Halloween Pizza Murder Read online

  “You probably saved mine,” Ellie said.

  They both looked at Dan, who was still whimpering, his fingers around the knife. He knew enough not to pull it out, and Ellie thought that he would probably hold on until the paramedics arrived. She would stay with Valerie until they got there. The other woman might not have made the best choices, but unlike Dan, she seemed to be a good person at heart, and Ellie couldn’t leave her alone after all of this.

  EPILOGUE

  * * *

  Ellie sat in the waiting room at the sheriff’s department, reading some of the old magazines that Mrs. Lafferre had stacked on the table. For once, she wasn’t here to see Russell. When the door to the back opened, she looked up to see Valerie coming towards her. Now that she no longer had on her white coat, Ellie could easily see differences between her and her sister. They had the same long, dark hair, but the similarities ended there.

  “Thank you so much,” Valerie said. “You didn’t have to do this.”

  “I wanted to,” Ellie said. “Just don’t make me regret it, okay? Show up for your court date.”

  “I will,” she said. “I want to give my sister a chance for justice, and I can’t do that if I’m on the run.”

  Valerie had been arrested on obstruction of justice charges. Ellie had decided to post bail for her, wanting the woman to be able to join her family for her sister’s funeral service. She thought that it was a safe bet. She didn’t think that Valerie would run. She hoped that when her court date came, the judge would go easy on her. Yes, she should have gone to the police immediately, but at the same time, she had just witnessed her sister’s violent death. She probably hadn’t been thinking clearly.

  “I’ll give you a ride to the motel you were staying at,” she said. “What happened to your jacket?”

  “Oh, that? I threw it away. It was all muddy and torn. Halloween’s over, anyway.”

  “I’m not sure what you were supposed to be, but you made a great ghost,” Ellie said, giving her a small smile as she rose.

  “I’m so sorry about scaring you,” the woman said. “I wasn’t thinking straight then. Looking back on it, I can see how that might have freaked you out just a little bit.”

  “It certainly made life interesting for a few days,” Ellie said. “And Valerie, I’m sorry about your sister. I know you two were close. I can’t imagine losing someone like that.”

  “Sometimes it still doesn’t feel real,” Valerie said. “We were close in age, and we were really more like friends than sisters. I don’t know what my life is going to be like without her. She was always there for me when I needed her. She may have had her problems, but I loved her. I’m going to miss her. I hope Dan rots in prison for the rest of his life.”

  “Russell will do everything he can to see that Dan gets the maximum sentence,” Ellie said.

  The two of them got into Ellie’s car. The town seemed deflated somehow after the holiday. The decorations were slowly being taken down, and the trees seemed to have lost even more leaves overnight. It was beginning to look more like winter than autumn.

  It was a somber day, with dark clouds above them threatening rain and the wind gusting occasionally, causing dry leaves to fly across the road. Ellie and Valerie drove to the motel in silence. Ellie was still shaken by everything that happened that night in the woods. She had come close to dying. If Valerie had been a second later, or had been a little less brave, it would be her funeral that Russell was getting ready for.

  Even though Valerie had made some poor choices, her heart went out to the other woman. Posting bail for her was the least she could do. Valerie had saved her life, and that wasn’t something that she took lightly. Thanks to the woman in the seat next to her, Ellie still had her future. She would have years to appreciate all of the hard work she had put into the pizzerias. She would be able to go through with her wedding with Russell, and get married to the man that she loved. Thanks to Valerie, she’d be able to see her grandmother come home next year, and see her best friend’s baby be born. She felt a warmth rise inside of her, a simple love for life. She was grateful that she had been given another chance, and she didn’t want to waste it.