Lobster Pizza Murder (Papa Pacelli's Pizzeria Series Book 22) Read online

  Her neighbor returned just as the ambulance appeared. It was being tailed by a police car, and she recognized Bethany in the driver’s seat. The ambulance parked alongside the road, and the paramedics got to work immediately. Ellie answered their barked questions as best she could; yes, the man had been alive when she found him, no she hadn’t tried to move him, and no, there hadn’t been anyone else in the car.

  Bethany pulled into her driveway and got out of the car, walking through the snow over to Ellie. “I was worried when I heard your address,” she said. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” Ellie said. “I don’t know if the man in the car is, though. He was talking, and then he just passed out.”

  “Did he say who he was?”

  “He said his name was Noah Spencer.”

  “What else did he say?”

  “He said… he said someone was trying to kill him.”

  Bethany frowned. “Did you see anyone following him?”

  “I don’t think so, but I can’t be sure. It all happened so fast, and I couldn’t look away from the accident once it happened.”

  “What exactly did happen?”

  Ellie told her everything, starting with the honking she had heard moments before the accident. “I don’t know if I did the right thing,” she finished. “He’s pinned in there, and I didn’t want to try to move him in case it ended up hurting him more. Then, when the car started leaking fuel, I didn’t know if it was safe to go closer. If I caused a spark somehow, I was worried the whole car might go up in flames.”

  “I think you did the right thing. It’s always best to let the experts handle something like this. Thank you for checking on him when the accident happened. Once I’m done here, I’ll take a drive down the road to make sure he didn’t cause any more damage. Is there anything else you can think of that might help me figure out what happened?”

  “I can’t think of anything right now, but if something occurs to me later I’ll give you a call. Do you think you’ll be able to find whoever did this to him?”

  “Did he name any names?”

  “No. I think he was about to, but the last thing he said was for me to take care of Sawyer — I think that’s this little guy.”

  Bethany checked the dog’s tags. “It sure is. I was going to ask about him. I thought you might have gotten a new addition. He was in the car, I take it?”

  “Yes. In the back.”

  “He’s lucky to be alive.”

  “He certainly is. I think one of his legs might be hurt. What should I do with him?”

  “Well, I can give animal control a call,” Bethany suggested. “They will be able to hold onto him until we know whether his owner will be okay, if we can’t find any family members that want to take him.”

  Ellie looked down at the puppy, who had stopped squirming and was falling asleep in her arms. “He would be staying in a kennel if animal control took him, wouldn’t he? I’d feel bad for him. I can watch him, for a few days at least. I’ll take him to the vet for a checkup, and get some puppy food. He’ll probably be more comfortable here until you find Noah’s family.”

  “If you want to,” Bethany said. “I know he’ll be in good hands with you. I’m going to go talk to the paramedics and see what’s going on. You can go back inside if you want. You must be cold. If I need anything else, I’ll knock.”

  “All right,” Ellie said. She shot a glance toward the car, where she could see the paramedics carefully laying the man on a stretcher. “I hope he’ll be okay.”

  “Me too. This was a bad accident.” Bethany shook her head. “I’ve seen too many of these. Cars can become death traps so quickly. Be careful out there, okay? I’m always worried it will be someone I know when I get a call like this.”

  “I always am,” Ellie said. “I’ll do what I can to get Sawyer here settled in the meantime.”

  She hefted the puppy, who had been slowly slipping down, and slogged her way through the snow back up to the house. Now that Bethany had mentioned it, she was cold. The adrenaline from witnessing the accident was beginning to wear off, and she was shivering just as much as the puppy was.

  CHAPTER THREE

  *

  Bunny began barking as soon as she stepped in through the door. Ellie had to move carefully so she didn’t step on the little dog, who was trying as hard as possible to sniff the puppy. Ignoring the papillon as she jumped up, Ellie made her way to the office, where she shut the door, leaving Bunny on the other side, and set the puppy down.

  “You stay in here, Sawyer. I’ll go get you some food and water.”

  She unclipped the leash and left the room, heading for the kitchen where she commandeered Bunny’s water and food bowls. After washing them out, she refilled them for the puppy, and grabbed one of Bunny’s toys on her way back to the study.

  She felt a twinge of guilt as she shut the door for a second time on her dog’s face. Bunny, of course, didn’t understand what was going on. All she knew was that an intruder had appeared out of nowhere, and was getting all of the attention — not to mention her toys and food bowl.

  Ellie put the items down on the floor next to the dog bed, and called the lab puppy — who had been sniffing at the bottom of the door, his tail wagging despite Bunny’s barks — over to her. He limped over happily enough, but still wasn’t putting any weight on his leg. She petted him as he began to dig into the food, then stood up. With the puppy temporarily taken care of, she had a call she needed to make.

  Russell’s phone rang through to voicemail; she supposed she shouldn’t have been surprised, it was the second day of the four-day conference, and it was still just after noon, though after everything that had happened, it felt later. She left him a message telling him about the accident, and assuring him that she was all right.

  She hung up just as a knock sounded at the front door. It was Bethany; behind her, Ellie could see that the ambulance was gone. The car was still sitting in her yard, and the snow all around it had been trampled down.

  “I’m about to head out,” Bethany said. “I’ve already called a wrecker, and they’ll impound the car. The victim is on his way to the hospital, and I’ll contact his next of kin as soon as I get back to the sheriff’s department to tell them what happened and ask about the puppy.”

  “How is he doing?” Ellie asked.

  The deputy hesitated. “I’m not going to lie; he’s not doing well. I won’t know more for a while.”

  “I hope he pulls through,” Ellie said. “Is there anything else I can do?”

  “Nope. I’ll let you know as soon as I hear about the puppy. Thanks for taking care of it.”

  “Of course. I feel so terrible for that man and his family. I just hope the paramedics got to him in time.”

  The wrecker arrived not long after Bethany left. Ellie watched through the window as they loaded the car up and drove away. The tree was still standing, and didn’t appear too damaged besides some missing bark and broken branches. Other than that, and the trampled snow, it looked as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. However, the puppy crying in the other room was a strong reminder that a man’s life had been changed forever.

  She hooked the puppy up to the leash again and carried it outside — this time to the back. Leaving Bunny to watch, infuriated, from behind the glass door, she waited while the puppy did its business outside. Once he was done, she carried him back to the study. He still wasn’t putting any weight on that one paw, and she was worried about him. Tomorrow, she would take the puppy to the vet if the police didn’t manage to contact the next of kin. Noah might have a wife or children that were looking for the puppy, and it wouldn’t make any sense to schedule a vet appointment if she might not even have Sawyer long enough to take him in.

  “There you go, little guy. You should be all set. Take a nap, and hopefully when you wake up, we’ll know where your home is.”

  The puppy limped over to her and sat on her feet, looking up at her with a pitiful expression. Ellie
sighed, then went the rest of the way into the study and shut the door behind her. It was hard to turn down a cute puppy that just wanted to cuddle, especially after all he had been through. Bunny would just have to wait; the little dog was spoiled as it was, and could survive without the attention that she was used to for a little while longer.

  She sat on the floor in front of the door and let the puppy crawl onto her lap. He was warm and soft, and fell asleep almost immediately. She stroked him gently, wondering what was going through his mind.

  After a few minutes, careful not to wake him, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed her best friend’s number. Shannon answered almost immediately, and Ellie told her about the accident and everything that had happened after.

  “So now I’m sitting on the floor in the study with a puppy on my lap, and I guess I just needed someone to talk to,” she finished. “Thanks for listening. I just can’t stop thinking about that poor man.”

  “Do you want me to come over? I’ll pick up some soup and coffee, and maybe a cheesecake, and we can have a girl’s night in.”

  “I don’t want to make you leave James alone on a Sunday evening. I know how important your time together is, especially with the baby on its way.”

  “He’s at a dinner meeting with his new client — Steve, actually — Joanna’s husband. I’m just sitting here bored out of my mind and wishing I had agreed to go with him. It may not have been any less boring, but at least I would have had the White Pine Kitchen’s dessert menu in front of me. The chance to watch a movie with you and snuggle with a puppy sounds great to me.”

  Ellie chuckled. “All right, then. If you’re sure it’s no trouble, come on over. It will be nice to not be alone after what happened today. I know if I am, I’ll just keep thinking about it over and over.”

  “I’ll leave in a few minutes. I’ll probably be there in about half an hour. Give the puppy lots of kisses for me in the meantime. Maybe I’ll be able to convince James to get one once the baby can walk.”

  They said their goodbyes and ended the call. Carefully, Ellie lifted the puppy off her and settled him into Bunny’s bed by the desk, which he was just a little too big for. An evening in with her friend sounded perfect. She just wished Bethany would call so she would be able to relax and stop worrying about whether Noah Spencer would survive.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  *

  “Oh, my gosh. He’s adorable.”

  Shannon squatted down and let the puppy, who had recovered some of his energy after his nap, greet her. His entire body wiggled when he wagged his tail. He really was one of the cutest things that Ellie had ever seen.

  “We can bring him into the living room if you want. I only had him in here because there’s no rug, so it’s easier to clean if he has a mess. He’s been pretty good, though. I think my grandmother has an old baby gate in the basement. If I can find it, we can use it to keep him in the living room with us.”

  A few minutes later, the three of them were set up in the living room. Bunny was on the other side of the gate, because she growled whenever the puppy got near her. Considering that the clumsy young dog outweighed her by at least twenty pounds, Ellie couldn’t blame her too much. Besides, the puppy had an injured leg, and probably shouldn’t be roughhousing anyway.

  Ellie flicked through the movies available on the streaming service until she found something that neither she nor Shannon had seen before. Then they cracked open their cups of soup, fresh from the diner in town, and settled in.

  “So, what do you think happened?” Shannon asked a little while later. “Did he just lose control? Was there a patch of black ice or something?”

  “I don’t think so,” Ellie said, putting her spoon down. “He wasn’t able to say much when I reached him. The only things that he was able to get out were his name, and the fact that it wasn’t an accident. And he mentioned Sawyer, of course.” She glanced at the puppy, who was lying next to the gate, his tail wagging slowly back and forth across the rug as he stared at Bunny. The papillon was chewing on a toy with her back to him, ignoring him completely.

  “Did he say anything about how?”

  “No. You don’t understand, Shannon, he was… he was really hurt. I think it’s lucky that he could say anything at all.”

  “I’m sorry. We don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want to. I guess it’s just the reporter in me.” She chuckled. “I’ve got to ask questions, and try to see it from all angles.”

  “It’s fine. I thought the movie would help, but I keep thinking about it anyway. I wish he had been able to tell me more.”

  “What was his name again?”

  “Noah Spencer.”

  “Hmm.” Shannon bit her lower lip. “That sounds familiar. I might have done a story on someone with that last name before. I’ll have to check when I get home. Of course, James won’t be happy if he knows. He doesn’t want me getting involved in any more criminal cases, not until after the baby is born at least. He thinks they’re too dangerous, especially after what happened last time.”

  “Well, I can’t say he’s not right, but last time was different,” Ellie said.

  “Have you spoken to Russell about it?”

  “He didn’t want to talk about it at first. I think it’s weird for him, to talk with me about his wife. Eventually I did get him to open up a bit. He said he feels like finding her killer was the last thing he needed to do before he could focus on the next chapter of his life. He can finally lay her to rest in his heart, knowing that he did everything for her that he possibly could.” Ellie blinked, feeling tears sting her eyes at the memory of their conversation. She had never seen her fiancé so vulnerable before. “He said that he thinks she would have liked me.”

  “She would have. Anne was an angel. We all loved her. I hope you know we all love you too.”

  “I know.” She wiped her eyes and took a deep breath. “Okay, you’ve got to tell me about his new work with Steve. What’s he doing?”

  “You know that hotel that Joanna said her husband wanted to build? Well, I guess Steve finally obtained the right property for it. He wants to break ground in the spring. Since Joanna and I are friends, he hired James instead of one of his normal guys. They’re going to be tearing down a couple of buildings, and then rebuild from the ground up. It’s going to be a big project.”

  “All of that just for a hotel? Are that many people really going to want to stay in Kittiport? I mean, it’s a nice town, and we do get our share of tourists during the summer, but we don’t get crowds like some other places do.”

  “It’s more of a resort, I guess,” Shannon said. “From what James said, it sounds pretty big. I’m not too happy about him taking the job, to be honest. That’s one of the reasons I stayed home tonight.”

  “Why? It must be a lot of money. Nothing like that ever gets built around Kittiport.”

  “That’s the problem. People don’t want this. Do you know how many people I’ve interviewed about this? It was a lot. They don’t want Kittiport to become another tourist haven. They like it how it is; all family owned businesses, and the neighbors they’ve known their whole lives. A resort like this will change the town forever, and my husband is the one making it possible for Steve to build his giant hotel.”

  “If James didn’t take the contracting job, someone else would have. You said yourself the only reason he didn’t hire someone else is because of your friendship with Joanna.”

  “I know,” Shannon said with a sigh. “I just worry that other people won’t see it like that. I love this town. I don’t want everyone to hate us.”

  “Not everyone will,” Ellie said, trying to lighten the mood. “I won’t. That’s one less person you have to worry about, at least.”

  Shannon chuckled. “Okay, maybe everyone won’t hate me. Still, it just doesn’t feel right. It’s like we’re betraying the town, somehow, you know?”

  “I think the town will be just fine,” Ellie said. “And if anyone causes you any tr
ouble, just tell Russell. He’ll take care of things and make sure the two of you are safe.”

  “I know. He’s — what is that?”

  “What?”

  “Someone’s in your yard, look.”

  Ellie leaned over to get a better view out the window. Sure enough, someone had parked alongside the road near the tree that Noah had run into, and was walking around in the snow.

  “Maybe it’s someone from the wrecking company,” she said doubtfully. “I’ll go and see.”

  By the time she got her boots on and made it out the front door, the car was pulling away. She frowned, but went back inside, uneasy even though she knew there was probably a logical explanation for it.

  Her phone buzzed on the table just as she sat back down. It was Bethany. Excusing herself, she got up and stepped over the baby gate. Ignoring Sawyer’s whining from the other side and Bunny’s happy prancing, she answered it.

  “I wish I had something different to say, but it’s bad news all around,” the deputy said without preamble. “Are you ready?”

  Ellie braced herself. “Go ahead.”

  “Noah Spencer passed away shortly after arriving at the hospital. Before you ask, I spoke to the doctor myself. There was nothing else you could have done. His injuries were just too severe. Even if the paramedics had been on scene when the accident happened, he probably wouldn’t have made it.”

  She closed her eyes. It wasn’t what she had wanted to hear. “At least he wasn’t alone for the last few minutes of his life,” she said. “I hope he knew we tried to help him. Did you get in contact with his family?”

  “Yes. He has — had — a wife and one daughter, who is in college. I’ve already delivered the news to them. The wife said she doesn’t want the puppy back; she doesn’t think she can handle raising it with everything she’s going to be going through after her husband’s death. I can’t say I blame her. If you want me to, I can drop it off at the animal shelter tomorrow morning. I’m sure he’ll get adopted quickly.”