Halloween Pizza Murder (Papa Pacelli's Pizzeria Series Book 18) Read online

  “Ellie was there?”

  “Yeah, she met me for lunch.”

  He frowned. How did his fiancé keep getting involved in these situations? She was like a magnet for danger. He was already concerned that the attack had happened so close to her home. Now, it turned out that she had been there when the man who might be their only suspect had been connected to the murder. That would put her on Steve’s radar, and that wasn’t a good thing.

  “What’s with the look on your face?” his sister-in-law asked.

  “I just don’t like how connected Ellie is to this case,” he said. “First, she swears that she saw this woman last night, and now she’s there when you link Steve to the victim. She lives a quarter of a mile away from where this woman was attacked. I’m worried about her.”

  “What do you mean, she saw the woman last night? James told me that she had already been dead for forty-eight hours when you found her.”

  He mentally kicked herself for mentioning his fiancée’s experience the night before. She must have had a reason to not tell Shannon. He shouldn’t have brought it up.

  “We’re still trying to figure out what’s going on,” he said. “If you get a chance to talk to her again, see how she’s doing. I hope she knows to call me if she needs anything.”

  “I’m sure she will,” Shannon said. “We didn’t get much of a chance to talk about what happened. We had lunch with Steve and Joanna, then I left to come straight here. I’m supposed to be getting a statement from you about the murder for the paper.”

  He chuckled. “They always send you when they want something from me, don’t they? I suppose they think you’ll have a better chance than someone else would at getting information out of me.”

  “It works, doesn’t it? You can’t say no to your sister-in-law, especially not when she’s pregnant.”

  “Well, it won’t work this time. There just isn’t much that we know. We’re keeping some things quiet, of course. I can tell you that she was found in the state park after what appears to be a violent attack. She had already been dead for some time when she was found. Her identity has yet to be confirmed, and right now we’re treating the case as a homicide.”

  He watched as she scribbled in her notebook. “Is that all? Any idea what the murder weapon was?”

  “We have some idea, but it’s one of the things I want to keep away from the general public while the investigation is ongoing. And Shannon, please don’t mention the link between her and Steve. I don’t want to cause any more trouble than is necessary.”

  “Understood,” she said. “Thanks for seeing me. I need to be getting back home so I can type all of this up and send it in.”

  “Have a good day,” he said. “I’ll see you and James later. Don’t work too hard. Take care of yourself.”

  “I will,” she promised with a smile. “See you later.”

  Russell watched her go, feeling tired. The weeks leading up to Halloween were busy enough without a murder to solve. He wished he knew what was going on. Ellie’s involvement concerned him deeply, but what could he do about it? They simply didn’t have the manpower for him to have someone watch her house every night. She was adamant that she had seen the woman on her patio, and even though he knew it was impossible, the thought chilled him. He knew that she would never make something like that up, but dead people generally didn’t walk around.

  He decided that he had had enough of sitting in his office for the day. It was time to go out and do some real investigating.

  He started where the body had been found. The state park’s trails were long and twisting, and it was easy to get lost there without a map. He wondered, not for the first time, what the victim had been doing out there in a white dress. It wasn’t the sort of thing most people would wear for a hike through the forest.

  He had tasked Liam with confirming her identity, and if his deputy confirmed that she was indeed Melanie Boardman, they would at least be on the first step to solving her death.

  As he neared the area in which her body had been found, he slowed down, scanning the forest floor for anything that might possibly be evidence. His deputies had already combed through the forest that morning, but there was always the chance that they might have missed something. He was well aware that he was close to Ellie’s house, and remembering what she had said about seeing the woman in white the night before, he began heading that way.

  The path that he was following curved in a different direction, and he was faced with the decision of whether to follow it, or head straight through to the forest. He almost turned back, but then he saw a scrap of white caught on a branch a little way ahead. He pushed through the underbrush and grabbed it off of the tree. He couldn’t tell for sure if it was the same fabric as the victim’s dress, but he thought it might be. He tucked it into a baggie and put it in his pocket. He had his first piece of evidence.

  He continued walking through the trees, moving more slowly now and keeping his eyes peeled for any other shreds of fabric that might have been left behind. What was this doing all the way out here? he wondered. They had determined that the victim had come from the opposite direction. So why was a shred of her clothing hanging off of one of the trees heading toward Ellie’s house?

  The forest seemed to clear ahead, and he realized that he was approaching the edge and nearing Ellie’s backyard. He hadn’t found anything else, and was beginning to wonder if the piece of fabric had been a fluke. It could have been anything, really. Sadly, littering was a problem in the park. People brought plenty of trash in, but didn’t take it back out with them.

  He reached the edge of the forest and was about to turn around and head back when something in the dirt just before the grass lawn began caught his eye. It was the back half of a footprint, where the person’s heel had made an indent in the dirt.

  He took his cell phone out of his pocket and took a photo of it before marking the area with some yellow tape so they would be able to find it more easily later. He felt the hair on the back of his neck rise. Maybe Ellie hadn’t been seeing things. Maybe someone really had visited her yard last night.

  CHAPTER SIX

  * * *

  After her lunch with Shannon, Ellie went home. Spending time with her friends had made her feel a lot better, and she realized that there was no point in avoiding her house. The windows and doors all had secure locks, and she would be able to tell if someone had been inside. Besides, her animals needed her. She had the day off of work, and she should spend some time with them.

  When she got home, Bunny was ecstatic to see her. The little dog jumped up and down, barking excitedly. Ellie took off her jacket and her shoes, then bent down to pet her. The papillon and had been with her through a lot, and she was grateful for the little dog’s constant companionship.

  “Hey, you,” she said, scratching the dog behind the ears. “Do you want to go on a walk later? Give me an hour or two, then we’ll go out.”

  With the dog following her, she went into the other room and opened Marlowe’s cage. She let the macaw climb onto her arm, then carried the bird to her grandfather’s office, where a large wooden tree stood by the window. The bird stepped onto her perch and climbed across the branches to look out the window. Ellie smiled. It was good to see Marlowe so happy. While Bunny had been happy to spend time with Shannon and Russell while they had been watching her, the bird wasn’t as trusting of other people. She had spent most of the time while Ellie was in Florida locked in her cage, for her own safety and the safety of the people that had been caring for her.

  “I’ll be right back,” she said. “I’m going to go get my laptop, and see how things are going at the other pizzeria.”

  She went upstairs to where her laptop was still packed in her suitcase. The sight of all of her clothes still neatly folded inside reminded her that she still needed to unpack. She would get to it that evening. It would be nice to have the rest of the day to catch up.

  She returned downstairs and turned on her computer, goin
g into her email account. Linda had been sending her daily updates since she had left, and she read through them eagerly. The pizzeria was doing well, just as she had hoped. They were already looking into hiring another employee. Ellie had underestimated how busy it would be, which was a good thing, but meant that Linda, Sandra, and Maria all had their work cut out for them.

  After emailing her friend back, congratulating her on a job well done, Ellie began to browse for local venues for the wedding. Her original idea had been to use the community center, but she thought that she might as well see what else was out there. There were a couple of places that advertised outdoor locations for weddings, but it wouldn’t be warm enough that early in Maine to have an outdoor wedding.

  She also didn’t want to have to travel too far. She wanted this to be a small affair, with just family and friends. Kittiport was her home, and that was where she wanted to get married. She decided to just check out the community center later. She would have to see how much it would cost to rent it for a day, and what dates they had available next year. When she had a couple of possibilities, she would see what Russell thought. He would have to see when his parents could travel to town the easiest.

  She bit her lip, realizing that her wedding meant an invitation for her mom to travel back to Kittiport. She hadn’t seen her mother since she had moved away from Chicago, and even when she had lived in the same city as the other woman, they had often gone weeks or months without speaking. She hadn’t even mentioned her engagement to her mother yet. She knew that she wouldn’t approve of her getting engaged so soon after things had blown up with her last fiancé, and Ellie just hadn’t been in the mood to hear about it. However, the time was coming when she would have to break the news.

  With a sigh, she shut her computer. She didn’t have to deal with that today. Right now, she would fulfill her promise to Bunny and take the little dog on a nice, leisurely walk before heading back into town to see what the availability of the community center was early next year.

  Before leaving for their walk, she let Bunny out the back door so that she could go to the bathroom if she had to. She stood on the patio, watching while the dog sniffed the grass. Suddenly, she saw Bunny’s ears perk up, and the papillon looked toward the forest. Ellie followed the dog’s gaze, but didn’t see anything. The dog’s tail began to wag, but she didn’t bark.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  The dog ignored her, but resumed sniffing the grass again a moment later. Ellie gazed at the forest, then frowned. She saw something yellow at the edge of her yard and sighed. Some trash had probably blown over there. She would have to pick it up later.

  Remembering how viciously the dog had barked at the woman the night before, she figured it couldn’t be anything too dangerous. More likely than not, the papillon had simply seen a squirrel.

  They went back inside and she clipped the dog’s leash onto her collar. She put on her shoes and pulled on her jacket, then they left through the front door. They turned to the left at the end of the driveway, taking their usual route along the coastal road that led away from town. With the forest on one side and the ocean on the other, it was a very scenic walk. The wind picked at her sleeves, but between her jacket and her sweater, she was warm enough to stay comfortable.

  It was hard to imagine that on the other side of the country, her grandmother was enjoying the warm, sunny weather of Florida. “I hope she’s happy,” she said. “I bet you miss her, don’t you?”

  Bunny was too intent on sniffing alongside the road to even look up at her. Ellie sighed and looked up at the sky. It was still gray, but it was gradually starting to clear. She inhaled deeply, appreciating the autumn scent of dry leaves. Florida might be warm, but nothing beat home.

  After twenty minutes, she was about to suggest that they turn around, when Bunny’s ears perked up again and she looked towards the trees. Ellie stopped mid-step and followed the dog’s gaze. This time the papillon’s tail wasn’t wagging. In fact, Ellie could hear a low growl coming from the dog’s throat.

  Ellie reached for her phone in her pocket and wrapped her fingers around it. She didn’t know if she would need it, but she wanted it handy just in case.

  Suddenly she saw something through the trees. A flash of white. Ellie felt her heart began to pound. She saw movement again. It was definitely a person, moving away from her and deeper into the woods.

  She took her cell phone out and took a picture, and by the time she lowered the device, the person was gone.

  “I know I’m not hallucinating that,” she said to her dog. “And I have a picture to prove it. Now, should we head back?”

  If she was braver, she might head into the woods after the person, but she wasn’t eager to put herself in danger without a good reason. Besides, it had probably just been a hiker, or someone who had gotten lost on one of the trails. Russell was right. Dead people didn’t walk around.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  * * *

  After getting back to the house and drying off her dog’s muddy feet, Ellie took a seat in the kitchen and looked at the photo she had taken with her phone. The quality wasn’t the best, but what she could see was chilling. The picture showed a grainy image of someone wearing white, hurrying through the woods. Ellie could see a smudge of dark hair, but not much else. It was impossible to tell for sure whether it was the same woman that she had seen before, but she would be willing to bet on it.

  She sent a photo in a text message to Russell, then forced herself to take her mind from the subject. Yes, it was disconcerting, but there wasn’t anything that she could do about it now. What she could do was make arrangements for her wedding, she might as well take advantage of her free time to do so now.

  She drove back into town, this time on a mission to go to the community center instead of on her way to work. She had called ahead, and the person that she wanted to see was available. Dan Asado was the man in charge of renting out portions of the community center. Ellie had met him a couple of times before, and was hopeful that he would be able to give her a good deal.

  “Hi, Dan,” she said when she got out of her car. He was standing in front of the building, waiting for her. “Thanks for meeting me on such short notice.”

  “No problem,” he said. “I’m always happy to do a favor for a friend of the sheriff’s.”

  “That’s actually what I’m here about,” she said. “I need a venue for our wedding, and this is the first place that popped into my head.”

  “Congratulations. Russell’s a lucky man. How soon are you hoping to get married?”

  “I was hoping to look at dates for some time early next year, late winter.”

  “Well, come on in. We’ll take a look at the calendar. Do you know what day of the week you would want it to be on?”

  “I’m not sure yet. I figured I would look at some of the dates you have available, and go talk to Russell about them before getting back to you. We will need to figure things out with our families as well, of course.”

  “Of course. The office is right this way.”

  Ellie followed him down a hall she had never been down before to a small room in the back corner of the building. “Wow, you have the main rooms nicely decorated,” she said. “Is there something planned for Halloween?”

  “We are having an indoor trick-or-treating party for some of the younger kids in town,” he said. “It’s supposed to be pretty cold the night of Halloween, and some of the parents thought that this would be a better alternative for the youngest kids.”

  “That’s a great idea,” she said.

  “Here’s the calendar. Let me see… how early in the year were you thinking?”

  “Sometime in the second half of February or first half of March would be perfect,” she said. She wanted to spend some time married to Russell before her grandmother returned. It would be nice to have the house to themselves for a few weeks.

  “Okay. You’re in luck. We are pretty open for those weeks. Here’s what we have.” />
  “Do you mind if I take a photo of the schedule? I want to show Russell and see what works best for him.”

  “Be my guest,” he said.

  “Thanks. I’ll get back to you as soon as I know.”

  After she was done at the community center, she headed straight to the sheriff’s department to talk to Russell. It felt good to be finally making some progress towards their wedding. With a dress and soon a location, they would be well on their way to actually getting married.

  “It’s just me again,” she said, knocking at his office door and walking in.

  “Is everything okay?” he asked, looking up from his desk. He was wearing a jacket, which he hadn’t been wearing before, and his car keys were sitting in front of him along with a spread of files.