Mozzarella and Murder Read online

  “If it won’t take long, let’s just do it now,” Ellie said. “Do you have any idea what happened to her?”

  “Just from this first look at the scene, it appears that she tripped and fell over something and hit her head quite hard on the doorknob. The body will be going in for an autopsy, which should tell us if there’s anything else at play here. I did find two glasses inside on the counter, but even if she had a guest over the day that she died, that doesn’t mean that he or she had anything to do with her death.”

  “So, you do think it was an accident?” Ellie asked.

  “It appears that way, but I can’t say for sure yet. How well did you know her?”

  “Not very well. I saw her flyer at the pet store and took her number since I was looking for a pet sitter for the week that we were in Florida. I met her once before dropping the animals off. I called her references and she checked out, and she worked at the vet’s office. She seemed like such a nice, respectful young lady. When she stopped answering my texts, I thought that something might be wrong, but I never imagined this.”

  “How did she act when you dropped off the animals? Did she seem distracted, worried, or frightened at all? Anything to indicate that she might be in some sort of trouble?”

  “No, she seemed just fine,” Ellie said. “And she never mentioned anything during the texts and emails we exchanged while I was in Florida. Everything seemed to be going perfectly.”

  “Depending on what the investigation turns up, I might want to go through your communications with her.” He sighed. “Sorry, Ellie, I know that this isn’t how you wanted things to be when you came back. I’ll let you get going now, but first I’ll go in with you so you can grab Marlowe.”

  “Thanks,” she said, falling into step next to him. “So, what’s with the clothes? Were you in the middle of something important when I called?”

  “Oh…” He looked down at himself, as if he had forgotten what he was wearing. “No, I just happened to throw this on this morning. Don’t worry about me—I’m just glad that you’re okay. It must have been terrible finding her like that.”

  “It was.”

  Ellie looked toward the house and shivered. She wasn’t eager to go back inside to get Marlowe, but she knew that she couldn’t ask Russell to do it. The bird would be scared enough as it was, and she probably wouldn’t handle Russell trying to grab her very well. She hoped that Samantha had kept the bird’s carrier somewhere easy to reach. There was no question of leaving Marlowe at the house overnight, so if she couldn’t find the carrier, she would just have to improvise.

  Liam was still inside the house, sifting through Samantha’s possessions, looking for any evidence of foul play in her death. He nodded at her when she came inside, and she gave him a quick wave. She liked both of Russell’s deputies. They were good people, and she would trust either of them with her life.

  She approached the bird’s cage, looking around for the smaller pet carrier. “How am I going to bring you home?” she asked the bird. “Where did Samantha put your carrier?”

  Liam made a noise behind her, and when she turned, he pointed toward the opposite corner. “There’s a pet carrier over there, between the couch and the wall, if that’s what you’re looking for.”

  “Thanks,” she said.

  She found the carrier and carried it over to the birdcage. When she opened the cage door, Marlowe eagerly stepped onto her arm. “Into the carrier you go,” she told the bird. “We’ll go home, and you’ll get as much fresh water and food as you want. And maybe even some cookies if I can find any.”

  Marlowe went into the pet carrier without complaint. Ellie shut and locked it, then carried it out to the car, putting it in the backseat. She had her family back together at last. It wasn’t exactly the homecoming that she had envisioned, but she knew that she had a lot to be thankful for. If they had stayed in Florida for just a couple more days, the animals might not have made it.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  *

  Fifteen minutes later, Ellie pulled into the familiar driveway. The old white house stood on a lonely stretch of the coastal highway. The property was bordered on the back by a state forest; in the front, across the road and down a shallow hill, was the ocean. The neighbors’ houses were far enough away that it was often easy to forget that there were other people around. In the front yard stood a towering white pine, which Ellie had decorated for Christmas the year before. There was a detached garage next to the house, which housed her grandfather’s ancient truck. A stone path led to the front stoop, and around back was a flagstone patio.

  Ellie pulled up as far as she could before shutting off the engine, knowing that her back would thank her later, once she got done unloading the luggage. Bunny, who was sitting on her grandmother’s lap, was vibrating with excitement. Ellie thought that in this situation, the animals might be even more glad to get home than she was. After what had happened, she didn’t blame them. Returning home was, for her and her grandmother, the end of the pleasant vacation. For the animals, it would be an escape from what had probably been three or four days of absolute horror. She forced herself to push the thought of the animals’ suffering out of her mind. She could think about it later, for now she had to concentrate on getting everyone inside, setting up the parrot and the dog with food and water, and unpacking.

  She left Marlowe in the car while she helped her grandmother out of the passenger seat and took Bunny into her own arms. She had been in such a hurry to get away from the pet sitter’s house that she hadn’t thought to look for the little dog’s leash, but it wasn’t much of a loss. A leash she could replace. She unlocked the front door and held it open for her grandmother. Then, she put Bunny down on the grass and waited while she sniffed around. The poor dog must have been forced to relieve herself in the house while she was trapped inside, something that she knew Bunny would hate. The thought made her more patient than usual while she waited for the dog to finish up with her business before going inside.

  Ellie followed her grandmother into the kitchen, and grabbed Bunny’s bowl off the floor, filling it to the brim with fresh, cold water before returning to the car to grab Marlowe. The bird seemed overjoyed to see her own familiar cage again. Ellie let her climb inside and settle herself on her favorite perch before she shut the cage door. Then she grabbed the bird’s dishes from the side doors and filled one with water and the other with the bird’s fruit-colored pellets. The macaw went straight for the food when Ellie slid the dish back into the cage. Ellie watched her for a moment, glad to see Marlowe eating so heartily. She was glad that both animals seemed mostly okay after the ordeal. She would have to schedule them both vet appointments just to set her own mind at ease, but by the looks of things, both would recover just fine.

  She returned to the kitchen where Bunny was still lapping up the water in her own bowl. Nonna was at the counter, preparing the dog’s food. Ellie had to smile when she saw how full the bowl was. She didn’t know if the little papillon’s stomach was that big. Her grandmother had mixed together kibble, canned dog food, tuna, and by the looks of it, a little bit of shredded cheese from the fridge.

  “You know, I think she would’ve been perfectly happy with just some kibble,” Ellie said.

  “After what she’s been through, she deserves this,” her grandmother said. “I’ll take care of her. Can you bring in the luggage? I’m getting tired, and I want to sit down for a bit, but I want to start unpacking first.”

  “Sure, I’ll go and grab it. Thanks for getting her food. Just don’t let her eat so much that she gets sick. I’m going to call the vet when they get back in and set up appointments for both of them, just to make sure they’re okay.”

  She went outside and began unloading the car. It was a bit bittersweet as she carried in their bags. She had really enjoyed the trip to Florida, or at least she’d enjoyed the last half of it. It had been wonderful to spend some extra time with her grandmother, and to take some time to relax and enjoy the beautiful, sub-
tropical beaches on her own. She had made a wonderful new friend while she was down there, and had embarked on a brand-new business opportunity. It had been less than a day since they had flown out of Miami, but after everything that had happened in the past few hours, the vacation seemed like a lifetime ago.

  She brought her grandmother’s bags into the older woman’s bedroom on the lower floor, and then dragged her own up the stairs. She tossed her suitcase onto the bed, then sat down next to it. It felt good to be home. She really had missed everything and everyone here.

  I wonder why Russell was so dressed up, she mused as she leaned back against the pillows, enjoying the cool, air-conditioned room and the soft mattress. She didn’t know why he would lie to her, but she also didn’t think that he had just accidentally put on such nice clothes. Maybe he would tell her later. She hoped that he wouldn’t be too busy with this new case, and that it got resolved quickly. She felt terrible for Samantha. It was always especially hard for her when a younger person died. The young woman’s entire future had been stolen. It was heartbreaking. If Ellie wasn’t also so worried about the animals, she would’ve been even more focused on Samantha’s death. In a way, she was glad for the distraction. The animals she could care for. There was nothing she could do for the young pet sitter. As it was, she couldn’t help thinking about everything that she and the woman said to each other. Had Samantha been in trouble, and she had just failed to notice?

  She got up and unzipped her carry-on to pull her laptop out. She propped it up on her suitcase and sat cross-legged in front of it, waiting for the screen to load. Once the computer was awake, she clicked into her email account, where she began going through the exchanges between her and Samantha. She was looking for anything even slightly unusual, something that might give a hint as some sort of trouble the young woman might have been in.

  A few minutes later, she closed the computer. She had found nothing. Her exchanges with Samantha had all been about Bunny and Marlowe, and the pet sitter had been positive and upbeat the entire time. If something darker had been going on in her life, she had done a very good job of keeping it from Ellie.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  *

  The next day, Ellie left the house early, eager to get to the pizzeria and have some time to settle in before the restaurant opened. It felt wonderful to walk in through the employee entrance and find herself and the familiar clean kitchen. Her employees had done well while she was gone. Everything had been wiped down, no dishes were left over from the day before, and the dining area was spic and span. Even the soda fridge was fully stocked.

  She walked around the little restaurant slowly, appreciating the wonderful feeling of homecoming. There, on the wall behind the register, was the twentieth anniversary picture of her grandmother standing in front of the restaurant. Beside it was a picture back when the restaurant had first opened. She hoped that in another twenty years, a third picture might join them. She loved this restaurant, every bit as much as her grandfather had. She was excited at the thought of opening the second Papa Pacelli’s down in Florida, but this one would always have a special place in her heart.

  Once she had finished with her walkthrough, she returned to the kitchen to begin making the first pizza of the day. This would be lunch—and probably also dinner—for herself. The wonderful thing about being able to make her own pizzas like this was that she could put absolutely anything that she wanted on them. Sometimes she experimented with odd ingredients, but today she thought that she would stick to the basics with a veggie supreme pizza. Their largest size would last her all day, with leftovers for her to take home for them to eat tomorrow.

  After she had the dough rolled out, she put the crust in the oven to begin cooking while she prepared a variety of vegetables to top it. Her employees had kept the fridge well stocked, so she had no lack of ingredients to choose from. She chopped up red peppers and mushrooms, diced some fresh tomatoes, and sliced up half an onion. By the time she was done, the crust had finished precooking. She took it out of the oven, slathered some of their secret sauce on it, sprinkled a couple of generous handfuls of cheese over the sauce, and then added the vegetables. She put it back in the oven to finish cooking and begin cleaning up the mess she had made while she waited.

  Ten minutes later, she was sitting at the little table in the corner of the kitchen, enjoying the best slice of pizza that she’d had in a week. She knew that she was biased, but she had found that nothing could really compare to pizza made from her grandfather’s recipe. She was a little bit nervous about giving that recipe away to another woman, but she knew that Linda, the woman she had chosen to run the second Papa Pacelli’s Pizzeria, was trustworthy. This, she thought, would be the first step in the restaurant’s journey to more widespread fame. They were already locally famous, and she couldn’t wait to see how the restaurant would do in another state.

  She was just finishing up her second slice of pizza when she heard a key in the employee door. A moment later, Rose walked in. The young woman with beautiful blonde hair had been at the pizzeria for longer than Ellie had been. When Ellie had first met her, her first impression had been of a flighty girl who wouldn’t be very reliable. Rose had quickly proven her wrong.

  “Hey, Ms. P,” Rose said. “I saw your car in the parking lot. I don’t know if you’ve had a chance to look at the schedule yet, but Jacob and I are scheduled to work for today, with Pete on call if it gets busy. We didn’t know if you would want to come in on your first day back from Florida. How was your vacation, anyway?”

  “Well, other than one pretty major incident, it was wonderful. I’ll tell everyone about it later,” she said quickly, noticing the questioning expression on her employees’ face. “It was a really nice break from normal life, but I’m glad to be back. I’m sure Jacob told you the news about the second store?”

  “Yeah, he told all of us. He’s pretty excited. Do you think it will change anything for us up here?” Rose asked.

  “I don’t see why it should,” Ellie said. “The woman I found down there should be able to run it herself pretty well. I’ll technically be her boss, but I shouldn’t have to do much once the store is up and running. I’ll probably fly down there in a few months to see how things are going. It will take a while for renovations to be done, anyway. I think we’re planning on having the grand opening sometime in October.”

  “Neat. It would be cool if we could all go,” the young woman said. “I’d love to see the other store sometime.”

  “Hey, that’s a great idea,” Ellie said. “Maybe we could all visit for the grand opening. It would mean closing down this store for a few days, though. I’ll have to think about it.”

  She began packing up the rest of the pizza to put in the fridge while Rose went to the front and clocked in. It wasn’t until she returned to the kitchen and began washing her hands that Ellie noticed how puffy and red her eyes were, as if she had been crying.

  “Rose, is everything okay?” she asked.

  She nodded. “I’m okay. I just got some news this morning about a friend of mine. She was found dead in her home yesterday. She was my age, and we went to school together. It’s not something you ever expect to hear.”

  Ellie felt her stomach twist. “Was her name Samantha?”

  “It was. How did you know?” the girl asked.

  “I’m the one that found her,” Ellie said. “She was pet sitting for me, and I stopped by the house yesterday to pick up the animals. That’s when I discovered her.”

  “Oh, my goodness, I didn’t know it was you,” Rose said. “The paper just said that she had been found, it didn’t say by who.”

  Ellie suspected the discretion was probably the work of Shannon Ward: her best friend, Russell’s sister-in-law, and one of the journalists at the local newspaper. Shannon would have known that Ellie wouldn’t want her name connected to yet another crime. She made a mental note to thank her friend when they got together sometime in the next couple of days.

  “I�
�m so sorry,” she told her employee. “She seemed like such a kind girl.”

  “She was. She loved animals. Did they say… how it happened?”

  “The sheriff thinks this was an accident. It looks like she tripped and fell over something, and hit her head,” Ellie said.

  Rose nodded, looking slightly relieved. “When I first heard, I had to wonder if it was suicide. She was devastated when she lost her job at the vet clinic last week, and she and her boyfriend had split up shortly before that, so I knew that she was having a tough time.”

  “I didn’t know she had lost her job. Do you know what happened?”

  “No, just that she got fired. I was going to meet her last Saturday to talk more about it, but she never got back to me. Now I know why.”

  “You said that she and her boyfriend broke up? Do you know if it was a messy breakup?”

  “I think they were still on pretty good terms.” Rose frowned. “Why? I thought you said that it was an accident.”

  “They’re still investigating. I wouldn’t want them to miss anything important, that’s all.”

  The young woman nodded. “Can I have the day of her funeral off? I’m not sure when it is yet, but I don’t want to risk missing it.”

  “Of course,” Ellie said. “I’ll cover you if I have to. And if you want to take today off too—”

  “No, no. I’m happy to be here. It helps take my mind off it. Plus, it gives me an excuse to keep my phone off. I know all of our friends are going to be wanting to talk about it, and I’d rather not, just now.”

  “If you’re sure,” Ellie said. “Just let me know if you need some time to yourself, and I’ll make sure you get it.”