Killer Crust (A Pizza Lovers Mystery)

by Chris Cavender

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  Frank was tired of the games. “I’m sorry, but I shouldn’t delay the announcement any longer. It’s time.”

  The new CEO of Laughing Luigi’s Pizza Dough wouldn’t meet our gazes, and if there was any doubt in my mind that we’d lost the contest before, I knew at that moment that it was all over for us now.

  It appeared that someone else was going to be going home with that big check. I just hoped it wasn’t the twins. If it meant losing to the Asheville couple, I could live with it, but not to the duo from Raleigh. I took some satisfaction over the fact that we weren’t going to come in last, knowing that the Charlotte team had been disqualified, but I would have loved to come in second, even though there was no prize attached to it.

  Chapter 17

  As Frank mounted the stage, Bob and David rejoined us. Maddy had promised them earlier that they could.

  “Are you nervous?” David asked me softly as he took my hand in his.

  “Not at all,” I said.

  “Really? If it were me, I’d be scared to death,” he answered.

  “That’s because I know that we already lost the competition,” I said, feeling a certain sense of calmness sweep over me as I spoke the words aloud.

  “Frank already told you that?” he asked, unhappy about the new development.

  “He didn’t have to, David. We submitted an inferior pie. We don’t deserve to win.”

  He took that in for a few moments, and then asked, “Is there any chance that you’re just being too hard on yourself?”

  “Unfortunately, no. It’s okay, though. We proved that we could hang with these big-time pros. It’s all the satisfaction I need.”

  “But the money would have been nice, right?” he asked with a grin. I loved this new and improved version of David. In the past, he would have tiptoed around me until he could judge the waters, but these days he said what was on his mind without much of any filter at all.

  “Oh, yes, I won’t deny it,” I said as I kissed him lightly on the cheek.

  “And you just kissed me why exactly?”

  “Are you complaining?” I asked with a grin.

  “No, ma’am. I just want to know what I did so I can repeat the experiment later.”

  I laughed and squeezed his hand as Maddy and Bob approached us. She shot her eyebrows skyward, and I winked back. The silent question she’d just asked me was May we join you? and my wink had answered yes. I doubted anyone else had even noticed the exchange. No wonder some folks thought we were a little creepy with the way that we could read each other’s minds.

  “Good luck,” Maddy told me.

  “Here’s hoping for second place,” I said, showing her my crossed fingers.

  My sister laughed. “To be honest with you, I’d consider that a victory.”

  Frank tapped the microphone on the stage and said, “We have the results, and at least one check to present this evening.”

  “What does he mean by that?” Maddy asked me softly.

  “Maybe there were two winners,” I said.

  “A tie? Really? I’ll be as mad as a wet cat if we come in third.”

  “Shh,” a woman next to Maddy said.

  “Really?” my sister said, staring into the woman’s eyes as she snapped, “Are you sure that you want to do that?”

  The woman must have seen something in Maddy’s fierce gaze, because she suddenly found something more interesting on the other side of the room.

  Frank must have caught it, because he smiled for a moment before he continued. “In fourth place, with a valiant effort, is the team from . . .” He dragged it out as long as he could, and then finally said, “Charlotte.”

  “That’s just wrong,” Kenny said angrily. “There’s no way we lost this competition to these clowns.”

  Most folks probably didn’t hear all of it over the applause, but our group was close enough to catch it in its entirety. I smiled at Kenny as he glared at me and I clapped heartily at the news. Maddy joined me, and our applause was the last to die in the room. We’d known it was coming, but it was still sweet seeing the expression on Kenny’s face when he realized that he’d lost.

  “In third place, but just barely, is the team from . . .”

  These pauses were killing me now, and all of the other contestants, too. Frank seemed to be enjoying himself though, and I was beginning to wonder if the newly found power had gone straight to his head. Finally, he finished, “Raleigh.”

  The twins stared at each other for a split second, and then, without a word, they stormed out of the room together without a single look back. So much for being gracious losers. The applause for them was still going on as they left.

  “That leaves just two teams still in the competition,” Frank said. “Would both groups please join me on stage?”

  He was killing me, pure and simple.

  “Do we really have to go up there?” I asked Maddy.

  “Come on; let’s take our bow for coming in second and then fade away into the background as he’s giving the Asheville team the check.”

  Maddy and I approached the stage with Jeff and Sandy. If we did manage to squeeze out a victory, it would be sweet indeed, but if we had to lose, I was at least happy that it was going to be to the couple from Asheville.

  “Good luck,” Sandy said as we mounted the steps together. Though the auditorium had been cleared of all the chairs that had been set out for the audience, the kitchens we’d all used on stage hadn’t been touched.

  “You, too,” I said.

  We took our places and stood on either side of Frank, and after the crowd settled down, he announced, “We’ve made a last-minute change to the rules that we hope everyone will be all right with once they hear what we’ve done.”

  There were murmurs from the crowd, but not from the stage. It didn’t surprise me at all. Frank was turning out to be that kind of guy.

  “The contest was originally conceived by my brother as a winner-take-all scenario, but given the difficulties placed on the contestants during this trying time and the way they’ve overcome a great many obstacles, we’ve decided to award a cash prize of one thousand dollars and a year’s supply of Laughing Luigi’s Pizza Dough to the first runner-up.”

  Maddy and I may have clapped the loudest at this news.

  Frank continued. “Don’t worry, folks. First place will still pay out twenty-five-thousand dollars, just to be fair. Without further ado, I’m proud to announce that the winner of this competition—as well as the twenty-five-thousand dollars—is the team from Asheville.” As he said it, Frank pulled a large check out of an oversized envelope and handed it to the winning team.

  I was so stunned that he hadn’t drawn the final announcement out as well that it took me a second for it to register who had actually won. I had figured all along that we wouldn’t be winning the whole thing, but having a thousand dollars as a consolation prize was a great deal more than I’d been expecting. I’d even find something to do with all that pizza dough, too. It was hard to tell who was more excited by the announcement—Jeff and Sandy, or Maddy and me. I kept expecting confetti to drop from the ceiling, but after the applause finally died down, Frank said, “That’s it. Thanks for coming, and enjoy the party.”

  As music started to play in the background, the Asheville couple came over and offered their hands to us. “Congratulations. It was a close race all the way to the very end.”

  I laughed. “That’s nice of you to say, but we all know that our pizza in the end just wasn’t up to par.”

  “That’s because you were too busy defending me against that horrible man,” Sandy said. “I just don’t feel right taking this money.”

  “You could always just endorse it over to us if it will help your conscience,” Maddy said with a grin.

  “Maddy,” I scolded her.

  “Hey, I’m just kidding,” she said quickly. “We’re getting a grand we weren’t expecting, so we’re all winning as far as
I’m concerned.

  “Except for the other two teams,” Maddy said with a grin.

  “That makes it even sweeter, doesn’t it?” I asked. “Seriously, congratulations. Do you two know what you’re going to do with the money?”

  “Oh, yes. We’re going to pay off the rest of our mortgage so we can own our pizza shop outright,” Jeff said.

  “And we’re taking a second honeymoon with some of it, too,” Sandy added, “mostly because we never got a first one.”

  “That all sounds perfect,” I said as Frank approached the group. He shook Sandy and Jeff’s hands again, and then congratulated them once more.

  “If you two don’t mind, Tina Lance wants a chance to interview you for her paper, and after that, I’ve set things up with newspapers from Charlotte, Raleigh, and of course, Asheville. What do you say?”

  “We’d be happy to do it, of course,” Jeff said.

  After it was just the three of us left on the stage, Frank said, “I’m truly sorry that your team didn’t win.”

  “Are you kidding? You picked the best pizza, which is all anyone could ask of you. Thanks for the consolation prize.”

  “I felt that it was the least that Luigi’s could do for you, after all that you’ve done for us,” he said.

  “Are you going to keep your brother’s nickname even though your founder is gone?” I asked.

  “We’ve been discussing it,” Frank said, “but we haven’t made a decision yet.”

  “Who’s this ‘we’ you keep talking about?” Maddy asked with a grin.

  “Anna, of course,” he replied. “After all, once we’re married, she’s going to help me run the business.”

  “I’m sure you’ll do both fine,” I said.

  “With her by my side, how can I fail?”

  Anna came on stage, and as she joined us, I said, “Congratulations.”

  “What did I do? You’re the ones who came in second.”

  “We hear you’re going to be a full partner,” Maddy replied.

  “Oh, we’re still discussing that. With a little one on the way, I’m not sure I’ll have the time.”

  “You’ll have to find some way to come up with it then,” Frank said. “You know that I want you as my equal partner once we’re married. If you’d like, we can even set up a crib in one corner of our office.”

  Anna patted his hand. “Like I said, we’re still discussing it.” She turned to her fiancé and asked, “Did you give them the check yet?”

  “To be honest with you, it completely slipped my mind,” Frank said as he reached into his suit jacket and pulled out an envelope. “Sorry it’s not gigantic like the other one.”

  I grinned at him as I took it. “I’m sure that it will cash just fine. Thanks again.”

  “It was the least we could do,” Frank said.

  “Not necessarily,” Maddy said.

  Frank looked quizzically at her, but Anna put her hand on his arm. “It doesn’t matter. Frank, there’s someone I want you to meet. I invited the CEO of Sammy’s Sauces here to have a little chat with you about our companies working together.”

  “Okay,” he said, happy to follow his pregnant fiancée anywhere.

  “She’s going to be running the business in no time,” Maddy said. “I’ve seen a powerful woman operate like that before.”

  “Do you mean like in the mirror?” I asked. I looked at the check and asked, “What should we do with this windfall?”

  “Let’s put it in the bank,” Maddy said, something that was completely out of character for her.

  “Are you serious?”

  “Well, at least until we can decide how we’re going to blow it,” she expanded with a broad grin.

  “That’s the sister I know and love,” I said as I folded the check and put it in my back pocket. “It’s too soon to celebrate our second-place victory, though.”

  Maddy’s smile quickly vanished. “I know. We still have a killer to catch.”

  “And not much time to do it in,” I reminded her.

  “Then I suggest we get busy,” Maddy answered, and I couldn’t have agreed with her more. I searched the auditorium for any of our three suspects, but apparently they’d all already ducked out.

  “They aren’t going to go out of their way to make this easy on us, are they?” I asked.

  “Have they ever in the past?”

  “No, that’s a good point. So, who do we track down first?”

  “Let’s start nosing around and see who we come across,” Maddy said.

  “It sounds like as good a plan as any,” I answered, and my sister and I went off searching for our remaining suspects as the evening crept on. The clock was on us now more than ever, and if we were going to do anything, it had to be before noon tomorrow when everyone checked out of the hotel. I just hoped that none of our suspects left early, but then again, they most likely couldn’t take the chance of looking guilty by fleeing before it was time to go.

  Hopefully that meant that Maddy and I would have a little more time to detect, but it was hours now instead of days.

  We found Gina working at the front desk with a worried expression on her face. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “Paul didn’t turn you down, did he?”

  “What? No, as a matter of fact we’re having a late lunch on Friday.”

  “Then why do you look so gloomy?” Maddy asked. “After all, that’s great news, isn’t it?”

  “I just hope I still have a job by then,” she said. “I just got off the phone with my uncle, and he told me that if Luigi’s murder isn’t solved by this time tomorrow, he’s going to pull the plug on this entire operation.” She looked around the lobby as she added, “These people have become a second family to me. I don’t know how I’m going to tell them that’s it’s probably going to be all over by this time tomorrow.”

  “Do us a favor and don’t say a word to anyone until you absolutely have to,” I said.

  Her eyes brightened for a moment. “Does that mean you’ve discovered who the killer is?”

  I lowered my voice as I explained, “No, but the good news is that we’ve gone from eight suspects to three. That’s some serious progress in this kind of situation.”

  “I appreciate everything that you two have been doing, but it’s still not going to be enough. Is Chief Hurley any closer to finding the murderer than you are?”

  I hated to have to say it, but I didn’t really have any choice. After all, she deserved to know the truth. “I’m sorry. We’ve been comparing notes all along, and we’re stuck on the same three people.”

  Gina frowned, and then asked quietly, “Is there any chance you could tell me who your suspects are? I might be able to help if I knew who you were considering.”

  “I can appreciate that, but Maddy and I hate dragging someone’s name through the mud if we’re wrong,” I explained.

  “Eleanor, I’m not going to tell anybody. Whatever you tell me is safe with me. Hank found you earlier, didn’t he?”

  “Yes, why? Did he tell you about the tape?” Maddy asked.

  She laughed wryly. “Actually, I was the one who suggested that he study them. He was in his office all day checking every surveillance video we have during the time of the murder on my orders.”

  It was interesting how the security chief had failed to mention that particular detail.

  It was time to make an executive decision. “Okay, we’ll share with you what we know, but it would mean a lot to us if you’d keep this to yourself.”

  “I won’t breathe a word of it,” she promised.

  I looked at Maddy, and she nodded. We were in agreement. It was time to share. “Our last three suspects are Kenny Henderson from the Charlotte team, Jack Acre, and Todd Blackwell from Raleigh.”

  “Todd? Why is his name on your list? I know for a fact that he couldn’t have done it,” Gina said.

  “Why do you say that? We know that one of the twins was spending the time trying to pick up one of your waitresses in the restaura
nt, but Reggie said that he was the one, and your waitress confirmed it. He’s the only one we have on tape.”

  “Todd might not have been where a camera could see him, but I know that he was doing something else the entire time when Luigi might have been murdered.”

  “How could you know that?” Maddy asked. “You weren’t with him personally, were you?”

  Gina frowned, and then got the implication of my sister’s question. “No, no, and ewww. I have better taste than that.”

  “Then how could you possibly know that he didn’t kill Luigi?” I asked.

  “He was right over there in our business center,” she said as she pointed to the door just off the front desk. “I’m surprised no one told you.”

  “And he never left that room the entire time?” I asked.

  “No, and I can prove it, too.”

  “How can you be so certain?” Maddy asked her.

  “Let me show you,” she said as we all walked together to the business center space. “You need my key to get in. We’ve had some trouble lately, so our sign-in policy is pretty strict. I don’t mind someone using our facilities, but one of our guests used the computer for some pretty depraved things, so I have to keep a close eye on it. No one gets in, or out, without signing my sheet. Todd walked in there right after you all left the auditorium, and he didn’t sign out until three minutes before you started back up again. He asked me to have something to eat sent in to him, so I contacted the restaurant myself. I was around this desk and in my office across the way from the business center the entire time, and he never left it. I’d swear to it under oath.”

  “Thanks,” I said. “You’ve really been a help.”

  “I just wish I could tell you something about the other two, but I’m drawing blanks on both of them,” she replied.

  “Don’t sell yourself short. You’ve done plenty.”

  I started to call Kevin Hurley’s number when I saw him walk into the hotel complex.

  “I was just getting ready to call you,” I said as I put my phone away and spoke his name.

  “What’s up?” he asked as he joined us.

  “We’ve got an alibi for Todd from Raleigh,” I said.