Meat Lovers and Murder

by Patti Benning

  Hopefully it's good, she thought. Because that's my lunch.

  Once she was done with the dishes, while she was waiting for the pizza to finish cooking, she sat down at the table and pulled out her cell phone. While the pizzeria could be fast-paced, there was a lot of downtime as well. She sent a text to Shannon, asking her friend how she was doing, then checked her email to see if Linda had anything new to say. The Florida pizzeria had recently suffered a huge tragedy, and Ellie was trying hard to be there for the other woman.

  Her phone buzzed, and she pulled up the text message, but it wasn't from Shannon; it was from Angela, the real estate agent.

  We just got clearance to show the house, the woman texted. Are you still interested in it?

  Ellie stared at her phone. She was surprised that the police had given clearance so soon, but she knew that they couldn't keep it closed up and declared as a crime scene forever. If the owner was adamant about selling, he would find a way to do it.

  She shut her phone screen off and slipped it back into her pocket without responding to Angela. She did want to go see the house, but she wanted to talk to Russell first. If she was going to seriously look into buying another home, then that had to be a choice that they made together.

  CHAPTER NINE

  * * *

  “Meat lover’s mac and cheese pizza,” Ellie murmured as she scribbled on the blackboard. The pizza had turned out wonderfully, and it would be the special for next week. Ellie absolutely loved the creative aspect of her job. It was fun to come up with new ideas every week, and it was satisfying when her experiments turned out well. She was looking forward to the summer when she would be able to experiment with some more unique pizzas; she wanted to utilize the vegetables she would be able to get from the local farmer’s market and bring back the cauliflower crust pizza that she had made the year before.

  “Your phone’s buzzing,” Rose said, poking her head out of the kitchen.

  “Okay, thanks,” Ellie said. She had left her cell phone in her apron's pocket, which she had taken off when she had switched places with Rose and came out front to man the register. Anyone who knew her well would know that she would be at work just then, so she figured if someone was calling her, it was probably important. Russell especially knew that texting was the best way to get in touch with her during the day, since it was easier for her to quickly check her phone for text messages than to take a call if she was with the customer. She hoped that everything was okay. Maybe he caught the killer, she thought as she put the blackboard down and slipped into the kitchen.

  By the time she reached her phone, it had stopped ringing. She turned on the screen to find that she had a missed call from Shannon. Her friend had left a voicemail, which Ellie listened to it, her curiosity turning from excitement to concern in a matter of seconds.

  “Ellie, I think the baby’s on its way. Can you get here? James is out of town, and he's on his way back already, but I don't want to be alone. I might need someone to drive me to the hospital if it’s really coming right now.”

  Ellie grabbed her purse as she dialed her friend’s number. “I have to go,” she told Rose. “Jacob should be back soon, and I'm sure the two of you can handle the rest of the day by yourselves. If you need more help, you should be able to call one of the other employees in.”

  “Is everything okay?” Rose asked, her concern overcoming whatever issues she had with Ellie at the moment.

  “I think my best friend is about to have a baby,” Ellie said, grinning at her.

  Then Shannon answered the phone, tearing her attention away from her employee. “Shannon, I’m at the pizzeria, but I’m on my way over,” Ellie said. “Is everything okay? How are you doing?”

  “I'm freaking out,” Shannon said. “The doctor said that I might have the baby a little bit early due to my age, but I was hoping it would last the full term. I need to get to the doctor, but I can’t drive myself, and James is a couple of hours away.”

  “I'll be there in just a few minutes,” Ellie said. “Don't you worry. I'll take care of everything.”

  She hung up, already doubting herself as she put her phone into her pocket. How could she promise to take care of everything, when she had absolutely no experience with childbirth? She didn't have any siblings, so she had never had the chance to have nieces or nephews. All of her friends in Chicago had been too career focused to think about having kids, and while she knew a couple of women in Kittiport who were mothers, all of them had older kids, and some of them even had teenagers. A baby was a whole new world for her.

  She got into her car and cranked the engine, pulling out of the parking lot as soon as it was safe to do so. Luckily, Shannon didn't live too far away, and Ellie managed to get there within a matter of minutes. She left the car running and hurried up to the front door. She knocked, then tried the handle. It was open; Shannon must have left it unlocked for her.

  She found her friend laying on the couch, her hands touching her belly protectively. “I think it was a false alarm,” Shannon said slowly, looking down at her belly. “I had cramps for about twenty minutes, but it stopped.”

  Ellie breathed out a sigh of relief. When the baby came, she wanted James to be there. This wasn't something that she knew how to deal with.

  “Should we still get you to the doctor?” she asked.

  Shannon nodded. “Probably, just to be safe. I'll call James on the way and let him know what's going on.”

  Ellie helped her friend stand up, and the two of them made their way out to the car. She waited until Shannon was safely strapped in before she shut the passenger side door and walked around to the driver’s side.

  “Where are we going?” she asked.

  “I called my doctor and told her what was going on. She thinks it was false labor, and she can see me at her office. That way we won't have to drive all the way to the hospital.”

  Ellie was relieved. The closest hospital was about forty minutes away, and it wasn't a drive that she wanted to make without a good reason.

  Ellie spent the next hour sitting in the waiting room, flipping through old magazines and sitting up straighter every time the door that led to the doctor’s offices opened. At last, she saw her friend walk out. A kind looking older woman was walking next to her, a reassuring hand resting on Shannon’s shoulder.

  “You're going to be just fine,” the woman said. “I do want you to start taking things a bit easier. I haven't put you on bed rest just yet, because exercise is important, but I'm going to ask you to stay off your feet when you can. The longer we can keep the baby in there, the better. False labor isn’t uncommon in situations like these, and it's nothing to worry about. You did the right thing by coming in, though. Better to be safe than sorry.”

  Ellie rose and met the two women in the middle of the waiting room. She was glad to hear that her friend was okay, and that the baby wasn't coming just yet.

  “I'll get you home,” Ellie said. “You should probably relax for the rest of the day.”

  “Thanks, Ellie. I'm sorry it was a false alarm.”

  “I'm not,” Ellie said, smiling. “And I'm sure James isn't either. He'd be pretty upset if he missed the birth of his child.”

  “James,” Shannon exclaimed. “He's going to be beside himself. He sent me a bunch of texts while I was seeing the doctor, and I haven’t had a chance to respond to him. I have to let him know that the baby’s okay.”

  “Well, let's see if we can beat him home,” Ellie said. “You can call him on the way. I'm sure he'll be quite relieved to see you, big belly and all.”

  They did indeed manage to beat James home. Ellie waited while Shannon talked to her husband on the phone, telling him what had happened and reassuring him that she and the baby were both okay.

  “Do you want me to wait here until he arrives?” Ellie asked once she was done.

  “If you don't mind,” Shannon said. “I'm still a bit shaken up.”

  “I don't mind in the slightest,” Ellie said.
“Besides, there was something I wanted to talk to you about.”

  “Oh?” Her friend’s eyebrows rose. “What is it?”

  “Well, my neighbor’s house is for sale. You know that Russell and I have been talking for a long time about eventually buying our own house and this just seems… well, it seems perfect. What do you think? It would be right next door to my grandmother, which would be nice.”

  “Is this the same house that someone got killed in?” Shannon asked, frowning. “Do you really want to live in a murder house?”

  “I mean, once the killer is caught, what will the difference be?”

  “I guess if you're okay with it, but won’t you be thinking of your neighbor all the time? It just seems very morbid.”

  “Well, it's a nice house, and I don't think that we will find a better option that works for both Russell and me, and also my grandmother. I know she seems very healthy, but she really is getting older. She shouldn't be living alone out in the middle of nowhere, without anyone around to help if she falls or gets herself into trouble. If we can't find a nearby house to buy, we will probably just stay with her. And while I love her, the more time I spend alone with Russell, the more I don't want to lose out on our privacy.”

  “I guess if you and Russell are both okay with it, you might as well give it a shot,” Shannon said. “Maybe I'm just being hormonal, but I can't imagine wanting to raise my baby in a house where someone had been violently killed like that.”

  “I'm sure it would be different if I was a mother,” Ellie said. “But with just the two of us, I think we could deal with it. I got a text from the real estate agent today saying that the police have given her permission to show the house. I'm not sure exactly what state it's in. The owner can't have had much of a chance to clean anything up. I was going to wait until the case was solved to bring it up with Russell, but I don’t want to risk the house getting sold out from under us.”

  “Well, if you like the house, I hope it works out for you. I do think it would be nice for you and Russell to have your own home together. I know buying this place was one of the best decisions that James and I ever made.”

  Ellie smiled at her friend. She didn't know what she would do without Shannon. When her friend had realized that she was pregnant, she and James had considered moving away to a bigger city, but in the end had decided to stay. Kittiport might be a small town, but it was home. Ellie was sure that their child would grow up lacking for nothing.

  “It seems like life is just one change after another,” Ellie said. “Let's get you on the couch. The doctor said to stay off your feet when you can. We can watch a show or listen to some music while we wait for James to come home.”

  “I guess I've lost most of my independence,” Shannon said, sighing. “James isn't going to let me do anything by myself now.”

  “You only have a few weeks left,” Ellie said. “Before you know it, your body will be your own again.”

  “That is something I'm definitely looking forward to,” Shannon said with feeling.

  CHAPTER TEN

  * * *

  Ellie went straight home after James arrived to take over Shannon's care. She had a lot that she wanted to talk to Russell about. Why couldn't my neighbor have just happily moved away? she wondered as she pulled into her driveway. If it had been anything other than murder, then she knew Russell wouldn't have had an issue with wanting to buy the place. She desperately wanted to talk to him about it, but at the same time, she didn't want to interfere with the case he was working on. The owner was a suspect, after all. Russell couldn't very well enter into a business transaction with someone he was investigating for murder. The sheriff's election was later that year, and even if ethics hadn't been a concern, she knew that he wouldn't want to do anything to potentially jeopardize the way the townspeople saw him. Ellie shut off her car and looked over at the house that she wanted to buy. The For Sale sign was still up, and even though there wasn't a car in the driveway, there were lights on inside. As she watched, a dark form moved in front of one of the windows. Ellie frowned. Without a car in the driveway, who could possibly be there? They lived far enough out of town that they didn't get very much pedestrian traffic. She remembered seeing someone run into the woods the weekend before, and felt goosebumps rise on her skin.

  Shaken, Ellie got out of the car and walked into her own home, greeting the dogs and the bird quickly before taking her cell phone out of her purse and calling Russell. He sounded distracted when he first answered, but when she told him about the person in their neighbor's house, his focus shifted completely onto her.

  “I want you to stay inside and lock the doors, Ellie,” he said. “Don't go over there, okay? I’ll stop by and see what's going on, but I don't want you to put yourself in danger. If the killer did return, there's no telling what he might be looking for.”

  “Trust me, I'm not going anywhere,” Ellie said. She was capable of being brave, especially when Russell was around, but she wasn't about to walk into a confrontation with a potential murderer with no good reason.

  Even though she knew better than to investigate herself, she was still curious, so she went upstairs into the spare bedroom and pulled back the curtain. It was one of the only windows in the house that looked out on the neighbor’s property. The window above the sink in the kitchen did as well, but the counter prevented her from getting close enough to get a good view. Now, with the curtain pulled back and her eyes on the house, she settled down to wait. If anyone left, she would be able to see them.

  Her attention was beginning to waver when she finally saw Russell's truck pull into the driveway. Her eyes glued to the house and property, she watched as Russell approached the front door. She couldn't see the door itself, but she could see part of him as he stood on the front stoop to knock. A moment later, he stepped back, and she could see his face again, but she couldn't see who he was talking to.

  Frowning, she watched his body language, irritated that she couldn't hear his words. At first, he looked tense, but after a moment he began to relax. At last, he held out his hand and shook someone else's, then returned to his truck. He pulled out of the driveway and headed down the road, and a few seconds later Ellie heard him pull up to their house.

  Still, she kept her eyes on the other house. Someone was still standing on the porch; she saw a glimpse of an elbow and someone’s shoulder. She guessed that whoever it was was locking the front door. A moment later, the person turned and walked down the front steps. She was surprised to see an older man with a balding head and a warm coat limp down the path. When he reached the street, he turned to the left and continued his way on foot.

  Who is that? she wondered. Was it the owner of the house? Or was it a relative of her neighbor’s, come to get some of his stuff? Whoever it was must live nearby. There were only a handful of houses that were in easy walking distance. Once again, she thought of the mysterious person who had fled from the neighbor’s house the night of the murder. That person had left on foot as well.

  Hearing the front door open, Ellie hurried downstairs to greet Russell. The first few minutes after one of them arrived home was always chaos as the dogs begged for attention and Marlowe called out to whoever had walked in. After the chaos had settled down, Ellie and Russell made their way to the kitchen with the two dogs following behind them. Russell looked tired; Ellie knew that he had been busy for the past few days dealing with both the murder case and working extra shifts to make up for Liam and Bethany having to cover for him while he was gone. They had extended their honeymoon for a few days since they had missed the first part of it with everything that had happened in Florida, and the extra days gone had taken their toll on everyone here.

  “It's good to be home,” Russell said. “I know we just got back, but I am already looking forward to taking another vacation. I love my job, but I don’t always love the lack of sleep that comes with it.”

  “Well, maybe you could come down to Florida with me when I go to visit Nonna,” Elli
e suggested. “I'm planning on staying for a week.”

  “I’ll think about it,” Russell said. “It's very tempting, but with the amount of work I’ll have when I get back, I don't know if it would be worth it.”

  Ellie had brought home the rest of the meat lover’s mac and cheese pizza and waited while Russell got it out of the fridge and heated it up in the microwave. It wasn't until he sat down at the kitchen table that she brought up the man in the next-door neighbor's house.

  “So, who was that?” she asked.

  Russell took a bite of pizza and wiped his mouth before answering. “It was the owner,” he said. “Wilbur Brown. He was just there to take an inventory of everything in the house. Apparently, he rented it furnished, and now he has to mark down which furniture is his, and which was brought in by the tenant.”