Free Spicy Lasagna Murder: Book 13 in The Darling Deli Series by Patti Benning

walked past with Keeva at her side.
    I bet they’re glad it’s not hot out any more , she thought. It must be miserable for them to pull that cart in the middle of summer. Keeva looked over her shoulder, enthralled by the mules, and Moira chuckled.
    “We need to get you out of the house more often, don’t we?” she said. Though she spent a lot of time with both dogs together, she didn’t spend nearly enough with them one on one. She had decided to bring Keeva along to the farmer’s market with her today, and was proud to see how well the dog was doing. She knew they were attracting a lot of attention; not many people were used to seeing a dog the size of a small pony.
    “Can I pet him?” a little girl asked.
    “She’s a girl, and her name is Keeva,” Moira said. She glanced at the girl’s mother, who nodded. “Yes, you can. She’s very gentle, even though she’s so big.”
    She asked Keeva to sit, which the dog happily did. She was still a good head taller than the little girl, who was grinning from ear to ear as she patted the big grey Irish wolfhound’s chest.
    “She’s so pretty,” the girl said. “Thank you!”
    Moira smiled as she watched the mother and daughter walk away. She was glad that her dogs brought joy to people. Every smile made her heart lighter.
    “Moira?” a familiar voice called out. The deli owner turned to see David’s sister, Karissa, waving at her from a stand that sold local honey.
    “It’s great running into you here,” she said, walking over to the other woman. Keeva tugged at the leash in her hand, eager to greet Karissa. Both dogs seemed to like her quite a bit, and she returned the sentiment.
    “Aww, hi sweetie. How are you doing?” she said, crouching down to be on Keeva’s level.
    “Both she and Maverick are doing well. They’re a bit obsessed with the new additions, though. I’m guessing David told you about the puppies?”
    “Oh, yeah, he thinks they’re the cutest things. I think he sort of wants one, but doesn’t know how raising it would go with his work schedule.”
    “I’d love it if he took one. It would almost be like keeping one myself, but without all of the hard work. He also mentioned that you might be interested in one.”
    “Well I’d at least like to come and see them sometime,” the other woman said. “A puppy is a lot of hard work, and I’m not sure if I’m settled enough to be ready for that. Although I just might change my mind when I get a chance to hold them.”
    The deli owner chuckled. “All right. When do you want to come over? I’ve actually got this afternoon off, as well as tomorrow evening.”
    “I can come over right after we’re done here,” said Karissa. “If that works for you.”
    “That’s fine.” She smiled. “Maverick will be thrilled.”
    She finished up her shopping as quickly as possible, buying only what she needed for dinner tomorrow. As she was paying for a package of freshly ground, grass-fed beef, she saw a familiar tall form a few stalls away. It was Zander Marsh, and he was talking to the honey seller.
    Moira finished paying for the meat as quickly as possible, then took her package and sidled around the stall and hopefully out of sight. She still wasn’t comfortable around Zander, and didn’t want to deal with yet another long, drawn-out conversation with him. If she weren’t suspicious that he was a murderer, she might have said hi, but as things stood, she didn’t want to risk drawing his attention to her even more.
    She found Karissa a few minutes later and told her she was done shopping.
    “We can go now, if you’d like,” she said. “You can just follow me if it’s easier.”
    Half an hour later, the two women were at her house. Moira put the groceries away while David’s sister sat next to the kiddie pool with the puppies.
    “Oh my goodness, how can anything be so cute?” the other woman exclaimed. “I just love them. I could never choose which one to take. Moira, how can you