Exotic Pizza Murder (Papa Pacelli's Pizzeria Series Book 9) Read online

  She bit her lip, struggling internally for a moment. She had often been tempted to bring up her suspicions about Billy, but didn’t want to worry Russell. He was already dealing with enough, and he didn’t need anything to distract him from the murders and cause him to possibly miss a clue. On the other hand, she knew he would want her to tell him. Besides, it would give them something to talk about besides the three dead men.

  “Things have been alright,” she said. “The patio was a success. James did such a great job on it. I told him he gets free pizzas for life. He didn’t accept, though.”

  “He wouldn’t,” Russell said with a smile. “I’m sure he’s glad you’re happy with the work, though.”

  “We’ve been busier than ever. I can’t wait for this summer when we start getting tourists.”

  “It’s good you hired someone else. You’re probably going to get overwhelmed as it is.”

  She sighed. It was time to tell him. Maybe he would be able to put her mind at ease.

  “Actually, I’m not sure hiring Billy was a good idea.” She went on to tell him about the money that Jacob had found in his car when he opened the vehicle to grab the delivery sign off the back seat. She also told him about the little test she and her employees had done the night of the murder. “He didn’t seem interested in the money at all,” she finished. “The thing is, the drawer has been off a few more times since. Nothing major, but it only seems to happen when he’s working.”

  “Ellie, you should have told me this sooner. That sounds like a lot of money for someone to be carrying around. Does he know you know about it?”

  “No. At least, I don’t think so. Other than me, Jacob and Iris are the only ones who know. Jacob because he found it, obviously, and Iris just happened to overhear the two of us talking about it. I told them that if he didn’t take the money we left on the counter, we would just drop the issue. They don’t know that the register has been short a few times since.”

  “You did the right thing to not pursue it,” he said. “Don’t bring up the money with anyone at the pizzeria again, alright? Write down Billy’s full name and address for me, and I’ll see if I can find anything on him.”

  “Are you sure? I don’t want to distract you from… other cases.”

  “Taking a break to look into something like this will be good for me. Sometimes it’s best to take a step back and let your subconscious work on a problem for a while. There is such a thing as being too close to a case.”

  She wondered if he was thinking of his wife’s murder. She was itching to ask him about it, but couldn’t bring herself to form the words. They had gone on this outing to escape the oppressive atmosphere in town. They didn’t need to talk about yet another sad subject.

  “Alright,” she said. “I’ll get you his information, then try to put it out of my mind. He really is a good employee. If it wasn’t for the money that Jacob found, I wouldn’t have any reason to suspect him. I could be completely mistaken. Billy seems like a good kid.”

  She was glad that she had shared her concerns with Russell. With any luck, he’d get back to her in a day or two with good news about Billy, and she could put the whole matter out of her mind once and for all.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  * * *

  Ellie felt refreshed after her boating trip with Russell. Maybe her grandmother had been right; there was something to be said for making time for oneself. The memories of finding Jason’s body still weighed on her, but she felt better able to cope with it. She was thankful that she had gotten there before his wife. While she didn’t think she would ever be able to stop seeing the image of his body lying on the floor whenever she closed her eyes, she knew that it would have been a hundred times worse for his wife to have been the one to find him.

  She got to the pizzeria early the next day, excited for the first time in days at the prospect of designing a new pizza for the weekly special. She wanted to do something inspired by the spring weather. She pulled out her phone and searched online for ideas. One of the first things that came up when she typed in the word “spring” was spring rolls. That was just the inspiration that she was looking for. Why not do a spring roll inspired pizza? she thought. The spring rolls from her favorite Chinese takeout place in the next town over were light, but bursting with flavor. It shouldn’t be too hard to translate something similar to pizza form. It would probably work best with a thin crust, and of course she would need some sort of sauce to pull everything together.

  A few minutes later, Ellie was ready to put her freshly formed plan into motion. She had never made her own peanut sauce before, but knew that there would be no better time like the present to try. The first problem was that she simply didn’t have many of the ingredients. Things like peanut butter, soy sauce, and sesame oil generally had no place in a pizzeria. She checked the time. She might have just enough time to run to the grocery store, pick up the ingredients she didn’t have, and make a test pizza before opening, but if the new pizza wasn’t any good she wouldn’t have the time to try anything else.

  I’ve got to take some risks, or I won’t ever get anywhere, she thought. As far as risks went, this one was pretty small; she doubted that many of her customers would notice if they didn’t have a new weekly special on the board today.

  An hour later, Ellie slid the test pizza into the over. Homemade spicy peanut sauce — she had made a mild version, too, for those who didn’t care for spicy foods — shredded carrots, red and green bell peppers, and crushed peanuts made up the toppings. When the pizza came out, she would add cilantro, scallions, and a drizzle of olive oil to tie it all together. She could already tell that this pizza was going to be a success. It wasn’t quite a traditional pizza, but it looked and smelled fantastic. Hopefully her customers would be brave enough to try it.

  The employee entrance opened just as she set the timer on the stove. She looked around to see Billy and Iris come in. Both of them were laughing, but quieted down when they saw her.

  “Oh, hi Ms. Pacelli,” Iris said. “I forgot you were going to be here to open this morning. I guess we didn’t have to come in this early.”

  “The more the merrier,” Ellie said. “I just put a pizza in the oven. You two can be my taste testers when it comes out.”

  “What kind is it?”

  “It’s a spring roll pizza with spicy peanut sauce.”

  “That sounds… interesting,” Billy said.

  “It’s a bit different,” Ellie admitted. “But I think it will be good. Doing something new once in a while can’t hurt.”

  While she waited for the pizza to cook, she cleaned up her work station and took the garbage out to the dumpster. On her way back in, she noticed that there was only one car in the lot; Billy’s. She went back inside with a frown on her face. How did Iris get here? she wondered. She got her chance to ask the young woman that very question when Billy stepped out of the kitchen to go turn the restaurant’s sign on.

  “How did you get here? I noticed that your car isn’t in the lot.”

  “Sorry, it’s in the shop. Billy gave me a ride.”

  “Oh, that’s fine, I was just curious. It’s nice out, I figured you might have walked.”

  She kept her eye on Iris and Billy as they tried the pizza together and then finished the morning routines. Was it all in her imagination, or did they seem to be flirting? Yes, she was sure that Iris had just brushed his arm on her way by on purpose.

  Could that be why he didn’t touch the money that I left out? she wondered. If they are dating, Iris might have felt obliged to tell him about what we suspected. That means that he really might be stealing, and he’s just been hiding it well.

  She didn’t get a chance to confront the young woman with her questions; the pizzeria was officially open, and the first customers were already streaming in.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  * * *

  The spring roll pizza was a hit. Ellie and Iris had a hard time keeping up with the orders. Billy was busy driving ba
ck and forth from Papa Pacelli’s to the delivery addresses. The three of them made a good team, which just made the pizzeria owner even sadder when she thought about the possibility that Billy was stealing from her — or worse, her customers. Russell still hadn’t gotten back to her with results from that background search he had run. She didn’t blame him; he was busy enough as it was with the case of the Kittiport serial killer hanging over his head.

  “I might have been safer if I had stayed in Chicago,” she muttered to herself as she rolled out the dough. She chuckled. “I never thought I would say that.”

  “What’d you say, Ms. P.?” Iris asked, pausing on her way through the kitchen door to look back at her boss.

  “Sorry, just talking to myself, Iris,” Ellie said. “Do you want to switch once I get this pizza in the oven? You’ve been rushing back and forth for a while now.”

  “Yeah, I could use a drink and a chance to sit for a second,” her employee said with a grin. “We’ve been doing pretty well lately, huh?”

  “We sure have.”

  With an unusual rush of emotion for the deceased grandfather that she had barely known, Ellie found herself wishing that Arthur Pacelli was alive to see his restaurant now. She was sure he would be proud of it, and proud of her.

  She was glad for the chance to switch with Iris. She enjoyed cooking, but she also liked to be out with the customers and see how they were faring. Any complaints about the food or drinks, she could handle on the spot. She didn’t hesitate to give discounts if someone seemed unhappy. The pizzeria’s reputation was important to her. Sales would go up and down, but their reputation as a quality, family friendly restaurant shouldn’t waver.

  The bell by the front door jingled as someone pushed it open. She looked up just as the three newcomers reached the register. I know her, she realized with shock. The woman that she recognized was Nancy, the wife of one of the dead men. The other two women only looked vaguely familiar to her. She knew that they must have come to Papa Pacelli’s in the past, but she couldn’t remember their names.

  “How can I help you?” she asked, trying not to stare at Nancy. How was the woman faring since her husband’s death? How was their child handling it? She knew it really wasn’t any of her business, but since she had been the one to find the body, she felt connected to Jason’s murder more than the others.

  “We’d like three personal pizzas, two lemonades, and a soda,” one of the other women said. They took turns giving her their orders. She hurried into the kitchen to relay the order so Iris could work on getting it into the oven, grabbed their drinks, and delivered the tray to their table. She must have looked at Nancy for a second too long, because the woman spoke up.

  “Hey, don’t I know you?”

  “If you’ve been here before, you’ve probably seen me,” Ellie said. She extended a hand. “Eleanora Pacelli. Owner and manager of Papa Pacelli’s Pizzeria, the best pizza joint in town.”

  Nancy shook hands with her. A second later, her eyes went wide. “Oh, I know where I remember you from. It’s not from here. You’re the one who found my husband, aren’t you?”

  Ellie nodded. She felt bad. She hadn’t meant to bring up memories of that horrible evening. The poor woman was just there to have lunch with her friends.

  “I’m so glad I found you,” said Nancy, much to her surprise. “I knew that one of the delivery drivers from this place was the one who found him, but I didn’t see much of you except your hair and car. I… well, I wasn’t exactly in my right mind just then.”

  “Why did you want to find me?” Ellie asked, confused.

  “To ask you questions, of course.” She looked around at her companions, and they both nodded in agreement. “Three weeks ago, we were all married women. Today we are all widows. We want to know why.”

  The three women managed to convince Ellie to join them for lunch. She hesitated only out of concern for Iris, who was working the kitchen by herself. Her curiosity won out in the end, and she made a mental promise to tear herself away from the women if it got any busier in the pizzeria.

  “I have to warn you,” she said. “I probably don’t know anything more than you ladies do. I called the police as soon as I realized what had happened, and they took it from there.”

  “I know,” Nancy said. “But we just needed to talk to you, you know? You’re the closest thing to a witness that we could find. The police don’t seem to have a clue what’s going on. I just want to find out what happened to my husband.”

  The other two women nodded. They had introduced themselves as Kari and Maria. Ellie tried to remember which was which, but they both looked similar with their dark hair and black mourning clothes.

  “So, can you think of anything odd you might have seen on your way there?” Nancy asked. “Did any of the vehicles you passed stand out to you? We figure the killer must be someone we know, so we might be able to recognize their car if you describe it.”

  “I don’t remember any of the vehicles I passed on my way to the delivery,” Ellie said. “And I didn’t see anyone driving around the suburb either. I didn’t even realize that something was wrong until I was almost on the porch. I’m sorry.”

  One of the other two women — she was pretty sure it was Maria — spoke up. “Andy was acting weird for a couple of days before he died. He was being secretive, which was pretty unusual for him, and some of my favorite jewelry went missing. I thought he might have been seeing another woman. In fact, I was going to confront him about it the night that he died.”

  “Did you tell that to the sheriff?” Ellie asked.

  “It didn’t occur to me that it might be related at first, and then I was worried that telling them might make it look like I killed him out of jealousy. I didn’t want to risk getting arrested for something I didn’t do. Devon, my twelve-year-old, needs me. He can’t be left with no one at such a young age.”

  “The thing is,” Nancy said, “Jason was acting oddly, too. And Kari told me at work that her Trevor was sneaking out at night behind her back.”

  This jogged something in Ellie’s memory. “Wait, don’t the three of you work together?”

  All three women raised their eyebrows. “How did you know that?” Nancy asked.

  “I’m friends with the sheriff,” she explained. “And his sister-in-law is my best friend. I picked up bits and pieces. Where do you work?”

  “The bar in town,” Nancy said. “We met through work, but have been friends outside of work for a while now.”

  “Our husbands didn’t know each other well,” Kari chimed in. “Well, Trevor never spent time with the other two. I guess Andy and Jason might have known each other.”

  “They did,” Nancy confirmed. “But they didn’t get along at all.” She slid her eyes over to Maria and flushed before saying, “And I admit, at first I thought Jason might have had something to do with Andy’s death. They had gotten into an argument earlier in the day.”

  Ellie was still trying to put all of the bits and pieces together. The wives all worked together, that just couldn’t be a coincidence. Or could it? And all three of the women said that their husbands had been acting strangely before their deaths. Maybe someone at the bar had been killing them, someone dangerously obsessed with the three women.

  “I think you should tell all of this to the police,” she said. “And I mean all of it, without worrying how it looks.”

  None of the three women met her gaze. Nancy sighed before she spoke again. “Look, the sheriff has already questioned each of us. He thinks we might have had something to do with our husbands’ deaths. I have a kid; Maria has a kid… they have to be our priorities right now. Devon needs his mom to be there for him, and if the police think we might have had a reason to want to get rid of our husbands, then best case scenario, I have to deal with a bunch of lawyers and hassle before it gets cleared up. I’m not putting Brian through that, not when he just lost his dad.”

  Ellie nodded. She wasn’t sure she agreed with the other woman’s
reasoning, but she understood it. In the mother’s eyes, she was putting her child first.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I can’t help you. I told the police everything I know. If I remembered anything else, I would have called them and told them right away.”

  “I understand,” Nancy said, but Ellie thought she looked disappointed.

  “One more thing,” Maria said. “Did you ever see any of our husbands in here, with women that weren’t us?”

  She thought back, trying to match the pictures of the men she had seen in the obituary with her customers, but there were just too many people coming through the pizzeria on a daily basis for her to be sure.

  “I can’t remember,” she said apologetically. “I spend a lot of time in the kitchen, so I’m not as familiar with the regulars as I could be. I wish I could help you, but I can’t.”