“Yep. Just a couple of weeks.”
He smiled. “That's great. My wife and I adore her. I'm so glad that she is keeping the house. She's a great neighbor, and her blueberry muffins are to die for.”
Ellie laughed. “That they are.” She chatted with him for another few minutes then said her goodbyes and walked back down his driveway, turning toward her house. She put Bunny back down, letting the little dog walk now that she had warmed up some. When she was just about to turn up her own driveway, a large van approached her. She saw it slowing down as it neared her and frowned as she recognized the cleaning van. She waved, wondering if they needed to talk to her about something. The van crept by, and for a moment she thought it was going to stop, but then it sped up again and continued on down the road. She frowned, wondering what that was all about. It was yet another thing to tell Russell when he got home that evening. She walked up to her front door and let herself and the dogs in, glad to be back in the warmth. It seemed that the mystery of the body in the basement was only getting deeper. She hoped that they would get some answers soon.
Chapter Eight
That night during dinner, Ellie told Russell everything that had happened during the day. He seemed surprised by Kevin's admission of his dislike of Dustin.
“I think maybe I should have a talk with the neighbors again,” he said.
“I'm not saying that's not a good idea, but I don't understand what Kevin's issue with his neighbor would have to do with an unidentified dead man showing up in Nonna's basement. I would understand if Dustin was the victim, but he's not.”
“I know it doesn't seem like the two are connected, but it never hurts to be sure. Right now, we have next to no leads. We still haven't been able to identify the victim. We are hoping that a missing person report will come in and help us out soon.”
Ellie nodded. She had seen photos of the victim, and hadn't had a clue who the young man was herself. She knew Russell must have asked all of the suspects if they knew who he was, and the fact that they still didn't have a clear answer meant that someone was lying.
She knew that the killer had to be someone that Russell already had his eyes on. Either one of the people in the cleaning crew, one of the previous tenants, or maybe even one of their neighbors. It didn't make any sense for the killer to be a complete stranger. Only people who knew her personally would know that Nonna's house was empty right now. It wasn’t as though she was going around telling the world about the tenants moving out. It was just too much of a coincidence to think that a stranger had committed a murder and just happened to choose Nonna's house as the place to stash the body.
“This is so frustrating,” she said as they finished eating and began to clear the dishes. “I know it's only been a couple of days, but I want answers.”
“Trust me, you're not the only one,” Russell said. “Have you told your grandmother yet?”
She shook her head. “Not yet. I keep thinking that something will turn up, and we'll at least get the victim's name or a lead on a suspect, but it sounds like nothing new has been learned.”
“I'm hoping I get the full coroner's report soon,” Russell said. “Whoever killed this poor man went to a lot of trouble to remove his fingerprints. I'm guessing that the victim's identity will be enough to help lead us to the killer. Whoever killed him definitely didn't want the crime being traced easily.”
“Maybe the killer is using this time to get out of the country,” Ellie said. “If they know it will take you a while to identify the victim, they could be taking advantage of that.”
“It's always possible,” Russell said. “But if that's the case, there's nothing we can do to stop it. We just have to keep working and try to figure out what happened. But I don't think that the killer wanted to have to flee the country. The body was hidden somewhere that they likely didn't expect it to be found, at least not for a while, and I don't think somebody would go through all the trouble of hiding the body and removing identifying features just to buy themselves extra time to leave the country. If they wanted to do that, they could have dumped the body in the ocean or hidden it out in the state forest somewhere. I think this person wanted to make sure that the crime would be impossible to solve even after the body was found. That tells me that the killer wanted to be able to stay around here. I'm guessing that they thought the body wouldn't have been found for a few weeks at least, after which point it would have decomposed enough to make a visual identification next to impossible. We might have them on their toes now that the body was found so soon.”
“So, couldn’t you just question all of the suspects and see who knows when Nonna’s coming back?”
“Unfortunately, that’s something that all of our suspects could reasonably know. I heard you tell the tenants her return date myself when they first moved in.”
“Do you think it was one of them?” Ellie asked. She knew that he had found Fiona's visit to the pizzeria just as suspicious as she had.
“I don't know,” he said honestly. “Right now, there's nothing to do but wait and see what the coroner's report comes up with. Let's not spend all evening talking about this. We'll just go around in circles. I think we both need to take our minds off of it for a while.”
Ellie nodded. “I'd like a nice, normal evening at home with you,” she admitted.
He smiled at her. “Well, how about we take a couple slices of that pie and a couple beers and go make ourselves comfortable on the couch in the living room? I'm sure we can find a fun movie to watch together.”
She smiled. “That sounds perfect.”
She ended up falling asleep before the movie was over, feeling safe and comfortable snuggled into Russell's side with his arm draped around her shoulders. He gently nudged her awake when the ending credits were on the screen.
“Let's go upstairs,” he said. “You'll get a kink in your neck sleeping like that.”
She fought back a yawn and got up slowly, stretching. The two of them brought their dishes into the kitchen and put them in the sink.
“I'm going to put the dogs out one more time,” Russell said.
She nodded and turned on the hot water as he opened the back door, letting the lab and the little papillon outside.
She was in the middle of scrubbing one of their plates when she heard Sawyer begin to bark. She was surprised when she heard Russell utter a swear word and saw him shove his feet into the rubber boots that they kept by the back door.
“What's going on?” she asked.
“Sawyer just started barking and ran out of the yard,” Russell said. “I've got to go find him.”
“He hasn’t left the yard for months. I thought he had finally learned to stay close to the house unless we were out with him.” She sighed and shut off the water, calling Bunny in as Russell hurried out the door. She hesitated, then hurried to the front door to grab another pair of boots for herself. She hated the thought of Sawyer running loose in the middle of the night. The black lab would be impossible for anyone to see on the road until it was too late.
Leaving Bunny safely in the kitchen, she shoved her feet into her own boots and hurried outside. She could hear Russell calling for Sawyer off in the distance. It sounded like he was near Nonna's house. She headed in that direction, immediately wishing that she had paused to put on a coat. It had gotten a lot colder out after the sun had set.
She ran across the stretch of snow-covered grass between her and Russell's house and her grandmother's house. She could hear Sawyer barking now. They were definitely at Nonna's for some reason. She ran toward the back door, where the sound was coming from, and rounded the corner just in time to see Russell grab Sawyer's collar. The black lab gave one last bark and jumped up at the back door. To Ellie's surprise, the door swung open.
“What's going on?” she asked, slightly out of breath from her run across the yard.
“I don't know,” Russell said. “He just started barking at the house. Did you stop by here again for some reason?”
&n
bsp; She shook her head. “I haven't been here since I found the body.”
“That's odd.” He frowned at the door which was swinging open slowly from the force of Sawyer's paws. “I'm sure I locked up after I finished with the investigation.”
Ellie's eyes widened as she realized the implications. Someone had broken into Nonna's house.
Chapter Nine
Ellie, I want you to take Sawyer and go back to the house,” Russell said.
“There is no way I'm leaving you here alone,” Ellie said. “You don't even have your gun on you, do you?”
He hesitated, and she knew that he didn't. He always carried while he was at work, but usually left his firearm hanging up along with his work jacket when he got home. She knew that he probably hadn't even paused to think about it before shoving the boots on his feet and going after Sawyer. He really loved that dog.
“I'm staying with you,” Ellie said. “If someone's inside this house and you go in, you're going to be in danger. There will be a lot less danger if it's the two of us plus Sawyer.”
“I don't like it,” Russell said.
“You're my husband. I'm not letting you go in there alone.”
He hesitated for a moment longer, then gave a brisk nod. He took off his belt and tucked it through Sawyer's collar, looping it back through itself. He handed the end to Ellie as a makeshift leash.
“So, we don’t have to keep hold of his collar,” he explained. “Will you take him? I want to have my hands free.”
She agreed and took the belt, tugging it to keep Sawyer closer to herself. Russell pushed the back door open and stepped inside. Ellie reached for the light switch and he shook his head.
“Keep it off,” he whispered. “We don’t want whoever it is to know exactly where we are.”
She followed him through the kitchen. Both of them walked quietly, easily avoiding the squeaky floorboards. When they heard footsteps above on the second floor, they both froze. Sawyer gave a quiet woof. Ellie put her hand on the dog’s head, urging him to stay quiet.
“Pick up the landline and call the sheriff's department,” Russell said softly to her. “Now that we know for sure someone broke in, they need to get here as quickly as possible.”
She wanted to argue, but she knew that he was right. He didn't have his handcuffs or anything useful on him, and wouldn't be able to make this arrest himself.
She picked up the landline in the kitchen, keeping Sawyer next to her as Russell continued walking through the house. She dialed the number from memory and just as someone picked up, she heard a shout. A moment later, there was a crashing sound, then pounding footsteps making their way toward the kitchen. Sawyer began to bark and tug at the end of his makeshift leash. Ellie had to drop the phone to keep a firm grip on it. A man ran into the kitchen and Sawyer leapt at him. He was too strong for Ellie, and the belt slipped out of her grip. She watched as Sawyer tackled the man, barking fiercely. Russell was right behind. He reached over and flicked on the light switch in the kitchen. Ellie gasped when she saw who was on the floor.
“Kevin?”
Her neighbor looked up at her with fear in his eyes as he pushed back on the dog who was barking in his face. “Get him off of me!”
She reached down and grabbed the end of the belt to pull Sawyer away. He stood in front of her, growling at the man on the floor. Kevin moved as if he was going to get up, but Sawyer started barking again and he laid back down.
“Ellie, the police?” Russell said.
She nodded, reaching back with one hand and picking up the phone. She explained to the concerned dispatcher what was going on. Russell gestured and she handed the phone over to him after a moment.
“It's me… Yes, we’re fine. I don't have any equipment on me. We'll keep an eye on him until you get here.”
He hung up the phone and then looked down at Kevin.
“The police are on their way. I'm not going to be handling the arrest or interrogation. This case is obviously too close to me. But I can ask you as my neighbor, what on earth are you doing here?”
“I saw someone go in,” Kevin said. “I thought it might be one of you, but I wasn't sure. I know your grandmother's not supposed to be back for a couple of weeks. I walked over and knocked on the door, but no one answered. I went around back and found that the back door was open. The latch looked like it had been broken. I went inside and decided to take a look around, to see if someone really was here or if I was going crazy.”
“Did you find anyone?” Russell asked.
“No. But I didn't have much time to search before I heard the dog barking at the door and then you two came in.”
“Why didn’t you say something when we got here?”
“Well, I wasn't completely sure it was the two of you for one, and I was also embarrassed. I thought if I just hid somewhere, I would be able to wait until you left and then I could leave too, and we could have avoided all of this. I swear, I wasn't here to steal anything. I was just trying to help out.”
“Did you really see someone else come in to the house?” Ellie asked.
“I did,” he said. “I saw someone walking through your yard, then a couple minutes later I saw one of the lights go on upstairs. It went off again right away, but I thought it was suspicious.”
Ellie's eyes met Russell's.
“That means that someone else might still be in the house.”
The words had no sooner left her lips than they heard the sound of the front door opening and closing.
“Watch him,” Russell said, then he was gone, running toward the front of the house. Ellie glanced at Kevin, who was still laying on the floor with his hands up, and an awkward silence fell in the kitchen.
Neither of them spoke until Russell returned, breathing heavily.
“I saw someone running off. They got into a vehicle a few hundred yards down the street. It was too dark for me to figure out what make and model it was. I can't believe I let them get away.”
“It wasn't your fault,” Ellie said. “I guess that means Kevin was telling the truth.”
Russell looked to their captive and sighed.
“You can get up. Sawyer won't hurt you. He's actually a really nice dog. I'd appreciate it if you could still stay and talk to the police when they get here.”
“Of course,” he said. He stood up and brushed himself off. “This evening turned out to be a lot more interesting than I expected it to be.”
Chapter Ten
It had been a late night, and was into the early hours of the morning before they finally finished talking to the police and unwound enough to actually go to bed. Before closing her eyes, Ellie sent off a quick email to her employees, asking if anyone could take over the shift that she had tomorrow morning, so she could catch up on her sleep and go in for the evening instead. When she woke up, she was glad to see that Pete had agreed. She said a quick goodbye to Russell, wished him a good day at work, then climbed back into bed.
She woke up again late morning and knew what she had to do that day. It was time that she talked to her grandmother. Between the body in the basement and the break in last night, the other woman had to know what was going on. It wasn't fair to keep it from her, even though they didn't have any other answers at this point.
She went through her morning routine and let the dogs out, then settled into the office with Marlowe on the play stand behind her. She grabbed her cell phone and called her grandmother's number, letting it ring through until the older woman picked up.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Nonna,” Ellie said. “How are you doing?”
“I'm doing quite well. How about you, dear?”
“Well, Russell and I are fine, but it's been a pretty eventful week. I have a lot to tell you. Do you have time to talk?”
“Always, for you,” Nonna said. “Just let me get a glass of water and sit down on the couch, then I'm yours all day if you need me to be.”
Ellie waited until her grandmother said she was ready, th
en launched into the story of finding the body in the basement, and told her everything that had happened all the way up until last night, when someone had broken into the house. Two someone's, in fact.
“So, Russell didn't end up arresting anyone last night,” Ellie said. “And we have no idea who the second person who broke in is.”
Her grandmother was quiet for long seconds before speaking. “Do… do you know who the victim is yet?”
“No, we don't,” Ellie said. “I'm sorry for telling you like this. I know I should've told you earlier, but I kept thinking that there would be a break in the case, and I would be able to give you some answers. I'm sorry that hasn't happened.”
A Melted Morsel of Murder Page 4