I glanced at the clock and saw that we had almost an hour before the morning competition was set to resume. “Why don’t we do a little of both? After we get ready, we can corner one of the maids and then head downstairs to the auditorium to see if we can find any of our competition to grill before the contest starts up again.”
“That sounds perfect,” Maddy said. “I’m calling dibs on the shower first.”
I laughed. “You’re welcome to it. I haven’t even touched my strawberries yet.”
“Don’t eat too much, Eleanor. You know it’s good to be just a little hungry when you’re making pizza.”
“Oh, there’s plenty of time between now and then to get hungry again. Besides, you have no one to blame but yourself,” I said with a grin. “Next time, don’t order so much food if you want me to be lean and hungry.”
Maddy frowned a little, and then said, “Just think. By midnight, nothing about this contest will matter anymore. Win or lose, the competition will be over, and the grand prize will be awarded. After all is said and done, we can sleep in tomorrow, have a late breakfast, and just enjoy ourselves before we have to check out.”
“Don’t forget, we still have to find a murderer, and soon,” I reminded her.
“Like I said, if we don’t have a better idea by this time tomorrow, I have a feeling we’ll never solve the case, and neither will the police,” Maddy replied.
“Then I suggest we get busy,” I said. “Go take that shower so we can get started.”
She smiled a little as she saluted me. “Yes, ma’am.”
While Maddy was in the shower, the house telephone rang. I finished my bite, and then answered it without giving it another thought.
After I said hello, Hank replied, “Eleanor? Is that you? I could have sworn that I dialed Maddy’s room.”
“It’s just one digit off,” I said, not caring to explain why I hadn’t stayed in my own room the night before. Then again, how hard would it be for him to find out that I hadn’t slept in my own room last night? It might be better just to nip his curiosity in the bud before he started pursuing it. “Maddy and I made a late night of it chatting, so I just crashed here with her. What can I do for you?”
“I was feeling bad about how I behaved last night, and I was hoping that I could make it up to you both. Is there any chance I could tag along with you again today?”
“I hate to disappoint you,” I said, “but we’re focusing more on the competition right now than we are on finding the killer.” While it wasn’t strictly the truth, I couldn’t have Hank stepping all over our investigation again.
Hank sounded a little sad as he answered, “Of course. I totally understand. This is a big deal for you guys, and it should be. I’m just saying, if you need me, you know how to find me. You have my personal cell number, right?”
“You gave it to us last night,” I reminded him.
“Good. I thought so, but I just wanted to make sure that you still had it. Don’t be afraid to use it now, okay?”
“We won’t.”
“One more thing, Eleanor.”
“Yes, what is it?” Was this man trying to tell me something about the case? If he was, I wished that he’d just spit it out.
With a hint of shyness in his voice, he said, “Good luck today.”
“Thanks. I’m afraid that we’re going to need it.”
Just as I hung up the phone, Maddy came out of the bathroom after her shower and asked, “Did I just hear voices?”
“I don’t know,” I said with a grin. “Did you?”
“It wasn’t all that funny when we were kids,” Maddy said with an answering smile, “and it hasn’t aged all that well, either.”
“Hank White just called,” I said. “He wanted to apologize again for trying to take over our investigation last night.”
“He should,” Maddy said as she ran a towel through her blond hair. “He kind of forgot his place, didn’t he?”
“He knows that, and now he wants to make it up to us,” I said.
“How does he propose to do that?”
“I’m not sure,” I admitted, “but I told him we didn’t need him, since we had a pizza contest to win. I know it’s not strictly true, but it just seemed easier to me to tell him that. After all, we are still trying to win twenty-five grand.”
“You bet we are,” Maddy said. “The Slice could use a little sprucing up.” She must have realized how that could have sounded to me, because she quickly added, “Not that it’s not perfect just the way it is right now.”
“You can quit backpedaling,” I said as I chuckled a little. “I agree with you. I just don’t want to spend too much time thinking about what we could do if we win. It’s a lot of money, and I don’t want to be disappointed if we don’t win.”
“Look at it this way,” Maddy said. “We have a much better shot at winning now that Luigi is out of the picture.” She shook her head, and then amended, “That didn’t come out right, either. Of course I never would wish that anyone was ever murdered, but it sure sounded like that just then, didn’t it?”
“Don’t worry about it, Sis. There’s nobody here but us gals,” I said. “I understood you, but other people might not. We both need to be especially careful about what we say today.”
“Got it,” she said. “The shower’s all yours, and if we’re going to talk to the maids on this floor and still have time to do a little more snooping, we’d better get moving.”
“I don’t know about you, but I can be ready in nine minutes,” I said.
“Well then, go to it.”
I was ready in eight, though my hair was still a little wet as we walked out the door together. The blow dryer in the bathroom worked wonderfully, but I didn’t have the time or the patience for it. Not today. There was too much we still needed to do before the competition was over.
“How’s that for prompt timing?” I asked.
“I’ll let the damp hair slide,” Maddy said, “Mainly because I want to get going. Come on, Eleanor. Let’s go do what we do best.”
“Making pizza?” I asked.
“Snooping,” she replied.
We found four maids clustered down at one end of the hallway beside the linen closet, and from the look of things, they were stocking their carts up with the supplies they’d need before they started cleaning rooms.
As I approached them, their chatter died instantly.
“Excuse me,” I asked, “but I’m looking for the maid who cleans the pizza contestants’ rooms.”
“Is there a problem I can help you with, ma’am?” an older maid with graying hair and a trim figure asked me. Her ID tag said that she was Helen, a name I thought was rather elegant. “I’d be glad to address whatever concerns you might have.”
“Oh, we’re perfectly happy with our service,” I said. “I just need to ask whoever is cleaning those rooms a few questions.”
“May I ask what this is about?”
I suddenly realized that I’d gone about this the wrong way. “I’m sorry. Can we start over? Your boss asked us to look into the murder that happened at the hotel yesterday, and we believe that it might involve some of the folks here for the pizza making competition.”
“I’m sorry, but Renee didn’t tell me anything about that,” Helen said.
“I’m not exactly sure who Renee is. I was talking about Gina Sizemore.”
Helen thought about that for a moment, and then said, “If you have something from her stating that we can speak freely with you, that would help tremendously.”
“I have her card. Will that do?” I asked, getting it out of my jeans. I’d just transferred it over to the clean pair I was wearing now, but I didn’t think that I’d have to use it that quickly.
“I’m sorry,” she said as she examined the card and then handed it back to me. “There are a thousand ways you could have gotten this. Please understand; I’m not trying to be rude. We just have to protect ourselves, since all of us need our jobs.”
“I get that totally,” I said.
“Call her,” Maddy said.
“I hate to bother her with this,” I replied.
Maddy pressed me a little harder. “Eleanor, this is important, and Gina offered to help us in whatever way that she could. Just make the call, or if you don’t want to, I will.”
“I’ll do it.” I dialed Gina’s number and got her on the first ring.
“Good morning, Eleanor. How were your accommodations last night?”
“Are you kidding? We enjoyed it so much that my sister and I may never leave.”
Gina chuckled for a second, and then asked, “Is there anything I can do for you?”
“I hope so. I’m speaking with a maid on my floor named Helen, and she’s understandably reluctant to talk with us about any of your guests without your approval.”
“As well she should be,” Gina said. “Put her on the phone.”
I handed the cell phone to Helen, and after a brief and rather one-sided conversation, she handed the phone back to me.
“Hello?” I asked, but Gina had already hung up. I turned to Helen and asked, “What did she say?”
The maid smiled at me. “I have been instructed to tell you whatever you’d like to know. Should we step into my office for this conversation?”
“You have an office on this floor?” I asked as I looked up and down the hallway for any signs of it.
“Forgive me. It’s just our private little joke. The linen closet serves as my office on this floor. There’s more room than you might realize, and we won’t be bothered by any of the hotel’s guests.” She turned to the other maids and said, “Elaine, you need to stay. Jessica, you have rooms to clean. Sheila, that goes for you, too. Go.”
The dismissed maids were off like a shot, and the four of us walked into the closet together. It was indeed larger than it appeared, and I wondered about the logic of taking up so much real estate for supplies, but knowing Gina, she hadn’t wanted anyone to have to wait for anything. It was just one more indication that she was running a class operation here.
There weren’t any chairs, but we did have room to move around once we were inside.
Helen said, “I clean most of the rooms in question, but Elaine has the Luigi’s employees. After you speak with her, we can go over the rest of the guests in question.”
“Hi, Elaine,” I said, trying my best to keep my voice open and friendly. I knew that Kevin Hurley and the cops who worked for him had a tendency to be abrupt when they were interviewing people for information, and I also realized that it probably cost them valuable knowledge in the course of their investigations. The police could be intimidating by their very nature, and if there was one thing my sister and I were not, it was scary. At least we thought so.
“Hello,” she said in a voice so soft that I had to step forward to hear her.
“There’s no reason to be afraid of us. What we’re discussing will never go any further than this room. We’re just looking for information that might help us.”
“I understand,” she said. “I’m just not sure what I can do to help you.”
Helen turned to me and explained, “Elaine isn’t intimidated by you, ladies. She has the softest voice of anyone I’ve ever known, but she’s hardworking, dependable, and as honest as the day is long. If you ask her a question, you can believe that she’ll answer it as best she can.”
Elaine beamed a little at the praise, and I was glad that Maddy had suggested bringing Gina in to vouch for us.
I asked her, “Have you seen anything unusual about the rooms of Luigi and his two employees since they’ve been here?”
“Well, Mr. Luigi was very messy. It made it very difficult to clean for him, since I was never sure what I could move and what I couldn’t.” She paused a moment, and then added, “He kept lists constantly, and his trash can was full of them every morning when I cleaned his room. He liked that particular room for some reason, so I’ve taken care of his room on his earlier visits, too.”
“Did you happen to see what any of the lists were about?” Maddy asked. It was a very good question.
“No, it was just trash to me, you know? It doesn’t pay to be too nosy in this job, and after a while, it’s easy to ignore most of it and just take care of my work.”
“Was there anything else different about the man?” I asked.
“He always slept on top of the comforter,” she said. “I could tell his sheets weren’t ever touched. It was odd, to say the least.”
“Is there anything else you can think of?”
“No, that’s about it.”
“How about the other two employees?” Maddy asked.
“Well, Mr. Vincent’s room is always so clean that it’s hard to know that he’s even staying with us overnight. There’s barely anything to clean by the time I get there; His trash cans are always empty, and the bed’s neatly made. I have to admit that it’s one of my favorite rooms because of that,” she added with a smile.
“Do you think there’s any possibility that he is visiting someone else overnight as a guest, since the room is so pristine?” I asked as delicately as I could.
“I don’t think so, but I can’t be sure. Mr. Vincent seems like he’s all business. He spends a fair amount of time in his room though. There’s no doubt in my mind.”
That was interesting, but not helpful in solving his brother’s murder. “How about Jack Acre?”
Elaine’s face clouded up the instant that I mentioned the man’s name. “I don’t care for him,” she said firmly.
Helen looked more surprised than we were by her comment. “Elaine, why would you say that? There must be a reason for you to feel so strongly about him.”
The head maid turned to us and said, “This is the first time I’ve ever known Elaine to complain about any of our guests.”
“May I ask why you don’t like him?” I prodded her gently.
“He has dirty shoes,” was all that she would admit to, and try as we might we couldn’t coax her into saying anything else.
“Thank you, Elaine. You may go,” Helen said. She leaned forward and whispered something else in her ear, and the younger maid seemed to let go of some of the tension she’d been holding in, and even managed to smile on her way out.
After she was gone, I couldn’t help myself. “Excuse my nosiness, but I can’t help wondering what you just said to her.”
“You are a boss yourself, is that true?” the maid asked me.
“I am,” I admitted, “though I normally don’t like to think of myself that way.”
“Then you know. It is up to us to keep our employees focused and not worrying all of the time. I simply told Elaine that she’d done a good job, and that I’d pass the information on to Renee.”
“Not Gina?” Maddy asked.
Helen looked shocked by the very idea of it. “It is not my place to do that. There is an order we follow here, and it works quite well for us.”
I nodded my understanding. “Thank you for helping us out,” I said.
“What Ms. Sizemore wants she gets, if it is in my power.”
I hoped that I inspired that kind of loyalty in my staff, but I’d never want to put it to the test. “If we could go over the three other teams staying here, it would be most helpful.”
Maddy glanced at her watch and added, “Feel free to add anything that you think might help, but keep in mind that the contest is due to start again soon.”
“The competition must be really exciting,” she said. “I slipped away and watched a little of it from the back of the room. You two are very gifted making pizzas.”
“We do the best that we can,” I admitted. “Have you ever been to our pizza place?”
“I’m sorry to say that I haven’t,” Helen replied.
“You should come by sometime when you get a chance and we’ll give you a pizza on the house.”
Did she stiffen slightly at my last comment? “Because I’m just a maid and probably can’t afford
one on my own?” Helen asked lightly, but there was a definite hint of steel in her voice as she said it.
“No. Because you’re being so helpful to us right now,” I countered.
“That’s because I was ordered to be,” she answered.
“Well, as far as I’m concerned, you’ve gone beyond the call of duty with us. It’s entirely up to you, but the offer stands.”
“Thank you,” she said. “I may take you up on it someday.”
“There’s just one thing, though.”
“What’s that?” she asked suspiciously, clearly wondering what was coming next.
“You have to eat back in the kitchen with me. That’s where all the maids who come into the Slice have to eat.” I knew that it was dicey saying it, but I had to try to tease her out of an assumed affront if she was going to do us any good from here on out. Besides, I didn’t want her to think that I was some kind of elitist. It just wasn’t, by any stretch of the imagination, who I was, and it was important for me that she knew it.
It was touch-and-go for a few seconds, and then Helen brought out her brightest smile. “Actually, that sounds pretty good to me. Honestly, the company’s probably better back there, anyway.”
“You can take that to the bank,” I answered with a grin. I had dodged a bullet that I hadn’t even seen coming. I knew that some folks wore their hearts on their sleeves, but others wore their pride there.
After taking a few moments to consider my original question about my fellow competitors, Helen said, “I’ll be as brief as I can. The couple from Asheville is mostly neat, and clearly not used to staying in fine hotels. They had a book open on the nightstand yesterday that I found interesting.”
“What was it about?” Maddy asked.
“It was a murder mystery called Poisonous Peril. That’s an odd coincidence given what happened, wouldn’t you say?” She paused, and then added, “They must be fighting, too.”
“How could you know that?” I asked. “Did you overhear them arguing about something?” This could be the exact kind of information that I’d been looking for.
“No, but I didn’t need to. The trash can by the bed was full of tissues. She’d been crying, that’s for sure.”
Killer Crust (A Pizza Lovers Mystery) Page 13
