified, but we really can’t lose two more players this early in the competition without unbalancing it, so Nadine… you got lucky. You’re in it for another challenge, maybe even longer if you can come back from this.”
    “Thank you so much,” she gasped. “I won’t let you down again, I promise.”
    With that they were dismissed, with another day before their next challenge. Moira, still stunned by her victory, made her way back to her room and collapsed on her bed. She had done it. She had won one of the challenges. All of a sudden winning the whole competition didn’t seem so far-fetched. If she kept this up, there was no reason she couldn’t be the top chef in the Chef War.
    With no idea where her daughter was and no way to call her without a working cell phone, Moira couldn’t tell Candice the good news. She was itching to tell someone so she got on her tablet and opened her email. Who to tell first? If she did somehow manage to win, the prizes would affect everyone at the deli. On the other hand, it wouldn’t feel right to tell her employees about her victory before even telling the man that she loved.
    Decision made, she opened up a new email and was about to start typing when her tablet made a beeping noise and a pop-up informed her that a video call was incoming. She clicked the button to accept it, thinking it was David. She was surprised to see Martha and Denise peering into the camera instead.
    “My goodness, you guys,” she said. “It’s so good to see you.”
    “You too,” Martha said, pulling back a bit to straighten her hair. “I know it’s only been a few days, but it’s weird not having you around.”
    “Are you at the deli?” Moira asked, recognizing the window sign behind her friend.
    “We thought we’d stop in and see how things were going in your absence,” Denise told her. “But it felt odd to be here without you, so we thought… why not bring you here too?”
    “Hi, Ms. D,” Meg said, popping into view behind the deli owner’s two friends. “How are you doing? Everything is great here.”
    “That’s good to hear.” She smiled at her employee, surprised at the pang of homesickness at the sight of all of the familiar faces. Even though she was having a good time on the cruise, she missed Maple Creek terribly. “I actually just won one of the challenges.”
    “Awesome!” Meg exclaimed. “We knew you’d do well, but it’s still cool to hear. What did you make.”
    The deli owner grinned. “Lobster curry soup.”
    Denise chuckled. “I think that’s something only you could pull off, Moira. So tell me, do you like the cruise? I might try to take a few weeks off sometime this winter, and it’s been years since I’ve been on a cruise ship.”
    “I’m enjoying it,” Moira told her friend. “The food is good, the rooms are clean, everyone seems really nice so far… I’m not sure what more I could ask for.” Other than no more mysterious deaths, she thought, but she didn’t say anything to her friends. Telling David was one thing, but Martha, Denise, and Meg would just worry.
    “How’s Candice?” Martha asked. “She doesn’t have to do anything for the competition, right?”
    “Right. I think she’s enjoying herself. Who wouldn’t be?” she chuckled. “She gets to go on a free ten-day cruise in the Caribbean.”
    “How are the people you’re competing against?” her friend asked. “Are they nice?”
    “Yeah, they have been pretty nice. The first guy to get disqualified seemed pretty upset, but that’s understandable. I actually feel pretty bad for one of the other women. She got