Free Tomato Basil Murder: Book 7 in The Darling Deli Series by Patti Benning Page A

water and gazed out across the lake. A few white sails were visible far out as boaters took advantage of the wonderful day. Moira took a deep breath. It was time to broach the real reason for her call to her daughter. “There’s something I wanted to talk to you about…” She was interrupted by the ringing of her cell phone. She dug it out of the beach bag and recognized the deli’s number. Hoping that nothing had gone wrong, she answered it.
    “Hey, Ms. D, I was wondering if you were still interested in hiring someone else?” came Meg’s energetic voice.
    “I would like to, yeah. I probably won’t advertise that we’re hiring until this whole issue with my ex-husband is solved, though,” Moira replied.
    “Well, one of my friends is actually looking for a job. She’s really nice, and is super responsible. I told her I would put in a good word with you.”
    “Sure, I’d be happy to give her an interview. Just tell her to bring in a résumé. Schedule her for one of the afternoons that I work this week… Maybe Wednesday?”
    Shaking her head, slightly annoyed at the interruption, but glad that she might finally be getting another employee to replace Candice at the store, she turned her attention back to her daughter.
    “Candice, I was wondering if I could ask you a few things… about Mike.” Her daughter was silent for a moment.
    “I guess,” she said at last, her tone guarded. “What do you want to know?”
    “Did he ever mention anyone around here that might have a reason to hurt him? You’ve heard a lot more about his life these last few years than I have,” Moira said.
    “I already thought of that, but no matter how hard I try to remember, I don’t think he ever mentioned having any enemies here,” her daughter told her. “I don’t know why anyone would want to hurt him, anyway. He charmed people. You’re like the only person he ever argued with.”
    “I know.” Moira sighed. Mike did have a way with words… and with women. That’s what had ended their marriage in the first place. Maybe he had wooed the wrong woman, and her husband had gotten revenge. “Do you know if he was seeing anyone while he was in town?”
    “I don’t know, Mom. Dad and I didn’t talk about his dating life. We mostly just talked about my plans for the candy store, and me taking a trip out to California sometime next year.” She fell silent, her gaze far away as she thought about the trip that would never happen now.
    Frustrated, Moira dug in the sand with her toes. She didn’t know what else to ask her daughter, and could sense that Candice was getting tired of talking about her father. Were there really no clues to be found about who may have killed him? An idea suddenly sprang into her head. She had saved the footage of the man wearing the watch that looked like Mike’s. He had looked to be around her daughter’s age, so maybe Candice would recognize him from school or around town. Digging in the beach bag, she found her phone and brought up the app that linked to the security camera.
    “Watch this and tell me if you recognize anything about the guy,” she said, handing the phone to her daughter. Candice watched the video, then played it a second time, leaning closer to the device and shielding the screen from the sun with her other hand.
    “I wish I could see his face,” she said with an annoyed sigh as she handed the phone back to her mother. “I think I’ve seen him around, but it’s hard to tell. If he would just look up for a second, I could be certain.”
    “Doesn’t it seem almost like he’s avoiding the camera?” Moira asked, watching the video once again herself.
    “It does,” Candice agreed. “Why are you so interested in him? Do you think he had something to do with what happened to Dad?”
    “Well… maybe. He was wearing a nice gold watch like your father wore, and when David and I talked to Allison Byrd earlier today, she said that his watch was missing when you and she found