Pork, Pizza and Murder Read online

Chapter Nine

  The next few days were quiet, and even though Ellie was still wary, she managed to relax somewhat. She was glad that she had convinced Russell not to resign immediately. He would be miserable if he had to give up on the job that he loved. She knew that he didn't want to see any of them hurt, but she didn't want to see him hurt. As the days began to pass by, she started to wonder how much danger they were really in. If someone was serious about hurting one of them, surely they would have been able to think of a better way to do it than hurling a car at the pizzeria and hoping for the best.

  Looking at it from Russell’s point of view, she could see how resigning might seem like the safest thing to do. She didn’t want any of them to get hurt either, but the thought of letting someone else call the shots and intimidate Russell out of office made her skin crawl.

  Her grandmother seemed to feel the same way that she did, but she knew that Shannon was still very concerned with how things were. She had a child to protect, after all. That was why on Saturday morning when her friend called to ask if she could spend some time with her and the baby, Ellie was more than happy to oblige even though she had been about to make an experimental pizza for the weekly special. She wanted something unique to offer to her customers when the pizzeria reopened. Spending time with her sister-in-law was more important, however, so she was more than happy to put the ingredients away and grab her keys.

  James worked as a contractor and often traveled out-of-town to job sites, so Ellie wasn't surprised to find Shannon alone at home with the baby. Shannon worked part-time for the local paper, but her hours had been cut down quite a bit ever since she had given birth to Andrew. Ellie knew that she enjoyed staying with her baby, but she guessed that her friend also missed work. Shannon was a very active person who enjoyed being involved with the town.

  “Thanks for coming over,” Shannon said. “I'm just about going out of my mind with boredom. I don't feel safe leaving the house and going into town alone, but I'm going stir crazy here. I love Andrew, but he's not much of a conversation partner.”

  “I was more than happy to come over,” Ellie said. “You know I love spending time with you, plus I get to hang out with my little baby nephew.”

  She lifted Andrew into her arms and cooed over him for a little bit until he began to fidget, then she put him back in the rocking cradle, pressing the button that would begin playing a quiet lullaby for the baby.

  “Any news on when you can reopen the pizzeria?” Shannon asked.

  “I sent the insurance company the police report. They're supposed to have someone call me back by Monday.” She rolled her eyes. “I'm getting completely exasperated with the whole thing. It's like they're looking for every excuse not to pay out. I'm sure they will eventually, but they're just making it as difficult as possible first.”

  “I don't envy you,” Shannon said. “Is it weird to have the restaurant closed down? You usually spend a lot of time there.”

  “You have no idea,” Ellie said with feeling. “Every morning I wake up and I'm about to start my normal routine, but then I remember that I don't have to go in. Russell finally gave us the okay to start cleaning up, so I think we’re going to do some of that Sunday morning before the cookout in the park. Russell's going to want some time alone to prepare his speech, and so I might as well get some work done. I'm going to be glad when it reopens. I really love that place.”

  “I know. I’m a little bit envious sometimes. I enjoy working for the newspaper, but I’m not as passionate about it as you are about the pizzeria. How is the Papa Pacelli’s in Florida doing?”

  “Pretty good,” Ellie said. “There's a lot more people down in Miami than there is up here, and business is going well. I think Linda still feels a little bit overwhelmed, especially after what happened with Sandra. She's been having a tough time with things. Thankfully the girls she found to work there are very supportive and helpful. I'll probably visit again in a couple of months. I know for sure that I want to check in on them before Christmas.”

  “Maybe next year when Andrew is a little bit older we can come with you,” Shannon said. “I love Kittiport, but I want little Drew to grow up seeing more than just one small town in Maine.”

  With that, their attention returned to the baby for a little while. Sometimes when she was with her nephew, Ellie found herself wishing that she had had children when she was younger. Andrew had been a surprise for Shannon and James, but a pleasant one. They tried for years to have a child, and had given up years before he came along.

  She hadn't broached the subject with Russell, partially because she loved the way their life was now. It would be difficult to make time for a child and still be able to focus on work and each other as much as they had been for the past couple of years.

  After Andrew went down for a nap, she and Shannon retreated to the kitchen. There, they drank coffee and chatted, avoiding all topics close to the pizzeria and the threat against the family. It was nice just to spend some time with each other without worrying about the future.

  Ellie’s phone rang near the end of her visit, the caller ID showing her that it was Russell. She answered, feeling better than she had for a while. His opening words brought her back down to reality.

  “There's been another threat,” he said. “I'm going to resign, Ellie, and I don't want to hear anything else about it. I understand where you’re coming from when you say I shouldn’t give up, but the risk is just too great. “

  “What did they say?” she asked, feeling sick.

  “Hold on…” She heard the rustling of papers, then he cleared his throat as if preparing to read something. “I may have missed the first time, but I won't miss again. Withdraw from the election, or your family will pay the price.”

  “Russell –”

  “I'm not going to risk one of you getting hurt.” His tone was firm. “You know how much I love my job, but it's nothing when compared to how much I care about you and the rest of my family.”

  “But if you give into this threat, then they'll know they can control you forever. Aren’t you not supposed to negotiate with people like this?”

  “What else do you want me to do?” he asked, sounding hopeless. “I can’t take the risk that they are going to hurt someone again. Even though they didn't manage to injure you seriously the first time, they did kill someone else. If I had resigned when I first got the threat, that wouldn't have happened. Your customer would still be alive. If there is another attack, even if they miss the mark again, the risk that an innocent bystander might be hurt is too high. It's my job to protect this town. If more people get injured because I'm too stubborn to resign, then I'm not doing my job as sheriff.”

  Ellie didn't know what to say to that. All she knew was that she wanted to see her husband face-to-face, because this was far too important a subject to talk about over the phone.

  “Can we talk about this tonight?” she asked. “I know you want to do what you feel is right. I won't argue. I just want to talk. This is something that will affect both of us, and we should figure it out as a family.”

  “Okay,” he agreed. “I still have to file the paperwork to withdraw from the election anyway. I’ll turn it in tomorrow and tell everyone at the police station that I’m going to sit this election out.”

  “I wish we could figure out who's doing this,” Ellie said.

  “Me too,” her husband said. “I have to believe that we will, or that my replacement will. I can always run again next time there's an election, and I want all of you there when I do.”

  Ellie looked at Shannon and thought of Andrew in the other room. She knew that despite how much it may hurt him, Russell was making the right choice. Family had to come first, because the alternative was too terrifying to bear.

  Chapter Ten

  Ellie left Shannon's house shortly after that. Instead of going home, she went to her grandmother's house where she caught the older woman up on what was happening. Her grandmother offered to come over that evening,
but Ellie declined. She wanted to have time to speak to Russell privately. She knew that being sheriff was more than just a job to him. It was his calling. If there was any possible solution, she wanted to find it.

  Her pets seemed to sense her despondent mood, and the dogs were unusually well behaved as she waited for Russell to get home. Even Marlowe was extra quiet, and took her walnut gently when Ellie offered her one through the bars of her cage.

  She decided to pass the time by making a new pizza, one that would be served when the pizzeria reopened. Her newest experiment was a jalapeno popper pizza; a thin crust pizza with a cream cheese sauce, mozzarella cheese, fresh roasted garlic, sliced jalapeno peppers, and crumbled bacon on top.

  The pizza came out of the oven just moments before she heard a car door slam in the driveway. She hurried to the front of the house to peer out the window, making sure that it was Russell. She knew that she couldn't be careful enough. It would be just her luck to open the door to a killer.

  After confirming that it was her husband, she unlocked the door, letting the dogs run out to greet him. He looked exhausted, and pulled her into a silent embrace before coming inside. She locked the door behind them, then waited silently while he took off his work boots and hung up his sheriff’s jacket on the hook by the door.

  “It smells wonderful in here,” he said at last. “Did you make something for dinner?”

  “Jalapeno popper pizza,” she said. “I just took out of the oven. If you're hungry, we can sit down and eat.”

  “All right,” he said. “Let's talk over dinner. I'm going to go freshen up really quickly, then I'll join you in the kitchen.”

  A few minutes later, the two of them were seated at the breakfast bar, the pizza on a tray between them. Ellie had already cut the pizza into slices, and there were two fresh glasses of lemonade on the counter. She served herself a slice of pizza, and waited while Russell took a few bites of his own slice. At last, he put the pizza down and wiped his mouth with his napkin. With a sigh, he turned to her.

  “I brought home the paperwork I need to fill out to remove myself from the election,” he said. “I'm going to do it after dinner.”

  “I wish you didn't have to do this,” Ellie said. She had promised not to argue with him, and knew that she didn’t want to anyway. He was doing the right thing. Still, the thought of him just giving up made her furious. Not at him, but at whoever was responsible for all of this.

  “So do I,” he said sadly. “It's so tempting to wait just a little bit longer and see if we can find another break in the case,” he admitted. “But then I think of how I would feel if something happened to you or James and Shannon, or Andrew, or Nonna, and I know I can’t risk waiting.”

  “Maybe they'll delay the election,” Ellie said. “I'm sure you could talk to the mayor about it.”

  “I doubt that would help matters any. It would probably just make whoever is calling in these threats even more angry. They want me to drop out, not put a hold on the election. “

  Ellie realized that he was right. If he tried to delay the election while he worked on the case, then whoever was trying to intimidate him into dropping out would be forced to make their next move.

  “What will you do after you drop out?”

  “Well, I'll have some time after the election before the sheriff’s department changes over to the new sheriff, and I'm going to take that time to try to solve this case. If I can figure that out before I have to leave office, I'll be satisfied. I have no idea what I’ll do after that, besides making plans to run in the next election.”

  “The break might be good for you,” Ellie said. “You’ll have a couple of years to explore other options. Maybe you can come down to Florida with me more often when I go to visit the other pizzeria. We could take some time to travel a little bit and do all the things that we've been wanting to do, but that our jobs keep getting in the way of.”

  “Maybe,” he said, giving her a small smile. “I'm sure we’ll manage to pull through, whatever happens. This pizza is great, by the way. I hope you're able to reopen soon.”

  “So do I,” Ellie said. “I'm going stir crazy here.”

  He gave a small chuckle, and they went back to eating. Once dinner was over, Russell got up and began helping her with the dishes. “If you have to go fill out those forms, I can finish this,” Ellie said. “I don't mind. I usually wash way more dishes than this every day at work.”

  “To be honest, I'm putting off the forms,” he admitted. “As soon as I sign them, it's all going to feel real.”

  “Maybe we'll get lucky and something will come up before you turn them in tomorrow,” she said.

  “Maybe,” he said, not sounding convinced.

  Ellie settled down in the living room with her laptop replying to some of Linda’s emails while Russell went over the form that would remove him from the election. She heard the scratching of his pen as he signed his name, and felt her heart break just a little bit more.

  “I'm still going to the cookout on Sunday,” he said suddenly. “I’m going to help set up, and I want to keep an eye on things. Chances are, whoever has been causing all of this trouble will be there.”

  “I think that's a good idea,” Ellie said. “Who knows, maybe you will be able to catch the person in time. Do you think that they would be willing to redo the vote if we could prove that someone was interfering?”

  “Maybe,” Russell said. “We can always hope. This was a hard decision to make, but I will feel much better knowing that my family is safe.”

  Ellie frowned, wishing that she could do something more to help her husband. She wracked her mind, thinking back over everything that happened over the past few days, trying to figure out if anyone she recognized had been following her or Russell.

  She remembered Dillon from the diner, and how strangely he had acted after the car had run into the pizzeria. She knew that his uncle had owned one of the pizzerias in a neighboring town, and that his business was beginning to go under, but that wouldn't explain why the person had called Russell to make those threats. If they had something against Ellie, wouldn't she have been the one to receive the threat?

  The only other people she could think of who might have a motive for not wanting Russell to run for sheriff were either people he had arrested in the past, or the people he was running against. She thought about Benjy, the other candidate, the one that they didn't know so well. Was it possible that he was behind all of this? He had been at the pizzeria during the car crash, though she hadn’t thought much of it at the time. She wondered suddenly if Ralph was receiving threats too. He would tell Russell if he was, she thought. They’re friends, and he knows that Russell would help him. It seemed to her that whoever was doing this had a problem with Russell in particular.

  Chapter Eleven

  Sunday morning was a subdued affair in Ellie and Russell's household. Russell had officially dropped out of the election a couple of days beforehand, but it felt much more real to both of them now that the day of the vote was nearing. Russell was supposed to be giving his speech today, but now he would be just another member of the audience. Ellie made blueberry pancakes with maple bacon and scrambled eggs for breakfast in an effort to cheer them up. The food was good, but their moods remained somber.

  At nine-thirty, they both gathered up their things and left the house. They said goodbye in the driveway. Russell was going to head toward the park where the cookout and speeches were happening in order to keep an eye on things.

  Ellie was going to the pizzeria. She had wanted to cancel the cleanup and spend the time with Russell, but she would have felt bad doing so. She had already planned it out with her employees, and they were all set to come in. Besides, she had the feeling that her husband wanted some time to himself. This town had been his home long before it had been hers, and she knew that this was difficult for him.

  “I'll see you in a couple of hours,” she said. “I really hope the person responsible for all of this makes an appeara
nce.”

  “As long as no one else gets hurt, so do I,” he said. They kissed goodbye and got into their cars. Ellie followed him until they got to town, where she turned down Main Street to head to the pizzeria.

  Jacob and Rose were already parked in the parking lot. She pulled into a space between them and got out, entering the building and looking around. The hole in the front had been covered with a large tarp, which flapped lightly in the breeze. There was still shattered glass all over the floor. The car had long since been towed to the impound lot, but the wreckers hadn't done anything about the mess that had been left inside.

  “How on earth are we going to get tire marks off the floor?” she muttered.

  Her employees were in a surprisingly good mood. They were all there to pitch in and help clean up the restaurant, and soon she was glad that she hadn't canceled this morning. She made sure that everyone was wearing rubber gloves, to protect them from cuts and scrapes. After that, she took down the tarp and they got to work sweeping up the glass and cleaning up the sidewalk outside. Ellie made them all go over the floor twice. She didn't want to risk leaving bits of glass behind. That was the last thing she needed when the health inspector came to visit.