CHRISTMAS PIZZA MURDER

by Patti Benning

  Ellie glanced toward Joanna. She knew who that person was. It was Steve, Joanna’s husband. He was interested in creating a tourist haven in Kittiport. He wanted to buy up a block near the marina and build a large hotel there, as well as a shopping center with a few of the larger chain stores. Joanna looked away, obviously flustered.

  “We can talk about that,” Ellie said. “I, for one, won’t be selling the pizzeria any time soon.” The rest of them nodded. “Now, this is just the first meeting, and I mostly wanted to get an idea of what everyone was hoping for. I can take all of your ideas and work out how to implement them, then we can address them in the next meeting. One last thing; how often you want to meet?”

  After a few minutes of discussion, they decided to meet twice in the month of January to get everything straightened out, and then after that they could decide what to do in the future. They would use Ellie’s house for now, though Lincoln volunteered his own home as well.

  “Wait!” Ellie exclaimed as they were getting up to leave. “I have gift bags for everyone. Hold on, I’ll go get them.”

  She handed them out, smiling as people opened them. The week before, she had gone around to each of the businesses that Joanna had said might be participating. She had gift certificates and business cards from all of them, so now everyone had a reason to stop by each other’s stores, as well as a way to contact each other.

  “I hope this is the start of something wonderful,” she said. “All of the small businesses in Kittiport working together. See you guys next month. Merry Christmas to all of you.”

  Chapter Eleven

  * * *

  Ellie woke up early on Christmas morning, feeling the same spark of excitement that she had felt every Christmas morning since she was a child, even though she wouldn’t be running downstairs to find a huge pile of presents under the tree. The feeling was still the same, somehow. It wasn’t about the presents. It was about everything else. The sense of family and togetherness, and the atmosphere of giving and generosity. It was nearly the end of yet another year, and she had so many people to be grateful to, and had so many things to celebrate.

  “Merry Christmas,” she whispered, turning her head slightly to look at her dog. At the sound of her voice, Bunny’s tail began to wag. The little dog got up from her usual spot on Ellie’s pillow and stretched.

  Ellie got out of bed, sliding her feet into her slippers and grabbing her phone before walking downstairs. She was up earlier than usual, and Marlowe was still sleeping. Beneath the Christmas tree in the living room was a small pile of presents that Ellie had wrapped the night before. They were all for her animals. There was another pile of wrapped gifts waiting on the kitchen counter for when she drove over to Russell’s house.

  Before waking the bird, Ellie went to the kitchen and made herself a pot of coffee. She grabbed a couple of the sugar cookies that were left over from the small business club meeting a couple of days ago, then returned to the living room. She dropped a nut into Marlowe’s cage, and the bird stared at it for a moment with one eye before climbing down to crack it open.

  “Merry Christmas to you too,” Ellie told her.

  She sipped her coffee, then put it on the coffee table and walked over to the tree, where she grabbed a present and began to unwrap it. It was a little stuffed toy for Bunny. She tossed it across the floor and laughed as the dog pounced on it.

  She unwrapped the rest of the presents and handed them out to the animals; a new toy to go into Marlowe’s cage, a bag of special treats for the bird, and a box of Bunny’s favorite cookies. It wouldn’t be long before she got dressed and headed over to Russell’s house with her dog. There, they would eat a nice big Christmas breakfast together and exchange gifts. A couple of hours later, they would head to Shannon and James’s house together.

  First, however, she had a call to make. She picked up her phone and dialed her grandmother’s number. She asked the older woman to get her laptop set up, then went to the study to open her own computer. She made the video call a few minutes later, not caring that she was in her PJs and probably looked like a mess. It was Christmas morning; looks were the last thing on her mind.

  “Merry Christmas!” she exclaimed, beaming, as her grandmother’s face came into view. She could see Darlene and Emily on either side of the older woman.

  “Merry Christmas,” they chorused back.

  “How are things there?” Ellie asked.

  “Wonderful,” Darlene said, leaning closer to the camera. “I didn’t think I would like Christmas without the snow, but it’s beautiful here. People put lights up on palm trees, and everyone is walking around in T-shirts and shorts. It’s beautiful, and warm, and I’m thinking I might never come back.”

  Was Darlene planning on fleeing not just her hometown, but all the way to the other side of the country? Surely if she had committed a murder, the police would be able to bring her back to her home state for trial. It wasn’t as if her cousin was in another country.

  “Has your grandmother told you yet?” Emily asked.

  Ellie looked at her cousin’s friend.

  “No, what?”

  “Well, she won a raffle yesterday for a cruise to the Caribbean. She invited Darlene to go with her.”

  Nonna blushed. “Now, Ellie, I hope you know that I thought of you, too. It’s just with everything that’s going on, Darlene needed this. She can bring her friend as well; I offered to pay for the ticket. If you want to come, of course, I’ll help you too. I don’t want you to feel left out, dear.”

  “No, that’s fine,” Ellie said, forcing herself to smile.

  The dark feeling inside her had nothing to do with the fact that her grandmother had invited Darlene instead of her, and everything to do with the fact that Darlene was leaving the country. With every passing day, her cousin began to look more and more like a suspect. When she was out of the country, would she ever come back? If the police found evidence that she was involved in the murder, and she was in a different country, would they be able to bring her back for a trial? Ellie wasn’t sure how all of that worked. It was yet another thing to ask Russell.

  “Are you sure? I was going to tell you after Christmas. You and Russell are more than welcome to come.”

  “I’ve got a lot going on here,” she said. “I’ve got to start planning the wedding after Christmas, remember? If I’m gone for a couple of weeks in January, that will take away a good portion of my time. I really should stay here. I think it’s wonderful that Darlene will be going, though. She could certainly use a vacation after everything that has happened.”

  She saw a dark look flash across her cousin’s face, and regretted mentioning anything.

  Faintly, she heard something beeping from her grandmother’s side of the camera. “That must be the quiches,” Emily said, turning to look at Darlene. “We should go finish up breakfast. Merry Christmas, again.”

  Darlene gave her a smile and a nod, then turned to follow her friend out of the room. Nonna looked around, then got up and shut the bedroom door.

  “I’ve been wanting to talk to you alone,” she said, lowering her voice. “One of them always seems to be around, other than late at night, and by then I’m too tired.”

  “What’s going on?” Ellie asked, her heart beginning to be faster.

  “It’s Emily,” Nonna said. “I think she killed Darlene’s husband.”

  Chapter Twelve

  * * *

  Ellie stared at her grandmother. “Why do you think that?”

  Lowering her voice even more, so that Ellie could barely hear her, Nonna said, “Her own husband died a few years back. I overheard them talking last night, and Emily said that her own husband had been having an affair as well. She lived right next to Darlene, and they had been best friends for years. If anyone had a chance to do it, it was her. She had a motive too; anyone was going to be mad if they find out that their best friend’s husband was cheating on them.”

  “It was Emily?” Ellie was still shocked. I
t hadn’t even occurred to her that the other woman had anything to do with it. She barely knew Emily, of course. However, what her grandmother was saying sounded like it might make sense. Emily might have committed not one, but two murders. “What should we do?”

  “I don’t know,” Nonna said. “I invited Darlene on the cruise without thinking that Emily would come along, but then Darlene asked if she could come too and I couldn’t think of a good reason to say no.”

  “This is bad,” Ellie said. “We can’t let her leave the country. We have to do something.”

  “Should I call the police?” the older woman asked. “I’ve been thinking about it, but if I’m wrong, would Darlene ever forgive me? She has been through so much recently. I don’t know how much more she can take.”

  “We have to call the police,” Ellie said. “We just have to. If she’s killed two people, we can’t let her go. She might do it again. We can’t let someone else get hurt, no matter what.”

  “I know,” her grandmother said, lowering her eyes. “You’re right, Ellie. But… do you think it can wait until tomorrow? I want Darlene to at least be able to enjoy her Christmas, before she finds out that her best friend might have killed her husband.”

  “I suppose that would be okay,” Ellie said hesitantly. She didn’t like the idea of her grandmother staying in a house with a potential murderer, but at the same time, the two of them had been there for almost two weeks by now. Emily would have no reason to hurt her grandmother, especially not since Nonna was taking them on the cruise that would get the woman out of the country.

  “I’ll get going now. They want to eat breakfast soon. I’ll call you tomorrow before I contact the police. I want you to know what’s going on, just in case something happens.”

  “Okay,” Ellie said. “Tomorrow, we will solve all of this. For now, I’m hoping the three of you have a nice Christmas.”

  “You too, sweetie. Have a nice – what was that?”

  “What was what?” the pizzeria owner asked, puzzled.

  “I thought I saw something move behind you in the window. It must just be my old eyes.”

  Ellie spun around in her chair, but she didn’t see anything on the other side of the picture window behind her. “Maybe it was a bird,” she said.

  “Probably,” her grandmother said. “Goodbye dear. Have a nice time at Russell’s. I love you.”

  “I love you too, Nonna,” Ellie said. She shut the lid, then jumped as she heard a loud crash come from the other side of the house.

  She got up, hurrying towards Bunny’s barks. Whatever the noise had been, it had certainly come from the kitchen. “Bunny, what did you…”

  She skidded to a halt, grateful for the grip on the bottom of her slippers, otherwise she might have gone flying across the hard floor. Bunny was yapping at the back door. Outside the door, on the porch, someone was sitting on the ground, rubbing the back of his head.

  Ellie hurried forward, worried that whoever it was might be injured. She hesitated when she reached the door, remembering what her grandmother had said; had this person been hanging around outside her study window? No, it was probably just her neighbor. One of them had a couple of little dogs that kept getting out. She needed to stop being so paranoid.

  “Are you all right?” she asked, pulling the back door open. The man outside jumped, scrambling to turn around even though he was still on the ground. “Glenn?” she asked, surprised to see the private investigator.

  “Sorry about that,” he said. “I slipped and bumped my head on your door. You’ve got a patch of ice right here.”

  “I’ve been meaning to salt it, but I didn’t have a chance to carry the bag around back. Anyway, what are you doing here?”

  “I, uh… I was looking for Darlene,” he admitted, pulling himself up with the help of one of her outdoor chairs. “I thought that she might come here for Christmas.”

  Ellie put her hands on her hips, hoping that he could read the anger on her face. “You have no right,” she said. “You’re trespassing on my property, looking for my cousin, on Christmas Day?! You’re lucky I’m not going to call the police. Go on. Get out of here.”

  “All right, all right,” he said putting his hands up. “I’m sorry. I’m just trying to do my job, like everyone else.”

  He raised his hand to his head again, and this time when he took his fingers away, she saw blood. He must have hit his head right on the corner of the door frame. She sighed. “Come on in. Let’s get you cleaned up. I’m not happy with the fact that you’re here, but I can’t let you leave with you bleeding like that. It is Christmas, after all, and I’m not a terrible person.”

  “Thank you,” he said with feeling. “I won’t be long. I just need a Band-Aid and some iodine.”

  She pulled the door open, still fuming, but also feeling bad that he had gotten injured. Bunny ran outside and barked at him, then jumped back when he bent down suddenly to pick up a small briefcase that Ellie hadn’t noticed before. He brought it inside with them and set on the counter, then turned to her for guidance of where to go next.

  “The guest bathroom is through there,” Ellie said. “There’s hydrogen peroxide and some rubbing alcohol under the sink. There should be iodine in the medicine cabinet. I’m going to go and try to find you some gauze. I don’t think a Band-Aid will work.”

  She found the first aid kit in her grandmother’s cabinet, and handed it off to the man in the bathroom. Then, she returned to the kitchen and stared at the briefcase. What was inside it? Why had he brought it here? He hadn’t had the briefcase with him either time that she had seen him. She hesitated only a moment longer, then let the curiosity get the better of her.

  She reached out and unclipped the briefcase, letting it pop open. There wasn’t much inside; a bag of some sort of dark powder, an expensive looking camera, some sort of plastic sheets, and wood glue.

  Ellie frowned at the odd gathering of items. They made no sense to her. She could understand the camera; it was any private investigator’s best friend, but everything else? What was the black powder?

  Curious, she picked up the bag and examined it. It didn’t look like gunpowder. She opened it and dipped her finger in, when she rubbed her fingers together, it left shiny black smears that she recognized. It was powdered graphite. She frowned. That didn’t answer any of her questions.

  She heard the bathroom door open and quickly put everything back in the case, shutting it. She called Bunny to her, picking up the little dog so she wouldn’t bother Glenn.

  “Thank you,” he said. “Sorry again for falling on your patio. It was pretty embarrassing.”

  “I’m glad you’re all right,” she said. “Are you good to go now? The bleeding has stopped?”

  “Yes. I’m fine,” he said. He hesitated. “So, is she here?”

  “No, she’s not,” Ellie said shortly. “And don’t hang around. She’s not coming here today at all.”

  He sighed and grabbed his briefcase. She walked him to the front door and slipped on her boots.

  “What are you doing?” he asked.

  “I’m walking you to your car,” she said. “I’m not going to take any chances of you hanging around here.”

  She put Bunny down and shut the front door. She followed him down the walkway, keeping her eyes peeled. She wasn’t surprised to see a set of footprints leading toward the study window. He had been spying on her, after all. She frowned, wondering whether there was any way that he could have guessed Darlene’s location by watching the video call. Surely he wouldn’t have been able to hear them through the glass.

  He had parked a little way down the street. She followed him, ignoring his attempts to start a conversation. She didn’t want to talk him; she just wanted him to drive away and never come back.

  They reached the car and he popped the trunk, dropping the briefcase inside. She glanced inside and saw something that gave her chills. A gun case. It was long, like a shotgun or rifle.

  “Thanks again for letti
ng me use your bathroom,” he said. “I’ll be going now.”

  She watched him pull away, then hurried back to the house. When she got in, she went right to the study and opened her laptop. She typed into the search engine, graphite powder, camera, wood glue. She scrolled through the results, finally clicking on a link that looked promising. What she saw made her blood run cold.

  All of the things in his briefcase were materials needed to lift fingerprints and create molds in order to lay fake ones. She remembered the gun in the back of his vehicle. Was this man trying to frame Darlene for murder?

  Chapter Thirteen

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