Candy Slain Murder by Maddie Day

Author:Maddie Day [Day, Maddie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2020-07-20T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Danna was still frowning two hours later. Only a few of the tables were occupied. I’d taken a quick pit stop and then munched a grilled sandwich with a discarded broken fried egg I’d topped with cheddar.

“Danna, why don’t you take your break?”

“I will.” She threw her apron in the box and headed for the office corner, already thumbing her phone.

I slid on a clean apron and watched her go. I sidled up to Turner, who had come back from delivering an order. I kept my voice low. “Did she talk to you about what’s bugging her?”

“She did not.” Now he was frowning, too. “We have to find out, Robbie.”

“Agreed.”

He headed off to take money from a customer. I dished up the last two breakfast orders and dinged the bell. The ham stock was simmering by now, so I measured out enough dried split peas for the pot and dumped them in. We’d add the fresh frozen peas at the last minute. Danna started back from the corner but paused, frowning at her phone. She caught sight of me as I waved at her and walked slowly toward the kitchen area.

“Split peas are in,” I told her.

“Okay.”

“I want you to tell me what’s going on.” I kept my voice calm and encouraging. I hoped. “It looked like Josie told you something that made you unhappy.”

Danna took a deep breath, giving one nod as she let it out.

Okay, I could pull teeth with the best of them. “What did you learn?”

She turned away, but I touched her arm.

“Danna, tell me. Was it something about your mom? About the murder? About Marcus? Come on, girl, dish.”

She faced me again, eyes flashing. “All right, I’ll tell you. My own grandma—Marcus’s grandmother, too, mind you—said he’s had serious anger management problems. That he was accused of assault as a minor. I don’t believe it. Not. A. Word.” She punctuated the last three words with vehemence I rarely heard from her.

Assault? That didn’t sound good, but the story corroborated what Phil had told me. What kind of assault? I wondered how Josie had found out, but then again, she was an expert in all things digital. She’d apparently done the digging I’d been meaning to and hadn’t gotten around to.

“She said he had to go to some group to learn how to deal with his temper.”

“Did she mean a therapy group?” I asked. From what I’d seen, he could use something like that.

“I guess. Court-mandated. Robbie, the worst part is I think Josie doesn’t trust him. Or maybe doesn’t even believe he’s my brother. I mean, what’s up with that? Even Mom recognized him!” She shook her head, hard.

Turner brought a load of dishes. Danna turned to the stove, grabbing a long-handled wooden spoon, and stirred the soup. Turner tilted his head toward her. I raised a finger in a wait gesture.

I thought about the right thing to say. “Dan, you know Josie loves you. She’s looking out for you. I’m sure everything’s fine.

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