She shoved open the door and walked inside the building, only to be assaulted by a vile stench. Gagging, she slapped at the light switch. What she found made her stagger backwards in shock.
Every inch of the kitchen had been splattered in pizza dough. The fridge was hanging open, the food in it spoiled. The heat had been cranked up, probably to accelerate the process. There was no way that any of this could be an accident. No, this could only be one thing; sabotage. And Ellie had a feeling that she knew just who did it.
Digging through her purse, she pulled out the card that Sheriff Ward had given her the day she had discovered Ben’s body. She punched his number into her phone, ignoring the little voice inside her that warned that a wrecked kitchen wasn’t exactly a crime worthy of a sheriff’s attention. She didn’t care—she wanted only one thing; to see Xavier handcuffed and carted away like the thieving vandal he was.
“Are you sure you locked the door?” Russell asked. He was standing just outside the pizzeria’s back entrance with her, his hands on his hips as he stared at the stinky mess inside.
“Yes, I’m sure,” Ellie said. “I spent the last twenty-five years of my life in Chicago; I always lock my doors. I was the last one out of here on Friday. And besides, the door was locked when I got here.”
“How many people besides you have a key?”
She paused, counting people off in her head. “Well, my grandmother does. Rose, Clara, and Jacob all do. And, darn it! Xavier still does—I was so upset when I fired him that I forgot to ask for his key back. I don’t think anyone else has a key, but I can’t be sure.”
“I’m going to go out on a limb here and say your grandmother didn’t do it,” he said. She thought she saw his lips twitch. Did he find this funny? “That leaves us with four suspects.”
“No, it leaves us with one suspect,” she snapped. “It was Xavier. I know it was.”
He turned toward her and said, with infuriating calmness, “Do you have any proof of that, Ms. Pacelli?”
“Not exactly. But I shouldn’t need any. He’s the obvious one.”
“Well, I’ll go talk to him for you. Whether he confesses or not, I suggest changing the locks on this place and issuing new keys to those that need them. There’s a locksmith just down the road from you.”
“That will be the first thing I do after I get this mess cleaned up,” she said. “I can’t believe this. Can nothing go right for once?”
“If it will cheer you up, I’ve got some good news for you,” the sheriff said.
“You found Ben’s killer?” she asked hopefully.
“Not quite. But we did get the forensics back on the gun that the intruder dropped in your yard. It’s a match. It’s the gun that shot the bullet that killed Ben Elkton.”
“Oh.” She blinked. “So that means… I’m not a suspect anymore?”
“Not unless you can be two places at once.” He smiled at her. “This brings us one step closer to catching the guy that did it. Now, you get to work on cleaning up this mess, and I’ll go see if I can track down this disgruntled ex-employee of yours.”
Scraping the spoiled dough out of the kitchen was not fun, but after Rose arrived and began helping, the job went faster. Once the kitchen was clean, they were faced with another problem: replacing the spoiled vegetables, meats, and cheese that had been in the fridge. They normally only got deliveries once a week, and wouldn’t have another one for four days. Ellie ended up handing Rose her credit card, an extensive list, and instructions to buy everything she could find at the local grocery store.
“Just get what you can and hurry back,” she told the young woman. “I’ll start making more dough. We’re going to open late today, but we are going to open.”
A few minutes after Rose left, Ellie was surprised by a knock on the pizzeria’s back door. She opened it with flour-covered hands to find the sheriff standing outside.
“I found Xavier,” he said. “It’s an interesting story, and you’re not going to like it.”
She invited him in. “I’ve got to get this batch of dough done or we won’t have anything to make pizzas with,” she told him. “But please, I want to hear this.”
“Well, it turns out that your employee now works for Jeffrey Dunham. I take it you know what business he owns?”
“Cheesaroni Calzones,” she said with a sigh. “I’m familiar with him.”
“My brother’s his friend, but I can’t say I like him myself. My opinion of him is even lower now, in fact.” The sheriff sighed. “Jeffrey’s acting as Xavier’s alibi, and swears the kid didn’t go anywhere near this place at all yesterday. Xavier was next to him the whole time, snickering. I’ve got the feeling that the pair of them were behind this, but with no evidence, I can’t do anything. I’m sorry.”
“Great,” she said with a groan. “The two men that hate me the most right now are working together. Can this week get any worse?”
“It can always get worse,” the sheriff pointed out. “But I’ll keep an eye on them for you. And get those locks changed as soon as possible.”
He turned to leave, but hesitated on the threshold. “I mean it, Ellie. I don’t know what we’re dealing with here. Be careful.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“All right, you guys. I have an idea.”
It was the Thursday after the attempted sabotage of the pizzeria, and Ellie had been brainstorming ways to bounce back ever since. She thought that she finally had it. Jacob, Rose, and Clara were all sitting at the small table in the kitchen, staring at her with expressions ranging from cautious to mildly interested as they waited for her to tell them her grand plan.
“We’re going to host a grand re-opening next Saturday,” she told them. “The pizzeria will be closed to the public that Friday, but I expect all three of you to be here. We’re going to scrub this place from top to bottom again, and I’ll also be going over some new guidelines for the employees at the same time. When we re-open, we’re going to be a completely new restaurant, understood? No more sub-par service. No more delivery of cold pizzas. No more sticky booths and greasy plates. I know it’s going to take some effort and change on your part, but I hope you’ll stick with me through it. Any questions?”
Jacob raised his hand tentatively. “Erm, when are we getting a new manager?”
“You already have one.” Ellie beamed at him. “Me.”
“Why would you want to do that?” he asked. “Didn’t you have some fancy job in Chicago? Why would you want to manage a pizza joint after that?”
“I did,” she said. “But I’ve discovered something in the past couple of weeks. I like working here. I enjoy being involved with the day-to-day running of the place. I know it’s just a pizza joint, but it’s more than that to me… it’s my family’s legacy. And I want to be involved with it.”
“Cool, I guess,” he said with a shrug, turning his attention back to his cellphone.
“One more thing,” Ellie said. She waited until all eyes were on her before speaking again. “I’m going to institute a friendly competition. Each week, one of you will design a pizza of the week, which we’ll feature on the menu. At the end of the month, the person whose pizza did the best will get a prize. Nothing big, but I think it will be a great way to get everyone involved more. What do you think?”
She was pleased to see her employees’ eyes light up. The thought of competing against each other seemed to spark something in them that the daily drudge of working behind the counter had tamped down. She knew that working at a pizzeria wasn’t exactly a dream job for any of them, but there was no reason they couldn’t still enjoy it. A friendly competition would be a good way to bring them out of their shells and get them interacting with each other more—not to mention, it would keep the pizzeria’s menu fresh for the customers. She had a couple of other ideas to help make their menu more interesting as well, but those would have to wait for another day. Baby steps, she told herself. I’ve got to get this place’s reputation turned around before anything
else, and I don’t want to bite off more than I can chew.
They began spreading flyers around Kittiport the next day. One benefit of having such young employees was that they were more than happy to spend their work day walking around town with a stapler and a stack of flyers. Before long, every telephone pole had at least one flyer on it advertising the grand re-opening of Papa Pacelli’s a week from Saturday. Shannon even offered to write a blurb about the pizzeria in her column in the Kittiport Daily News, the town’s local paper.
One thing that Ellie hadn’t been expecting was how many new customers they got even before the big day. People who hadn’t been to the pizzeria in years stopped in, amazed at the change in the restaurant. More than one person complimented her on how much better the place looked, which made her positively glow with pride. She hadn’t felt this connected with her work in years, and especially not when she was working at the big financial firm back in Chicago. For the first time, she was almost glad that she had found out about Kenneth’s affair. She was happier now than she had ever been when she was engaged to him, and the realization that maybe she didn’t need a man in her life to feel fulfilled was freeing.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The day of the grand re-opening dawned cold and chilly.
“Perfect pizza weather,” her grandmother said as she buttoned up her jacket.
“I suppose…” Ellie peered up at the overcast sky. “I hope it doesn’t rain. What if no one shows up?”
“Don’t worry so much, dear. You’ve done a wonderful job these past few weeks. I’m sure the pizzeria will be bustling today.”
“I sure hope you’re right, Nonna.” She took her grandmother’s arm and helped the frail old lady down the front porch’s stairs. “If this doesn’t work out, I don’t know what else to try.”
The two of them arrived at the pizzeria before anyone else. Ellie got her grandmother settled in a chair at one of the window tables, then walked slowly through the dining room. She, Jacob, Rose, and Clara had spent hours yesterday cleaning and decorating. Red and black helium balloons were tied to the chair backs in alternating pairs, matching the tilework on the walls. A big banner reading Grand Re-opening! was hanging over the register, and a fresh stack of paper menus was sitting on the counter. They had held a drawing to determine which of the employees would get to go first in designing a pizza of the week, and Clara had won. A photo of her chicken pesto pizza was on the front of the menu; just looking at it made Ellie’s mouth water.
Not much had changed in the kitchen, but she walked through it anyway. The new lock on the employee entrance gleamed, and she felt reassured to see it. All week she had been worrying about Xavier and Jeffrey trying to do something to wreck the pizzeria’s big day, but so far she’d seen neither hide nor hair of them. Surely they wouldn’t try anything once the place was teeming with customers… would they?
Ellie bit back her anxiety. To distract herself, she pulled open the fridge and double-checked all of the pizza dough. They had the original dough, used to make thin-crust round pizzas, in addition to thick-crust and deep-dish doughs. She had been surprised to learn that the different sorts of crusts were actually made out of different types of dough, each one requiring different methods to shape and cook it. Making good pizza was an art, and at times she still felt very much the novice.
By the time Jacob, Rose, and Clara arrived, Ellie’s anxiety was back in full swing. She kept glancing at the clock as they set up for the day. Half an hour until the doors opened… twenty minutes… ten minutes…
Suddenly, almost before she knew it, it was time to go unlock the front doors and welcome the town of Kittiport in.
The turnout was better than she had hoped. Customers wandered in and out, some buying pizzas to go, others choosing to eat in for the first time. Jacob was kept busy rushing back and forth to deliver pizzas and pick up orders. Ellie couldn’t have been happier. Her plan had worked—the entire town knew that Papa Pacelli’s was back and better than ever.
Even more rewarding than the crowded restaurant was the sight of the smile on her grandmother’s face. Were those tears in her eyes? “You really did it, Ellie. You brought your grandfather’s dream back to life.”
“This is just the beginning,” Ellie told her, leaning down to give the old woman a hug. “I should be the one thanking you. I—”
She broke off, her gaze fixed on an all-too-familiar form in the crowd.
“Hold on, Nonna, I’ll be right back,” she promised her grandmother, forcing a smile back on her face before she noticed that anything was wrong.
She edged her way through the crowd, keeping her eye on Xavier all the while. She wasn’t surprised to see his new boss, Jeffrey Dunham, not far away. It wasn’t until she saw Xavier pause by the counter to talk to Rose that she stopped. She was just close enough to hear their conversation—barely—and didn’t want to risk having either of the men see her.
“This place doesn’t look half bad,” Xavier said. Ellie saw his eyes take in the banner and balloons. “Art’s granddaughter really tried to go all out, huh? Guess she thought it would make up for not seeing him all those years. I should tell that cow just how often he talked about her. Though I doubt she’d care—she’s pretty cold-hearted, isn’t she?”
Ellie bristled.
“You shouldn’t call her that, Xavier,” Rose said sounding disapproving. “Ms. Pacelli’s actually really nice.”
“Yeah, right,” Xavier snorted. “Please tell me you don’t actually like working for her. Look what she did to me. She fired me, for no reason at all.”
“You were stealing from the restaurant,” Rose said, beginning to sound annoyed. “That’s a pretty good reason. It’s your own fault.”
“Yeah, well, whatever. This place won’t be successful for long, and you’ll be sorry you didn’t quit and join me at Cheesaroni.”
“What’s your problem, Xav?” the young woman snapped. “If you don’t like it here, why’d you come back?”
“Jeffrey says it’s best to know our competition,” Xavier said, tapping his nose with one finger. “He wanted to swing by to see if this place had actually managed to attract any attention.”
“Well, as you can see, we’re doing really well,” Rose said, her tone haughty. “Probably better than that Cheesaroni place. Why’d you decide to work there, anyway?”
“I wanted a chance to get back at Ms. P,” he said, shrugging. “It’s a lot better than working here, that’s for sure. I don’t have anyone looking over my shoulder anymore, and the boss is cool. He even let me go to a poker game with him last weekend, and I won a bunch of money.”
Something jogged Ellie’s memory. She frowned, trying to figure out what it was. Meanwhile, Xavier was still talking.
“Oh, and he just put in a bid for that carpentry place next door to Cheesaroni. That Ben dude owned it, and Jeffrey’s been trying to get it forever. He really wants to expand.”
Ellie felt her eyes go wide. She remembered seeing Ben’s abandoned shop next to the calzone place, but she hadn’t thought much of it then. Now, however, it took on a whole new meaning.
I know who killed Ben Elkton, she thought. And he’s in my restaurant right now.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
She swept her gaze over the crowd, finally finding Jeffrey Dunham near the soda fridge. He had an annoyed look on his face, and kept fiddling with his cellphone. Without pausing to think, Ellie pushed her way through the crowd toward him, finally emerging near his right elbow. He looked down at her coldly.
“What do you want?” he asked. “Your flyers did say everyone was invited.”
“I know you killed Ben,” she hissed, glaring at him with her hands on her hips. She was between him and the exit, and had every intention of blocking him if he tried to make a run for it.
“What the heck are you talking about, lady?” he asked. “Ben was my friend.”
“I know you’re trying to buy his carpentry store so that you can expand your calzone business.”
“So? That doesn’t mean I killed him.” He blinked, then lowered his voice. “Wait. Does this mean you didn’t kill him?”
“Why would I kill Ben?” Her voice squeaked in indignation. “Don’t try to turn this around on me.”
“Why would I kill Ben? We’ve been friends for over ten years. He’d been talking about selling his store for the last three years running. Kept saying he wanted to get out of town, see the world. I’m the one that convinced him to stick around a while longer. Why would I do that, and then kill him?”
Ellie frowned. “I—” Something wiggled loose in her memory. “The money,” she said.
Jeffrey stared at her blankly.
“The poker money,” she clarified. Still nothing, no flash of recognition on his face. “The money you owed him. That’s why you killed him. You didn’t want to pay up.”
“Lady, I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about. I’ve had about enough of this—”
“When we were on our date, he told me that he had won a bunch of money from one of the guys that he played poker with, and was supposed to pick it up that Saturday. You decided you didn’t want to pay him, so you tracked him down and shot him outside the pizzeria. Two birds with one stone—you got to keep the money you owed him, and his body being found behind the pizzeria made this place look bad.”
“And how on earth would I have known that poor, love-struck Ben was going to leave you a flower in the middle of the night?” Jeffrey snorted.
That stumped Ellie. As she struggled for a retort, another familiar face appeared out of the crowd: Duncan.
“What’s going on here?” he asked.
“This woman’s losing her mind,” Jeffrey said, shaking his head. “She thinks I killed Ben. She’s figured out all sorts of reasons, too. I don’t need this. I’m done here.”
Pall Bearers and Pepperoni: Book 1 in The Papa Pacelli's Pizzeria Series Page 6
