A Crunchy Crust of Murder Read online

  Bunny, on the other hand, was the perfect size to play with Amie, and when her grandmother knocked on the front door about ten minutes later, the papillon was the first one to greet them. She and the tiny, older dog, sniffed each other for a few moments, their tails wagging furiously, then Bunny sunk into a play bow and let out a high-pitched bark. That set them both off on a mad game of chase through the house.

  Ellie watched them fondly, shaking her head. “Sawyer and Bunny try to play like that indoors, but with how big Sawyer is, it shakes the whole house,” she said. “If Sawyer was Amie's size, they would be able to play indoors without wrecking the wood floors and running into tables.”

  “I'm just thrilled that Bunny and Amie like each other so much,” the older woman said. “Poor Amie was so frightened of everything when I first got her. She's really come out of her shell.”

  “I think you're perfect for her,” Ellie said. “She was meant to be yours.”

  The older woman smiled, looking in the direction the dogs had gone. “So, what all is in this breakfast you told me about? It smells lovely in here. I'm glad you sent the intercom message to me when you did. I was just about to start making my own breakfast.”

  “We have fried eggs, bacon, hash browns, and some English muffins,” Ellie said, leading her grandmother toward the kitchen. Marlowe let out a shout of recognition when she saw Nonna, and the older woman paused for a moment to greet the bird. Marlowe had never particularly liked Ellie's grandmother. The bird had been utterly in love with her husband, and likely saw her as competition. Still, a familiar face was a familiar face, and Marlowe always seem happy to see Nonna again, at least for the first few minutes.

  Once the parrot had been greeted, they continued toward the kitchen. Ellie had had enough time to finish up breakfast and she had begun laying out the table. She made her grandmother sit down and relax with a cup of green tea while she finished putting the food and serving dishes on the table. She poured them both some water, then sat down across from the older woman. She opened her mouth to say, “Dig in,” but her cell phone’s ringtone started blaring, interrupting her. She jumped, not having been expecting a call so early in the morning. “I'm so sorry,” she said. “I’ve got to see who that is. Go ahead and start eating without me.”

  She got up from the table and grabbed her phone off the counter. It was Russell. Her pulse immediately increased. Was he calling her to tell her that they had caught the right guy? Had the person Liam arrested confessed? Excited and hoping to hear that this was all over, she picked up the phone and answered it. She was surprised when the voice she heard was not Russell’s.

  “Ms. P.?” a younger voice said. “It's me, Pete.”

  Chapter Eight

  Pete?” Ellie said, her mind already trying to come up with plausible explanations. “Why are you calling me from Russell's phone?”

  “I… I'm not going to be able to make it into work today,” he said.

  “What's going on, Pete?” she asked.

  “I'm being held for questioning,” he said, his voice quiet with fear. “They think I killed Devon. I was worried about the pizzeria. I know I'm supposed to open with you today. The sheriff let me call you. I'm on my way to the interrogation room now. I just wanted to let you know that I won't be there. I've got to go now.”

  “Wait, Pete –”

  It was too late. He had already hung up the phone. Ellie stared at the device in her hands for a long moment, her mind racing. What happened? Why had Liam arrested Pete? There was no doubt in her mind that her employee was innocent. What was her husband thinking?

  Taking a deep breath, she forced down the rush of anger directed toward the man she had married. She knew that Russell was just doing his job. While she knew Pete well, and knew in her heart that he hadn't killed anyone, Russell had to treat him like everyone else. Liam was a good man. She liked him a lot, and trusted him almost as much as she trusted her husband. Liam wouldn't have arrested Pete without a good reason. It was just that, good reason or not, they were wrong.

  “Ellie, is everything all right?” her grandmother asked.

  Ellie jolted. She had forgotten that the older woman was there. “It's one of my employees. He's not going to be able to make it into work today. There's more to it, but I’ll have to tell you later when I know more about what’s going on and why.”

  Nonna nodded in understanding. She knew that Ellie couldn't share everything about her husband's work. “I hope everything is all right. Let me know if there's anything I can do.”

  “Unfortunately, I don't think there's anything either of us can do,” Ellie said with a sigh. She sank into her chair. “I guess right now I should just eat breakfast and try to forget about it. There won’t be much of anything I'll be able to do until later today, if I can even get involved at all. Sorry for letting this interrupt our meal. Let’s start eating, Nonna. I told you to get started without me. I don't want the eggs to get too cold.”

  “I wanted to wait for you,” the older woman said, shaking her head. She used the spatula to move one of the fried eggs onto her plate, and laid out a couple of pieces of bacon next to it. “Does this have anything to do with the case you mentioned that Russell is working on right now?”

  “It does,” Ellie admitted. She grabbed an English muffin and began buttering the two halves. “He's working on a murder case. I'm sure you must've heard about the man who was killed near the pizzeria.”

  “I remember seeing something on the news about that,” the older woman said. “I don’t think it mentioned exactly where he was killed. It just said he was found downtown. It's so heartbreaking when something like that happens.”

  “It definitely is. I actually met the guy earlier that same day at the pizzeria. He seemed nice. I never would've thought that he had only hours left to live.”

  “It's a bit scary, isn't it?” the older woman said. “Any one of us could have only an hour or two left in our lives, and we would never know it until it was too late.” She shivered a little. “Thinking about that sort of stuff makes me want to live my life to the fullest every second. No one ever really knows how much time they have.”

  “I know what you mean,” Ellie said. “But dwelling on that kind of stuff doesn’t help anything. Now, I didn't invite you over to breakfast to have such a depressing conversation and wreck both of our days. Why don’t you tell me what you have been doing since you got back home? I keep seeing you coming and going at all hours with your friends. I'm glad you found some people who are able to give you rides into town.”

  “Oh, I haven't told you? I joined a local knitting group. We meet at the library twice a week…”

  And then Nonna was off, talking about her new group. Ellie scooped some hash browns onto her plate and tucked in, focusing on her grandmother's words and voice instead of the mess that she would have to deal with later that day. She was convinced that Pete was innocent, but could she convince her husband?

  Since Pete had called in on such short notice, Ellie decided to just work the morning on her own. It wasn't as if she had never done it before. During the winter, she was usually the only one to be there for the first few hours. Now that the weather was getting nicer and they had the first few tourists of the year coming in to hike and camp at the state park, they were starting to be a bit busier in the earlier hours. Still, it shouldn't be anything that she couldn't handle.

  She was expecting to have a good forty-five minutes to herself at the pizzeria when she got there, having left her home early. What she wasn't expecting was to see a pile of flowers, handwritten notes, and the occasional stuffed animal piled up around a table featuring Devon’s picture, right on the stretch of grass between her parking lot and the road.

  She pulled her car into the lot and got out, walking over to the memorial. She was touched by the sight of it. Sometimes it astounded her how much people in Kittiport cared. She just hoped whoever was in charge of this symbol of shared grief had a plan for what to do when it rained. The we
ather was looking threatening.

  She let herself into the pizzeria and went about her morning routine. Her thoughts strayed to Pete continuously, and she kept her phone volume turned up so that she would be sure to notice if someone called her. She knew that Jacob, who was due to come in later that day, would wonder where Pete was, and she had already decided not to tell him what had happened. If Pete wanted other people to know, he could share that himself when he got out. She would just say that something had come up, and he wasn't able to come in. It was true, but didn't give anything personal away.

  She was lucky. The first hour was nice and slow, with only one pizza order, and a couple of people stopping in to get ready-to-go slices. They had a lunch special during the weekdays, and it had quickly become popular. Two slices and a bottle of soda for only a couple of dollars was a deal that just couldn't be beat.

  She didn't even realize that something was going on until she stepped out the back door to take the trash to the dumpster during a lull in business. She was shocked to see a group of people gathered around the memorial to Devon out by the road. They seemed to be having some sort of meeting there. While the memorial was one thing, a group of people loitering on the pizzeria's property was another. She didn’t mind in general, but a gathering of people like this screamed liability issue.

  “Hey,” she called out as she walked over to them. “Can I help you?”

  A couple of the people looked over at her. One of the faces was familiar, and she recognized the woman Brie, Devon's girlfriend. Her eyes were red, and she started to walk slowly over to Ellie.

  “Sorry,” she said. “I know we should have asked you before using your property for this. We weren't actually sure who owned the bit of grass between the parking lot and the road, though. It all just kind of got put together so fast.”

  “I saw the memorial,” Ellie said. “It's beautiful. But what is everyone meeting here for?

  “I'm sorry,” Brie said again. “A bunch of us wanted to get together to talk about possibly doing a fundraiser for his family. I didn't know where else to meet.”

  Ellie sighed. “Why don't all of you come on in? I'll give you a discount on a couple of pizzas. It's been a slow morning anyway so no one will mind if you take up a couple of tables.”

  Brie flashed her grin and accepted the invitation. Ellie turned and walked back inside, shutting the employee door behind her. That was taken care of. Unfortunately, the distraction hadn't lasted long, and she was right back to worrying about Pete.

  Chapter Nine

  Ellie was glad she invited the group inside. They ordered two large pizzas, and she gave them a discount on both. They sat quietly at one of the larger booths, talking amongst themselves. She was happy to be able to help, even in this small way.

  “Hey, Mrs.… Pacelli, is it?”

  Ellie look around. One of the young men in the group was waving her over. She finished wiping off the table she was cleaning, then walked over to the booth.

  “It’s Mrs. Ward, now,” Ellie said. “Don't worry, I get called Ms. Pacelli all the time. It's the name on my restaurant, so I figure it’s inevitable. What can I get you?”

  “Nothing – well, Brie could use a refill on her water – but I wanted to ask you, what do you know about what happened? I'm sure the police have told you something. It happened just outside of your property, after all. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the sheriff’s vehicle parked outside here… you must be tight with him.”

  “The sheriff is her husband, Jack,” Brie said. “Seriously, don't you know anything about the town you live in? They had a wedding, like, two years ago. It was on the front page of the newspaper. Her last name is Ward, and we had Vote Ward for Sheriff signs up all over last year. How do you not make the connection?”

  Jack put his hands up in mock surrender. “Okay, okay. Sorry. I've never been great at keeping up with current events.” He turned his attention back to Ellie. “So, did your husband tell you anything you can share with us? We've all been friends with Devon for years. I'm sure you know how it is, in a town like this. We all went to high school together and all grew up together. He started dating Brie here earlier this year after ogling her for years.” He nudged Brie in a friendly manner with his elbow. “But we were all friends long before that.”

  Ellie hesitated, then sighed. “I'm sorry, I really can't tell you anything. My husband doesn't tell me everything about cases he's working on as it is, and what he does tell me, I’m not able to pass on.”

  “Can you at least tell me if he has any suspects?”

  “He has some leads,” Ellie said. While she didn't consider Pete a real suspect, the fact remained that he was in custody. She couldn't ignore that.

  “Thank you,” he said. “It feels better to know that someone's doing something, at least. It’s taking them long enough.”

  “Jack!” Brie said. “They're doing all they can. It’s only been a few days. These things take time… it’s not like in the movies.”

  She turned to Ellie. “I'm sorry. He was Devon's best friend. They've been roommates since they both moved out of their parents’ places. When they both got girlfriends, they just rented a bigger apartment so we could all live together instead of living separately. He’s taking this hard.” She paused. “Maybe even harder than I am. I loved Devon, but I didn't know him as well as some of the others who had literally grown up with him since he was a young child.” She sighed, burying her face in her hands. “Why did this happen? Devon was a good person. He didn't deserve to be killed. He loved life, and he had so many plans for the future. I just… I don't understand it.”

  Jack put a comforting arm around Brie's shoulders. The conversation turned away into murmurs of comfort between the group of friends. Ellie excused herself, her heart aching. Hurry up and catch the right person, Russell, she thought. The town really needs you this time.

  Ellie worked a long shift that day. She had been cutting back a little bit, since all of her employees were just as capable as she was and probably needed the hours more, but she still occasionally worked from open to close, and this was one of those days. It felt good to bury herself in the work and just concentrate on what she was doing in the moment.

  Night had already fallen by the time the pizzeria closed. She waved goodbye to Rose, then took an extra few minutes by herself to finish tidying up the kitchen. The pizzeria was practically shining by the time she was done, and was ready for opening the next day. Tomorrow was Saturday, so she wouldn't be there in the morning, if she came in at all, but she was sure Jacob, the weekend manager, would appreciate it.

  She gathered up her things and made sure the pizzeria's front doors were locked. She left through the employee entrance, since it was closer to where she had parked her car. Devon’s death had spooked her, and she didn't want to have to walk through the dark parking lot more than necessary.

  She was in the process of locking the door behind her when a hand grabbed her elbow. Swallowing a scream, she spun around, her key held out in front of her as if it was a knife. When she saw who it was, she relaxed, but only slightly.

  “Brie?” she asked, recognizing Devon's girlfriend.

  “Sorry for scaring you,” the young woman said, holding up her hands and taking a few steps back. “I should have known better. I was just standing there and you didn't see me, I didn't want to freak you out by saying something. I guess this was worse.”

  Ellie shook her head, letting out a laugh that was more to relieve tension than anything else.

  “It's all right,” she said. “No harm, no foul, as they say. Is something wrong? Do you need help?”

  The young woman shook her head. “No. I… I wanted to talk to you. Do you have a few minutes?”

  “I do,” Ellie said. “Do you want to go back inside?”

  “Here is fine. I don't want to take up too much of your time. I know you've been here, like, all day.”

  “All right, just let me finish locking the door.”

  She
turned the deadbolt, tested the door to make sure it was secure, then glanced up at the security camera, trying to judge its angle. They should both be in its field of view where they were standing now. If something happened to her, she at least wanted Russell to be able to see her last few moments. She didn’t think Brie was the killer, but it was better to be safe than sorry when talking to a complete stranger with ties to a recent murder.

  “How can I help you?” she asked.

  “First, I wanted to say sorry about Jack. He's a good guy, really. He's just freaking out over this whole thing. He hasn't been the same since Devon died, and I doubt he ever will be again. Any of us, really, but those two were like brothers. I completely believe that the police are doing everything they can to help to find out what happened to my boyfriend.”