Thanksgiving Pizza Murder

by Patti Benning

  “You too,” she said.

  “Russell, you better make sure your brother is around for Christmas. I’m got a bunch of baby stuff to give to Shannon. It’s a pity that they aren’t here for Thanksgiving dinner.”

  “It’s been a while since Shannon saw her parents last,” Russell said. “And you didn’t even tell us that you were coming to town until after they made the commitment.”

  “I know, I know,” she said. “Anyway, Ellie, thank you for hosting dinner. It smells heavenly already.”

  “It isn’t quite ready yet,” Ellie said. “Let’s all go sit in the living room. I’ll go tell my mother that you’re here, and I’ll bring out drinks.”

  She could tell that her mother was still tense around Russell, but she seemed to be living up to her promise to give him a chance. The six of them all took seats in the living room, and after a few minutes of awkward silence, they found a conversation topic that they could all enjoy; the pizzeria.

  Even though everyone there had at least a basic idea of the restaurant’s history, Ellie told them all the story about how her grandfather had opened the original Papa Pacelli’s over twenty years ago when he retired from his position at the paper mill. She and her mother had moved to Chicago before the restaurant’s opening, but Russell and his parents had been in town when the pizzeria first opened its doors. Ellie loved hearing their memories of eating at the pizzeria in its early days. According to them, not much had changed; which, as far as she was concerned, was a good thing.

  “Russell told us all about the pizzeria you opened down in Miami,” his mother said. “Did you keep the design like this one, or did you make some changes?”

  “The design is almost exactly the same,” Ellie said. “Even though the restaurant has only been there for a month, I wanted it to feel like it’s been there for years. The goal was to create a comfortable, old-fashioned pizzeria, and I think we succeeded.”

  “Is it hard to run a business from so far away?” Russell’s father asked.

  “It is, and it isn’t,” Ellie said. “Getting everything prepared was a nightmare, but now that it’s running, it’s going smoothly. I met a wonderful woman who actually owned the building before I bought it, who I trust to manage the place on a daily basis. She has a couple of good employees, and she knows the area well. Without her, I couldn’t have done it.”

  Russell smiled at her, and she felt a glow at the pride in his eyes. The months that she had spent arranging everything for the second pizzeria had been terrible and busy, and she never wanted to repeat them, but it had been worth it. With the extra money, she would be able to afford to do things like fly back and forth to visit her grandmother, and put some money into updating the house if she wanted it. It was a good feeling. It was progress. She wasn’t the sort of person that would be happy sitting back and never going anywhere in her life. The second pizzeria was the beginning of something great, even if she wasn’t exactly sure what that was yet.

  Ellie took the turkey out of the oven, checking the temperature with a meat thermometer. “It’s done,” she called. The bird was a beautiful golden brown, stuffed to the brim with stuffing. She had an additional large bowl of stuffing sitting on the counter. The three casseroles were also ready to go, two of them covered up with aluminum foil to keep warm, and the other just coming out of the oven. They had cranberry sauce from cans – her favorite, she had never perfected the process of making the sauce herself – and both pumpkin and apple pies that Darlene had made. It was a true Thanksgiving feast, and she couldn’t wait to dig in.

  Russell helped her carry the food out to the table. Once it was all out there, they took seats across from each other and she handed him the knife for carving the turkey.

  “I’ve always hated that job,” she said. “I hope you don’t mind.”

  “You don’t have to ask me twice,” he said.

  They spent a few minutes before the meal going around the table and saying what they were each most thankful for. Ellie was touched when her mother said that she was thankful that she had had the chance to reconnect with her daughter.

  “I’m thankful to have my family here with me, and to have my wonderful fiancé sitting across from me. I hope this will be the first of many years’ worth of Thanksgiving dinners together.”

  They raise their glasses and toasted. Ellie met her mother’s eyes, and her mother smiled at her. Ellie grinned back. Things may not be perfect – in fact, they were still far from it – but they were better, and that was what mattered.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  * * *

  Stuffed to the brim with turkey, stuffing, casserole, and pie, the six of them retreated to the living room to digest some of the food in front of the TV. Russell put a football game on, and Ellie sat next to him, tossing Bunny the occasional treat as she let the drone of conversation wash over her. She was exhausted. She had eaten way too much, and all she wanted was to take a nap.

  “Ellie?”

  She looked up, realizing that someone had spoken to her, and that she had completely missed it. “Sorry, what did you say?”

  “I said, how would you feel if we all went to the pizzeria later today? I still haven’t seen it, and I have to leave early tomorrow morning.”

  “It’s closed today,” she reminded her mother.

  “That’s okay. We could have a private tour.”

  “Ask me again in a few hours,” she said. “I’m too full to think about even walking into the kitchen, let alone driving somewhere.”

  She wondered why her mother didn’t just stop in when she had gotten a taxi into town. She hadn’t been shy about barging in before. Oh well, at least she would be able to kill two birds with one stone this way. It would be nice to have Russell’s family along too. She could show them how everything worked, something that she probably wouldn’t have been able to do if the store was open.

  It was almost six by the time they were ready to head to Papa Pacelli’s. Ellie drove with her mother and Darlene, and Russell took his parents in his truck. She had enjoyed spending the day with all of them. It was a shame that both of their families lived in other states. With Nonna in Florida, her mother in Chicago, and Darlene living in Virginia, they were certainly spread out. It was rare for them to all be together at once, and even though it had been a stressful week, she wanted to savor the day.

  They parked behind the pizzeria, which was where she started the tour. The drive-up window was new; she had installed it earlier that year. It helped a lot in the bad weather; people could come and pick up their pizza without having to walk all the way around to the front of the store. It saved her employees from making some deliveries, and made her customers happy, so it was worth it. It also meant that the restaurant area could have more of a focus on the dine-in eaters. She wanted to be a place where people would go out to eat with their families and go on dates, not just somewhere people stopped by quickly to pick up a pizza or two.

  “This wasn’t here last time we were here, was it?” Russell’s mother asked.

  “No, it’s new,” Ellie said. “Just like the patio, which is on the other side of the building. That’s shut down for the winter, though.” A couple of weeks ago, right after Halloween, she and her employees had stacked the tables and chairs and had covered them with tarps to protect them from the snow and rain. They had folded up the umbrellas and stored them in the supply closet. It would be a good six months before people wanted to be outside again.

  It was cold enough out that none of them wanted to walk around to the front of the store, so she unlocked the employee entrance for them. She went last, pausing to pull the door shut behind her. As she did, her eyes landed on their two vehicles in the parking lot. She had parked only a couple of spaces away from where her mother’s car had been found after Kenneth’s death. Something tickled at the back of her mind. Her mother’s car had been taken Saturday night, and she hadn’t called it in until Monday morning. However, the police hadn’t taken it away until Monday afternoon.
She had seen her mother outside the pizzeria early Monday morning. She had taken the cab into town for an unknown reason and had walked around outside the pizzeria. How had she missed her car? She must have been worried about it. It wasn’t Ellie’s vehicle, so it completely slipped her mind after everything that had happened with Kenneth, but surely her mom would have been frantic.

  She remembered what the police had said about the car having been wiped clean. Wouldn’t her mother have had plenty of time to do that while she was in town on Monday? No, she thought. My mom didn’t kill him. That is ridiculous. How would she have gotten all the way out here to do it Saturday night? And why?

  She supposed that her mother could have ridden into town with Kenneth, and then taken a taxi back. The why was more difficult. Her mother had liked Kenneth. Russell was the one that she hated. Russell was the one that she wanted Ellie to break up with.

  “She was trying to frame Russell for his death,” Ellie breathed.

  “What was that?” Darlene asked, glancing back at her. “You should shut the door, it’s getting cold in here.”

  “Sorry,” she said, forcing herself to smile. Her theory was just that. A theory. Not even that. It was ridiculous to think that her mother had committed a murder, for no reason other than to force her to break up with her fiancé.

  She pulled the door shut. The kitchen was dark, and she reached over to flick on the lights. It was odd to see it so empty in the early evening. They were usually open seven days a week, and this was usually their busiest time of day.

  “Well, this is it,” she said. “This is where I spend a good half of my time. Feel free to look around. I’m going to turn the lights on in the dining area.”

  She walked into the dining area and looked around, feeling a soft glow of pride. Yes, it was mostly the same as a had been when her grandfather had been around, but she had cleaned the place up well, and had made a few updates and repairs that had been needed. The pizzeria’s current success was her doing, and it felt good to know that she had taken a restaurant on the brink of failure and brought it back to life.

  She heard the door open behind her and turned to see her mother come out of the kitchen. “Ellie… this place is wonderful. I know I’ve said it before, but I’m sorry. I should have given you a chance to tell me about it. I should have listened to you, instead of acting like I did.”

  “And I probably should have told you about Russell and me sooner,” she replied. She walked over and hesitantly gave her mom a hug. “We both have things to be sorry for. Let’s start fresh right now.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  * * *

  They said their goodbyes at the pizzeria. Russell’s parents made Ellie promise to go to dinner with them before they left.

  “It was good to see you again,” his father said. “I’m looking forward to getting to know you more. I think you are very good for my son.”

  “I hope so,” she said, smiling. “It was good to see both of you again too. Let me know when you want to get together tomorrow. I will be here for part of the day, but even if I’m working, I can probably get away for a couple of hours.”

  She waved as they pulled out of the parking lot, then shut the employee entrance and turned back to her mother.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?”

  “It will be fun,” her mom said. “I want to see what you do every day, and I’ve never made my own pizza before.”

  “All right,” she said. “Let’s get to it.”

  Ellie and Darlene showed her mother how to shape the pizza crusts and let them go through the fridge to choose their toppings. They would each bring a small pizza home, in case they get tired of Thanksgiving leftovers. Ellie knew that her mother was trying to make up for how poorly things had gone earlier. She was glad that they were doing this; it was a nice chance to just have fun with the other two women.

  Darlene was busy showing Ellie’s mother how to use the industrial cheese shredder when someone knocked at the pizzeria’s employee entrance.

  “Who is that?” her mother asked.

  “I’m not sure, but I’ll go and see,” she said.

  She pulled the door open, half expecting to see that Russell had returned, but found Adam Felt, the owner of the new ice cream parlor, instead. He was holding a hammer, and looked jittery.

  “Can I help you?” she asked.

  “Can I use your bathroom? The plumbing is turned off in my building while some updates are getting made. Sorry to bother you, but I don’t think anywhere else is open.”

  “Sure,” she said. “And it’s no bother. I’m just here to show my family around while they’re in town. Come on in. The bathroom is through the door there, to your right. It’s right next to a supply closet.”

  He came into the kitchen and hurried through, putting his hammer down on the counter. He must have been working on the ice cream parlor, she thought. I wonder if he has any family in town? She felt bad if he was spending the holiday alone. She resolved to offer him a freshly made pizza when he came out. It was the least she could do.

  “Who was that?” her mother asked, looking up from the small pile of cheese that she had grated.

  “His name is Adam Felt. He’s opening an ice cream parlor next door.”

  “He’s opening an ice cream shop just a few weeks before winter starts?”

  “He’s just getting the building ready. It’s been for sale for a while, and I guess there are a lot of renovations he wants to get done.”

  “Ugh, he put his hammer on top of the cutting board I was going to use,” Darlene said. She lifted the tool by the end of the handle. “There’s some weird stains on it. Gross.”

  Ellie glanced toward her cousin, then felt her blood run cold. There were dark brown stains all over the wood by the hammer’s head. Ken died of a traumatic head injury, she thought. And the last place we know for sure where he was, was the pizzeria’s parking lot.

  She had seen firsthand the odd hours Adam spent working on the ice cream parlor. If anyone had been near the pizzeria late on Saturday night, it would have been him. But why would he want to kill Kenneth?

  “Ellie?” Darlene said, looking at her strangely. “Are you okay?”

  “Darlene, put the hammer down, we need to call –”

  “Thank you very much, Ellie,” Adam said, coming back into the kitchen. “I should know better than to drink so much coffee when there isn’t a working bathroom around. Sorry again to disturb your family gathering.”

  He turned toward where he had left the hammer on the counter, his hand reaching out to grab it, but falling back down when he saw that it wasn’t there.

  “Here,” Darlene said, handing it toward him. “I had to move it off the cutting board. It probably has germs.”

  “Sorry about that,” he said, chuckling. “I only had one thing on my mind when I came in here.”

  Ellie made a small noise of protest as the hammer changed hands. If he had killed Kenneth, then that hammer was all the evidence that they had.

  “Sorry, did you say something?” he asked, turning back around to look at Ellie.

  “I… uh, I was just wondering what you’re doing out here. It’s a holiday, after all.”

  “Don’t have anything better to do,” he said. “My ex-wife has the kids this year. I figured that working would be better than sitting at home with a frozen dinner.”

  She nodded, her eyes on the hammer rather than his face. “I was wondering, do you want a pizza? It’s on the house, and you can have whatever toppings you want.”

  “Oh, if you do, I’ll make it,” Darlene said. “I’m getting good at this. I can see why you like it here, Ellie.”

  “Well sure, that would be much appreciated.” He reached out to put the hammer down again, then hesitated. “Where should I put this?”

  Ellie took it from him, careful to keep her fingers back from the stains, and laid it on the stainless-steel surface next to the sink. She hoped that he would forget about it when he left. T
hen she would be able to get it to Russell.

  While they worked on their pizzas, Ellie pulled out her phone and texted Russell. The guy with the store next to the pizzeria has a hammer with blood on it. I think it’s him.

  It wasn’t the clearest text in the world, but she didn’t want to draw attention to herself by being on her phone. The less suspicious Adam was, the better.

  While Darlene was still helping Adam with his pizza, Ellie’s mother finished hers. Ellie put it in the oven for her while her mother began filling the sink with hot, sudsy water. Ellie was walking over to help with the dishes when she saw her mother’s elbow bump the hammer’s handle.

  “No!” she said, an instant too late. The hammer dropped into the sink of soapy water.