Wrapped in Murder (The Darling Deli Series Book 19)

by Patti Benning

  “You killed someone just for breaking into the brewery! I thought maybe you had to defend yourself, but no. From the sound of it, you decided to just end it completely and make things easier for yourself.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Bill Snethkamp,” Moira said. “Do I really have to spell it out? I know you killed him. I should have told David when I first saw that blood on your sweater, but I thought I was protecting him.”

  “You’re insane. What blood on my sweater? I didn’t kill anyone. And if I did, do you really think I’d be stupid enough to talk about it on the phone right behind the building where it happened?”

  “Karissa, two weeks ago I wouldn’t have thought that you would have killed someone. I don’t know what to think about you anymore.”

  “This is crazy.” The other woman pulled her fingers through her hair and sighed. “Look, Moira, I didn’t kill anyone. The person you heard me talking about on the phone, that was the guy I was seeing, okay? I dumped him because he kept bugging me about the recipes for our draft beer. He even went through my phone when I ducked into the bathroom during dinner. After I told him it was over, he sent me a bunch of messages telling me how sorry he was, and that he wanted another chance. I blocked his number. I felt bad doing it because he really was a nice guy most of the time, I just didn’t feel right knowing how interested he was in how we make our beer.”

  Moira opened and shut her mouth, working through what her sister-in-law had said. It seemed to make sense, but it was possible that the other woman was just a good liar.

  “What about the blood on your shirt the day of the murder?” she asked.

  “That wasn’t blood,” Karissa said with a snort. “It was a cream-colored sweater, right? I got some nail polish on it the last time I wore it. I didn’t realize it until after I took it off that evening. If you want to see, I’ve got it in my car right now. I was going to drop it off at the dry cleaner’s this morning, but I didn’t have time.”

  “Karissa, I —”

  “No, just leave me alone, Moira. It’s obvious that you don’t trust me. We may be related through marriage, but that doesn’t mean I have to keep being friends with someone who could believe I would do something as terrible as murder.”

  With that, David’s sister brushed past her and disappeared around the building, leaving Moira to stare after her in stunned silence.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  * * *

  The deli owner followed her slowly, in no hurry to catch up. She was mortified — beyond mortified, really. How could she ever get Karissa to forgive her? How could she explain to David what had happened?

  She deleted the video from her phone, and determined to do what she could to make it up to the other woman. She tried to imagine how she would feel in her sister-in-law’s place. Attacked, surely. Probably betrayed. The two of them might not have been the very best of friends, but they had grown close over the past year.

  I really messed up, she thought. I hope I can figure out how to fix all of this. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life walking on eggshells around her. Maybe David would be able to help her repair her relationship with his sister.

  “Hey, Mr. Anderson,” she said, catching sight of the farmer. She jogged to catch up to him. “Have you seen Karissa — David’s sister — come by?”

  “No,” he said with a frown. “But I did see a young farmhand I was certain was in jail.”

  “Jimmy’s here?” she said. “Shoot. I’ve got to go tell David.”

  She hurried through the doors to the brewery and looked around inside for her husband. She found him quickly, standing by the drink table and talking animatedly to an elderly gentleman.

  “Pardon me,” she said, pushing through the crowd. She had almost reached her husband when out of the corner of her eye, she saw David’s office door swing shut. She paused in her tracks. Could that have been Karissa? She desperately wanted to talk to the woman and try to apologize again for her accusations.

  She scanned the people in the room, looking for any sign of Jimmy, but she couldn’t see him. She was sure her husband would recognize him immediately if he showed up. He could manage a few minutes without her. Right now, her relationship with his sister was more important; Jimmy had been cleared of the crime, after all.

  “Karissa?” she said, knocking lightly on the office door. “Are you in there?”

  No answer. With a sigh, she put her hand on the knob and turned. She just wanted to apologize to the woman. She felt bad enough at it was, she couldn’t leave Karissa thinking that she thought she was a murderer.

  “Karissa, I — Oh.” She took half a step back “You’re not Karissa.”

  “Ms. Darling,” Jimmy said. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

  Moira shot a look behind her at the crowd of people enjoying the event, then stepped inside the room and shut the door. The last thing they needed was for someone to realize who Jimmy was. It would cause a panic, and someone might get hurt.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked.

  “Mr. Morris asked me to wait in here. He wanted to talk to me in private. I just came to say I was sorry. I know I shouldn’t have snuck in with my girlfriend, but you gotta believe that’s all I did. I didn’t kill that guy, and the police finally believe me.”

  “If you didn’t kill him, then why did you have the key that was missing from David’s key ring?” she asked. “And why did you lie about your alibi?”

  “I found the key, I swear. It was on the ground outside. I was going to return it to Mr. Morris, but I wanted to impress my girl first.”

  “And your alibi?” Moira said. “Why would someone innocent lie about that?”

  “I didn’t,” he said, looking confused. “The police must have been mistaken or maybe Mr. Anderson got mixed up. I was on an errand for him early that morning, picking up some medicine for one of the sick cows. I didn’t get back until after Mr. Morris got to the brewery. There’s no way I could have made it back from the vet in time to attack anyone.”

  “I’m sorry if you got arrested for something you didn’t do, Jimmy,” she said. “Look, your story was good enough for the police, so I guess it’s good enough for me. I believe you, okay?”

  “Thanks. I know I did some dumb stuff, but I’m really not a killer.”

  I do believe him, Moira thought. I just can’t see him whacking a guy on the head and then hiding his body. She felt bad that the young man had spent a few nights in jail if he was innocent, but at least she hadn’t had anything to do with that. Karissa, on the other hand, that was all her fault.

  “You keep waiting for my husband,” she told him. “He won’t be too long. Help yourself to some water from the fridge if you want. I’ve got to go and find someone else.”

  She left David’s office and scanned the crowd for his sister once again. She didn’t see the tall, dark-haired woman anywhere. Maybe she’s sitting in her car, she thought. I know that’s where I go when I need a few minutes to collect myself.

  She went back outside and made a beeline for Karissa’s car. She remembered parking the truck next to it when she got there that morning. The car was still there, but she saw with disappointment that there was no sign of her sister-in-law.

  “Karissa, where are you?” she muttered. “I know you’re mad at me, but I’m trying to fix it.”

  She glanced over at her refrigerated truck, then did a double-take. The back doors were open. She was sure she had locked them, but she must have somehow forgotten in the hectic rush of unloading that morning. With a sigh, she walked around to the back of the truck.

  Such a waste of energy, she thought, shaking her head. She had left the cooling unit on to keep the extra box of soda bottles cold in case they ran out inside the brewery. The truck had been trying futilely to cool the outdoors for the past few hours.

  Just as she was reaching for the truck’s doors, she felt a strong shove between her shoulder blades and stumbled forward. The ed
ge of the truck cut into her shins painfully, and she collapsed forward into the cargo space. A second later, she heard two slams as the doors shut behind her, and then she was in complete darkness.

  “Hello?” she called, rubbing her shins. She was hardly able to think over the pain. “Who did that?”

  She felt her way to the doors and struggled to push them open, but they wouldn’t budge. She realized with a sinking sensation that whoever had pushed her into the truck, must have slammed the exterior bolts shut when they closed the doors. She was trapped.

  “Can anyone hear me?” she shouted, pounding on the doors. “Help, I can’t get out! Help me!”

  With a jolt, the truck began to move.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  * * *

  Rubbing her hands together for warmth, Moira huddled as far away from the refrigeration unit as she could get. Her skin had goosebumps, and she was shivering. Thank goodness she had worn a long-sleeved shirt, but her jacket was in the cab. She had tried pounding on the wall that separated her from the driver, but to no avail. Her knuckles hurt from hitting the metal walls, and her voice was sore from shouting. It was terribly dark in there, although even if there was light, there wouldn’t have been much to see. She knew this truck inside and out, and there was nothing in it that could save her.

  At least I have pop, she thought, somewhat hysterically. I won’t die of thirst. She had her phone with her, but the thick, insulated metal walls of the truck blocked the signal completely. She didn’t dare use the device for light, in case it died by the time her kidnapper opened the doors. That would be just her luck — to have a cell phone, but to die a horrible death anyway just because she had used all its battery before calling for help.

  “I’m such an idiot,” she said aloud, more to hear her own voice than anything. “How in the world did I manage to get myself locked in my own delivery truck?”

  The truck turned suddenly, making her tense in an effort to keep her balance. She felt it slowing, and wondered if they had come to a stop sign… or if they had finally reached their destination.

  The thought of meeting her kidnapper wasn’t a pleasant one. She would almost prefer that the truck kept driving. She had no idea what she was going to see when those doors opened. Would whoever it was kill her outright? Were they looking for a ransom? She would happily give them whatever amount of money that they wanted if they would just let her go. She had so much left that she wanted to do, so much that she wanted to say to David, and to Candice, so many walks left to take with the dogs. The thought of never stroking Maverick’s soft fur again brought tears to her eyes. She had such a wonderful life. How had she let it pass by her so quickly, without taking the time to enjoy it?

  The engine shut off, which made her heart start pounding. This was it. They had reached wherever they were going. Moira stood up shakily, not wanting to confront the person who had kidnapped her.

  She waited in silence for what felt like an eternity before one of the rear doors was yanked open. After the darkness, the light outside was so intense that it took her a moment to be able to see anything but a shadowy outline. When her eyes finally adjusted and she saw who it was, she gasped.

  “Mr. Anderson?”

  The farmer looked at her emotionlessly, as if considering a cow he was about to slaughter. “I’m sorry it came to this, Ms. Darling. I had hoped to avoid any more deaths, but you have a tendency to snoop, and I couldn’t risk it.”

  “I don’t understand. Are you the one that pushed me into the truck? Why?”

  “Bad timing on your part,” he said. “I was just going to fiddle without your cooling unit so it would break down in the next few days. You chose the wrong minute to take a walk.”

  “Why would you care about the cooling unit?”

  He shook his head. “Enough chit chat. Come on out of there.”

  “No,” she said. “Why would I? You’re just going to try to hurt me, aren’t you?”

  “Don’t make me come in there and get you. This can be quick and painless, or slow. Your choice, but if you make me come and get you, you’re going to lose that choice.”

  “You’re crazy,” she said, backing further into the truck. “Are you the one who did it? You killed Bill Snethkamp?”

  He nodded.

  “Why?”

  “I was trying to convince your husband to sell the equipment back to me,” he said. “I took the key off his key ring when I stopped in to meet with him and the contractors. At first I was just going to spoil the vats of beer. I thought it might put him out of business, if people started getting sick from his product. But that idiot Snethkamp had the same idea at the same time, or so it seems. He broke in just minutes after I let myself in. He caught me in the middle of the brewery floor with rat poison in my hand. There was no way I could let him go blabbing something like that.”

  “So, you killed him,” Moira said, fear coiling in her stomach. This man had already committed one murder. She had no reason to think he wouldn’t commit another.

  “It turned out okay. I think David was almost to the point where he would take my offer to back out of the lease and buy the equipment back. Between Snethkamp’s death and the fire, he wasn’t doing too good.”

  “Did you have something to do with the fire, too?”

  “Yeah, I might as well admit to that, too. It’s not like you’re going to tell anyone. I thought he might agree to sell if he had to deal with losing the deli on top of everything else. Of course, that didn’t turn out like I planned it to thanks to that stupid good Samaritan who saw the whole thing.”

  “I don’t understand. Why did you want the brewery so badly? Why did you agree to lease it if you wanted to run it yourself?”

  “When I agreed to our deal, I didn’t know how profitable it would turn out to be. I wanted it back. It wasn’t until I saw Jimmy today that I realized how badly things had turned out. I thought denying his alibi would be a sure way to get him convicted.”

  He put one foot up on the truck and prepared to hoist himself in. Moira backed up as far as she could, until she felt solid wall behind her.

  “Y-you still haven’t told me about the cooling unit,” she said, feeling it pressing into her back. “Why did you want to mess with it?”

  “Figured if you got sued for serving spoiled food, David might need the extra cash and he might reconsider selling the equipment back — along with the brand name, of course,” the man said. “None of that matters now. After he finds you dead, with a suicide note explaining all the terrible things you’ve done to try to sabotage the brewery and the deli, he’s going to be so upset that he’ll probably give me everything for free.”

  With that, he reached for her. Moira jerked back, but only succeeded in mashing her elbow against the interior of the truck. He grabbed her by the wrist and yanked her forward, pulling her down and out of the truck with enough force that she stumbled and landed on her knees. She looked around, not too dazed to take in her surroundings. They were in an empty parking lot, behind one of the boarded-up old shops along the state highway. There was no way David would ever get out here in time, even if she did manage to call him.

  “He’s never going to believe a note like that,” she gasped. “David knows I love him, and I love the deli. I would never try to sabotage either of them, and I definitely wouldn’t kill myself. I would never leave my daughter alone like that.”

  “You’d be surprised what people will believe of someone when they’re dead,” he said, pulling her up. “Now, come on. Chin up. I know what I said I’d do if I had to pull you out of there, but I’ve decided I’ll be nice anyway. It’ll be so quick, you won’t even know what happened.”

  “Let go!” she kicked at him with real panic, but he dodged her blow easily.

  “I spent a lifetime getting kicked at by cows,” he said with a chuckle. “You’re going to have to do better than that.”

  He twisted her arm behind her and steered her toward the driver’s side door of the truck, whi
ch he opened with a yank. She nearly fell again as he pushed her inside. For a heart-stopping moment, she thought that he might have left the keys in the ignition, but it took only a glance to show her that they were nowhere to be found.

  “Pick your feet up,” he said. She obeyed. He pulled a shotgun out from under her seat, the same one he had taken into the brewery when he helped her look for Jimmy. “Picked this up before I pulled off the property,” he said. “Good thing I left it by the chicken coop last night. Darned raccoons.”

  “Please,” she said, ashamed at the quiver in her voice. Begging wasn’t like her, but she had no other options. “Just let me go. I have a daughter. She’ll never get over this… and David, I don’t know how he’ll get through. Just let me drive away. Or leave me here — you take the truck. You can have it. I’ll convince David to sell you the brewery, I’ll —”

  “Oh, shut up,” he said, pulling the hammer back and aiming the gun at her. “Tilt your head up a little. I gotta make this look like a suicide.”

  She stared at him straight on, determined not to do anything to make this easier for him.

  “Women,” he growled. “Always making things difficult.”

  He took half a step toward her, and she saw his finger inch toward the trigger. She closed her eyes, not quite brave enough to look death in the face. Suddenly she heard the rev of an engine and the popping sound of tires on gravel, and, an instant later, a thump followed closely by a shout and a deafening bang. Broken glass sprinkled her face. Moira’s eyes snapped open.

  “Oh my goodness, Moira, did he shoot you?”

  She recognized the panicked voice immediately. It was Karissa. The other woman was struggling with her seatbelt, desperately trying to get out of her car.

  “I’m fine.” The words came out as a croak. Moira cleared her throat and tried again. “I’m fine.”

  She slid out of the truck and started toward her sister-in-law’s car. Karissa finally managed to undo her seatbelt and open her door, and ran toward her for a bear hug.