Parmesan Pizza Murder Read online

  Friday evenings were always one of the busiest times at Papa Pacelli’s, even more so now that the local schools had started back up and there were football games many of the Friday evenings. That particular evening, they were working on a bulk order for the local high school football teams. Ten pizzas, two of which had to be vegetarian, along with a few orders of breadsticks, and a hefty amount of two-liter sodas. This was on top of all of the normal orders, which meant that the kitchen was being pushed to its limit. Unlike some of the larger chains, each and every pizza at Papa Pacelli’s was made from scratch. With only two ovens, each of which could fit two pizzas at a time, it took quite a while to get an order that big out and ready for delivery.

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to send someone else along to help?” Ellie asked as she watched Sabrina load up her car.

  “I think I’ll be able to manage, Ms. P.,” the woman said.

  “Okay, just take your time. I told them it would be a while, so you don’t have to rush to get there.

  Sabrina drove away, the cargo of pizzas and drinks secure in the back of her car. Ellie watched her go, then hurried back inside. None of them would be getting much of a break that evening, though she was hoping to be able to grab a few minutes to eat some dinner of her own. Having a growling stomach took some of the enjoyment out of making food for others, and she hadn’t eaten since brunch earlier in the day.

  She got her chance when Shannon and James Ward – Russell’s brother and sister-in-law — stopped in an hour later for dinner. Ellie was thrilled to see them. She hadn’t been able to spend as much time with her friend recently as she would’ve liked, and knew that Shannon probably had a lot to tell her. Her friend had recently found out that she was pregnant, and was both terrified and thrilled at the thought of having a child later in life. Ellie knew that it wasn’t that uncommon for older woman to have a child these days, but she was worried for her friend, not only because of all of the possible health issues that could arise, but because the other woman’s life was going to change, and drastically, for the next eighteen years, and she didn’t know if Shannon was completely prepared for it.

  “What can I get the two of you tonight?” she asked, stopping by the table with a pen and a pad of paper. Usually, she memorized the orders, but that evening was chaotic enough that she was worried about forgetting something important.

  “Ellie!” Shannon said, looking thrilled to see her. “We were wondering if you’d be able to come out of the kitchen and see us yourself. It’s busy in here tonight.”

  “Yeah, a lot of people stopped by after the game,” Ellie said.

  “That’s actually where we’re coming from,” Shannon said. “I’ve got to write an article about it for tomorrow’s paper. We won, as you’ve probably heard about a hundred times by now.”

  “Yes, people have been talking about it all evening,” Ellie said. Another small group of people came in. Shannon saw her glance over at them.

  “Sorry, we shouldn’t be keeping you,” her friend said. “I’ll have a personal size spinach and artichoke pizza with white sauce and extra cheese.”

  “I’d just like a pepperoni pizza, also personal sized,” James said.

  “You got it,” Ellie said. “Anything to drink?”

  “Just water,” Shannon said. “I’m trying to be healthier; I don’t want to my little one addicted to sugar and caffeine before he’s even born.”

  “He’ll have plenty of time for that when he’s older,” she replied, grinning. “Do you know the gender yet?”

  “Not yet. It will be another couple of weeks until the doctor will be able to tell. I just don’t feel right calling him ‘it’ until then, and I have a lot of the same early pregnancy symptoms that James’s mom did both times she had the boys. We’ll be happy either way.”

  “Of course,” Ellie said. “I can’t wait to hear the news when you find out.”

  “Aunt Ellie will be the first to know,” Shannon said, grinning.

  “Your kid will have free pizzas for life,” she promised. “I’d better get back to the kitchen, but if you don’t mind, I’ll come back when your pizzas are done and join you for a few minutes. I haven’t gotten a chance to eat yet this evening, and a quick dinner with the two of you beats standing over the sink in the kitchen with a slice of pizza.”

  “Perfect,” Shannon said. “When you come back, maybe we can talk about my baby shower. I want to start planning it, but I need to make sure you’ll be able to come.”

  “As long as it’s after the trip to Florida, any time is good for me.”

  She returned to the kitchen and began working on her soon-to-be in-laws’ orders. As she was putting the two personal pizzas in the oven, Sabrina returned to pick up the next couple delivery orders.

  “Only an hour left before we close,” she said, trying to encourage her tired employee. “You’ve been great tonight.”

  “Thanks, Ms. P., it’s been a busy evening. It will be nice to sleep in tomorrow.”

  “Definitely,” agreed Ellie, who was very much not a morning person. “Drive safely. We’ll stop taking delivery orders pretty soon, so you should only need to make one more trip after this.”

  On her way back to the kitchen, she was waylaid by someone else. It was a young man who she knew she had seen around before, but didn’t know him well enough to put a name to his face.

  “Excuse me, Ms. Pacelli?”

  “Yes?”

  “My name’s Kyle Hart. I was wondering if I could get an application.”

  “Sorry,” she said. “We aren’t hiring right now.” Someone jostled her as they pushed past. “And it’s a really busy night. Come back some other time and we can talk about it. We may need someone for the holidays.”

  “I will. Sorry to bother you. Thanks.”

  She gave him a strained smile and then pushed her way through the line to the door behind the register. Being busy was a good thing, but sometimes it had its downfalls.

  While Shannon and James’ pizzas cooked, she pulled the large everything pizza that her employees had been snacking on all evening out of the fridge. There were four pieces left, and she put two on a small pan and stuck it in the oven underneath the two small pizzas to reheat it. Her stomach rumbled. Food, at last, and only an hour left of work — not counting the cleaning that would have to be done before closing, but she didn’t mind that. She was exhausted, but she felt satisfied knowing that their hard work had resulted in a lot of happy customers. The pizzeria was more popular than ever, and her employees worked together with the ease of a well-oiled machine. What more could she ask for?

  As if her thoughts had jinxed things, Rose came into the kitchen with the pizzeria’s phone in her hand. “Someone’s calling to change an order that I don’t have any record of them placing in the first place,” her employee said. “What should I do?”

  “I’ll take it,” Ellie said with a sigh. “You handle things in here for a second, okay?” It was a busy evening indeed, and football season had just started. Maybe she should have given Kyle that application. If tonight was any indication, they might be able to use the extra help.

  Twenty minutes later, just as she was picking up her plate and preparing to leave the table where she had eaten with Shannon and James, Rose, who was working the register, called her over.

  “Ms. P., someone’s on hold. They said they wanted to speak with you, specifically,” she said.

  “All right,” the pizzeria owner said. “I’ll be right there.”

  “It sounded important,” her employee said.

  With a sigh, Ellie set her plate back down and headed over to the counter. “Hello?” she asked, taking the phone from Rose.

  “Ellie?” It was a man’s voice, but she couldn’t place it.

  “Yes? Who is this?”

  “Ellie, this is Liam,” he said. “I hate making this call, but I knew you would want to hear it here before you hear it from someone else.”

  “What happened?” she ask
ed, feeling her stomach lurch. Had something happened to Russell?

  “I’m still at the scene of the accident,” he said. She felt her lungs stop working when she heard that word. Accident. “I’m so sorry, Ellie, but your employee — a Ms. Sabrina Williams — is dead.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  * * *

  The first thing that she felt was relief, and she didn’t know if she would ever be able to forgive herself for that. It’s not Russell. Then she felt the horror, rising anew within her. Sabrina was dead. How was that possible? She had seen the young woman not even half an hour ago. She had seen her, looking tired, walking out the door to drive through town at night… “Oh my goodness,” she breathed, leaning heavily against the counter.

  Rose shot her a concerned look, her mouth opening as if to ask what was going on, then shutting again, evidently deciding that it wasn’t her place to pry. Ellie blinked, realizing that Liam was still talking, but she hadn’t heard his last few sentences.

  “Where is she?” she asked.

  “A house on Green Street,” he said. “The homeowner confirmed that she was there to deliver a pizza. We aren’t sure what happened, yet. It looks like it could have been a hit and run. She was found in the road —”

  “She wasn’t in her car?”

  “No.”

  She didn’t crash, Ellie thought. Someone did this to her.

  “Did you call Russell?”

  “I left him a message. It’s his night off. He probably isn’t —”

  She cut him off again. “I’m coming there. I want to see… I don’t know what I’m expecting to see, but I want to be there. She wouldn’t have been out there if it wasn’t for me.”

  “No, Ellie —”

  Ellie let her arm holding the phone fall to her side, pressing the red button to end the call as she did so. She looked at Rose, who was frowning at her with real concern now. What did her face look like? She couldn’t feel her muscles; couldn’t tell what sort of expression she was making.

  “Rose, start closing down the pizzeria. Sabrina’s been in an accident. I’ll call you as soon as I know more. I have to go now.”

  She hurried through the kitchen, grabbing her purse and pulling her keys out as she left through the pizzeria’s back door, ignoring her employee’s concerned shouts after her. She had forgotten Shannon and James, who were still sitting at the table in the dining area. She could hardly believe this was real. She hadn’t known Sabrina well, but she had liked her, and more importantly, she had been responsible for her. How could this have happened?

  She felt a sudden burning anger directed at whoever had hit the young woman with their car. If the person had stayed to help or had made a call to 911 after the accident, she was sure Liam would have mentioned it. The way he had said it, it sounded like someone had simply found her in the road after the accident occurred. That meant that someone had hit a young, twenty-year-old girl with their vehicle, and had driven away without doing anything to help her afterward.

  She hadn’t been in Kittiport long enough to have all of the roads memorized, but she knew where Green Street was. It was one of the nicer residential streets in town, and she often drove down it when she was visiting Shannon.

  It was easy to find the location of the accident. The sight of the ambulance sitting in the street with its lights flashing made her stomach drop. She knew that if Sabrina had been alive when it got there, it would have taken off to the nearest hospital as soon as the paramedics had loaded her onto the stretcher. Now, with her declared dead, there was no rush, and the paramedics were talking to the police.

  She recognized Liam’s cruiser. The second one likely belonged to the other deputy, Bethany. She looked for Russell’s truck, but didn’t see it. He wasn’t there yet. There was a small group of people standing on the sidewalk, staring at the scene and talking quietly among themselves. Sabrina’s car, with the pizza delivery sign on top, was still parked along the curb.

  Ellie pulled to a stop a couple of yards away from the police and got out of her car. Liam looked up, and she could tell that he recognized her even from that distance. He said something, and Bethany turned and hurried towards her.

  “Ellie, Liam didn’t mean for you to drive out here,” she said. “Since you’re here, you should sit down. Would you mind waiting in your car? He’s trying to gather information from everyone who might have seen something. We’re still not sure what happened.”

  “I thought it was an accident?” Ellie said.

  “No, it wasn’t,” Bethany said. “Liam said he thought so at first, but the paramedics determined that her injuries weren’t consistent with a car accident. A fatal head injury was the cause of death, but we’re not sure from what.”

  “So, this wasn’t an accident?” the pizzeria owner said. “Someone did this to her on purpose?” She realized that her hands were shaking. All of this was too much to take in. How could any of this have happened?

  “Like I said, we aren’t sure what happened yet,” the younger woman said. She placed her hand on Ellie’s shoulder. “Russell will be here soon. Since it’s an active crime scene, I’d appreciate it if you waited back here. You don’t have to stay in your car, but I’m sure it would be more comfortable.”

  “Of course,” she replied. “I’m sorry. Maybe I shouldn’t have come, but I just had to see it for myself. I didn’t seem real to me when I heard Liam on the phone. When he said she had been killed, I was so certain there’d been a mistake…” Her breath shuddered as she looked at Sabrina’s car. “This is all my fault.”

  “Do you have any idea what might’ve happened?” Bethany asked, her brows drawing together as she tried to make sense of Ellie’s comment.

  “No, nothing like that. I’m the one who sent her to deliver these pizzas. If we had been even a few minutes slower or faster at getting the pizzas packed up, none of this would have happened.”

  “Then it might have happened to someone else,” the other woman said. “You can’t blame yourself for these events. The blame rests solely on the shoulders of whoever hit her, if that’s what happened.” She patted Ellie’s arm.

  “Now, I should get back to work. I have to question some of the residents, just in case any of them heard or saw something. You just sit tight, okay? It won’t be long until Russell’s here.”

  Ellie nodded, feeling numb. She watched the young deputy walk away, then slid back into the driver’s seat of her car, not bothering to turn the heat on. Her eyes were glued Sabrina’s empty vehicle. Despite Bethany’s words, she couldn’t help but blame herself. Sabrina’s death would be a shock to everyone at the pizzeria. Even though she had only worked there for a short time, Sabrina had been one of their own.

  She had to wait only a few minutes before Russell’s truck pulled to a stop behind her car. He hurried over to her window. She saw relief wash across his face when he saw her. She got out and he pulled her into a hug.

  “I know Liam said it was one of your employees, but when I saw your car here…” He shook his head. “I’m glad you’re okay. What are you doing here?”

  “I don’t know,” Ellie said. “I just felt like I had to come and see it, after Liam told me what happened. I don’t know what I was expecting. I hoped that he was wrong, I suppose. Russell, how could this have happened? They said that someone attacked her.”

  After she spoke, she realized that they had never actually said that. They had said that Sabrina had died from an injury to the head, and she had made the leap to an attack herself. She supposed it could have been an accident. Had she slipped and fallen? Hit her head on the unforgiving asphalt?

  She shook herself. “Well, they don’t know what happened yet. I just can’t believe it, Russell. An hour ago, we were at the pizzeria together. She was tired; she had been driving all day. When I heard that there had been a car accident – which is what Liam thought at first – I thought it was my fault for not making her take a break. But now, knowing that someone might have attacked her, someone might have
done this to her on purpose, it’s not any better. How could anyone do this?”

  “I don’t know,” the sheriff replied. “I promise, I’ll get to the bottom of this. Whoever killed Sabrina won’t get away with it.”

  “Hey, Russ!” Liam had noticed that his boss was on the scene, and was waving him over. Russell leaned down and gave Ellie a quick kiss.

  “I’ve got to go,” he said. “Go handle things at the pizzeria. I’ll see you later.”

  Ellie watched him go. She gazed at the scene for one more moment, then turned back to her car. Her head snapped back around, doing a double take. On the yard, nearest to where Sabrina’s body had been found, there were two pizza boxes, their contents scattered. She frowned. If she remembered correctly, the order that Sabrina had been delivering had only been for one pizza, so why were there two boxes at the scene of the crime?