Classic Crust Murder Read online

She didn't know how long she sat there for but came to her senses once her phone started to ring. She sorted through her purse, pulling it out and sliding the bar across to answer.

  “Hello?”

  “Ellie, it's me,” she heard Russell say. “Are you all right? Liam just told me.”

  “I'm okay,” Ellie said. “Not quite all right, but better than Andy is. Better than her family is.”

  “I'm sorry,” her husband said softly. “It's hard, I know. I'm on my way to pick up Rose now, Liam wants to bring her in for questioning. I'm going to be out late. Are you going to be okay at home? Should you go over to Shannon's?”

  “I'll be okay here,” she told him. “I need to clean and get ready for my grandmother's arrival. Her room is all dusty.”

  “Ellie…”

  “I'll be okay, Russell,” she told him. “I don't want you to worry about me. Just do your job and catch whoever did this. The sooner they’re in jail, the sooner the rest of us will be able to relax.”

  She got up, disentangling herself from the dogs. She was glad that Russell had called. She had needed something to snap her out of her misery. Maybe Rose will confess, she thought darkly.

  She still didn't want to believe that her employee could have had anything to do with this. If she was innocent, then Ellie knew that Russell bringing her in for questioning would only worsen the relationship between the two of them. Rose already thought that Ellie didn't like her, and now with Ellie's husband taking her to the sheriff's department for interrogation, she was sure to be even more upset.

  How had things gotten this bad? She should have explained everything to Rose a long time ago. She shouldn't have surprised Rose with Jacob's promotion without talking to her first. She hadn't treated Rose fairly; even though Rose probably wasn't going to make a career out of working in a restaurant, she obviously still cared about the pizzeria, and often went above and beyond to do her job.

  “If Rose killed her, then this is all my fault,” Ellie said out loud as she walked through the dark hallway to the kitchen. “I'm the one that made her feel this way. I'm the one that drove her to do something drastic.”

  She knew that wasn't quite true. Killing someone because you didn't get the promotion that you wanted wasn't the way a normal person would handle disappointment. If Rose had done this, then Ellie knew that meant there was already something dark and twisted inside of the young woman. Still, there was no denying the fact that the crime had happened on her property, and her employee was the lead suspect.

  She pulled open the pantry, where the cleaning supplies were kept. She pulled out a feather duster and made her way to her grandmother's bedroom, which hadn't been used since the wedding. She flicked on the lights and looked around, breathing in the familiar scent. There was a light layer of dust all over everything, and she started cleaning. The act of cleaning made her feel a bit better, as did the thought that Nonna would be home soon. It would be good to have her back. She missed the older woman's guidance and companionship. Besides, she couldn't wait to hear what her grandmother had to say about the house.

  The house. Ellie felt a surge of excitement, then felt guilty for it. She shouldn't be excited about the house, not now, not when someone had just died. What was wrong with her? She was just as much of a monster as whoever had killed Andy was.

  With a sigh, she returned the feather duster to its spot and began stripping the blankets off of the bed. She wanted to wash them, vacuum the carpet, and clean the windows and vanity mirror before going to bed that night. Keeping busy would be better for her, and the work simply needed to be done.

  She wanted her grandmother's return to be pleasant as possible and knew that the other woman would probably miss her nice, modern condo no matter how happy she was to be home. Even in summer, Kittiport was never as sunny and cheerful as Florida was. Some part of her was worried that if her grandmother didn't find things nice enough on her return, she might decide to stay in Florida year-round, and Ellie hated the thought of having one of her closest family members living across the country permanently.

  Ellie had just started the washing machine when her phone rang again. It was Joanna, her friend who owned the hotdog shop in town. She answered it and was shocked to hear that the other woman was crying.

  “Ellie, did you hear?” Joanna said. With a jolt, Ellie realized that she was talking about Andy.

  “I heard,” she said.

  “It's terrible, isn't it? I can't believe it. She's gone. Just like that.”

  “I know.” Ellie felt her own throat thicken with tears. “How did you find out?”

  “Shannon called me. I should have figured that if she knew, then you would as well.”

  “I should probably call the others in the small business club,” Ellie said reluctantly. They had a right to know.

  “We should do something for her,” Joanna said. “For her memory.”

  “You're right,” Ellie said. “Give me a day or two. I'll come up with something.”

  She hung up the phone, feeling forlorn. Andy was dead, her own employee might have killed her, and now Ellie had the feeling that she had just promised to plan a memorial for the other woman. Why did it seem that no matter what she did, she kept getting dragged into this case?

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  * * *

  When all was said and done, Ellie had to admit that she found planning the memorial for Andy cathartic. She hadn't known the other woman for long, but she had somehow found herself the leader of a small group of business minded people in Kittiport. These people were the ones who were the most active in the community, and many of them had known Andy outside of the small business meetings. They all wanted a chance to pay their respects.

  That evening, she sent out emails to the group telling them that she was going to reserve the community center for the following Saturday and would be hosting a memorial for Andy there. She told them that anyone who wanted to come was welcome to. She offered to bring pizza and mentioned that she thought it would be nice if each of them brought a token of something that their businesses produced as well.

  She paused in her planning when Russell got home, pushing thoughts of flowers, decorations, and what she was going to say aside to focus on her husband.

  “What did Rose say?” she asked as he walked in the door.

  “I really shouldn't tell you the details, but she didn't say anything that leads me to believe that she is the one responsible for Andy's death,” he told her. “I know you're worried about this, Ellie. We'll get to the bottom of it. Right now, Rose is not looking like a suspect. The only evidence we have against her is circumstantial. Please keep that in mind.”

  Ellie sighed, feeling only marginally better. She didn't want Rose to be the one responsible for the other woman's death, but if she wasn't, then that meant the killer was out there somewhere, and they had no leads. It made her angry that someone could just get away with something like this.

  Someone should do something about it, she thought. She realized that someone was; the man upstairs, getting changed in their bedroom, was the one responsible for solving Andy's murder. She forced herself to pull back her temper. She knew that Russell was doing everything he could. He wanted to solve this crime just as much as Ellie did, if not more. It was his job, after all. She didn't want to blame the police like Andy's fiancé had. She saw firsthand just how hard Russell worked at everything. It wasn't easy, she knew. He always tried his best.

  The next couple of days passed quickly. Since the pizzeria was still shut down, Ellie busied herself in preparing for the memorial. Somehow, the whole thing had snowballed further than she had expected, and it had morphed into a much bigger get-together than she had planned. She spent Friday evening decorating the community center, putting pure white tablecloths on the long tables, setting up electric candles and fresh wreaths of flowers that the florist had donated for the cause, and placing pictures of Andy that she had gotten from her parents all around the room.

  They were gathering condolence cards on one of the tables, and all of the food and other items that she and the other business owners are donating were going to be sent on to Andy's family. Ellie couldn't even pretend that she knew what the parents were going through. She didn't have a daughter, but she was married, and she could put herself in Andy's fiancé's shoes and understand how utterly lost he must be right now.

  Joanna was the first one there when the doors opened in the morning. The hotdog shop owner came directly over to her and gave her a hug. “I'm so sorry,” she told Ellie.

  “Why are you sorry?” Ellie asked.

  “Because I know how terrible you must be feeling. We all know what happened at the pizzeria. No one blames you, though. We all feel just horrible about it. Poor Andy. She seemed so nice.”

  “She didn't deserve this,” Ellie said.

  “No, she didn't.”

  Joanna walked over to the table where Ellie had set up a box for cards and slipped her own condolences inside. Other people began arriving, and Ellie walked around, feeling out of her depth. She still wasn't sure why she had agreed to this. She had simply thought it was important that they all get together and share their own memories of Andy, but somehow the rest of the town seemed to have heard about it, and she didn't have the heart to turn anyone away. If people wanted to remember the bright, happy young woman who had passed away, who was she to stop them?

  She was surprised when Russell made an appearance shortly before noon. She knew that he was busy working on the case, and she hadn't expected to see him there.

  “How are you doing?” he asked, giving her a tight hug.

  “I'm not doing too badly,” she said. “How's the case?”

  “Nothing new,” he said. “I just came here to say hi and give my support. This is quite the turnout. A lot of people must have really liked her.”

  “Yeah, I think they really did,” she said. “She was just… nice. The community is going to miss her.”

  “It was kind of you to do this,” he said. “I'm sure it will mean a lot to her family. Eventually, at least.”

  She nodded. “I should go, Shannon just walked in. I had no idea that she was even going to come.”

  “Okay. I'll get back to work.” He paused to give her a quick kiss.

  “Thank you, Ellie,” he said.

  “For what?”

  “For being so strong.”

  Ellie could tell that Shannon was tired, but her best friend still stayed at the memorial for nearly an hour. She was on her way out when Ellie saw two people that she recognized coming in. It was Jessie and Lola, Andy's sister and her best friend.

  Bracing herself, Ellie made her way toward them. She could tell that they both had been crying.

  “I'm so sorry for your loss,” she said to them. “I wish there was something more I could do.”

  “Thank you for this,” Lola said. “I think she would have liked it. She always liked it when the community came together.”

  “Yeah, she would have,” Andy's sister said. “My parents wanted to come, but…” She shook her head.

  “I understand,” Ellie said. “It's all right. We'll send them the cards, and just let them know that we are all thinking of them.”

  The other woman nodded. “I just… I can't believe that she's gone, you know? It doesn't seem real. It all just happened so fast.”

  “I know.” Ellie shuddered. One moment, they had all been happy and enjoying what had been a fun morning making pizzas together, and the next, so many lives had been changed forever. “How is her fiancé doing?”

  “He's getting by, barely,” Lola said. “It's just going to take some time.”

  “I'm sure it will. If any of you need anything, well, I hope you know that you can reach out.”

  “Thank you.”

  Ellie walked away, leaving them to look at the photos of Andy by themselves. She felt that she should have said something more, but she didn't think that there were any words for this sort of situation.

  CHAPTER NINE

  * * *

  “Today's the day.”

  Ellie stared at the brick house, not sure what to say. She could hardly believe that this was happening. She and her husband were buying a house together, and it was just perfect.

  “It all happened so quickly,” she murmured.

  “I know. I think the owner hurried things along a little because of everything that happened.”

  Ellie would rather not think of that, so she didn't comment on it. She knew as well as anyone, and better than anyone, besides the man standing beside her, what had happened in that house.

  “He's here,” she said. They had been watching the neighbor’s driveway, and a car had just pulled in.

  “Let's go over,” he said, taking her hand. “Just think, in a few minutes, it will be ours.”

  They knocked on the front door, for what Ellie realized would probably be the last time. After a moment, she heard footsteps, and the door was pulled open. She found herself looking into the face of the house’s owner. He was an older man, slightly stooped, who smiled when he saw them.

  “Come on in,” he said. “Welcome home, I suppose I should say.”

  She smiled. “That's right. This is going to be home for us.”

  She looked around. Most of the furniture had been moved out, and all of the small possessions and knickknacks from the previous tenant were gone. The house looked oddly empty, but it was encouraging. She and Russell could make it their own this way.

  “The agent is in the kitchen already,” the man said. “Are you ready?”

  Russell nodded his assent. They followed Mr. Brown down the hall to the kitchen, where they found the young male real estate agent who had taken over from his coworker sitting at the table.

  “Everything should be in order,” the young man said. “You'll just need to sign a couple of places to finalize it, then the keys will be yours. Everything else went through smoothly.”

  “Great,” Ellie said, grinning. She sat down next to Russell at the table and read the papers over his shoulder, initialing next to his name on the dotted lines. At last, they reached the last paper and she realized that was it. The house was theirs. She looked around, but it didn't look any different. She supposed it would take her a while to feel at home there.

  “Here are the keys,” Mr. Brown said, his hand shaking slightly as he handed them over. “I've got to admit, this is a bittersweet moment. I know it seems silly, but I'm glad the house went to you two. I know you'll take care of it.”

  “I don't think it's silly at all,” Ellie said. “Thank you.”

  He nodded, then gestured to the real estate agent. “I guess that's it for us. We should give them space to settle in.”

  The agent nodded. He peeled the carbon copies off of the backs of some of the pages and left them on the table in a folder. “If you have any questions, you have my card. It's been a pleasure doing business with you.”

  After they left, Ellie spun, gazing at the kitchen. It still didn't feel real, and she didn't know what would make it feel like less of a dream. Russell seemed to be sharing her thoughts.

  “Should we bring the dogs over?” he suggested. That sounded like a good idea, and Ellie agreed with him.

  A few minutes later, they had Sawyer and Bunny on leashes in the house and were letting the dogs explore their new home. Of course, it would be a while before they actually moved in. She and Russell still had to buy new furniture, and they would be staying at Nonna’s part-time until the older woman got back, so the house wouldn't feel empty on her return.

  “We should install the intercom system first thing,” she said. “I don't want Nonna to think we’re abandoning her.”

  “We will as soon as it gets here,” her husband said. “I did some research and ordered what should be a good one.”

  Ellie nodded, feeling a bit better. She knew that she shouldn't feel guilty for moving out of her grandmother's house, but nonetheless, she felt it. Were they right to keep the truth from the older woman? She had thought that the new house would be a nice surprise for her, but now she wasn't so sure.

  “Do you think we should tell her before she gets back?” she asked out loud.

  “That's up to you, Ellie,” Russell said. “She's your grandmother. You know her best.”

  The pizzeria owner sighed. While what Russell was saying was correct, it wasn't exactly the help that she had hoped for.

  “I think I'm going to drop by Shannon's later today,” she said. “I want to share the good news with her, at least, and maybe she can help me figure out what to tell my grandmother.”

  “Wait, before you go,” he said. “I have to tell you something.”