Pesto Pizza Murder Page 6

  I need to figure out who it actually belongs to, she thought. If this is what Mark was talking about — and it has to be — then it was rightfully Iggy’s. Now that he’s gone, whose is it? She decided that her best course of action would be to let Russell handle it. It very well could be important in Iggy’s murder case.

  Before she could pick up the phone to call her husband, someone knocked on the front door. Ellie put the vase on a high shelf in the office, carefully out of reach of the dogs, then went to answer the door.

  Joanna had beat her to it. When Ellie saw her friend chatting with Jessie, she froze. Mark’s warnings about his sister came rushing back. Looking at Jessie, it was hard to imagine that she’d had anything to do with Iggy’s death. She looked open and friendly, if a little tired.

  “Hey,” she said when she saw Ellie. “I was just telling your friend, I’m looking for something. This is probably going to sound strange, but I think my brother hid something in your house. Do you mind if I come in and take a look around?”

  Joanna shot Ellie a puzzled glance. The pizzeria owner moved forward to stand next to her friend. Alarm bells were going off in her head. This couldn’t be a coincidence. Jessie had to be talking about the vase, the same vase a robber had just failed to steal from the kitchen counter. She tried to steal it just hours ago, and now she’s trying a different way to get it, Ellie thought.

  “I’m sorry, but I’ve had a lot of crazy stuff going on these past few days,” she said. “I’m not comfortable letting someone I don’t know well in.”

  “Oh.” The other woman’s face fell. “Okay. I understand.”

  “What do you mean, your brother hid something here?” Joanna asked, frowning at Jessie. Ellie bit back a groan. She hadn’t had a chance to tell her friend about her discovery yet. She still wasn’t sure why someone had hidden the vase in her house in the first place, and she was more concerned with keeping it and both of them safe than finding out what exactly was going on.

  “It’s a long story,” Jessie said. “I could come in and tell it, I guess —”

  “No.” Ellie knew she sounded harsh, but she didn’t like this situation at all. “I’m sorry, but I’m not comfortable with this.”

  Jessie looked hurt. “I understand. If you change your mind, will you give me a call? My cell phone’s broken, but you can call room six at the Marigold Motel if you want to get in touch with me.”

  “Okay,” the pizzeria owner said. “And… I’m sorry about your brother. This can’t have been an easy week for you, either.”

  “Thanks. He didn’t deserve what happened to him. It’s all my mom’s fault. That stupid will…” She shook her head. “I’ll get out of your hair.”

  They traded stiff goodbyes. Ellie waited until she saw Jessie pull away, then she shut and locked the door.

  “What was that all about?” Joanna asked.

  “Come with me. I’ve got something to show you.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Joanna was just as shocked as Ellie had been to learn the value of the vase. “I just don’t understand why someone would hide it in the attic,” she said. “That lady said her brother hid it, didn’t she? It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “I don’t know why either, but I know someone who might be able to tell us,” Ellie said. “I’ll be right back, I need to go get my wallet.”

  She returned a moment later with her wallet and Mark’s business card clutched in her hand “What are you doing?” her friend asked.

  “Her brother asked me to call him if I saw her again. I’m going to see if he can shed some light on what’s going on.”

  She dialed the number and put her cell phone on speaker mode. Mark answered after a couple of rings. “It’s Eleanora Ward, from Papa Pacelli’s,” she said when he answered. “I just spoke to your sister, and I have some questions.”

  “What did she want?” he asked, his voice tinny over the phone.

  “She was asking about a vase. She said one of her brothers hid it here.”

  “Do you know where the vase is?” His tone took on sudden urgency. Ellie traded a glance with Joanna. She didn’t know whether Mark was trustworthy either. She decided to play it safe for the time being.

  “I’ve got no idea what she was talking about,” she lied. “What’s going on?”

  Mark was silent for long enough that Ellie began to worry the call had dropped. “It all started with my mother’s will,” he said at last. “She left a valuable antique vase to Iggy, along with most of her savings. Out of the three of us, Jessie’s the one who needed the money the most. I’m not sure what the truth of it is, but she claims our mother promised her she would inherit the vase. While she was causing a scene with the attorney, Iggy took the vase and drove away. He met us the next day and told us he hid it somewhere neither of us would find it, and he wasn’t going to retrieve it until we left town. Given Jessie’s history, I think he was afraid she was going to try to steal it from him. The next day, Jessie came to our meeting with a story about meeting you and going ghost hunting at the Potters’ old house. The next day, Iggy turned up dead. I don’t know what happened in between, but if I had to guess, I’d say Jessie put two and two together and realized that your ‘ghost’ was Iggy breaking in to stash the vase. He must have realized that she was suspicious and gone to retrieve the vase, only to run into her at the wrong time.”

  “Why would your brother hide the vase in someone else’s house?” Ellie asked. “It seems unnecessarily dangerous.”

  “Because Iggy was a reckless idiot with a love of theatrics,” Mark said with venom in his voice. “The Potters are the ones who originally bought the vase. They gave it to our parents as a wedding present. He must have thought it was romantic, that such a valuable heirloom came full circle, or some such nonsense. He was always hopelessly naive, and it’s that kind of thinking that got him killed. You don’t fool around with something that’s worth tens of thousands of dollars.” He took a deep breath. “What did my sister tell you?”

  “She didn’t say much,” Ellie said. “Just that she wanted to come in and look for something.”

  “I’m sorry she bothered you. Did she happen to mention where she was staying? I’ll call the police and give them her location. She’s already a suspect in Iggy’s death.”

  “The Marigold Motel, room six,” Ellie said.

  “Thanks. Oh, and Ellie? If you do see that vase, give me a call, okay?”

  Before Ellie could answer, Joanna reached over and ended the call.

  “What was that for?”

  “You shouldn’t have told him where his sister is staying!”

  “Look, the police need to be involved either way. There’s obviously something going on here.”

  “But what if he doesn’t call the police?” Joanna asked. “What if he goes there himself? You can’t tell me that guy isn’t at all suspicious.”

  “I don’t necessarily trust him either, but it’s his sister for goodness sake. He’s not going to…” Ellie trailed off, realizing she had made a dangerous mistake. The fact that they were siblings didn’t matter. Their younger brother had already died, and chances were one of them had killed him. If Mark was the culprit, she could have just signed Jessie’s death warrant.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Call her,” Joanna said. “Warn her that Mark knows where she is.”

  “I have to look up the number to the motel. Hold on…”

  She turned on the computer screen and searched for the Marigold Motel. With shaking fingers, she dialed the number and asked for room six. The phone rang so many times that Ellie was worried Jessie wouldn’t answer. At last the phone was picked up and Ellie was greeted with a staticky “Hello?”

  “Jessie?”

  “This is she,” the other woman said. “May I ask who’s calling?”

  “It’s Ellie, from the pizzeria,” Ellie said.

  “Oh, Ellie! Did you find the vase?”

  The stupid vase again, she thought. Is that a
ll that matters to them?

  “No,” she lied. “I just need to call to tell you that —”

  “Hold on, someone’s at the door. I think it’s the pizza I ordered.”

  “Wait,” Ellie said, but it was too late. She heard the sound of voices from the other line, and waited what felt like an eternity before Jessie picked up the phone again.

  “Your pizza place has really fast delivery,” Jessie said. “I tipped your delivery guy a good amount, don’t worry. What was it you wanted?”

  “I made a mistake,” Ellie said. “I told —”

  “Hold on, someone’s at the door again. The delivery guy must have forgotten something.”

  Ellie heard a clunk as Jessie put the phone down a second time. She had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, and strained to listen. There was silence, then a sudden crashing sound, as if the door had been slammed open. She heard shouting, then the line went dead.

  Ellie and Joanna exchanged horrified looks.

  “What have I done?” the pizzeria owner whispered. “That was Mark, I just know it.”

  “Call the police,” Joanna said. “Tell them what happened.”

  “They won’t be fast enough,” Ellie said. “Let’s go, I’ll call them on the road. The motel’s not far from here.”

  “Ellie —”

  “Look, you don’t have to come, but I can’t let Jessie get hurt because of my mistake.”

  Her friend sighed, then nodded. “All right, I’ll come with you. You drive, I’ll call the police and let them know what happened.”

  Ellie rose and hurried out of the home office, then stopped in her tracks and turned around. Her eyes landed on the vase. It was what had started all of the trouble, now maybe it could end it.

  She drove as quickly as she safely could while Joanna talked to the dispatcher over the phone. Ellie kept having to cut in to clarify points. She realized how much of a mess the whole thing was. As bad as it was for her, it was a thousand times worse for the three siblings. Her own relationship with her mother and her father might not be perfect, but thinking about these three siblings who were so willing to kill over a valuable heirloom made her realize just how much worse things could be.

  She pulled into the motel parking lot while Joanna was still on the phone. Her friend pulled the receiver away from her ear to say, “Wait. We shouldn’t go in ourselves. The police are on their way.”

  Ellie shook her head. “I have to. This is my responsibility. I have to make sure no one else gets hurt.”

  “Ellie —”

  The pizzeria owner ignored her friend. She grabbed the vase from the back seat then slammed the car door. She looked at the room numbers and found room six on the bottom floor, located on the far corner of the building. She hurried toward it. As she drew closer, she could see that the door was open a crack.

  Ellie paused in front of the door, took a deep breath, then pushed it open, the vase held in her arms like a shield. Her forward motion faltered as her eyes took in the scene in front of her. Mark was standing in the room with his back to the wall and his hands held up in surrender, and Jessie was standing a few feet away from him, pointing a gun at his chest.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Both of them turned to look at Ellie when the door opened. The pizzeria owner’s eyes flew to Jessie’s face.

  “What’s going on here?” she asked, too surprised to think of anything else to say. She had been expecting to have to rescue Jessie from Mark, not the other way around.

  “I’ve finally realized just how messed up my family is,” Jessie said. “What are you —”

  She cut off mid-sentence as Mark lunged toward her. Ellie flinched as they wrestled with the gun. In just moments, Mark managed to tear it out of his sister’s grip. He pointed it at her as she backed up, their positions reversed.

  “Give me the vase,” he said, turning his head slightly to speak to Ellie while still keeping his eye on his sister. “Just give it to me, and no one gets hurt.”

  Ellie gripped the vase more tightly, keenly aware that it was her only bargaining chip. “No,” she said. “Not until I know what’s going on.”

  “It’s none of your business,” he snarled. “Just give it to me.”

  “It is my business. Someone broke into my house in a sort of reverse robbery and left a twenty thousand dollar antique hidden in a box. I think I deserve to know what’s going on.”

  “It doesn’t matter what you think you deserve,” Mark said. “I’ve got the gun, so hand me the vase or someone gets hurt.”

  “If you pull the trigger or make a move toward me or Jessie, I’ll throw this thing to the ground. I don’t care how much money it’s worth.”

  She shifted her grip on the vase, ready to make good on her threat. With the police on the way, she knew all she had to do was stall for a few minutes. Thankfully, the threat seemed to give both of them pause.

  “What do you want to know?” Mark asked through gritted teeth.

  “The story. The real story. I’m guessing what you told me earlier wasn’t the full truth.”

  “I’ll tell you,” Jessie said. “Just… don’t let him shoot me. Please, I don’t even care about the vase. I just don’t want to die.”

  “If he tries anything, I’ll shatter it,” Ellie promised.

  Mark made an annoyed noise, but seemed to realize he was trapped. He gestured with the gun. “Go on, then, Jess. Tell us both your side of things.”

  She took a deep breath. “We went to the lawyer’s office the same evening the three of us at your pizzeria. He revealed that our mom left almost everything to Iggy. I… I admit that it hurt, but I also sort of understood it. Mark and I got out of town as soon as we could, but Iggy stayed. He’s the one who took care of her after Dad died. He’s the one who kept her out of the nursing home when she started getting sick. It makes sense that she wanted to leave him something extra as thanks. When Mark heard the will, he got angry.” She hesitated, glancing at the gun. “I’m not going to lie, I was a little bit upset too, but not like Mark. He confronted Iggy in the parking lot and… I thought he was going to kill him then and there. I managed to calm everyone down, and we agreed to meet up the next morning. When we did, Iggy told us he had gone to our mom’s estate and he took the vase and hid it somewhere neither of us would be able to find it. I know he was scared that Mark was going to go after it. He might have been worried about me too, I don’t know for sure. That vase is worth a lot of money.”

  “I know,” Ellie said. “I looked it up.”

  “Anyway, there was another huge fight. It ended with everyone leaving angrily, with a promise to meet up again later that night. Iggy said he was going to think about splitting everything with us. That was the evening I went over to your house. I met with my brothers afterward and told them about the weird coincidence I’d just had. The pizzeria owner lived in the Potters’ old house and thought it was haunted. I thought it was the neatest thing. I told them all about the experiences you had during the storm the night before. Iggy pulled me aside after and told me that he had been the one to break into the attic. There used to be a tree house in that tree by your house, and he climbed it all the time when he was a kid. When he was thinking of somewhere to hide the vase, that house was the first place he thought of. Iggy said he was going to go back that night and recover the vase, because he was sure Mark had put two and two together.” She spared a glare for her older brother. “I’m guessing you did end up figuring it out. You went there that night to get the vase and you ran into him, didn’t you?”

  Mark frowned at her and gave a single, stiff nod. “You’re right about that, but you’re wrong about why Mom left him everything. It wasn’t because he stayed and took care of her, it was because he was a spoiled brat. He was always the baby of the family, and he always got what he wanted. He didn’t stay in town to take care of Mom after Dad died, he stayed here because he got to live in a big house for free, Mom paid for anything he wanted, and he didn’t have to work a day
in his life. I saw him trying to climb that tree like he used to do when we were kids, and I pulled him down. I didn’t go into it trying to kill him, but he hit his head against the side of the house. He fought back and managed to wander off. He must have collapsed just on the other side of the road. I came back a couple of times, but I couldn’t find the vase.”

  “Why did you try to warn me away from Jessie?” Ellie asked.

  “Because I didn’t want you handing the thing over to her. I knew if she got her hands on it, I’d never see it again. When you called me earlier, I thought you might have already given it to her, and I came over here to get it back, and my lovely sister pulled a gun on me.”