Halloween Pizza Murder (Papa Pacelli's Pizzeria Series Book 18)

by Patti Benning

  “That’s understandable,” Ellie said. “You’ll have your hands full enough as it is.”

  “And so will you, with a new husband,” Shannon said, grinning at her. “How are the wedding plans coming along?”

  “Well, I bought a beautiful dress while I was in Florida,” she said. “It should be here in a couple of weeks.”

  “I can’t wait to see it,” her friend said. “Do you have the date set yet?”

  “No, not yet,” Ellie said. “We have a couple of dates picked out, but Russell has to talk to his parents. He’s supposed to be calling them this weekend to see what day would work best for them. Which reminds me, I’ve got to call my mom too.”

  “You still haven’t told her, have you?”

  “No. I know I should. I should have told her when I first got engaged. The longer I put it off, the harder it gets.”

  “I’m sure she’ll be fine about it,” her friend said. “Even if she’s not, who cares? It’s not her wedding, it’s yours. You’re an adult. You lead your own life. It’s no one’s business but yours when you get engaged.”

  “Thanks. I’ll feel a lot better once I’ve told her, I know, I just have to get around to actually doing it.”

  “Do you want to do it while I’m here?”

  Ellie wrinkled her nose. While she might appreciate the moral support from her friend, she had too much on her mind to even think about calling her mother right now.

  “I think I’ll wait until after things get figured out about the murder,” she said.

  “Okay. Just let me know if you want me around when you call her. From what I remember, she can be rather… overbearing.”

  Overbearing was one way to describe her mom. Ellie smiled. She couldn’t wait until her own mother met Russell’s mother. Those two women would give each other a run for their money.

  They spent the rest of the evening watching movies together and snacking on the cake. By the time Shannon was preparing to go home, it was late, and dark outside.

  “I’ll help you wash our plates before I leave,” her friend said. “I would feel bad leaving you with all of these dishes to do in the morning.”

  While they were washing the dishes together, Bunny started barking in the other room. Ellie sighed and set the plate down. She was probably barking at Marlowe again; the bird had begun teasing her with food, enjoying the reaction she got from the dog.

  She walked into the hall and was surprised to find that Bunny wasn’t by the bird’s cage. She was barking from the living room. Ellie walked in there and felt a shiver of apprehension when she saw the dog staring at the window.

  Cautiously, she walked towards the dark pane of glass and peered outside. At first, she didn’t see anything, but as her eyes adjusted to the lack of light, she some movement at the edge of her yard. She thought she saw a flash of white, and head of dark hair. Her blood turned cold.

  Scooping the little dog up, she turned and ran from the living room. She burst into the kitchen.

  “Shannon, hurry. That woman in white is back. She’s in the yard.”

  Her friend dropped the dish she was washing into the sink and hurried to join her. By the time they made it to the window in the living room, the woman was nowhere to be seen. Ellie put Bunny down. The little dog sniffed at the floor, then looked up at her, her tail wagging and the incident already forgotten.

  CHAPTER TEN

  * * *

  For the next few days, Ellie hardly ate or slept. Seeing the woman in white once, she could have shrugged off as an odd occurrence that would never happen again. The second time, she hadn’t been completely sure that she had even seen the same person. She couldn’t ignore it the third time it happened.

  Steve had been released later the same day that Liam had taken him in for questioning. With no physical evidence of his presence at the crime scene, and his continued denial that he had even known that Melanie was in town, they hadn’t been able to hold him.

  Every time Ellie heard a noise, she thought that it was either the ghostly woman or her killer coming back to the house. She was jumpier than ever, and was relieved when it was time to go back to work on Monday.

  By the time Tuesday came around, she was exhausted. She had wanted to enjoy Halloween, but instead, all she could think about was how nice it would be when the day was over. She was sick of being so frightened at her own home. All she wanted was a good night’s sleep. If she could just have one night’s sleep, she could go back to being frightened in the morning. The last thing that she wanted was to stay up late wearing an uncomfortable costume and handing out candy while trying to stay awake.

  Still, when she pulled on her costume that morning, she forced herself to smile. Halloween was a fun day for the kids, and she didn’t want to wreck it by being in a bad mood. She had a huge bag of mixed candy ready to go. She was dressed as an elf, complete with glued on pointy ears. It was a fun costume, but it wasn’t exactly the warmest thing. Dan had been right; it was one of the coldest days yet. No wonder some of the children wanted to go trick-or-treating at the community center instead of wandering the freezing streets.

  When she got to the pizzeria, she pulled out the nicest glass bowls they had and dumped the candy into them. For the earlier part of the day, she would simply leave them on the counter and allow customers to take a piece or two as they made their orders. When it got later in the evening and the trick-or-treaters began to arrive, she or one of her employees would sit outside with the bowl.

  A few minutes before opening, Pete arrived in a knight’s outfit, complete with real chain mail. “Impressive,” she said. “If the murderer shows up here tonight, you’ll be safe.”

  “It’s heavy,” he admitted. “I may end up taking it off later. Still, it will be fun to wear for a while.”

  After that, they were too busy to talk much. It was the second day that Ellie was running the autumn harvest pizza special of the week, and preparing the toppings kept her running around the kitchen. She could only make so much of the squash, eggplant, and garlic at once. The pizza was popular, which was a good thing, but also meant that they were going through a lot of the ingredients.

  After a couple hours, she switched places with Pete, who took off his chain mail and worked in the kitchen while she manned the front. It was still early enough that most people weren’t in costume, but a few were, especially children who had come from school events. She enjoyed seeing the princesses, pirates, dragons, and zombies who wandered into her shop. Thinking of Shannon and the child that she would have next year, she smiled. She thought her friend would enjoy this.

  Gradually, it began to get darker, and soon enough she saw trick-or-treaters walking the streets outside. Many of the local businesses had opted to participate in the trick-or-treating, so she wasn’t the only one sitting outside on a chair with a bowl of candy in her lap. As she sat there, she thought more about the small business club that she was planning to start. She was glad that Joanna knew a couple of people that might join, because she didn’t. Sure, she knew which businesses around town were owned by which people, but she didn’t know their owners personally. That was part of the reason why she was starting the club, but it might make it difficult to get members in the first place.

  Even though it was chilly out, it was a pleasant evening, handing out candy and talking to the townspeople. Her mood was dampened when Joanna and Steve walked past her. The other woman looked at her, frowned, then quickly strode by on the sidewalk without stopping. Ellie bit her lip, watching her and her husband go into a bar a few doors down. It wasn’t her fault that Steve had been taken in for questioning. Joanna probably thought that Ellie had been spying on them when they stopped to get lunch together. She just wished that she could explain the truth to the other woman.

  She did have a reason to brighten up when Dan walked by and made a beeline for her. “I thought I recognized you,” he said. “I’m just on my way to meet a friend for a drink, but since you’re right here, we might as well talk.
There’s no rush, of course. Do you know what date you’re going to choose yet? The sooner I can get it locked down for you, the better. I wouldn’t want to disappoint the sheriff and his fiancée on their wedding day.”

  Chuckling, she said, “Yes, we have a date. Can you reserve the twenty-fourth of February for us?

  “I’ll mark it down,” he said. “Once again, congratulations.”

  She smiled as she watched him walk away. Her wedding date was locked down, and she had a dress. She was doing pretty well.

  Trick-or-treating lasted for a couple of hours. As it got later, darker, and colder out, the average age of the people in costumes seemed to rise. Eventually, she just dropped the rest of the candy into a teenager’s bucket and went inside, relishing the cocoon of warm air that surrounded her inside the pizzeria.

  It was almost time to start closing for the evening. She fought back a yawn and found herself wishing that she hadn’t offered to go with Russell while he patrolled the town. Normally she would have enjoyed it, but tonight she was so tired from her lack of sleep that she wasn’t looking forward to it much at all.

  “I need coffee,” she muttered. The pizzeria had an old, temperamental coffee machine that she and her employees used to keep themselves awake. She started the process of making a cup of coffee for herself while she and Pete began cleaning up.

  With the bitter drink in a thermos to keep her awake, she pulled her jacket on over her elf costume and left out the back door, locking it behind her. She waved goodbye to her employee and waited in the parking lot for a few minutes until she saw the headlights of Russell’s truck pull up. She climbed into the passenger seat, hoping that it would be a quiet night. Maybe she could doze during the ride.

  “How was your evening?” he asked her as she got settled.

  “It wasn’t terrible,” she said. She told her about running into Dan and settling the date for the wedding, but also mentioned Joanna and the look that the other woman had given her.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I know she’s your friend, and I wouldn’t have taken Steve in unless I thought there was a chance that he had done it.”

  “So now you’re certain that he didn’t?” she asked.

  “Not certain, no, we just didn’t find anything at all that might incriminate him. While he didn’t have an alibi, he swore up and down he hadn’t contacted her in years. He even offered us his phone as evidence. We found no physical evidence to connect him to the crime scene. We still haven’t been able to find the weapon. Even though I still think he’s the most likely person to have committed the crime, we had to let him go.”

  “I’m sorry,” Ellie said. “It must be frustrating, to think that he did it but not be able to find anything on him. If he is guilty, then I hope you find what you need soon. Whoever killed that poor woman deserves to go to prison, whether or not he’s married to a friend of mine.”

  “We’re working as hard as we can,” he said. “But tonight, we are taking a break in the case to patrol the town. Wearing a costume seems to make people feel free to do whatever they want, and it’s our job to make sure no one gets hurt.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  * * *

  Either the coffee was beginning to work, or riding around with Russell was turning out to be a lot more interesting than she had thought. Normally when she rode with him, things were pretty quiet. They would sit for long stretches of time on the busiest roads in and out of town waiting for people who were speeding around dangerous corners, and occasionally respond to calls. Ellie had watched as Russell unlocked a car door in the heat of the summer for a lady who had accidentally locked her dog inside, and take information on the missing bike for a couple of kids who swore that theirs had been stolen.

  Halloween night was different. They drove slowly through the streets, with Russell’s attention on the dark sidewalk and empty yards. The radio in the vehicle was on, and it was filled with chatter between Mrs. Lafferre, Liam, and Bethany. Mrs. Lafferre was acting as a dispatcher, and kept reporting to them as the calls came in.

  “Mrs. Hammontree on Barry Street says that kids are driving by and throwing eggs at her house. This has happened a couple of times tonight. She’s a teacher at the local high school.”

  “I’ll get out there,” Liam said. “I’m only a couple of streets away. Tell her an officer will come and park across the street from her house. Next time those kids come by, I’ll pull them over and give him a good talking to.”

  Russell smiled, turning the radio down. “I’d love to see those kids faces when Liam turns on his flashing lights,” he said. “He’ll give them a good scare, and hopefully they’ll all go home for the rest of the night.”

  “I feel bad for their teacher,” Ellie said. “That’s not a great way to repay someone teaching you.”

  “Stuff like this happens every year at Halloween,” her fiancé said. “Most of it is little pranks, mostly harmless, but still illegal since they have to do with destruction of property, or trespassing. Every once in a while, we’ll get something bigger. A couple of years ago, someone tried to start a bonfire in their yard. They lived in one of the more crowded subdivisions in town, and decided that burning old furniture in a huge pile with a bunch of gasoline was the way to go. That one ended in an arrest, but the man responsible only spent the night in jail before going home, sober, the next day. He didn’t actually manage to get the fire lit, thankfully.”

  “It sounds so much more interesting than your usual nights,” she said.

  “I prefer a quiet night,” he said. “When everything’s calm, it means no one is getting in trouble. I never like arresting people. These are all my neighbors and my friends. I know they’re good people at heart, but sometimes things can get a little crazy. Speaking of…”

  He turned the dial on the radio and Ellie listened to Mrs. Lafferre say, “We’ve got a couple of suspicious people called in by one Ms. Carry Lightwood. She said they’re standing in front of her neighbor’s house, where no one is home, and arguing.”

  Ellie frowned, giving Russell a worried look. “That’s my neighbor,” she said. “Do you think she’s talking about my house?”

  “Can we have the address?” Russell asked the radio. Mrs. Lafferre responded. Ellie and Russell exchanged a look. It was her address. “We’re on our way,” he replied.

  Ellie sat up, gripping the edges of her seat anxiously as Russell turned on his lights and sped through town. Who could possibly be at her house? What did they want? Her exhaustion seemed to have disappeared, to be replaced by worry.

  After what seemed like an eternity, they neared her house. Russell slowed down, but kept his lights flashing as he pulled into her driveway behind the vehicle that was parked there. There were two people on the front porch, and they both turned to look at them as she and Russell got out of the car.

  In the dark, it took Ellie a moment to recognize the people; Joanna and Steve. She breathed a sigh of relief. Her greatest fear was that there had been a break in and the animals might have been hurt.

  “What are the two of you doing here?” she asked, annoyed, as she approached the porch.

  “I’m sorry,” Joanna said. “We met a friend at the bar and Steve was drinking, and we were talking about you, and he wanted to come here to ask why everyone thinks he killed Melanie. I told him it would be better to just talk to you in the morning, but he insisted and I thought that it would make him feel better if he heard it from you that questioning him was just a formality.”

  “My car isn’t even here,” Ellie said. “You could tell I wasn’t home.”

  “We thought it might be parked in the garage,” Joanna said. “Anyway, I’m sorry. We were just about to leave. I never in a million years meant for the police to be called.”

  Ellie sighed. Russell was standing behind her, a comforting and supportive presence. Steve was obviously drunk, and Joanna looked upset.

  “It’s fine,” Ellie said. “We can talk tomorrow. Why don’t the two of you just go home n
ow?”

  “We will,” Joanna said, shooting an anxious look at Russell. “And Ellie, I’m sorry if I was acting rude to you earlier today when I didn’t stop and say anything. I admit, I was pretty mad when Steve got taken in for questioning. I thought that if you are a real friend, you would’ve told us. I guess I’ve come to realize that you really couldn’t have told us anything. I’m sure anything the sheriff tells you, you promise to keep confidential. And I guess if you had told us beforehand that Steve was a suspect, it just would have made things worse. We would’ve both been worried for days before he got taken in for questioning.”

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t say anything,” Ellie said. “I hope this doesn’t wreck our friendship.”

  “Not at all,” Joanna said. “Thanks for forgiving me, Ellie. I’ll see you later. Have a good evening.”