Shrimply Sublime Murder

by Patti Benning

  She was expecting a call, so she was surprised when Russell knocked on the door shortly after they were done with breakfast. She and Shannon didn't know who it was at first, so they peeked out the side window cautiously. Ellie recognized his vehicle and opened the door to greet him. He pulled her into a hug and kissed her before pulling away.

  “Ellie, I need to talk you about something.”

  He looked serious. She felt her stomach drop. “Come on in.”

  Shannon gave them their privacy and they sat down in the living room. Russell reached into his pocket and took out his wallet. He pulled out a folded piece of paper and passed it over to her. Frowning, she unfolded it. What she saw didn't make any sense to her.

  “Flight times?”

  “I think it would be best if you spent some time down in Florida. I know you don't want to leave, but honestly Ellie, you're very likely going to be a target for this killer, and if I have to choose between watching over you and trying to solve this crime, there's going to be no contest; I’ll choose you. The thing is, you don't have to stay here and be in danger. You have a business down there, friends… If you want to stay here and if you want me to take time off work to keep watch over you I will, but if you’d be willing to fly down there and get yourself out of harm's way, it would let me focus on things up here and do the best job I can trying to find the killer before more people get hurt.”

  She looked down at the printed out page again. “All these prices are for two tickets?”

  “I thought you could take someone with you. Nonna, Shannon…”

  “Joanna,” she said immediately. “If it's safe for her to fly. And of course, if she’s willing. I think she'd want to get out of state. She doesn't feel safe here. And that would clear up more men for you too, since you wouldn’t have to have someone watching her.”

  “You're willing to go, then?”

  She sighed, but nodded. “I am. I hate to admit it, but I think it really is the best choice. I'm just going to be on edge constantly while I'm here. And I don't want you to be distracted from your job because you’re worrying about me. That's a good way to get yourself or someone else killed. I hate it, but my leaving is probably the safest option for me, you, and the whole town.”

  A look of relief spread over his face. “I'm going to miss you, Ellie, but with any luck it'll only be a few days. I took today off. Do you want to go home and spend some time together before heading out?”

  “Can you really afford to take a whole day off right now, with everything that’s been going on?”

  “For you, of course. I want to make sure you're safe. You're my number one priority. And this guy… Well, with how often he's been attacking people, I'm afraid he's going to try something else today. We've issued a warning, we've got men and women patrolling practically every street. We’re doing the best we can already, and that means I get to take some time to protect what's important to me. You.”

  He drove her home. Somehow, her car had made it back to their house, probably courtesy of one of the officers under Russell. The dogs and Marlowe were all thrilled to see her.

  “Will you be able to stop home often enough to take care of them?” she asked as she cuddled Bunny. “I feel bad leaving them alone for so long. I could call the pet sitter.”

  “I'll make sure I stop in a couple of times during the day for them,” he told her. “It’s not that I don’t trust our pet sitter, but I don't want to have people outside of the family having free access to the house while all of this is going on. It would just be asking for trouble.”

  “That's probably true,” she said. She gave Bunny one last pet, scratched Sawyer behind his ears, and straightened up. “What about Nonna? Do you think she’ll be safe?”

  “I think so. So far this killer seems to be strictly targeting business owners. He hasn’t gone after anyone else. I'll give her all of the same safety tips that we’re giving everyone else, and I’ll make sure she has her emergency call button and I'll tell her to call me if she is even the slightest bit worried about something. I'll stop in every morning to say hi to her and check on how she's doing.”

  “Thanks,” Ellie said. “I guess we should buy the tickets now. I'll give Joanna a call and see what she and Steve want to do.”

  “I'm sorry for asking this of you, Ellie. I just can't…” He took a deep breath. “I can't risk losing someone I love again.”

  She hugged him, squeezing him tightly. “I understand,” she said. “Normally I wouldn't want to leave you, but I completely understand this, and honestly, I'm going to feel a lot safer down there too. I want you to take care of yourself and don't take any risks, okay? Remember, you have someone waiting to come home to you. I want you to be in one piece when I do.”

  Chapter Nine

  It was strange. Just couple of days ago, she had awakend and gone to the pizzeria, expecting it to be just like every other day. Now, she was on an unexpected flight down to Florida with one of her best friends, leaving her husband behind to track down a serial killer. Part of her hated that she was leaving. She felt like a coward, a failure. But the more logical part of her had to admit that it made sense. All of the evidence pointed toward the fact that she was likely a target. Joanna had already been targeted, and would only be safer out of town. There was no telling if the killer would try to go after her.. Her being in town would only make Russell worry about her more, and it might affect his ability to do his job. Florida was the best place for her to be, for everyone's sake. It didn't mean that she was completely thrilled about it though.

  The plane touched down just after noon, and the heat hit Ellie like an anvil as soon as she and Joanna stepped out of the airport and into the parking garage. Maine was warm, but it didn't have the same cloying humidity as southern Florida did. She frequently visited in autumn and winter when her grandmother was here. It had been a while since she'd been there in summer, and she had forgotten just how suffocating it could be.

  “Well, this is going to be terrible,” Joanna said, raising the arm that had been slashed by the knife. “Here I am in Florida, and I can't even swim, thanks to these stitches.”

  “We can still put on bathing suits and go sip cold drinks, in the shade on the beach,” Ellie said. “It's not quite the same, but it will be better than nothing.”

  “It's been ages since I've been somewhere this far south,” her friend said. “I guess I should be grateful for the unexpected vacation, but I miss home already.”

  “We'll do our best to have fun,” Ellie told her. “Let's get to the car. It's got air conditioning, and so will the hotel. Once we’re settled in, we can plan what we’re going to do while we’re here. It feels really odd to know that the pizzeria back home is closed. I don't want to hover over Linda, but I definitely want to spend some time at the one down here just to remind myself that not everything is going wrong.”

  “Oh, I haven’t seen this pizzeria,” Joanna said. “Well, I've seen pictures, of course. I'm excited to check it out.”

  “It will be fun for me to get to play tour guide for once,” Ellie said with a grin as she located the rental car and unlocked the doors. “I'll show you all of our favorite places.”

  The hotel they were staying at was the one where she usually stayed when she visited Florida. She was familiar with the building, and it didn't take long for them to get checked in and find their room. The two queen size beds were neatly made, and the living area boasted a couch, a coffee table, a desk, and a nice, flat screen television. Ellie tossed her hastily packed suitcase on one of the beds and made sure the air-conditioning was cranked up.

  “Home sweet home, for now at least,” she said. If it wasn't for the circumstances back home, this would almost be exciting. She and Joanna hadn't ever taken a trip together before, and it really would be fun to show her around all of the familiar sites she had grown to know and love. There was no denying that the Florida beaches were beautiful, and the atmosphere down here was always so energetic and fun. If only she could
ignore the niggling worry in the back of her mind for Russell and everyone in Kittiport.

  Once they were settled, Ellie called Russell to let him know they were safe, and asked him how things were going. They hadn’t made any progress, but were hopeful that the growing link between his victims would lead to a break in the case soon.

  After checking in with Russell, she changed into her shorts and flip-flops, then went out into the hallway to get ice and raid the vending machines for a soda. When she came back, Joanna was just ending a conversation with Steve.

  “How are things going back home?” she asked once her friend hung up the phone.

  “He feels bad that he’s not here with me,” Joanna said. “I think he thinks he should have either come with me or asked me to stay with him. He doesn’t like being apart with all of this going on. I told him, it makes way more sense for me to be here than for me to stay there, since for all we know the killer might try to come after me again. And he really can't leave right now, not with everything that's going on at the hotel.”

  “How is that going?” Ellie asked.

  “Slowly but surely,” Joanna said with a sigh. “They have made a lot of progress on breaking ground, but there is a new action being taken by one of the landowners out that direction who doesn't want to hotel built a few miles from their house. It’s frustrating, because these plans have been in the works for a long time, and it's not like they just now realized something was happening. They followed all of the codes and zoning requirements, and so it’s just a matter of making sure they dotted their I’s and crossed their T’s. I know that the progress is going to keep happening, it's just another roadblock to get past.”

  “The hotel sure is going to change Kittiport,” Ellie said. “I wonder…”

  “What?” Joanna asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “I wonder if it has anything to do with the killings,” Ellie finished. “I just know a lot of people aren’t very happy about it. Maybe this killer is trying to make some sort of point.”

  “If that was the case, then wouldn't he be attacking the people working on the hotel, not the small business owners around town?”

  “Maybe we’re missing something. Maybe he's going after people who supported the development, or people he thinks aren’t good for the town’s image. I've just been trying to think of reasons why someone would want to target people like you and Ms. White and Mr. Anderson. He has to have a reason for doing all of this.”

  “Or he could just be some crazy guy who went off the deep end,” Joanna said. “Sorry, but I'm not feeling very charitable toward him at the moment. I don’t really care why he’s doing all of this, as long as someone stops him.”

  Chapter Ten

  Ellie and Joanna were awakened early the next morning by Ellie's ringing cell phone. She answered it, still half-asleep.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, Ellie. Sorry for waking you up.”

  “Russell?” She sat up straighter in bed, suddenly wide-awake. “What's going on?”

  “There was another attack late last night,” he said. “At the Lobster Pot, this time.”

  “Oh no, did someone else get hurt?”

  “Thank goodness, no. The owner was there, but thankfully so was a member of the cleaning crew. He spotted a dark figure sneaking around the premises and turned on the outdoor lights. The security cameras caught footage of the suspect fleeing.”

  “Thank goodness,” she breathed. “And now you have him on tape. That's good.”

  “The footage is grainy, but at least it gives us something to put on the news. There’s something else, though. About an hour later, someone broke one of the front windows at Joanna’s hotdog shop and left something. A note.”

  “What did it say?” Ellie asked, not quite sure that she wanted to know the answer.

  “You can run but you can't hide,” Russell said. “This guy must have watched one too many slasher flicks; he took a page right out of some classics. The note was created with letters cut out of a magazine and glued to a piece of paper.”

  “This is insane,” Ellie said. “Why is he doing this? I don't understand.”

  “I don't either,” Russell said. “Just sit tight for now. We’ve got the footage, which makes it more likely that someone will recognize him and speak up. We also might have a new link between the cases.”

  “Really? What?”

  “Everyone he’s attacked has either bought or renewed a lease on their building in the past year. The Lobster Pot’s lease was renewed in February. Ms. White bought her building last July. Mr. Anderson started leasing his building last June. I don’t know if it means anything, but you know I don’t believe in coincidences.”

  “I hope it helps lead you to the killer. I don’t know how much more Kittiport can take. People are going to start panicking even more than they already are.”

  “It’s definitely getting worse here. At least I know you’re safe while I work on all of this,” he said. “How are things there?”

  “Good,” Ellie said. She was talking softly, even though she knew Joanna was awake. “We didn't do much yesterday. Traveling always drains my energy. We ate at the hotel's restaurant and then watched movies on television for a while before walking around town for a bit and going to bed. We’re going to head out to the pizzeria today and say hi to Linda. It will be nice to see her again.”

  “I'm glad. I feel a lot better with you there. Sorry for calling you so early, I just left the house and I'm heading in to work. I thought I'd call you before I get busy again.”

  “Well, I appreciate the update,” she said. “Let me know if anything else happens today.”

  “I will,” he said. “Take care of yourself. Have fun. There's no point in not enjoying your time out down there.”

  “I will. It'll be nice to catch up with everyone. I love you. I'll talk to you later.”

  They said their goodbyes and ended the call. Ellie set the phone down and looked over to Joanna. “Sorry. I didn't realize he'd call so early.”

  “It's fine,” Joanna said. “I was having a weird dream anyway. Everything okay?”

  Ellie told her friend everything Russell had told her. The other woman frowned.

  “I’ll have to call the insurance company to see about replacing the window, and I guess I’ll see if Steve can stop by and help Clara seal it up. That’s terrifying. Was anything taken?”

  “He didn’t mention anything about that.”

  “I’ll have to do inventory when we get back.” She groaned. “At least no one was there when it happened.”

  It was an early start to the day, but not a bad one. The two of them took their time getting ready, then made their way down to the breakfast buffet that the hotel offered. Ellie treated herself, making Belgian waffles with strawberries, blueberries, and whipped cream on top, along with some bacon and eggs and some hash browns. It was a big breakfast, but she had never been able to resist Belgian waffles.

  They chatted while they ate and tried to figure out what they wanted to do before going to the pizzeria at lunchtime. They decided to kill some time by walking around and shopping. Miami couldn't have been more different than Kittiport, and they spent a fun few hours stopping at various stores and then grabbing smoothies before making their way back to the hotel to take a short break before heading to the pizzeria.

  Once they got back to their nice, cool hotel room with their smoothies, Ellie felt a flash of guilt. Here she was, having fun with her friend as if they were just on a vacation together, while Russell was hundreds of miles to the north, dealing with a serial killer.

  “I am a terrible wife,” she groaned as she sat down on the couch. “I can't believe I just bought some T-shirts and a fruit smoothie while Russell's up there trying to deal with the killer.”

  “There’s no reason we need to spend our time being miserable,” Joanna said. “There's nothing we can do to help, so you might as well enjoy yourself a bit. Do you think he'd be happier thinking of you sitting ar
ound moping in a hotel room, or going out and having fun? He doesn't want you to just be scared and miserable. If he did, he would've had you just stay in your house or with his brother or something.”

  “That’s true,” Ellie said. “Still, I just wish there was more I could do.”

  Joanna opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a pounding on the hotel room’s door. The two of them looked at each other, then Ellie got up and looked through the peephole.

  “No one's there,” she said. Her friend frowned.

  “It was probably just a kid or something,” Joanna said after a moment. “I know the people a couple doors down have a couple of young kids, I saw them when I stepped out to get something from the vending machine this morning.”