Chicken Alfredo Murder Read online

  Chapter Eight

  Her sleep was restless that night, completely opposite from the wonderful, refreshing sleep she had gotten the night before. Whenever she drifted off, scenes of her grandmother in place of the faceless victim came to mind. She checked her phone sporadically throughout the night, convinced that she was going to get a call from the police. She should have insisted on having Nonna stay at the hotel, or should have at least spent the night at her grandmother’s condo herself, but she hadn’t wanted to step on the older woman’s toes. She knew how much her grandmother valued her freedom, and she didn’t think Nonna would welcome being treated like a child.

  Still, the murder did not seem like a good omen for the beginning of her grandmother’s stay in Florida. Ellie had been so drawn in by the beautiful scenery, wonderful food, and amazing variety of things to do that she had forgotten that they were on the edge of a major city with a much higher crime rate than Kittiport. She knew that the retirement community was supposed to be relatively safe, but this murder proved that terrible things could happen anywhere.

  She gave up trying to sleep at around seven that morning and took a trip down to the breakfast bar with her laptop and cell phone, intending to catch up with people back home. The first thing she did was to check her emails and make sure that everything was going smoothly at the Kittiport pizzeria. Once the clock told her it was eight, she decided Russell would probably be awake and called him. She had spoken to him briefly the day before, but hadn’t had a chance to update him on what had happened.

  He was just as unhappy to hear about the murder as she had expected. “I should have come with you,” he said. “Remember what happened last time you and your grandmother went on a trip alone? How is it that the two of you always seem to stumble into some sort of trouble?”

  “I guess it’s just something that the Pacelli woman are good at,” she said. “Russell, don’t worry. It has nothing to do with us.”

  She was surprised as soon as the words left her mouth. She had spent all night worrying about her grandmother being hurt after witnessing the crime, and now here she was arguing on the opposite side of things. She hated being a hypocrite, but maybe it was just a knee-jerk reaction whenever somebody expressed their worry. It was almost automatic to assure them that everything was fine.

  “Your grandmother called the police and found the body,” Russell said. “I think you’re involved whether you want to be or not.”

  Once again, she was struck by how completely her position was reversed. Russell sounded like her talking to her grandmother that she might be in danger the day before, and now she sounded like her grandmother saying that everything was fine.

  “She promised she would stay out of it,” Ellie said, only realizing a moment later that her grandmother hadn’t actually promised any such thing.

  “Do you want me to see if I can get Liam to cover for me for a few days and come down there myself? I’m going to worry about you if I’m stuck here.”

  “I’ll be fine,” she promised. “I’m staying at a hotel, remember? It’s my grandmother I’m worried about.”

  “Both of you should be careful,” he said. She heard him sigh, then he apparently decided to change the subject. “So, how do you like the hotel? I remember when you showed it to me online. It looked nice.”

  “It really is,” she said. She went on to tell him about the gorgeous fish tank in the lobby, the spa that she and Linda had spent the day at yesterday, and how much she loved her suite.

  “You and I should take a trip together to somewhere like this,” she said. “There’s no reason that the only time we get go away together just for fun should be on our honeymoon. Do you think you can get some time off next year?”

  “I should be able to,” he said. “You should look into a few places in figure out where you want to go.”

  Ellie grinned. A vacation with her husband sounded wonderful to her. She was glad that he was so on board with it.

  “What are your plans for today?” he asked.

  “I’m going to spend some time with Nonna. I think we’re going to head to the store and make lunch together. She wanted to pick up a grill and see if she could find one of those big umbrellas for her outdoor table. It will be easier for her if we buy all of the big things she needs before I leave. That way she won’t have to try to fit anything oversized into a taxi.”

  “That sounds like a good idea,” Russell said. “Have fun. Let me know if you hear anything else about the murder. Keep yourself safe, all right?”

  “I will,” she promised. “You stay safe too. You’re the one with a dangerous job.”

  “You’re the one with a dangerous grandmother,” he joked.

  Laughing, she said her goodbyes and hung up the phone. She felt better after talking to Russell. Her own responses to his concern helped to reassure her that she had simply been overreacting the day before. Chances were, she and her grandmother would be perfectly safe, and the murderer would be caught soon, or failing that, he was already out of the country. She still had most of her vacation to look forward to, and she couldn’t see any reason to let one incident, no matter how terrible, wreck it.

  Ellie spent the later part of the morning hitting various stores with her grandmother. They went to an interior decoration store where picked up small things like nicer wastebaskets, a shower caddy, and a few fake plants, an outdoor garden supply store were her grandmother bought a charcoal grill, some easy light charcoal, and a big, brightly colored umbrella to put on her outdoor table. She also grabbed a stone alligator to put in her front yard. Ellie joked that she should get pink flamingos instead. Her suggestion was met with a glare.

  Their last stop was the grocery store to pick things up for lunch. They were both in the mood for seafood, so they hit the butcher’s counter and picked up fresh scallops, along with rice, and a few herbs and other items to make a lovely lunch for the two of them.

  Back at the condo, Ellie helped her grandmother set up the new things she had bought. She was glad that Nonna was making the condo feel more and more like home. Her grandmother had finished unpacking that morning, and now with the new additions, the condo was beginning to take on a personality of its own.

  “You know, you could rent a storage unit down here to keep these things in when you come back to Maine,” Ellie suggested.

  “That’s a good idea,” Nonna said. She hesitated for a second, biting her lip.

  “What is it?” Ellie asked, worried for a moment that her grandmother was going to say that she had decided to make the move permanent and wouldn’t be coming back to Maine after all.

  “I was thinking… maybe I could get a dog.”

  The pizzeria owner blinked. She hadn’t expected that at all, but it made sense when she thought about it. Nonna had lived with Ellie, Bunny, and later, Sawyer for a long time, and before that she had had the companionship of Marlowe, the greenwing macaw. Now, she lived in her home all alone. Ellie was sure it must be lonely.

  “I think that’s a lovely idea,” Ellie said.

  “I’m just not sure what I would do about traveling back and forth to Florida like this with a dog. I don’t want to have to send it back and forth with the cargo, but I don’t think they let animals ride up front with you in the plane.”

  “I think some airlines allow it with small dogs as long as they stay in their carriers the whole time. We can look into it. Is there a specific breed you want?”

  “I know I want a small dog. I’d like to rescue one, I think. An older dog, maybe, who doesn’t have anyone else to take care of it. I feel like I got a second chance at life when I decided to move down to Florida for six months out of the year, and I want to give that same chance to a little dog.”

  “That’s lovely,” Ellie said. “Tell you what, I’ll do some more research about traveling with small dogs and you talk to the people who own the condo and make sure it would be okay, then if you’re sure, we can start visiting some shelters while I’m here. I know I’d feel a lot better with you having a dog, even if it’s a small one.”

  Her grandmother smiled at her, then turned to begin unpacking the food. Ellie was already making a mental list of everything her grandmother would need to buy for a dog, completely enamored with the idea.

  They made lunch together. Nonna got the rice started, while Ellie went outside to put the asparagus on the grill. She had always loved the smoky taste of grilled vegetables, and asparagus was no exception. The scallops they would cook last. They cooked quickly, and always got a little bit rubbery if reheated.

  Once the asparagus was on the grill, she went back inside and began chopping up green onions, garlic, and some fresh cilantro to top the dish with. Once the rice was just about done, she slipped back outside to check on the asparagus. It was coming along nicely, which meant that it was time to start the scallops.

  She was turning to go inside when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. In the window of the neighbor’s house was a shadowed figure. She frowned, staring at the window and shading her eyes, the recent murder making her more paranoid than usual.

  The figure turned just so, and all of a sudden, she realized that she was looking at a person in a ski mask. Her heart began to beat a little bit faster. Was this the killer? Was Kris in danger? No – Kris wasn’t home. She remembered noticing that the car wasn’t in the driveway after her grandmother wondered aloud if they should invite her over for lunch.

  Still, whatever this person was doing inside the house couldn’t possibly be good. Hoping that he or she hadn’t seen her, she slipped back into the kitchen and tapped her grandmother on the shoulder.

  “I think someone broke into Kris’s house,” she said. “What should we do? Should we call the police?”

  Her grandmother’s eyes widened. “I’ll get the phone. She’s lucky she’s not home right now. Oh, Ellie, what if this is the killer?”

  Ellie’s mind had gone to the same place, and she grimaced. It looked like her original worries may have been founded after all. If whoever had killed Trixie was still around, then anyone who lived in the community might be in danger.

  Chapter Nine

  The police responded quickly – thanks to the murder, they already had extra units in the area. Ellie and Nonna were instructed to wait inside, which they did even though both of them were itching to go outside and keep an eye out for the mysterious person in the ski mask.

  As soon as they got off the phone with the police, they called Kris as well and she told them that she was coming back home right away. She arrived moments after the police got there to hand over the keys and give them permission to search the house. It was a tense few minutes, with Ellie and Nonna watching out the window and Kris standing back by the cruisers, looking nervous.

  When the police officers came back out, shaking their heads, Ellie didn’t know whether to feel relieved or disappointed. An officer walked across the lawn to knock on their door and the two of them went outside to begin answering questions.

  By the time they were done, Ellie wasn’t sure whether the police believed them or not. She had a suspicion that the younger of the two officers thought that she might have been seeing things, what with all of the tension from the recent murder. Kris, however, didn’t have any doubts that she had seen what she said she saw. She called her grandson as soon as the police finished questioning her about whether anything was missing, and he arrived shortly after the police left.

  “I can’t believe someone was in my house,” she said. “Drake, can I stay with you for a few days? I don’t think I can stay here on my own until they catch the person. I’d be terrified whoever it was would break back in and kill me, just like they killed poor Trixie.”

  “Of course you can stay with me for a bit, Gram,” he said. “Remember, though, I’m going to be leaving in a week or two. Will you be all right after that?”

  “I suppose I’ll have to be,” Kris said with a deep sigh. Drake made a face somewhere between annoyance and guilt, and Ellie smiled. She knew exactly how he felt. For a moment, she wondered if she couldn’t offer him a good job at the pizzeria and maybe encourage him to stay in town, but then she told herself she was being silly. She hardly knew the man, and it was reasonable that he wanted to get on with his own life out of state. Family was important, but if he had a girlfriend and a good job waiting for him in another state, it made sense for him to leave. He was young enough that he was still making a life for himself, and she didn’t want to stand in the way of that, even though she felt bad for his grandmother.

  “So, was anything missing?” Nonna asked.

  “I don’t think so,” Kris said. “Oh dear, I didn’t check the jewelry box. When the police were here, I was too frazzled to remember to check everything. Will you all come in with me? I don’t want to be in the house alone just yet.”

  “Of course,” Nonna said. “Ellie will lead the way.”

  The pizzeria owner wrinkled her nose. “Thanks, Nonna. I take it it’s my job to shield you from any stray burglars?”

  “You’re married to a sheriff,” Nonna pointed out. “I’m sure he has taught you how do handle yourself in situations like this.”

  “I’m pretty sure he’s hoping I would stop getting into situations like this,” she said. “But fine, I’ll be burglar bait if you insist.”

  “I’ll go first,” Drake said, rolling his eyes. “The police already searched the house, you know. It’s not like there’s anyone in there.”

  The four of them went in, Drake leading the way. Ellie and Nonna looked around, curious, but not able to do anything to help the other woman. Neither of them knew Kris’s house, and wouldn’t have been able to say whether or not anything was missing.

  “How did the person get in?” Ellie asked.

  “Like I told the police, I don’t know,” Kris said. “I could swear that I locked the door before I left, but my memory hasn’t been quite the same as it used to be recently. I suppose I could have forgotten. I’m going to go check the jewelry box in my bedroom. I’ll be right back.”

  Ellie walked around the living room, peering at the windows, though she knew that it wasn’t likely that she would find evidence of someone having broken in after the police had already done their own investigation. She was just about to ask Nonna whether or not her condo had an alarm system installed when there was a knock at the front door. Ellie looked around. Kris was still in the other room looking at her jewelry drawer, and Drake had vanished somewhere. The knock sounded again, and Nonna walked over to the door to open it.

  Worried, Ellie hurried forward, but it was just Candy, the woman with the food delivery business.

  “Sorry to disturb you,” Candy said. “But is everything all right? I saw the police here while I was doing my delivery, and I wanted to make sure that nothing terrible happened.”

  “We’re fine,” Ellie said. “There was a break-in, but it doesn’t seem like anything was taken, and no one was hurt.”

  “Oh, thank goodness,” she said. “That poor woman who got murdered was on my delivery list, and I was so worried that something like that had happened again. I’ll get out of your hair now, and I’ll be keeping an eye out while I’m delivering food here. Don’t worry, if I see anything suspicious, I’ll report it to the police right away.”

  “Thank you,” Ellie said. “We definitely appreciate it.”

  She watched Candy walk back to her bright red van, then shut the door. Before she could say anything to Nonna, a scream rang through the air. She turned and hurried toward the bedroom with her grandmother.

  They found Kris sitting on the bed with a jewelry box in her hands. She looked up, her eyes wide.

  “All of my best jewelry is missing. It took me a while to figure it out, because whoever robbed me left all the cheap stuff, but my wedding band, the beautiful diamond necklace my grandmother gave me, my favorite earrings, and the pearl bracelet my husband bought me when we started dating are all missing. Together, they were worth a couple thousand dollars.”

  Drake, who had joined them from the kitchen, where he had apparently been pilfering the fruit basket, because he was eating a banana, said, “At least you have insurance on it.”

  “That’s not the point,” Kris said. “I don’t care about the money. I care about the memories. Oh, I hope the police catch whoever this is. A killer and a thief? Can you get any lower?”

  Ellie and Nonna spent a few minutes calming Kris down. At last, they left her in the care of her grandson and returned home. Ellie immediately smelled something burning and went outside to find the asparagus grilled to a crisp.

  “Darn it,” she said, scraping the vegetables into the garbage. “I was really looking forward to that.”