A Thin Crust of Murder Read online

  CHAPTER THREE

  * * *

  Her nice relaxing day off was turning out to be busier than she had planned, but after speaking to Shannon, she knew that a gift basket was just the right welcome. After she dropped the produce off at home and put the perishables away, she left for town again. Her first stop was at the pizzeria to grab a gift card for the new shop owner. She spent the next hour driving around to some of her favorite restaurants and shops in town. The coffee shop she saved for last since it was only a few stores down from Hot Diggity Dog.

  “Your usual, Ms. P.? And one for the sheriff too?” the woman behind the counter asked. Ellie smiled. She stopped in the coffee shop often enough that all the employees there knew her favorite drink. She wasn’t quite sure what that said about her addiction to caffeine, but it was nice to be recognized there.

  “Thanks, Gina, but I’m actually just here to buy a gift certificate. Oh, and maybe two of those mugs. I’m putting together a gift basket for the woman who is opening the new hotdog shop just down the block. And I told you, feel free to call me Ellie.”

  Gina laughed and reached for a mug. “All right, all right. Ellie, it is. You’re a nice woman, doing that for her. Aren’t you worried about the competition?”

  “No, not really. Pizza and hotdogs are different enough that I don’t think there will be too much overlap. We might lose a couple of sales, but I’m not worried. Besides, there’s nothing wrong with being nice. She’s new to town, and I’m sure that she could use a kind gesture.”

  “You know, her husband is some big-time developer. He came around here to see if I was interested in selling.”

  “I sure hope you said no,” Ellie said. “I don’t know where else to find coffee this good.”

  “Oh, don’t worry. I laughed him out of the building. If he’s got plans to modernize the town, I think he’s going to find it more difficult than he expects. This coffee shop is my baby, and I’m sure most of the other small business owners in town feel the same way about their own businesses; we’ll all have to stick together. Hey, there’s an idea—you could start some sort of small business club in town. I’d do it, but with the kids and all, I’m too busy.”

  “Maybe. It’s a neat idea,” Ellie said.

  “You could put something about it in the paper,” Gina said, handing Ellie her purchase. “I would love to be able to meet with all of the other small business owners around here. Let me know if you do decide to get something started.”

  “I will,” Ellie said, her mind already working on the idea. A small business club in Kittiport? It would be a wonderful way to bring the town closer together. She liked the idea a lot, but it would probably have to wait until after the pizzeria in Florida opened. Right now, all her energy was focused on that monumental task.

  A few minutes later, she pulled up alongside the curb in front of Hot Diggity Dog and shut off the engine. She glanced over at the gift basket in the passenger seat, and hoped that Joanna liked everything she had chosen. Hopefully, the woman wouldn’t be put off by her friendliness. Was it weird for her to do this?

  I’m probably just being paranoid because of everything that happened with Cheesaroni, she thought. Kittiport was a small town where everyone knew everyone else. It was perfectly normal to drop by to meet a new arrival with gifts. With any luck, the hotdog shop owner would be a perfectly nice person, someone she could have a friendly relationship with going forward.

  At least she had chosen an evening when someone was there. It would have been a letdown if, after all this shopping, she had to return home without dropping the gift basket off. The lights were on, and she could see movement through the window into the kitchen. Ellie grabbed the gift basket, then knocked on the front door. A moment later, a woman who looked to be in her early thirties came through from the kitchen and around the counter to the front door. She unlocked it and pushed it open, looking at Ellie with a puzzled expression.

  “Sorry, but we aren’t opening until next week,” she said.

  “I’m Eleanora Pacelli. I own the pizzeria shop a few blocks over. Please call me Ellie. I’m here to give you this gift basket, as a welcome to town,” she said, holding the basket out to the woman. “Everything in it is from local shops.”

  “Oh, thank you.” She took the basket then stepped back, still holding the door open. “I’m Joanna Winfield, and it’s nice to meet you. Would you like to come in?”

  The interior had been completely redone, and it no longer resembled the calzone shop in the slightest. The interior of Hot Diggity Dog was completely new and modern. The floor had been redone in pastel pink and green tiles, and there were shiny silver tables scattered throughout the room with equally shiny stools for the customers to sit on. At the raised counter, there were matching tall barstools in the same retro, space-age style. On the counter was a slim white touchscreen monitor with a built-in card reader.

  “This place looks amazing,” she said. “It’s completely transformed.”

  “Thanks. It’s been a lot of hard work. My husband does this sort of thing for a living, but he let me make all the decisions for this. I wanted to go for a modern, fun, family-friendly feel. We’re going to install a soda machine over there—one of those new ones that have over a hundred different choices of flavors—and of course we’ll have ketchup and mustard and relish in all of that along here. I’m going to have a nice old-fashioned shake machine too, but it hasn’t arrived yet. Think burger joint, but hotdogs instead of burgers.”

  “This is wonderful.” Ellie couldn’t get over how completely different the entire building looked. Joanna definitely had an eye for interior decorating.

  “Do you want to see the kitchen? We’re not quite done installing everything, but we’re getting close. I can hardly believe I’m going to be opening in a week.”

  “I’d love to,” Ellie said.

  Joanna led her into the back where Ellie admired all the shiny new appliances. For a hotdog shop, it certainly was well equipped. There was a young man on his way out the door. He paused when his boss came into the room.

  “This is Mark,” Joanna said. “He’s my first and only employee—for now, at least. About to head out, Mark?”

  “Yes ma’am,” he said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” He gave Ellie a quick wave, then vanished through the back door.

  “That walk-in freezer is what I’m most proud of,” the woman said. “It got here just a couple of days ago, and it’s the newest model there is. I’m getting the first order of meat on Wednesday, and I can’t wait to use it. Feel free to look around. I’m going to go and put this gift basket in my office, I don’t want it to get in the way of the workers. The electrician was supposed to come out, double-check everything, and make sure the circuits can take the load, but Jeb never showed up. I’ll have to talk to Steve about that, he’s worked with him for years, and he’s never just disappeared like this before.”

  She gave an exasperated sigh, and Ellie shot her a sympathetic look. She knew just how hard setting up a new restaurant could be, thanks to her experience helping Linda do the same thing down in Florida.

  As Joanna left the room with the gift basket, Ellie walked over to the steel door of the meat freezer and admired it. She could hear the gentle hum as the unit worked. Curious—she had toyed with the idea of purchasing a dedicated meat freezer for the pizzeria—she pulled the heavy door open. She was surprised to see that there was already something in it. It took her a moment to realize what she was looking at, and when she did, she gasped and stumbled back. Inside the meat cooler, leaning against the wall, was a frozen body. A human body.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  * * *

  “Are you okay?”

  It was the first thing that Russell asked her whenever he found her at the scene of a crime. Ellie nodded, still shocked by the sudden and horrible discovery that she had made. The dead man had looked a lot like Russell—tall, well built, and dark haired, and she had experienced a moment of terror before her stunned br
ain had been able to fill in the man’s other details. He had been wearing coveralls, and had a tool belt on. Joanna, responding to her scream, had identified him as the missing electrician, Jeb.

  “I’m fine,” she managed. “It was just, well, it’s not what I expected to see.” She blinked, trying to get the image of the dead man out of her mind.

  “I don’t know what happened,” Joanna moaned next to her. “How could he be in there?”

  “Did you know this man?” Russell said.

  “Yes, he worked for my husband. His name is… was Jeb Jones.”

  “I’m sorry, Ms. Winfield. I know that this is difficult for you. My deputy and I are going to go inside and see what we can learn from the crime scene. If you’ll go with Bethany, she’ll give you a ride to the sheriff’s department and set you up in an interview room with a nice warm cup of coffee while you wait. I’ll come back and question you in a little bit. Ellie, can you meet me at the station later? I’ll want to ask you some questions too.”

  Ellie hesitated, wanting to ask him if she could wait here instead. She had so many questions, but they would have to wait. “Of course,” she said at last, forcing herself to be patient.

  How had the man gotten locked in there? Had he died from the cold, or had he already been dead before being stashed in the freezer? She hadn’t seen any obvious signs of trauma, but she had only looked at the body for a few seconds. Her eyes slid over to the other woman, and she couldn’t help but wonder if Joanna had anything to do with this.

  After Russell went inside and Bethany led Joanna to the cruiser, Ellie returned to her car. Once Russell was done at the scene, he would want to talk to her, so she thought that she had better stay in town. She already had her phone out, and was dialing Shannon’s number before she had even shut the car door. Her friend was the one person that she would feel comfortable talking to all of this about. She was a reporter, but she knew how to keep a secret. She wouldn’t tell anyone until Russell was ready for the news to be released, of that Ellie was certain.

  Twenty minutes later, Ellie was sitting in her best friend’s kitchen, sipping another glass of wine while Shannon leaned against the counter, looking pale. “Oh my goodness, Ellie. That’s horrible.”

  “I know,” Ellie said. “The worst part was those few seconds I thought it might be Russell. I don’t know if I’ve ever felt so terrified in my life.”

  “I can imagine,” Shannon said. “With his job, you never know what trouble he might find himself in.” They both fell silent, and Ellie was reminded strongly of the fact that her friend was part of Russell’s family already.

  Ellie bit her lip and tried to turn her mind to something else. Thinking about the case wouldn’t do anything but worry her. She wouldn’t know anything useful until she spoke to Russell later that evening.

  “Are you and James still planning on coming to dinner tomorrow?” she asked, casting about for something else to talk about. The thought of announcing her engagement also made her stomach twist, but in a different way.

  “Of course. It will be nice to have all of us together again. I’m eager to see Bunny. How’s she doing with her broken leg?”

  “She still has her cast on, but she’s a trouper. We’re going in for a checkup next week.”

  This new subject wasn’t much better than the previous one. Four weeks ago, her papillon had had her leg broken during a confrontation with a violent killer. The little dog had been lucky to get away alive. Thankfully the vet had done a wonderful job setting the leg and expected her to make a full recovery.

  They chatted a little bit longer about inconsequential matters before Russell called Ellie’s cellphone. She promised to be right over, and stood up from her chair before she had even hung up the phone. She was glad that she would be able to talk to him at last. This was not an auspicious start to the hotdog shop’s beginning, and she hoped desperately that this would be a quick case.

  When she walked into the sheriff’s department, she was greeted by Mrs. Lafferre, the elderly receptionist. “No croissant today?” she teased as Ellie walked up to the desk.

  “Sorry, I didn’t have time to stop. I’m here to talk with Russell about the case from earlier today.”

  “He’s waiting for you. Go ahead on back, you know the way.”

  She did indeed. She never thought that she would be this familiar with a police station. The Kittiport sheriff’s department was small and cozy, nothing at all like the large industrial precinct buildings she’d driven by in Chicago. The door to Russell’s office was open welcomingly, and she let herself in. He looked up from his computer and gave her a warm smile.

  “Thanks for coming so quickly,” he said. “I’m sure you want to get home, I just have a few things that I need to go over with you.”

  “I’ll answer whatever I can,” Ellie said. “It all happened so quickly, though. I’m not sure I can be of much help.”

  “Whatever you remember is fine,” he said. “Let’s begin with what you were doing at the hotdog shop.”

  “I was bringing Joanna a gift basket,” Ellie said. “I thought it would be a nice way to welcome her to the town. Apparently, she and her husband moved here not too long ago, and I figured that she probably doesn’t know very many people yet. There was a little bit of a selfish motivation as well, since I want to make sure I have a better relationship with her than I did with Jeffrey and Xavier. I thought a gift basket would be a good way to introduce myself and to help her feel welcome here.”

  “That’s nice of you,” he said, looking up from his notes to give her a smile before continuing. “Anyway, can you tell me what happened, starting from when you arrived at the shop?”

  “Well, she invited me in and told me a little bit about the theme that she had chosen. Then we headed into the kitchen and she pointed out her new walk-in freezer, then went into her office to put the gift basket out of the way. She told me I could take a look in the freezer if I wanted to, so I did. It really is a nice model.”

  “She told you to look in the freezer?”

  “Well, not in those words, no. She said that I was welcome to take a look around. She seemed a little bit distracted, I guess.”

  “How so?”

  “Well, when she first answered the door she seemed a bit… harried, I guess. She barely looked at me, and she told me that they weren’t open until later that week, without even asking who I was. It wasn’t until after I introduced myself and told her the gift basket that she invited me in. She told me that she was about to leave for the night.”

  “Did she seem nervous to you?”

  “No, she mostly just seemed tired. You don’t think that she had anything to do with this, do you? I’d think that if she did, she would have tried harder to keep me away from the freezer.”

  “I’m still gathering information,” Russell told her. “If she did have something to do with this, she could think that having you discover the body while she was there would divert suspicion away from her. Does she have any employees yet?”

  “Yes, someone named Mark. He was on his way out when I got there. She didn’t tell you about him?”

  “She was a wreck by the time I started questioning her. I sent her home and told her I’d see her some time tomorrow.”

  “That poor woman. Do you think she’ll still be able to open Hot Diggity Dog like she plans to?”

  “I have no reason to stop her, but I don’t know if she’ll be up to it on a personal level. It’s going to be a difficult decision to make. It might be best if she decides to delay the opening.”

  “What about the victim?” Ellie asked. “Did you learn anything about him? Was it an accident, or…?”

  “I’m almost positive it wasn’t an accident. There was blunt trauma to the back of the head, and his body was moved after the blow was struck. We’re looking at a homicide here. I’d appreciate it if you don’t mention his name to anyone else, I haven’t notified his family yet. He has a wife and two children.”

  El
lie heard the pain in Russell’s voice, and bit her lip. This was the hardest part of his job, no doubt about it. She admired his strength, even though her heart ached for him. She would never be able to call a victim’s family with the sort of news that Jeb’s wife was about to get. She didn’t know how Russell managed, but she loved him all the more for it.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  * * *

  Despite everything that happened the day before, Ellie’s thoughts focused not on the murder, but on the upcoming dinner. She hadn’t told anyone about her and Russell’s engagement yet, and she didn’t know what to expect when she came out with the news. She hoped that Shannon wouldn’t feel betrayed that she hadn’t told her first. Hopefully they would all understand that after the way her last engagement had ended, she had needed some time before making this one public.

  She had already set the table in the formal dining room, and shut the door firmly to keep Bunny out. She had double- and triple-checked that her engagement ring was still in its box in her purse. She was planning on putting it on just before they all sat down to eat.

  Ellie was nervous, but cooking helped her forget that, for a little while at least. She was making lobster Alfredo pasta, a fresh green salad from the produce she had picked up from the farmer’s market the day before, homemade blueberry vinaigrette dressing, dinner rolls from one of her grandmother’s old recipes, and for dessert, a batch of chocolate walnut brownies with caramel drizzled over the top.

  It wasn’t long before the kitchen was filled with scents that set Ellie’s stomach growling. She hadn’t eaten much that day, and the day before all she’d had was pizza. Day in and day out, the savory pies were always on her mind. It was a nice break to make something else, especially something she hadn’t made before.