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

by Patti Benning

  Russell got back into his truck to back it out of the driveway so Joanna and Steve could leave. Joanna was wearing a large, fluffy coat, which she took off as she got behind the driver’s wheel. When her friend leaned forward to turn on the overhead light and search the vehicle for something, Ellie noticed long, ragged scratches on her friend’s arms. The light clicked off, and the vehicle started. Before she could say anything, the car pulled out of the driveway and turned towards town.

  She hurried up to Russell’s window as he pulled the truck back into the driveway. “Did you see that?” she asked.

  “See what?”

  “Joanna’s arms were all scratched up.” She bit her lip, trying to believe that what she was about to say was wrong. “Think about it. She has scratches on her arms, like someone might get from pushing their way through the undergrowth. The victim is her husband’s ex. Melanie visited this town for a reason, but Steve refuses to say why. If they were having an affair and Joanna found out, wouldn’t it be motive for murder?”

  She saw comprehension dawn on Russell’s face as he connected the dots as well. “You’re right, Ellie. I can’t believe we didn’t see it before. Who knows why they were really here. I’m going to go see if I can catch them before they get back. I need to bring Joanna in and ask her some questions. Will you be all right here? I can pick you up when I’m done to tell you what happened and bring you back to the pizzeria to get your car.”

  “I’ll be fine here,” she promised. “Just call me before you head back. I may be in bed. Be careful, Russell. I really hope it’s not her.”

  “So do I,” her fiancé said. “But hope never solved a murder.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  * * *

  Ellie watched as her fiancé pulled away. She felt miserable. She liked Joanna. She didn’t want to think that the woman could be responsible for a crime like this, but the pieces fit together too perfectly. The woman would have had a motive, and scratches on her arm might be physical evidence that she was in the forest at the time of Melanie’s death.

  She turned the key in the lock and let herself inside, shutting the door behind her. Bunny greeted her happily, and she bent down to pet the little dog. Despite her concerns, she was exhausted. Part of her wanted to stay up and wait for Russell to come back to tell her what he had found out. Another part of her wanted to collapse into her bed and wait until morning to get the whole thing settled.

  She opted for a compromise. She would make a cup of green tea and drink in the kitchen, and if she didn’t feel more awake afterward once the small amount of caffeine had had a chance to do its work, she would go upstairs to bed, but leave her clothes on in case she wanted to get up to visit with Russell in the middle of the night when he was done with Joanna.

  The routine of making tea was a comforting one. Her grandmother had made tea hundreds of times in this kitchen, and she felt closer to the older woman as she boiled the pot of water and put a tea bag in one of the mugs. She missed her grandmother. Things just weren’t the same. Especially with everything that had been happening, she didn’t feel comfortable there. At least in a few months, Russell would be living there with her. By then, she wanted to have made some changes to the home so that it felt more like their shared house, as opposed to them living at her grandmother’s house. Nonna had said that she was free to do whatever she wanted with the home, and even though Ellie had been reluctant to make those changes just yet, she knew that in the long run, it would be the best for her marriage if she and Russell had their own space.

  With the patio light on, Ellie sat at the kitchen table and gazed outside. She couldn’t see anything beyond the circle of light, and wondered not for the first time how everything linked together. If Joanna was the killer, how did that explain the woman that she kept seeing? Even though she kept telling herself that there had to be a logical explanation, some small part of her still thought that she might have seen a ghost. The thought was both chilling and sad. Oddly enough, however, the thought of the ghost was less frightening than the thought that there had been a living woman walking around the woods and haunting her. A ghost couldn’t hurt her, but a flesh and blood person could.

  A low growl sounded from the floor behind her. Ellie turned to see Bunny staring out the glass door, her small body tense as she gazed into the darkness. Goosebumps rose on Ellie’s skin. She got up and turned off the light inside the kitchen to prevent who or what ever was outside from seeing inside, and pressed her face to the window, trying desperately to see beyond the patio light.

  Whatever was out there was well beyond the edge of the darkness. She couldn’t see anything. Bunny, however, was certainly sensing something. She had never seen the little dog so worked up.

  Knowing that there was no way she could ignore her dog’s warning, she opened the pantry and felt around on the shelves until she found the powerful flashlight that her grandmother kept there. She put her feet into the sandals that she kept by the back door for when she let Bunny outside, then turned the patio light on and slipped through the door, making sure the dog stayed inside. The last thing she needed was to have the little dog chase after something in the pitch-black woods.

  With the patio and kitchen lights both off, she felt both blind and invisible. She was silent and unmoving for a moment, listening to the sounds around her and trying to identify what Bunny might have heard. After a couple of seconds, she heard the loud crack of a branch breaking somewhere in the woods in front of her.

  She did her best to aim in the dark, then click on the flashlight. The beam illuminated the edge of the forest. Ellie swept it across the trees, then froze when she caught a flash of white. It was the woman. The ghost? No, a ghost wouldn’t break branches while it was walking through the forest. This was a living person.

  Whoever it was seemed to realize that they had been seen, and they froze. Ellie kept the beam of light trained on them. The person was hidden mostly behind a tree, with only their white clothing visible. She didn’t know which one of them would move first. She hadn’t brought her phone outside with her. Things had just happened too quickly.

  From behind her, Bunny let out a sharp bark. That seemed to do it. The person in the woods moved, crashing through the trees. Ellie hesitated for a moment, then figured if the person was running away from her, they probably weren’t too dangerous. She remembered the dark stains on the person’s clothing when the woman had approached her patio door the week before. What if this person was hurt, and had been wandering around the woods since the attack looking for help? If the person had a head injury or was mentally ill, it could explain why they were so wary and hadn’t approached anyone. It was cold out, and Ellie couldn’t let a frightened, possibly injured person vanish into the woods. Every time she had seen the person, they had done their best to avoid her. She wondered, as she ran to the yard, why she had been so afraid before. Whoever this woman was, she was the one that was frightened.

  “Hello?” she called as she entered the woods. “I want to help!”

  There was no answer. She heard movement ahead of her, and kept moving forward. She was grateful that she had remembered to put on her sandals, even though they didn’t do much to protect her feet from the cold. The forest floor was littered with twigs and sharp rocks, and she wouldn’t want to try to walk through it in the dark, barefoot.

  “If there’s someone out here, I want to help you,” she said. “I’ve seen you hanging around out there. If you’re hurt, I can call an ambulance.”

  There was no response, but whoever was moving in the forest ahead of her stopped. Ellie bit her lip, feeling another flutter of fear in her chest. Maybe she was being foolish to do this, but part of her wanted to keep pushing forward. Russell was out there right now, confronting a possible murder. Should she just hide in her house when there was an injured person outside that needed help? She wanted to be brave, like him, and not let fear control her.

  There was a sudden noise behind her, making Ellie jump. She spun around, the
light of the flashlight cutting through the trees. The beam illuminated a man’s face, looming only feet away from her.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Ellie let out a sharp scream and jumped backward, almost tripping over a branch.

  “Dan?” she asked, incredulous.

  “Ellie?” he said, sounding just as surprised as she was. “What are you doing out here?”

  “I live right there,” she said, gesturing back towards her house. “What are you doing here?”

  “I’m just looking for…” He frowned, looking from her flashlight to her sandaled feet. “Did you lose something?”

  “No,” she replied shortly. She had a sudden, dark suspicion. Dan and Steve had known each other for years. That meant that it was possible that Dan had known Melanie as well. What his motive to kill the other woman might have been, she couldn’t know, but the simple fact that he was out here, less than a quarter of a mile away from where the woman had been killed, was enough to make her fear the worst.

  “I think you should go back inside,” he said.

  She nodded, clenching her teeth together. Yes, she would go inside. She would go inside, and call Russell immediately. She was just about to edge around him when she saw him tense. It wasn’t much more than a twitch, but his hand had definitely moved towards his pocket, which she could see looked lumpy and heavy, as if something was inside it.

  Something metal, like a gun? Her mind raced. He knew that she was engaged to the sheriff. It would be reasonable for him to assume that she would mention to Russell that she had seen him out here in the woods. If he had killed Melanie, that would be a link to the crime scene that he wouldn’t be able to afford. On the other hand, if no one knew that he was out here tonight other than her, then he might be able to get away with shooting her without anyone being the wiser about who had done it. A dead woman couldn’t talk.

  Ellie froze, no longer wanting to turn her back to him. His frown deepened. “This really isn’t the place for a woman wearing an elf costume and sandals,” he said.

  She had forgotten about the costume. She must look ridiculous out here, but that was the least of her worries. What could she do? If he had a gun, then her heavy flashlight wouldn’t be much use against him. There was no way she could defend herself if he decided to shoot her, but he seemed reluctant to do anything to her face.

  “You never answered me,” she said, trying to keep her voice casual. “What are you looking for out here? Maybe I can help you. I know these woods pretty well.”

  That was a lie, of course. She hardly knew the trails in the state park, and certainly couldn’t navigate her way out here where there were no trails at all.

  “Just something I lost,” he said vaguely. “I wouldn’t want to keep you. You go on back inside and get warmed up.”

  “I think I’ll stay,” she said. “I wouldn’t feel right leaving you out here alone.” She kept her voice as friendly as possible.

  He frowned, and she saw his fingers twitch towards his pocket again.

  “Russell should be back soon,” she added, hoping the mention of her fiancé might make him back down. “Maybe he could come out and help us look.”

  When she saw the look on his face, she realized that she had made a mistake in mentioning the sheriff. He reached his hand into his pocket, and sure enough withdrew a pistol. Aiming at her, he said, “I really didn’t want to have to do this. I’m sorry, Ellie. I have to put myself first.”

  She heard the safety click off. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see him fire the shot that would kill her. The shot never came. Instead, someone let out a strangled shout, and there was a crashing sound as branches broke. Ellie open her eyes just in time to see a woman wearing a long white coat rush toward Dan. Dan didn’t have time to readjust his aim before she slammed into him. Ellie saw a flash of metal as the woman buried a knife in Dan’s abdomen. He dropped the gun and stumbled backwards, staring in shock at the handle of the blade that was sticking out of him.

  “That’s my knife,” he said, his eyes wide with shock. Suddenly, the pain seemed to hit him and he sank to his knees.

  The woman was staring at him, her face contorted with fury. “You killed my sister,” she said. “I saw the whole thing. Now just tell me, where is the tape?”

  With his fingers shaking, Dan managed to reach into his other pocket and remove an old cassette tape. He put it on the ground. “Please don’t kill me,” he panted. “Call an ambulance. I don’t want to die.”

  The woman bent down and picked up the tape. Ellie saw that she was wearing a long white trench coat, which in her panic the other night, she must have confused for a dress.

  “You’re the one I’ve been seeing, aren’t you?” she asked. The woman turned to face her, her fury fizzling out into something more manageable.

  “I recognize, you, you live in that house back there. My name is Valerie. I’m Melanie’s older sister. I’m sorry if I frightened you. I was going to ask you if you had heard anything the night before, but I thought better of it, so I left.”

  “I thought you were a ghost,” Ellie said. “You look so much like your sister, and you were both wearing white.”

  “I didn’t even think of that connection,” the woman said. “I was only wearing this coat because it’s the only warm thing I brought. It was supposed to be part of a Halloween costume, but then I got it muddy in the woods that first night, so I just kept wearing it.”

  Dan groaned, and both women looked down at him. “I don’t have my phone on me,” Ellie said, realizing that they needed to get the man help. It was one thing for Valerie to attack him when he was about to shoot her, but they couldn’t very well let him bleed to death like this.

  “I have my cell phone,” the other woman said. “Will you wait here while the police arrive? I don’t want to be alone with him.”

  Ellie nodded. She waited while Valerie called 911, then asked her a question that she had been wondering. “How did you find his knife? Is it the same one that he used to kill your sister?”

  “Yes,” Valerie said. “It’s a long story, I suppose I’ll tell it to you if we have time.”

  “Go ahead,” Ellie said. “I’ll wait here with you until the paramedics get here. We might as well talk.”

  “Well, all of this started years ago when my sister lived in Portland. She started dating Dan after she broke up with a guy that he was friends with, Steve. The thing is, she didn’t realize that Dan was already married at that point. When she found out, she took a video of them in a… compromising situation… then threatened to tell his wife if he didn’t give her money to pay off her debts. She told me all of this a couple of years after it happened.”

  “So, he killed her over something that happened years ago?” Ellie said. “That’s horrible.”

  “Not exactly,” Valerie said. She sighed. “This part is somewhat my fault. Melanie has always really been bad with money. She opens as many credit cards as she can, and maxes them all out. She had sunk into debt again pretty badly over this past year. She still had the old tape of them together, and figured that she could do the same thing she had done before. Her plan was to come up here and ask Dan for money, or she would tell his wife what they had done all those years ago.”

  “So, she was blackmailing him?”

  Valerie closed her eyes. “Yes. She convinced me to come with her, I only agreed to keep her safe. We met him in these woods on our way to a Halloween party. She met him by herself, with me hanging back to support her if she needed it. I didn’t agree with what she was doing, but she was my sister. I didn’t want her to get hurt. As it turned out, I wasn’t much help anyway. It all happened so quickly. She was about to hand the tape over when I saw this man stab her. I shouted out and he fled, leaving Melanie to struggle through the forest. He dropped the knife and I picked it up, thinking that I could turn it in to the police so they could use it as evidence against him. By the time I reached Melanie, she had collapsed and I couldn’t find a pulse. I tried to sto
p the bleeding, but I had to give up. Her heart had stopped and she wasn’t breathing anymore. I looked all over for the tape, knowing that it would be the thing to put Dan in jail. I was so sure she had dropped it somewhere, and I came out every day to look for it. I didn’t think that she had actually handed it off to him, but she must have.”

  “Why didn’t you go to the police?” Ellie asked.

  “I was selfish,” Valerie admitted. “The more I thought about it, the more I realized that what we were doing was illegal. Blackmail is a crime. She was already dead, but I wasn’t. I didn’t want to go to jail for something like that. I figured if I found the tape, I could mail it and the knife to the police anonymously. That way I wouldn’t get in trouble for being involved in this, but she would still get the justice she deserved. I held onto the knife, and kept looking. I went into town today just to get freshened up at the community center, and that’s when Dan saw me. I didn’t say anything to him, but I knew he recognized me. He must’ve followed me out here, and when he saw me going to the woods, he would have put two and two together and figured out that I knew what had happened to my sister. I’m sure he was coming out here to silence me, so thanks for following me. You probably saved my life.”