Spooky Pizza Murder

by Patti Benning

  She sat down to her meal with both dogs eying her from the floor. Ignoring them as completely as possible — begging at the table was a bad habit, and she was trying to stop encouraging it — she ate her meal in silence. The quiet didn’t help matters, and she began to feel more and more worried as she ate.

  Why was that woman blaming me? she wondered. Can she really think that I killed him? I hardly said a word to the man. She took a deep breath, trying to remind herself that the woman was in shock and probably grieving. Granted, she hadn’t seemed to like the man very much judging from the small snippet of family life Ellie had seen, but she knew that short interaction was no way to measure the quality of a family relationship. Even if she hadn’t been a fan of her son-in-law, it didn’t mean she wouldn’t be shocked and saddened at his death. Her poor daughter, she thought. Rosa had seemed nice enough from their interaction, and she certainly didn’t deserve to have her life turned on its head like this. Though Ellie had a feeling that Ethan wouldn’t miss him at all.

  Ethan. She froze, her fork halfway to her mouth. Was it possible that Ethan was the one who had killed him? He had taken a break shortly before she had found Tim’s body, and from the way Tim seemed to treat him, he had definitely had motive.

  While she had explained her own interaction with Tim to Liam, she hadn’t even thought to bring up Ethan’s side of things. A glance at the clock told her that Russell should be home in about an hour, and she resolved to broach the subject with him then.

  When Russell got home, he surprised her by pulling her into a tight hug before anything else. She squeezed him back, then pulled away slightly.

  “What’s this for?” she asked.

  “I’m just glad you’re all right,” he said. He took a deep breath. “And I’m worried.”

  “Why?”

  “That woman who was accusing you at the festival? She was the mother-in-law of the deceased,” he said. Ellie nodded; she already knew that. “I questioned her more at the sheriff’s department. She’s adamant that you did it. Unfortunately, we have to take what she says into account.”

  She pulled away from him, stunned. “You mean I’m a suspect?”

  He nodded. “You are. Liam’s going to ask you to come into the sheriff’s department tomorrow for questioning. And until we find enough evidence to take you off of the suspect list, I’m off the case. I stayed up late with Liam tonight, poring over everything, but we both came to the conclusion that there’s no way around it. I can’t work a case where my own wife is a suspect.”

  Ellie blinked, feeling a lump in her throat. “But… you don’t think I did it, do you?”

  “No, of course not,” he said, pulling her into another hug. “We’ll get your name cleared, don’t worry. I just know this is going to be tough for you, especially since she made such a public accusation. We’re hoping that once we get the fingerprint swabs back from the knife we took into evidence, we’ll be able to prove that you didn’t do it. With luck, whoever did commit the crime will already be in the system.”

  She felt her face go pale. “Russell… I touched the knife. My fingerprints will be on it.”

  This time he was the one who stepped back, his eyes going wide. “You did? That’s not going to look good.” He dragged his hand down his face. “Why would you do that?”

  “Well I didn’t mean to,” she snapped. “I tripped over the thing. I had no idea what it was when I reached for it. I let go of it as soon as I realized.”

  “Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to sound like I was blaming you. I can’t even imagine what state of mind you were in right after finding the body. This whole thing has just got me on edge. Why is it always you who finds these things?”

  He said the last sentence so helplessly that she didn’t even bristle. He was just worried about her. She was worried about herself too.

  “I don’t know. Trust me when I say I wish it wasn’t.” They stood in silence for a moment before she spoke up again. “So, what’s going to happen when the knife comes back with my fingerprints on it?”

  “Well, tomorrow you should tell Liam that you touched the knife when you found it. As far as I know, he thinks you just tripped over it. If the real culprit wasn’t wearing gloves and didn’t wipe the knife, his or her prints should show up on the knife too. We can work with that. If they did think to wipe the blade…” He trailed off. “Well, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

  Chapter Six

  Neither of them slept well that night. Russell woke up early, like usual, and kissed her goodbye before heading in to work. Even though he wasn’t working the Tim Nelson case, he still had his usual shift to attend to.

  “I’ll let you know if anything changes,” he promised her. “When should I tell Liam you’ll be in?”

  “Do you think about half an hour will be long enough?” she asked.

  “If you’re planning on coming in right before work, I’d give it a bit longer.”

  “All right. Tell him I’ll be there at nine-thirty.” She could always go get coffee if she had some extra time on her hands afterward.

  “We’ll get all of this figured out, Ellie. Try not to worry too much about it.”

  She gave him a weak smile. She would try, but she knew it would be difficult.

  She went through her morning routine more quickly than usual, since she had to be in town a good hour before she usually was. Liam was extending a courtesy to her by asking her to come in like this instead of showing up personally somewhere to bring her in, and she didn’t want to be late. She knew — or, she hoped — that Liam believed that she was innocent, but even though he was just going through proper procedure, it was still hard not to be hurt that he wanted to question her. They had been friends for years, and the thought that he might even slightly suspect her of murder was enough to make her sick.

  She was on her way out of the house when her phone rang. Seeing Rose’s name come up on the caller ID, she answered it immediately. Rose was one of her employees, and she was scheduled to work today. If she was calling in before her shift, it could only be for one reason.

  “Hi, Ms. P.,” the younger woman said when she answered the phone. “Sorry for doing this at the last minute, but I don’t think I’m going to be able to come in today. Or on Tuesday, either.”

  Ellie’s stomach lurched. “Is everything all right?” she asked, concerned.

  “Oh, yeah. I mean, nothing bad happened. Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “Of course you can have the time off if you need it, Rose, but is there a reason you didn’t call sooner? I should be able to handle today on my own before Jacob gets in, but it’s very short notice.”

  “It’s…” She hesitated. “Look, first I want you to know that I don’t think you did it.” Ellie’s stomach swooped. She knew what was coming. “But my mom saw the news this morning and she called me in tears, asking me not to go in to work. She heard what that woman said about you. She was hysterical, and she’s been sick lately and I didn’t want to worry her, so I promised her I’d take a couple days off while the police investigate. She wanted me to quit, but I told her no way. I just didn’t know what else to do, so I compromised with her. I’m really sorry.”

  The pizzeria owner heaved a sigh. “It’s okay, Rose. I understand why you told her you wouldn’t come in. It’s a special circumstance, so don’t worry about it. If you think you’re going to need more time, let me know as soon as possible, okay?”

  “I won’t. I told her I’d only ask for two days off. Again, I’m really sorry, Ms. P.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I hope all of this blows over soon. I’ve got a feeling your mother isn’t the only one who’s going to blame the murder on me.”

  Even though Ellie was nervous as she walked through the doors of the sheriff’s department, Liam put her at ease quickly. He never came out and said, “I know you didn’t do it, Ellie,” but he didn’t treat her any differently than he normally did, either. The two of them sat in a
n interview room with styrofoam cups of coffee while they talked. Liam asked her to walk him through the day again, this time from when she woke up all the way until she left the park. She did as he asked, making sure to pay special attention to telling him about the conversation she had witnessed between Tim and Ethan. She mentioned touching the knife before she realized what it was, and he reassured her that Russell had already explained about that.

  “Thanks, Ellie,” he said as they were finishing up. “This should help a lot. I’ll let you know if we have any more questions. Thank you for cooperating with us so much. I know this can’t be easy for you.”

  “It’s not,” she said. She told him what happened with Rose. “But I know I’ll get through it. I want to help however I can.”

  After that, she went to the pizzeria. She knew she was in for a lonely morning, since Rose wasn’t coming in and Jacob wouldn’t be there until the evening. Still, the routine of starting the ovens and rolling out the dough for the first few pizzas made her feel better, and before she knew it, she was humming to herself as she spread sauce on the pizzas. Papa Pacelli’s had long been a refuge for her, and that wasn’t about to change now.

  While the first two pizzas were cooking, she went through the rest of the opening routine, making sure everything was ready to go by the time the clock hit eleven. She unlocked the doors and flipped the Open sign, then hurried back into the kitchen where she removed the two perfect pizzas from the oven. With practiced motions, she cut them into eight slices each, then slid them under the warming lights. These pizzas would be served by the slice as part of the pizzeria’s lunch special.

  While she waited for her first customer of the day, she cleaned up her workspace. When no one had come in by the time she was done, she decided to sit behind the register and catch up on some reading.

  A few minutes later, something splatted against the pizzeria’s front window.

  Ellie looked up to see a smear of orange-ish red and for a split second she thought blood. Then she realized it was the wrong color for blood. Frowning, she saved her place in her book and got up to go try to figure out what on earth it was.

  She had to actually open the door and step outside before it clicked. It was a tomato. She was still so shocked that it took her a moment to realize someone had thrown a tomato at the pizzeria.

  “Get out of here, murderer. This town doesn’t want you anymore!”

  The shout came from someone in a black sedan. Before she was fully turned around to see who it was, the car was already speeding away.

  Ellie took a step after it, but knew it would be useless. Her heart was pounding, and worse, she felt a lump in her throat. Did people really think that of her? After all she had done for the town, after getting to know the regulars at the pizzeria for over three years, and they were still so quick to turn on her?

  She took a deep breath, reminding herself that it was only one person, so far. Well, one person and Rosa’s mother. But Rosa, at least, had defended her.

  Turning back around, she stared at the dirty front window of her restaurant for a second. I should call Russell, she thought, but her hand made no move toward the phone in her pocket. She knew exactly what would happen if she called her husband. He would worry. There wouldn’t be anything else he could do, since she hadn’t gotten a good look at the car’s license plate or at the driver. All calling him would do would be to drag him further into this mess than he already was, and to make him even more frustrated that he couldn’t work on the case, and she didn’t want to do that. So, instead, she went back inside and got a spray bottle of glass cleaner and a roll of paper towels, and started cleaning up the mess on her own.

  Chapter Seven

  It was a painfully slow day at the pizzeria, and the next day was the same. A lot of Ellie’s customers seemed unwilling to look her in the eye as they made their orders. Only a handful of people — a mix of the ones she knew best, and the ones who were from out of town and simply had no idea what was going on — acted normally toward her, and she treasured those interactions.

  She was surprised when, on Tuesday, she saw a familiar face, albeit one she hadn’t seen for a while.

  “Susie?” she said when she recognized the blonde woman. Susie Callahan had been involved with a murder herself just a few weeks ago. Ellie had visited the other woman in the hospital, but hadn’t seen or heard from her since she had been released.

  “Hi,” Susie said, giving a small wave and shifting uncertainly on her feet. “I, um, just wanted to stop in and see how you were doing. And tell you I know that you didn’t kill that guy. I’ve been telling everyone I know that you’re innocent, though most of them don’t believe me.”

  Ellie was so surprised that she couldn’t think of anything to say for a long moment. “Thank you,” she said at last. “That means a lot to me. You have no idea.”

  The other woman raised her eyebrows. “I think I kind of do have an idea, actually. For a long time while I was in the hospital, people kept looking at me sideways, wondering if I had something to do with my brother’s death. It’s not a good feeling at all, and you were one of the few people who stood up for me. I want to return that favor.”

  “You’re right, I’m sorry. You probably understand better than anyone,” Ellie said.

  “Sorry I didn’t come visit sooner,” she said. “I’ve been trying to get my life back in order. It’s… been hard. Lots of therapy.” She gave a dry chuckle.

  “I hope you’re getting things figured out,” Ellie replied. “It really is nice to see you again.”

  “You too.” The two women smiled at each other for a second, then Susie started. “Oh, I almost forgot. I still have your phone number, but I don’t think I ever gave you mine. Here, I’ll write it down. If you ever want to go out for coffee or get lunch together… well, just give me a call.”

  “Thanks, and the same goes to you,” Ellie said, taking the scrap of paper with the other woman’s phone number on it. “Can I get you anything? It’s been a slow day, I could probably join you if you wanted to get a slice or two right now.”

  “I’d love to, but I already told Joanna I’d stop by Hot Diggity Dawg for lunch today.” She gave a wry grin. “I’ve been making the rounds today, and catching up with everyone I’ve neglected over the past few weeks.”

  “I see,” Ellie said with a chuckle. “Some other time, then. And thanks again, Susie. What you said earlier really does mean a lot.”

  Her mood boosted from Susie’s visit, the rest of the day passed quickly for Ellie. It was still slow, and most of her customers were still acting strangely, but her perspective had changed. Being forced to remember that she wasn’t alone in this, that other people had gone through something similar, and that people outside of her family and close friends believed her helped in ways that she couldn’t express.

  She would get through this. This wasn’t the first time people had suspected her of a crime, though it was the first time the public had witnessed such a blatant accusation. What was important was that she knew she was innocent. No one could take that away from her. And even more importantly, she trusted Russell and Liam and everyone else at the sheriff’s department to solve the case and clear her name.

  She just wished they would hurry up a bit.

  Russell texted her an hour before she started closing that evening. Once Pete had arrived that afternoon, she had let him handle the customers while she stayed in the back cooking pizzas, and being out of the public eye had helped to boost her mood even further, so when she saw the message from her husband asking how things were going, she replied, Good.

  I’m glad. You free after work? Have you eaten yet?

  She had eaten a couple slices of pizza for lunch, but that had been hours ago. No plans after work, and I haven’t eaten, she replied. Chinese takeout?

  That was their go-to on evenings where they didn’t feel like pizza and they both had to work late. She was surprised when her husband replied in the negative. A moment later thou
gh, his next text came through. I was thinking dinner at the Kitchen, it read. James and Shannon are free.

  Ellie smiled at that. Her husband had managed to truly surprise her this time. Double dates with James and Shannon, her brother- and sister-in-law, weren’t exactly rare, but they usually had to plan them out a good week or two in advance, since out of the four of them, three worked jobs that demanded a lot of their time, and James and Shannon had a young child on top of all of that.

  Definitely, she replied quickly. I’ll be ready to go right after close.

  The rest of the evening passed quickly, and since she had the dinner to look forward to, she started tidying up well before close and let Pete take the leftover by-the-slice pizzas home. Free food was one of the benefits of working at the pizzeria, and Ellie had never been stingy about it. In fact, she encouraged her employees to make their own pizzas for their on-shift meals, and to be creative about it. Coming up with a unique pizza every week wasn’t easy, and she was more than happy to have help in the creativity department.