Thanksgiving Pizza Murder Read online

  “Trust me, I know how you feel. I love my parents, but I know that spending a week with them under my roof will take its toll. It can be hard to live with people when you’re used to being alone.”

  Ellie sipped her coffee, nodding slowly. She knew what he had said was true, and it raised a new concern. Once she and Russell were married and moved in together, how hard would it be for both of them to get used to living with another person?

  CHAPTER THREE

  * * *

  “What in the world are you doing down there?” Ellie said, her hands on her hips as she gazed down at the big red bird on the kitchen floor.

  Marlowe, her grandfather’s greenwing macaw, cocked her head to the side and looked up at her with one bright yellow eye. She began to waddle forward again, her claws clicking on the hard floor as her long tail swept side to side.

  Ellie knelt and offered her arm to the bird, who climbed up. “What am I going to do with you? The floor is no place for a bird.”

  Especially not for a bird with a beak that was strong enough to destroy the molding and the woodwork in mere minutes. If Ellie had wanted help deconstructing the house, Marlowe would have been perfect, but right now, she was trying to clean.

  “Let’s put you back in your cage for now,” she said. “There are still some mashed sweet potatoes in the fridge. Would you like some of those?”

  Once the bird was settled in her cage, happily smearing mashed sweet potatoes all over her beak, Ellie returned to the kitchen. She put her hands on her lower back and stretched. Now that she knew that Russell’s parents were coming over for Thanksgiving, she wanted to deep clean the house; something that she had been meaning to do ever since her grandmother had moved out. It was time to give the space a flare of her own. Not to mention, the last thing that she wanted was for her soon to be in-laws to find out that no one had cleaned behind the fridge in years.

  She had just gathered the resolve to try her hand at moving the large appliance when the landline rang. She usually let calls to the landline go to voicemail; it was her grandmother’s number, and anyone who wanted to contact Ellie would just call her cell phone. However, this time it was a welcome excuse to continue procrastinating.

  “Hello?” she said, picking up the ancient corded phone.

  “Hi, is this Ellie?”

  The voice was familiar, but she couldn’t quite place it. “Yes, who is this?”

  “It’s Darlene,” she said. “Is Nonna there?”

  “She’s in Florida,” Ellie said.

  “Still? I thought she was just visiting?”

  “No, she’s there until April.”

  “Shoot. Okay. Well, I’m about ten minutes away. I guess it will just be you and me there.”

  “What? You’re ten minutes away?”

  “Yeah. I know this is super short notice, but I need somewhere to go. I had a fight with my husband, and – well, Nonna always said I could come visit her whenever I wanted. I didn’t realize she was still out of town. I should have called earlier, but I left at about three in the morning, and have been driving ever since. I was too mad to think straight when I left.”

  “Well, I’ll make sure the guest bedroom is ready to go. We’ll talk more when you get here, okay?”

  “Okay. Thank you so much, Ellie. I’m so sorry to intrude. It didn’t even occur to me that Nonna was out of town.”

  Ellie put the phone back in its cradle and let out a deep sigh. She had never been thrilled with unexpected guests, but Darlene was her cousin. She couldn’t leave her family out in the cold. By the sound of it, the other woman was going through something important, and letting her crash in the guest bedroom was the least that she could do.

  By the time Darlene got there, Ellie had aired out the guest bedroom, plumped the pillows, and had dusted the surfaces. She opened the front door for her cousin, who had nothing but one small carry-on suitcase and her purse with her.

  “Come on and get yourself settled in the guest room. I’ll put some coffee on, and then we can talk.”

  A few minutes later, they were both seated in the kitchen. Darlene looked exhausted. She took small sips of her coffee, staring down at the table.

  “Okay, so do you want to tell me what happened?” Ellie said.

  “My husband was supposed to be on a business trip,” Darlene said. “But then I saw him coming out of a motel with another woman. We had a huge fight, and I left. That’s really it. I didn’t think very far ahead. I took what was most important to me, and just got out of there.”

  “I’m sorry,” Ellie said, feeling empathy for the other woman. She knew what it was like to discover that your significant other was having an affair. “You can stay for as long as you need to. Russell and his parents will be here for Thanksgiving. You are more than welcome to join us, of course.”

  “Thank you,” her cousin said with feeling. “I didn’t know where else to go. Like I said, I’m really sorry for showing up unannounced like this. I will stay out of your hair. Just let me know if there’s anything that you want me to help with.”

  “You should just get some rest right now. Maybe tomorrow you can help me with some of the cleaning. I need to move some furniture, and that will be easier with two people.”

  “Okay. Tomorrow, we’ll move furniture. Right now, I’m going to go take a nap.”

  After Darlene shut herself in the guest room, Ellie returned to her chores. She would wait until tomorrow to move the refrigerator, when Darlene would be able to help her, but she still wanted to scrub and wax the floors, clean the windows, and otherwise prepare the house for Thanksgiving. She wanted to make a good impression on her future in-laws.

  After a couple of hours, she decided that enough was enough. She had spent most of the day cleaning, and it was time to take a break. She took Marlowe out of her cage and retreated to the office, where Marlowe climbed happily onto her perch by the window. Ellie sat at the desk and opened her laptop. It was time to check in with Linda and the pizzeria down in Florida.

  Going through her friend and business partner’s emails, she felt envy stir inside her. Linda was having a lot of fun with the new pizzeria; that much was obvious. Ellie smiled at the photos that Linda had sent her of the pizzeria, and the busy dining room. She really would have enjoyed spending more time down there herself, but it just wasn’t possible, not right now at least. She had her own restaurant to run up here.

  “Maybe I should go down there over Christmas,” she muttered. She knew that her grandmother had been planning to fly up to Maine for the holiday, but it was tempting to take a mini vacation herself. If Russell could join her, it would give them a chance to relax and enjoy the sun together. Their last trip to Florida had been less of a vacation and more of a work trip.

  Depending on how long Darlene stayed with her, her cousin might even still be around to watch the animals. She felt guilty as soon as she had the thought. It would be selfish of her to ask Darlene to stay here and watch Bunny and Marlowe while she and Russell gallivanted off to Florida for Christmas. If her cousin was looking at a possible separation or even divorce from her husband, then the last thing that she would want would be to be alone over the holiday season.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  * * *

  Even though her presence had been unexpected, over the next week, Ellie found herself glad for Darlene’s company. It was nice to have someone to talk to again, and she was enjoying getting to know her cousin better. Darlene helped her finish deep cleaning the house, and helped her rearrange the furniture in the living room. Ellie went out and bought some new curtains, towels, bath mats, and tablecloths. She wanted to make the house feel just a little bit more like her own. Nonna wouldn’t be back until April, and if Ellie and Russell were going to live here on their own for a few months first, it would be nice to have her own stuff around her.

  The Saturday before Thanksgiving, she, Darlene, and Shannon all met at Joanna’s hot dog shop for lunch. Ellie knew that the coming week would be busy. As more
and more people came to town to visit their relatives, business at the pizzeria would start to pick up. Once school got out on Wednesday, and the majority of the town’s residents were off work for a long weekend, she and her employees would all have to work extra hours. It was a small taste of what they could expect over the Christmas break, and it was welcome. After the New Year, business would slow down again as winter slowly ground down on the little town. Christmas break would be the last truly busy time at the restaurant before spring came.

  “You do know it’s still November, right?” Shannon asked Joanna as she brought their food out.

  “Of course. Why?”

  Shannon looked around the restaurant and raised her eyebrows. Ellie smiled. Hot Diggity Dog was decked out with Christmas decorations. There was even a fake tree, standing in a corner near the window.

  “My family always started decorating after Halloween,” Joanna said. “It’s festive. Everyone loves it.”

  “Christmas season doesn’t start until after Thanksgiving, everyone knows that,” Shannon said. She was grinning. “Though I suppose I can forgive you since you are from out of town.”

  “I like it,” Darlene said decisively. “It’s not like anyone decorates for Thanksgiving, anyway. I don’t know about you, but I could use a little Christmas cheer right about now.”

  “The entire town will look like this by next Saturday,” Ellie pointed out. “What are you and Steve doing for Thanksgiving?”

  “We are going down to Portland to visit our families,” Joanna said. “The hot dog shop will be closed Thursday and Friday. We decided to stay out of the whole Black Friday sales chaos.”

  “That’s probably a good idea,” Ellie said. “At Papa Pacelli’s, we are having some sales, but we aren’t opening early. I’m not sure I’ll do any shopping. There isn’t anything I really need, and there is a lot of unused junk in the basement and the garage already. I need to talk to my grandmother and see if she wants to have a garage sale this spring. It would be nice to get the house cleared out.”

  “Let me know if you need help,” Shannon said. “I have some things I could add to your sale. We are clearing out my home office to turn it into a nursery.”

  “We are all so lucky,” Joanna said. “Shannon is having a baby, Ellie is getting married, and Steve and I have made a great start to our new life here.”

  Ellie glanced over at Darlene, who was staring at her tray of food. Joanna followed her gaze and frowned.

  “I’m sorry, Darlene. I forgot… Have you spoken to him at all?”

  “No,” the other woman said. “I called him a couple of times, but I think he blocked my number. I guess he doesn’t want to work things out. He must have been planning on leaving anyway. It’s horrible. I thought that he would come chasing after me and apologize, but I guess he was more than happy to cut me out of his life.”

  “You should speak to a lawyer,” Joanna said. “Get things figured out. You might be able to keep the house.”

  “I don’t want it,” Darlene said. “I don’t want to live there. I don’t want to run into him at the grocery store, or see him at church. I will find somewhere else to rent for the time being.”

  “You know you can stay with me for a while longer, if you need to.”

  “I might until after the holidays, if that’s okay. I know that you and Russell are getting married in February. I definitely want to be out of there by then. You and he should have the place yourselves.”

  Ellie patted her cousin on the arm. “Just know that you always have a place if you need it. I’m sure Nonna would love if you visited her in Florida, too. Her condo has two bedrooms. You could stay with her for a couple of weeks, and get some Florida sunshine.”

  “That does sound nice. I would love to see the pizzeria you opened down there, too.”

  Ellie hoped that Darlene really would visit her grandmother at her new home in Florida. She thought that it would be good for both of them. She knew what Darlene was going through, and it wasn’t easy.

  “Do you know yet when your small business club might be meeting?” Joanna said, changing the subject. “I know a few interested people.”

  “I’m not sure,” Ellie said. “If enough people are interested, I suppose we could try to meet once before Christmas, but it might be best to wait until after.” Thoughts of the small business club reminded her of Adam Felt and his ice cream parlor. “Shannon, that reminds me, there’s a guy that’s opening a shop right next door to me. I asked him if he wanted to be put in contact with a contractor, and he said he’s already got one that is getting work done at a fraction of the price. Do you have any idea who that is? I don’t want the building next to mine to burn down or something.”

  Shannon frowned. “I don’t have any clue who it is, but I can ask James. He knows everyone in the area. Shoddy work is definitely something that shouldn’t be chanced.”

  After lunch, Ellie and Darlene returned to the Pacelli house. They got a fire going in the living room, then turned on the TV. There was nothing wrong with having a nice, relaxing weekend at home. Later that evening, Russell was planning on coming over for dinner. Before he did, she wanted to finish planning their Thanksgiving meal. With luck, she would be able to convince him to go shopping with her. She knew that the stores were bound to be busy, but she didn’t want to wait any longer to buy the turkey and everything else she would need for the dinner.

  With his parents visiting, there would be five of them on Thanksgiving. She wanted to make enough that everyone would be able to bring leftovers home with them. She couldn’t wait to have a fridge full of stuffing, turkey, and casseroles.

  When she heard a knock on the front door a few hours later, she figured Russell had simply come over a little bit early. She got up from the couch, telling Darlene not to bother pausing the show they had been watching, and followed Bunny to the front door. When she opened it, the smile on her face melted away.

  “Mom? What are you doing here?”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  * * *

  She hadn’t seen her mother for over a year. The two of them had never been close. She hadn’t even spoken to her in months.

  “What are you doing here?” she repeated.

  “Well, I heard that you got engaged, and I wanted to come see you myself before you make a big mistake.”

  “How did you hear about my engagement?” Ellie asked. She hadn’t told her mother about it yet. She knew that she would react like this, always disapproving of everything she did.

  “From my former sister-in-law,” she said.

  Ellie frowned. Her grandmother must have told her aunt about it, who had then told her mother. She hadn’t known that they were on speaking terms, but she supposed that it made sense that her mother kept in contact with some people from her old life.

  “I was going to tell you, and I know I probably should have done it sooner, but you shouldn’t just show up like this, Mom. What about your job?”

  “Oh, I took the beginning of the week off from work. I figured I could spend Thanksgiving with you and your grandmother, and we could talk about it then. You can’t have known this guy for long. What are you thinking, Ellie? First, you run away from your home and your entire life in Chicago, and now you’re getting married to some guy that you’ve known for what, a year? This isn’t like you.”

  “I’m a lot happier here than I was in Chicago,” she said to her mom. “I wish you could just be happy for me, instead of coming up here to tell me how I’m messing up my life.”

  “I knew you would never want me to come if I called ahead of time. What, are you going to let us in, or are we going to have to find a hotel with a couple of vacancies?”

  “Us? You brought someone with you?”

  Her mother stepped to the side and Ellie peered around her. Someone was bent over behind the car, his body disguised by the open trunk. When he stood up, Ellie felt her stomach swoop. It was Kenneth Aubrey, the man that she had been engaged to before her life had taken
its new turn.

  Ellie grabbed her mother by the wrist and pulled her inside, shutting the front door. “What are you thinking?” she hissed. “How could you bring him here?”

  “You need to see what a mistake you’re making. Do you know how upset he was when you left? He begged me to give him your new phone number, and I refused. I thought you just needed time to cool down. He was the first person I called when I heard about your engagement, and he agrees with me; this isn’t you, Ellie. I won’t see you wreck your life out of some temper tantrum.”

  Ellie stared at her mother, shocked beyond words. This was too much. She had no right to come barging in here, with Ellie’s ex, and tell her what she was doing wrong with her life.