“Now what?” Iris asked. “Do we all just go back to the hotel? I would feel bad just leaving like this, with everything still such a mess.”
“It’s a crime scene, we can’t stay to clean,” Ellie said. “We’ll all go to the hotel, and I’ll call in the morning to see if they’ve found anything out about what happened.”
Nonna joined them, and she realized suddenly that they had completely missed the time that they were supposed to drop her off at the retirement community. She was supposed to have been there hours ago.
“Nonna, I’m so sorry,” she said. “With everything that happened, we completely missed your big day.”
“Oh, it’s all right dear,” the older woman said, giving her a faint smile and patting her on the arm. “A man’s death is so much more important than me moving into my new condo.”
“We’ll go first thing in the morning,” Ellie promised. “I’m sure they’ll understand when we explain everything. And now I’ll have more time to stay and help you get settled in, which will be nice.”
“I would like that,” her grandmother said. “I just wish there was something I could do to help with this situation.”
“It’s not your fault,” Ellie said. “None of us noticed… I knew he had been sitting there for a while. I should’ve checked to make sure everything was all right. If anything, this is my fault.”
“Nonsense,” Russell said, joining them. “It was busy, and it was easy to miss one patron acting oddly. I’m a sheriff. If anyone should have noticed that something was off, it’s me. There’s no point in blaming ourselves. We don’t even know how he died yet. Hopefully we’ll get more answers tomorrow.”
Their journey back to the hotel was silent. Ellie could tell that her grandmother was exhausted; the older woman went straight to bed when they got back. It had been a big day, but not in the way that they had hoped. Whenever she closed her eyes, she saw the dead man, his head leaning against the window. She shivered. How long had he been dead before she had noticed?
“Are you okay?” Russell asked, pulling her down to sit on the couch next to him.
“Honestly, I don’t know. I’m so tired, I don’t even know if I can process this tonight. I just keep wondering how he died.”
“It could be any number of things, none of which have anything to do with the pizzeria,” he told her. “Don’t drive yourself crazy by guessing. It won’t help.”
“I know, but it’s hard to stop myself from thinking about it. I also feel terrible for Linda,” Ellie said. “She was so happy that things were going well, then the worst possible thing happened. Once people hear about this, they’re never going to want to come back to eat here. She put so much into this, and now she’s going to lose it all. I don’t know what she’s going to do.”
“I don’t think that this will be as bad for business as you think,” he said. “It may seem odd, but there are plenty of people who are interested in buildings in which people have died. There will be a few patrons that avoid the restaurant from now on, but it will attract some new people as well.”
Ellie wrinkled her nose. “Do we really want people eating there just because someone died in the building? That seems so morbid. I don’t want to commercialize this poor man’s death.”
“Their money is as good as anyone else’s,” her fiancé pointed out. “And it’s not like you’re going to advertise it. People will just read about in the newspaper and some will be curious enough to visit. The pizzeria in Kittiport has had some bad press too. And that’s still going strong, isn’t it?”
She nodded. “I suppose you’re right. I’m also worried about Sandra. She seemed so upset after dropping the plates, and hearing about this won’t help matters any. I just hope she’s going to be okay. I’ll feel a lot better when she calls one of us.”
“I’m sure you’ll hear from her in the morning.” He kissed the top of her head. “Now, you should go to bed. If I know your grandmother, she’s going to be up early, and she’ll want the two of you to head to the retirement community straightaway.”
“The two of us?” Ellie asked. “You’re not coming?”
“I thought I’d stay here and see if I can learn anything about the man who died,” Russell said. “Is that okay? Do you want me to come with you?”
“It’s fine,” she said. “That’s important too, and I know we’ll all feel a lot better when we know what happened. Thank you, Russell. I’m so glad you’re here. I love you.”
“I love you too. See you in the morning.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
* * *
Ellie and her grandmother rose early the next morning. Despite everything that had happened the day before, she could see the excitement in the older woman’s eyes. She helped make sure that all her grandmother’s items were packed into her suitcase, then said a quick goodbye to Russell, who was still half asleep on the couch, and went with her grandmother to the hotel’s lobby.
“Are you sure you don’t want to get breakfast here before we go?” she asked.
“Let’s just grab something on our way,” her grandmother suggested. “I can’t wait to see my new place.”
Ellie fought back a yawn as she climbed behind the steering wheel. The last couple days had been such a roller coaster, she wasn’t sure what to feel now. After the pizzeria’s initial success and the subsequent discovery of the body, her grandmother’s departure seemed like a footnote. She felt bad; she had wanted to focus on her grandmother today, but instead she found herself worrying about other things. She hoped that Russell would be able to figure out more about the man who had died in the pizzeria. Before she left, she wanted to be able to at least give Linda some good news. If they didn’t hear anything by noon, she was going to have to call the airport and change her flight to another day. Her employees would be able to take care of the pizzeria back home, but she would still feel bad about delaying her return. Shannon would be stuck watching the animals until she got back, unless Russell was able to take over.
They grabbed some fast food on their way to the retirement community. Nonna called ahead, letting the agent who had helped her obtain the six-month lease know that they were on their way.
When they finally pulled into the driveway of her grandmother’s new home, Ellie couldn’t help but smile. It was a beautiful condo, not far from where her grandmother’s friends lived. The agent was waiting outside for them with the keys.
“It’s good to see you, Mrs. Pacelli,” he said. “I was concerned when you didn’t arrive last night.”
“Sorry, that was partially my fault,” Ellie said. “We ran into some issues at the restaurant I’m opening.”
She didn’t want to go into detail about the man’s death. As far as she was concerned, the fewer people who knew about it, the better. Besides, she still didn’t know who he was or what had happened to him. She wanted to give the police a chance to investigate before the public heard about it.
“Well, I’m glad that everything is okay now. Would you like a tour of the place?”
Ellie trailed behind her grandmother as the real estate agent showed her around the house. Everything looked brand new. It was a small home, but it was the perfect size for her grandmother. It was single-story, so the older woman wouldn’t have to climb the stairs, and it had a beautiful backyard with a stone patio that included a set of outdoor tables and chairs. The condo itself was fully furnished, and the association had included a nice gift basket with coffee, some healthy snacks, and coupons to local restaurants and stores.
“What do you think?” the agent asked.
“It’s just perfect,” Nonna said. “Thank you again for walking me through everything I needed to do to lease it.”
Ellie walked with the agent back out to the driveway where she shook his hand and said goodbye before grabbing the suitcase out of the car and bringing it in for her grandmother. She was still surprised by how little her grandmother had brought with her. Her entire life was in Kittiport. How could she not have wan
ted to bring more?
“Well, here you go,” she said. “Do you need any help unpacking?”
“I don’t think so, dear,” her grandmother said. “Thank you for driving me out here. I hope you and your friends will still come over tonight for dinner. I’m going to meet Gerry and Anthony in a couple of hours and we’re all going into town to shop. I’ll get plenty of food for the dinner tonight. You let me know if you find anything out about that poor man, okay? I hope everything works out for Linda and the restaurant. It’s just so terrible, what happened.”
“I will. Are you sure you just want me to leave?” Ellie asked, hesitating. “I have plenty of time to stay if you’d like help.”
“You have more important things to do,” her grandmother said. “I’m sure you’re worried to death about the pizzeria.”
“I am. I just want to make sure everything’s okay with you. I’ll miss you. I hope you know that.”
“I’ll miss you too,” her grandmother said. “But we’re not saying goodbye yet. I’ll see you tonight.”
“I know.” Ellie embraced the older woman. “You have a good day. I’ll call this evening, and we’ll all come over before the others fly home. You let me know if you need anything in the meantime.”
She walked back out to the rental car, feeling puzzled. It wasn’t that she wanted her grandmother to be sad about leaving, but she had expected more tears. If she was the one leaving Kittiport, she would have been upset. That small town had become her home in a way that Chicago never had been. She couldn’t imagine leaving it behind, and she had only lived there for a year and a half. Her grandmother had lived there her entire life.
I suppose we all deal with things in our own way, she thought. Maybe her grandmother was more ready for a change of scenery than she had thought. She did have a lot of friends living down here already, and that was likely making the transition easier for her.
Either way, Ellie would see her later tonight. They could say their real goodbyes then. Her grandmother was right; she did have other things on her mind. She had to get back into town and find Russell. With any luck, he would have discovered more about the dead man, and they could begin clearing the pizzeria’s name. She wanted to get home, but she didn’t want to leave without making sure that everything here would be all right first.
On the way into town she called Russell, but he didn’t answer. She sighed, putting her phone down on the seat next to her and gazing out the windshield at the scenery. It really was beautiful down here. It was another sunny day, and the road she was driving on hugged the coast. There were palm trees dotting the landscape, and sandy beaches still playing host to sunbathers even though it was late October. In Maine, it was jacket weather, but down here, people were in their bathing suits.
She tried to look at the matter from her grandmother’s point of view. She was moving to Florida to start an adventure on her own, at a time in her life when she must have thought that any chance for a new experience was over. Last year, she had probably been resigned to living the rest of her life in Kittiport, watching as her friends either moved away or passed on. She would have been surrounded by things that had reminded her of her late husband and the life that they had shared together. For her, it was a fresh start — something that very few people got so late in life.
Ellie realized that she wasn’t really concerned about her grandmother at all; she knew that Nonna would be fine. It was the idea of returning home without her that bothered her. They had grown so close in the past year, and even though her grandmother was still alive, she felt as if she was losing a family member.
Her phone rang, interrupting her thoughts, and she picked it up, expecting to see Russell’s name on the caller ID. Instead, it was from Linda. She answered it.
“Hey,” she said. “I just dropped my grandmother off at her new home. How are things going at the restaurant? Any news?”
“Oh, Ellie, it’s horrible,” the other woman said. “They took Sandra in for questioning.”
“What? Why would they do that?”
“Because… because it turns out that she knew the man who died in the pizzeria. They dated a couple of years ago. That can’t be a coincidence, can it?”
Ellie frowned. It did seem like quite the coincidence, but just because Sandra knew the man didn’t necessarily mean that she had anything to do with his murder.
“Did she invite him to the grand opening?”
“No. She swears that she didn’t tell him about it. The fact that she knew him, plus her leaving without telling anyone before the police arrived, well, it just makes me wonder, you know? They’re treating her like a suspect, and even though I hate to admit it, I can’t say I blame them.”
“A suspect in what, though? Have they found some indication of foul play?”
“You haven’t heard? The man had a head injury. It was recent, from the day of his death. The police are treating this as a homicide.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
* * *
Ellie met Russell at the hotel. He had returned her call shortly after she got off the phone with Linda, and had given her similar information, but he also had a name – Joe Brigham. Now she knew who the dead man was, but it didn’t help much. She had been hoping he had discovered something that might point away from Sandra being guilty, but she was disappointed.
“This is terrible,” she said.
“Do you think she did it?” he asked as he got into the passenger seat.
“Of course not. Do you?”
“Well, it is a possibility. I’m going to be honest with you… if this was my case, Sandra would be the lead suspect. Too much points towards her being involved in this to ignore it.”
“She couldn’t have just hit him over the head in the middle of the restaurant, with all of those people watching,” she replied. “Somebody would have noticed.”
“It does seem unlikely that something like that would go unnoticed, but he may have received the head wound elsewhere and simply been disoriented by it. I think that you need to prepare yourself for the possibility that she is guilty, or at least is involved with this case in some capacity.”
“How could this have happened?” Ellie groaned. “I thought we were doing so well, but now it turns out that one of my new employees might be a killer, or at least an accomplice, which is almost as bad.”
“Did Sandra have any reason to want the restaurant to fail?” he asked.
“No,” she said immediately. “She’s relying on the pizzeria as her main source of income. I can’t see why she would want it to fail.”
“Well, is there anyone else you can think of that might want the restaurant to fail? To figure out who might be a suspect, other than her, we need to try to think of possible motives.”
Ellie frowned. She thought about the Chinese restaurant across the street from the new Papa Pacelli’s. The restaurant’s owner hadn’t seemed very welcoming to them. It was a long shot, but they didn’t have anything else to do. They might as well check it out.
She parked in the same spot across from the pizzeria that they had parked in the day before. Ellie gazed at her restaurant as she got out. It was sad to see it dark and empty on a day like this, when it should have been bustling with happy customers. As she watched, someone walked up to the doors and tugged on them, then walked away with an exasperated shake of their head. She sighed, forcing herself to look away. There was nothing they could do yet.
She and Russell walked into the Chinese restaurant together. She recognized Tai, the woman who had taken their group photo a couple of days ago. The young woman hurried over when she saw them. She smiled at Ellie and said, “I know you, don’t I? You’re the lady that owns the pizzeria. You seemed busy yesterday.”
“We were,” Ellie said, not wanting to get into the man’s death yet. “Thank you for stopping in. What did you think?”
“The pizza was great,” she said. “I’ll probably grab lunch there sometimes. Don’t tell my aunt though, she’ll just think I d
on’t like the food here. Don’t get me wrong, I love Chinese food, but I can’t eat it every day.”
“Don’t worry, I understand,” Ellie said. “I love pizza, but I get tired of eating is sometimes myself. I always feel a little bit guilty when I stop somewhere else for take-out on my way home from work.”
“Variety is a good thing. No one wants to eat the same thing every day. Anyway, is it just the two of you? Would you like a booth or a table?”
“We’ll take a table,” Ellie said. The booths were situated along the walls, but the tables were in the middle of the floor, which would give them a better view of the place.
“Sure thing. This way.”
Tai led them to a table and handed them a pair of menus. “What can I get the two of you to drink?”
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