Breakfast Pizza Murder Read online

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  BREAKFAST PIZZA MURDER

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  EPILOGUE

  Breakfast

  Pizza

  Murder

  Papa Pacelli’s Pizzeria Series

  Book Seventeen

  By

  Patti Benning

  Copyright 2017 Summer Prescott Books

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication nor any of the information herein may be quoted from, nor reproduced, in any form, including but not limited to: printing, scanning, photocopying or any other printed, digital, or audio formats, without prior express written consent of the copyright holder.

  **This book is a work of fiction. Any similarities to persons, living or dead, places of business, or situations past or present, is completely unintentional.

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  Breakfast Pizza

  MURDER

  Papa Pacelli’s Pizzeria Series

  Book Seventeen

  CHAPTER ONE

  * * *

  A suitcase lay open in the center of her bed. Inside it, a black and white papillon was napping. Eleanora Pacelli stared at the little dog, her arms full of folded clothes. She knew that she had to begin packing, but she didn’t want to wake Bunny. The dog looked so peaceful, and Ellie was already feeling guilty about leaving.

  Her last trip to Florida hadn’t gone so well. She hated to admit it, even to herself, but she was a little bit nervous about flying down there again. Last time she had left, it seemed as if disaster after disaster had followed her. However, there was no getting around this trip. She was opening another pizzeria in Miami, and she wanted to be there for the grand opening. She was flying down with her fiancé, her grandmother, and most of the employees from the Papa Pacelli’s restaurant in Kittiport, Maine.

  “Time to get up, sweetie,” she said. She saw the dog’s ears twitch. “Bunny, come on, I need you to move.”

  The dog raised her head, stretched, and hopped out of the suitcase. Ellie dropped the clothes in, smoothing her hand over them before returning to the closet for the next bunch. She knew that she tended to over pack, but she figured that she would want to have options while she was down there. She wanted to look nice for the grand opening, but also have more casual clothes if she got a chance to go to the beach and relax.

  As she reached for one of her favorite dresses, the diamond on her engagement ring caught the bedroom’s light and she smiled. The ring was a constant reminder of her upcoming wedding, and of her commitment to Kittiport’s sheriff, Russell Ward. She was glad that he was going with her this time. It would be nice to get away together. Almost like a mini vacation; something they hadn’t had a chance to do yet. His job kept him busy, but she didn’t mind. Managing a restaurant — soon to be two — kept her pretty busy herself.

  She finished packing her suitcase, leaving some of the last-minute items she would need such as her phone charger to go in her carry-on when she packed it just before they left that evening. After she zipped it up, she dragged it off the bed and opened the bedroom door, letting Bunny out ahead of her. She followed the dog down the stairs, her suitcase thumping on each step. She parked it beside the front door, and was surprised to see a second suitcase already there.

  Walking into the kitchen, she found her grandmother seated at her usual spot at the kitchen table near the window. “Nonna, are you already finished packing?”

  “I finished this morning,” the older woman said. “I’m all ready to go.”

  “You only want to bring one suitcase?”

  “That’s all I need. I won’t be needing any of my winter clothes, after all.”

  Ellie sat down at the table across from the older woman. “Well, yeah, but you’re going to be gone for six months. Don’t you want to bring some more of your things from here?”

  “Anything I need down there, I can just buy. Remember all the little shops we saw? I’m sure that they’ll have anything I might need.”

  “I just want you to be sure that you’re not leaving anything behind that you might miss,” she said to her grandmother. “I don’t want you to get homesick.”

  Her grandmother reached across the table to pat her hand. “I appreciate your worrying about me, dear, but I’ll be fine. I already have friends there, and you bought me that nice new computer so that we can talk on video.”

  “I know, but video chat isn’t the same as actually having you here. This has been your home for, well, decades. Aren’t you going to miss it?”

  “Of course, I’ll miss our home, and I’ll miss Kittiport, and most of all I’ll miss spending time with you, but Ellie… I’m ready for a change. It was one thing to live here with Arthur, but now that he’s gone, I’ve been feeling like I’m just waiting around until I go too. I’m ready to do something with my life other than wait for it to be over.”

  Ellie nodded. “I understand. You need this. It’s just, I’ll miss you too. I hope you know that.”

  “I know, sweetie. You’ve been so good to me. But you’ll be okay, won’t you? You have Russell and Shannon, and everyone at the pizzeria. You don’t need your grandmother hanging around all the time.”

  “I like having you around,” she said. “But I’m glad for you. You’re doing something that you want, and you’re going to have a lot of fun in Florida. I’ll miss you, but I’ll hold down the fort until you come back. Don’t worry about me. I just want to make sure you’re happy with all of this.”

  “I am,” Nonna assured her. “I’m looking forward to it. I may even have a tan when I come back.”

  Ellie smiled. At that moment, Bunny began barking. A second later, she heard a knock on the door.

  “That’s probably Shannon,” she said rising. “I better go let her in. I still have to go over all of the animals’ care with her.”

  Last time she had left Bunny and their greenwing macaw, Marlowe, with a pet sitter, and things hadn’t turned out very well. She had been grateful when her best friend and soon-to-be sister-in-law, Shannon Ward, had volunteered to stay at the Pacelli house and pet sit for her. She’d promised to repay her friend with as much f
ree babysitting as she wanted when Shannon had her baby. It would be good to know that the animals were at home in capable hands; it would take a lot of the worry from her mind. She would be able to focus completely on the upcoming grand opening.

  “Thanks so much for doing this,” Ellie said, not for the first time.

  “I’m happy to,” Shannon said. “James is going to be out of town tonight and most of tomorrow anyway, so if I wasn’t here I would just be sitting at home alone. This will be like a mini vacation for me.”

  “I stocked up on food for you. I bought some wine before I remembered that you probably can’t drink, but I also grabbed some of those sparkling juices that you like. There’s some cookie dough in the freezer, along with ice cream and chocolate sauce. I wrote the Internet password down and put it on the counter, next to the paper I wrote about the animals’ care. Don’t worry about trying to take Marlowe out of her cage. She might bite you, and I don’t want any of us to have to deal with that. Just give her some treats every now and then and talk to her. Bunny’s leash is by the door. I take her out without it, but I’m not sure if she’ll listen to you, so it’s probably better if you use the leash. Her food and water is self-explanatory. Really, there shouldn’t be much for you to do other than feed them, make sure they have fresh water, and let Bunny out a couple of times a day.”

  “I’m sure I can manage,” her friend said. “I’d hope that I can. This time next year, I’ll have a whole other human being to take care of.” She patted her abdomen protectively.

  “Compared to having a baby, this will be easy,” Ellie said, smiling. “I’ll miss you, and I wish you could have come with us, but I’m glad you’re here doing this. I’m so happy that I won’t have to worry about them while I’m gone.”

  “You just focus on the new pizzeria,” her friend said. “I’ll want to hear all about it when you get back. You’d better take pictures.”

  “I will,” she promised. “I have really high hopes for this. I don’t know whether I’m more excited or nervous.”

  “You don’t have anything to be nervous about,” Shannon said, grinning at her. “You’ve been so obsessed with this over the past couple of months, I know you haven’t missed anything. Besides, you’ll have Russell there. With him around, there’s nothing to worry about.”

  “I know. I’m so glad he’s coming.”

  She wondered if her friend was thinking about the last time that Ellie and Nonna had gone down to Florida. Her grandmother had been kidnapped by men involved in a murder, which had created a disaster of a vacation for Ellie.

  This trip should go a lot more smoothly than the last one, she thought. This time, they were only going to be gone for a handful of days. She would fly down to Florida, help Linda out with the pizzeria’s grand opening, and then return home. What could go wrong?

  CHAPTER TWO

  * * *

  “We’re almost there, Ellie,” Russell said. “How is everyone else doing?”

  “Iris and Rose are there already,” Ellie said. “They’re waiting for us in the parking lot.” She checked her phone. “Jacob is about five minutes behind us.”

  “Pete isn’t coming?” her fiancé asked.

  “No, he couldn’t get the time off from his classes. It will be just the six of us.”

  “I wish Shannon and James could have come,” he said. “My brother never gets away from work.”

  Ellie smiled. Russell didn’t take much time off either, but he never complained. She didn’t blame him; leaving the entire town in the hands of his deputies was very different from her leaving the pizzeria in the hands of her employees. If they didn’t do their jobs right, she might have some complaints when she got back. If his deputies messed up, people might die.

  He seemed less worried about leaving than she had expected, but she supposed that she shouldn’t have been surprised. Liam and Bethany were both very capable of handling anything routine that might happen while he was gone. Kittiport was usually a quiet enough town, especially now that tourist season was over and it was mostly just the locals in town.

  Of course, the small town had its moments. Ellie had seen some things in Kittiport that had chilled her to the bone. Russell was the backbone of the town, and she knew that he took the responsibility very seriously. She might have had some reservations about marrying a man who was already practically married to his job, but Russell had been pretty good about balancing his work life and their relationship. One day, he would retire, and then she would have him all to herself.

  “Nonna, are you awake?” she asked her grandmother, who was sitting in the back seat. The older woman had dozed on and off on their way to the Portland airport, and now she straightened up and looked around herself groggily.

  “Are we there?”

  “Almost. I saw a sign for the airport just a minute ago. Our flight leaves in a little under two hours. We should have plenty of time to check our luggage and get through security.”

  Russell turned on the blinker and pulled off the highway, following the signs for airport parking. Ellie recognized two of her employees standing in front of a car. Rose waved them over, and Russell took the spot next to her.

  “I’m so excited,” Rose said as they got out of the car. “Thanks so much, Ms. P.. This is going to be fun.”

  “I hope so,” Ellie said. “As soon as Jacob parks, we’ll head in. Do you have all of your luggage out of the car?”

  “We do,” Rose said. “Do we have to walk all the way to the airport with it?”

  “No, there are shuttles to ferry people to and from the parking lot.”

  At that moment, Jacob pulled into the lot. He waved out the window at them and took the next spot a few cars down. Ellie helped Nonna get her luggage out of the trunk and Russell waved down one of the shuttles. The driver helped them load all their luggage onto the vehicle and then they took their seats. Ellie grinned, feeling more excitement than worry now that they were finally on their way. Within just a few hours, they would be in Florida. The chilly weather of Maine would be nothing but a memory; even in late October, Florida would be balmy. She almost envied her grandmother, who would be staying down there all winter, though she couldn’t imagine going an entire year without seeing snow.

  They checked their luggage and made it through security without an issue. Ellie was relieved; she had been a little bit worried about her grandmother’s medications, but they didn’t pose a problem. The six of them took up one of the rows of seats at the gate, and while the younger three began to chat excitedly among themselves, Ellie turned to her grandmother.

  “How are you feeling? Do you want me to go grab you some food or a drink from one of the restaurants here?”

  “No, no, I’m fine,” the older woman said. “Well, maybe some water.”

  Ellie left Russell in charge of the bags while she got up to go and seek out some bottled water for her grandmother. While she was walking through the busy hallways, her phone rang. It was Linda. This would probably be her last chance to talk to the woman before they landed in Florida, so she answered it.

  “Hey,” the other woman said, sounding somewhat out of breath. “I just wanted to make sure you’re still planning on coming. I’ve been running around all day, making sure things are ready for your arrival. Are you sure you don’t need anyone to meet you at the airport?”

  “We’re renting two cars, so we should be able to manage,” Ellie said. “Thanks for the offer, though. It will be pretty late by the time we get to the hotel, but I’ll see you tomorrow. How is everything going?”

  “Good,” the woman said. “I can’t believe this is really happening. I know I’ve said it before, but thank you, Ellie. Thank you so much. This… this is going to change my life.”

  The pizzeria owner felt a warm glow inside of her. With all her worries about the business side of things, it had been easy to lose track of why she had decided to open the pizzeria in Florida in the first place. Linda was a good woman, and she had helped Ellie a lot t
he last time she was there. Giving her restaurant a second chance – even if it was under another name – was just one small way in which she could pay her back. She had to remind herself that even if the pizzeria didn’t end up being successful, giving Linda a chance was the right thing to do. Besides, she had high hopes for this restaurant. If Papa Pacelli’s could be famous in a small town like Kittiport, imagine just how successful it could be in a bustling city like Miami.

  “Thank you, Linda,” Ellie said. “You know that I’ve been thinking of opening a second pizzeria for a long time, but I was worried about finding someone I could trust to manage it. You’re that person. I’m looking forward to a long, happy business relationship with you. Besides, it will give me another great reason to visit Florida a couple of times a year. Not that I need one, I suppose, since my grandmother is moving down there.”

  “That’s right,” the other woman said. “How is she doing? Is she excited?”

  “She is,” Ellie said. “To be honest, she doesn’t seem at all sad about leaving. I’m the one who’s been fretting for the past few days. It’s going to be so strange not to have her around. I’m glad she’s doing this, though; I think she really needed it.”