Pizza, Weddings, and Murder (Papa Pacelli's Pizzeria Series Book 23)

by Patti Benning

I love my job, Ellie thought as she stood at the register, watching her happy customers eating the food that she herself had made fresh just for them. It wasn’t the sort of I love my job that she told herself when she was driving through the blinding rain to deliver a pizza on the outskirts of town five minutes after closing, but rather a real feeling of joy and peace. Even if Russell and I were rich, and neither of us ever had to work a day in our lives, I would still want to be here.

  It was a good feeling, one that she had never enjoyed back when she worked a high stress job in Chicago. She knew that part of it was probably due to her upcoming wedding, but she felt unusually cheerful, especially after what had happened the night before. The other woman’s attack still weighed heavily at the back of her mind, but it was almost as if her brain had reached a point where all of the stress was just too much, and it had decided to ignore it as best it could.

  Since there was a lull in business, she took the opportunity to pull up the email on her phone and look over the honeymoon reservations once more. After a long deliberation, she and Russell had settled on a trip to St. Lucia in the Caribbean. Neither of them had ever been, and Ellie was itching to go to a tropical paradise after the long, cold winter that Kittiport had suffered through. It would be an expensive trip, but between the income from the new restaurant in Florida, and Russell’s substantial savings, the two of them would be able to afford it without much of a setback.

  She scrolled through the photos of beaches that were white with sand instead of snow, and a turquoise sea that couldn’t have had less in common with the stormy grey waters of the Atlantic. It was beautiful and perfect, and just the way to start a new marriage.

  The bell over the door rang, and she put her phone away. She may be the boss, but she still had to set a good example, and besides, it would be bad customer service if she was staring at a screen when someone approached the register.

  When she looked up, she found herself face to face with the man from the bar. Her good mood came crashing down. It was as if seeing his face had released whatever temporary barrier had been holding the memories at bay while she worked.

  “I’d like two slices of your special, and a bottle of water,” he said. “Thanks.”

  He pulled out a credit card, then seemed to recognize her as well. His hand faltered as he reached for the card machine.

  “Your order will be right up,” Ellie said, not sure what else to say. She didn’t know if he wanted to talk about the attack that they had both witnessed the night before, or what she would say if he did.

  “Right.” He cleared his throat and slid his card, placing it back into his wallet before signing. He hesitated for a moment before speaking again. “Do you know if she lived?”

  Ellie shook her head. “Sorry. I don’t.”

  “I hope she did.”

  Iris brought out the order and handed it to him. He took it, nodded at Ellie, then found an empty table near the door. Ellie was about to slip his receipt into the envelope where they put all of the credit card receipts when she paused. She knew that she had learned the man’s name in the past, but she still couldn’t remember what it was, and it was bothering her. She found it at the bottom of the receipt and committed it to memory before slipping the paper into the envelope. Wallace Burns. Had he recognized her the night before and come here on purpose to talk, or was it nothing more than a coincidence? She remembered his look of surprise and decided that he hadn’t meant to run into her. It was a reminder of just how small their community was, and just how many people had been affected by that night.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  * * *

  Ellie’s shift ended at five that evening, just before the dinner rush began. She left detailed instructions for the coming weeks and made sure that her employees had every phone number they could conceivably need in case they couldn’t reach her while she was gone. She was sure she would stop in at the pizzeria again before leaving on her honeymoon, but just in case something came up and she couldn’t, she wanted them to be prepared.

  As she drove home, her mind wandered, thoughts of the wedding warring with thoughts of the attack the night before. She had more than enough to worry about without thinking about something that she couldn’t control or even do anything about, but she just couldn’t get the image of Olive’s frantic sister out of her mind. It was easy to gloss over stories of murders and attacks when they were about people she had never met but seeing real grief and fear for a loved one was something she couldn’t get out of her head so easily.

  She parked as best she could in the crowded driveway, then sat in the car, trying to find the energy to go inside. Even though her mother was staying at a motel, she had been spending most of her time at the Pacelli house, and Ellie felt torn between spending time with her friends, and the woman who had raised her. She liked Rachel and Katia, and appreciated their cheerful encouragement about her wedding, but part of her wanted to try her best to repair her relationship with her mother while she had the chance. Family was more important to her now than ever. She had lost the chance to get to know her grandfather, and she didn’t want to risk that happening with anyone else. She knew that if she never made the effort to get close to her mother, she would regret it even more one day.

  Her phone buzzed, tearing her away from her thoughts. It was Russell, and she answered gladly, hoping that he had good news.

  “Hi,” he said. “Can you talk?” Her heart sank at his tone, and her hopes for good news vanished. Whatever he wanted to talk about, it wasn’t something she would like.

  “I’m just sitting in the car, trying to work up the energy to go into my house,” she said. “What’s going on?”

  “The woman who was attacked yesterday, Olive… she didn’t make it. She passed away about an hour ago at the hospital.”

  “Oh.” She fell silent, processing the information, and trying not to imagine how her sister must have taken the news. “I’m so sorry, for both her and her family.”

  “It’s not something that anyone deserves to go through,” he said. “I thought you would want to know, though. There’s something else I want to get into, but I’d rather do it in person. I was going to invite you over for dinner, but I forgot about your houseguests. Can you get away?”

  Ellie glanced toward the house. She rolled down her window and listened. Neither of the dogs were barking.

  “I don’t think anyone knows I’m here,” she said. “I can come over for a quick bite to eat so we can talk, as long as it doesn’t take more than an hour or so. They are taking so much time out of their lives for me, and I don’t want to seem ungrateful by being gone for too long.”

  “If you think it will be okay, come on over. I’ve got a lasagna in the oven, and it should be done by the time you get here.”

  She was glad to put her car in reverse and turn back towards town. It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate what her friends and family members were doing for her, but she knew that everyone inside would want to either go over wedding plans, or pick apart what had happened at the bar, and she didn’t want to spend the evening doing either. It was different with Russell — he might actually have some answers about what had happened, which would be better than speculating with her friends.

  Russell lived in a small home on the outskirts of town in an old neighborhood that had seen better days. He had lived alone since his first wife had died, other than for his cat, a grey tabby named Sookie who had wormed her way into his home and his heart the year before.

  Ellie knocked on his front door and waited for him to open it. She had a key for the house, and could have let herself in, but she had never been comfortable doing so while he was home. That was something that would have to change, since in just a few days they would be living together.

  When he opened the door, she was surprised to find the usually tidy house a mess. Boxes were stacked haphazardly everywhere, and the coat closet was open and empty. The couch in the living room had been pushed to the far wall to make a clear pat
h to the bedroom. She had known that he had spent the past week packing and sorting through his possessions to figure out what he wanted to bring with him, what he wanted to put into storage, and what he wanted to leave behind, but it was still a shock to see his house in such a state.

  “It’s really not as bad as it looks,” he said, reading the look on her face. “I have a system.”

  “Do you need help?” she asked, mentally kicking herself for not having asked before.

  “You have enough on your plate,” he said. “I’m almost done. All of the small stuff is packed, besides what I need to live for the next few days. Plus, it’s not like I need to have everything out of here by Saturday. I just wanted to get a head start on packing. I don’t want to have to rush once the house goes on the market.”

  Impulsively, Ellie stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him. She had spent so much time thinking about how her own life was about to change, that she hadn’t stopped to think about everything that Russell was going through. Not only was he getting married for the second time, which must be an emotional experience for him, but he was going to be moving out of the house he had lived in for years and moving in not only with her, but also with her grandmother. To top all of that, he didn’t have the same network of support that she did. Besides his brother, James, and his deputy, Liam, he didn’t have any close friends.

  “Thank you,” she said.

  “For what?” He sounded puzzled, but pleased.

  “For everything. You are the most wonderful person I know.”

  The oven buzzed, and they pulled apart. Ellie felt better after her unexpected surge of emotion and knew that her worries about their future together were silly. Pre-wedding jitters were something that every bride had, but not every bride had Russell as their fiancé. She had nothing to worry about. No matter what challenges came their way, she knew that they would figure them out together.

  They ate on paper plates at the small table nestled in the corner of the kitchen. Sookie rubbed herself against their ankles, and Ellie wondered what the cat thought about all of this upheaval in her life. There would certainly be a period of adjustment for the animals, but they were resilient and would probably adjust more quickly than she and Russell would.

  “What was it you wanted to talk about?” she asked as she reached for a second helping of lasagna.

  “Just something that’s been bothering me about the attack at the bar,” her fiancé said. “I might just be being paranoid, which is why I wanted to run it by you before I do anything.”

  She raised her eyebrows, intrigued. She had helped Russell with a couple of his cases in the past, but rarely had done so directly. Besides, this wasn’t his case. The attack had happened in Benton Harbor, and their police would want to handle it.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “The murder victim was wearing an outfit that matched yours almost exactly,” he said, rising to grab a folder off of the counter. “The lead detective gave me these. I was interested in learning more about what happened, since you were involved. It wasn’t until I took a closer look at what she was wearing that I saw it.”

  Ellie put down her fork and took the folder. She had a feeling that she knew what was inside and was unsurprised to see photos of the crime scene. She was beginning to regret taking that extra helping of lasagna.

  Pushing her plate to the side, she focused on the photos, taking note of the woman’s clothes like Russell had suggested. She thought back to the night before, remembering what she herself had worn, and was shocked to realize that the similarities in their dress were more than just passing.

  The woman in the photographs was wearing a red sweater, blue jeans, and black flats. She even had the same hair color and style as Ellie did. Puzzled, she closed the folder and handed it back to Russell.

  “What’s going on?” she asked. “What does this mean?”

  “I don’t know for sure. Like I said, it could be a coincidence. It’s a casual bar; a lot of people were wearing jeans, and it’s winter, so a sweater is normal. But she would have borne a striking resemblance to you from behind, especially if the killer had been drinking. You know that I’ve made a number of enemies over the years. It’s possible that you were the target, instead of Olive.”

  Ellie fell silent, turning the thought over and over in her mind. The thought that someone might have died just because they looked like her was horrifying.

  CHAPTER SIX

  * * *

  “Come on, Nonna. You missed the bachelorette party. You should come to this.”

  “Oh, I don’t know. I usually just get my hair done. This spa day of yours sounds like quite the experience.”

  “It’s just a manicure and pedicure, a face mask, and some relaxing music. It will be good for you. Besides, I’ve hardly gotten to spend any time with you since you came back. I want you to come.”

  Her grandmother relented with a smile. “Okay, if you insist.”

  It was Thursday, two days before her wedding. Rachel and Katia had planned a spa day for all of them, and afterward, she was on strict orders to go home and relax while her friends set up the reception hall and the room where the ceremony would take place. The next day was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner… and her father’s arrival from out of town.

  During the night, Ellie had managed to convince herself that her fiancé was simply overthinking things. She probably hadn’t been the true target of the attack; it was too absurd to consider. Yes, it was true that Russell had made enemies over the years, but even if someone out there wanted to kill her to get to him, there was no way he or she could have known where the bachelorette party would be that evening. She hadn’t even known, and she was the one who the party was for. She didn’t know why Olive had been killed, but there was no sense in feeling guilty about the other woman’s death when the only thing linking the two of them was a similar outfit. She had a wedding to look forward to. Everything else could wait until after.

  The six of them left the house, taking two cars, with Ellie, her mother, Darlene, and Nonna in one, and Rachel and Katia in the other. Shannon would be meeting them there. The salon they were going to was in Kittiport, but Ellie had never been there before. She got her hair cut elsewhere and saw no point in getting a manicure on a regular basis when she had to keep her nails short and neat for work anyway. She had to admit that it was fun to let herself be pampered for the wedding, and she was looking forward to this day even more than she had been looking forward to the party a few nights before.

  It was a small salon, so with the reservation that her friends had made for them, it meant they had the place to themselves. As soon as Rachel told the nail technician that greeted them that Ellie was the bride, she was surrounded by people offering congratulations and asking her all sorts of questions about her dress, hairstyle, and makeup plans.

  “We want to make sure your nails match your theme,” the woman assigned to her said as she sat down. “What were you thinking?”

  “Well, it’s winter themed, so a lot of white, pearl, and silver colors. The bridesmaids will all be wearing light blue dresses with silver accents. I think I’d like something subtle, though, so no sparkles or anything like that.”

  “I’ll bring out a selection of colors for you,” she said, beaming. “It sounds like it will be a beautiful wedding. Your groom is a lucky man.”

  It felt odd to just relax and soak her feet while someone else did her nails. At first, she chatted with Darlene and Shannon, who were going over the last of their plans for decorating the community center, but eventually, she just put her head back against the chair and closed her eyes, happy to do absolutely nothing for the time being.

  “We’re going to apply the face masks next,” her technician said. “This is a good time to get up and walk around for a couple of minutes if you need to stretch your legs while we prepare the treatment. Just remember, your toenails are still drying, so be careful. There are sandals by each of your chairs, and the bathroom is
through the door and to your left.

  Rachel, Katia, and Ellie’s mother all got up, but Ellie was too comfortable to move herself. She looked across the room to her grandmother and smiled to see how relaxed the older woman looked. This was good for all of them.

  She closed her eyes again, feeling sleepy. She heard the bell on the door in the front room ding and sat up straighter as she heard voices rising. Was someone angry that the salon was booked? She thought she heard her mother’s voice and sighed. Hopefully Donna wouldn’t cause too much trouble. Ellie didn’t mind if someone else joined them. There was still an eighth chair open, and the newcomer had just as much a right to enjoy the place as they did.

  A few minutes later, after Rachel, Katia, and her mother had trailed back into the room, the technicians returned, each carrying a bowl with a cloth draped over the top. Ellie had never had a face mask applied before, and as the technician uncovered the bowl, she wondered what she was in for.