I wiped an errant tear that had somehow found its way to my cheek. “He was my one true love.”
Maddy said, “I can’t really say I’ve had that yet.”
“With all the times you’ve been married?” I asked.
She smiled at me. “To be honest with you, after a while, they all kind of blur together. Let’s see, how many times have I been married so far? Four? Or is it five? I keep losing track.”
“I can’t believe you just said “so far.” Would you seriously ever get married again? I don’t think you’re exactly the poster child for marriage.”
Maddy laughed. “Are you kidding me? If I didn’t believe in the institution, do you think I’d keep practicing it? I’m a born romantic.” She paused, then said, “I just haven’t been as lucky as you were. I haven’t found my ‘happily ever after’ yet, and you got yours on the first try.”
“That’s true, but my ‘ever after’ had an expiration date on it that nobody told me about beforehand.”
She touched my shoulder lightly. “Better to have loved and lost and all of that, though, wouldn’t you say?”
I nodded. “I would.” The mood had grown entirely too somber, so I brightened up and added, “Don’t worry, your Mr. Right is out there somewhere, as long as you keep looking.”
Maddy smiled. “And if I don’t find him right away, just think about how much fun I can have looking for him.”
The pizza was ready, so I pulled it off the line, cut it into slices, and put it on a tray. “Shall we eat back here, or in the dining room?”
“I want to eat out front again,” Maddy said. “If it starts to snow, I don’t want to miss a flurry or a flake.”
“I could use a little snow myself,” I said, remembering how much fun we’d had with snow as kids. “Grab the drinks, then.”
Maddy asked, “Do you want water again?”
I thought about it, then shook my head. “I’m going to be a real cowgirl today. I’ll take a Coke.”
“Good girl,” Maddy said.
We’d barely taken our first bites when a light snow began to fall. They weren’t the big, fat flakes that meant a large accumulation, just a wistful dusting of tiny crystals, barely enough to see on the brick pavers out front, but it was fun to watch, especially since we were inside with warm hands and full bellies.
There were a thousand worse places to be that I could think of right off the bat.
We were just getting started when Sheila Olsen walked in.
“Ladies,” she said as she shook the snow off her jacket onto our freshly mopped floor. I knew that before the night was over, we’d have to clean it a dozen times.
“Hey, Sheila,” I said as I started to stand. “What can I get for you?”
“That pizza looks absolutely divine,” she said as she looked at the remaining slices of our lunch.
“Great, I’ll make you one just like it,” I said, determined not to feed her for free again, especially after knowing how much money she’d had dropped in her lap upon her brother’s death.
“That would be lovely,” she said. “While I’m waiting, a beer would be nice.”
Maddy stood, then began collecting our dirty dishes and glasses as she said, “Nothing’s changed since you used to live here, Sheila. The county’s still dry.” Though a few of the restaurants in town had tried to get a waiver for alcohol sales, it had been soundly defeated each time it had come to a vote. I myself had mixed feelings about the issue. I understood the appeal of a hot pizza and a cold beer, but then again, if I served alcohol to the public, I wouldn’t be able to hire teenagers from the high school to work at the pizzeria. Not only were they a ready source of employees, but they were also willing to work for the minimum wage I could barely afford. And since no one else in town could serve beer either, it worked out fine for me. For those of my customers who insisted on having a beer with their meal, there was always take-out. Then I remembered I didn’t offer that at the moment. That stand would have to change. I had to start answering my phone again. If folks got out of the habit of coming to me for their pizzas, I might never be able to get them back. No more deliveries until the murder was solved, though. If they wanted to eat at home, they were going to have to come by and pick up their pizzas themselves.
“Fine, I’ll have a Coke then,” she said. She studied me for a second, then added, “Cleaning house is dusty work, isn’t it?”
“It can be,” I said before Maddy could take a jab at her. I knew there had to be a reason she was coming by the Slice, and I doubted it was for my pizza, no matter how good I personally thought it was.
“When the pizza’s ready, perhaps you two could join me.” She looked around the empty dining hall, then added, “If time permits.”
“We’ll see what we can do,” I said as I nodded a warning to Maddy not to snap at her. “We’ll have that Coke right out.”
Maddy got her drink, then came back into the kitchen fuming as I slid the pizza onto the conveyor.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“The nerve of that woman,” Maddy said. “She’s out there acting like she owns Timber Ridge. It was all I could do not to dump that Coke on her head.”
“I’m glad you resisted the impulse,” I said as I wiped the counter down.
“Why, do you want to do it yourself? If you do, I want to at least watch.”
I shook my head. “There’ll be no Coke baths today,” I said.
Maddy frowned. “You’re just no fun anymore, are you?”
“I have my moments,” I said. “Why do you suppose she wants us to join her?”
“I’m guessing she wants to brag about her new wealth,” Maddy said. “Why else would she be here?”
“I’ve got a feeling it’s not about bragging,” I said.
When the pizza was nearly ready, I suggested, “Take her a pitcher, and add a pair of glasses for us. If Sheila wants to talk, I say we give her the opportunity.”
“If she doesn’t, can I dump the pitcher on her then?”
“We’ll see,” I said. “In the meantime, let’s give her some rope and see where she goes with it. Follow my lead, all right?”
“Don’t I always?”
I laughed. “I can’t remember a time you have yet, but I’m still hopeful.”
Maddy grinned. “I can’t fault you for that, can I?”
After the pizza was ready, I cut it into eight pieces, then slid it onto a tray. Maddy did as I asked and got the pitcher, along with two glasses and three plates.
I said, “We already ate, remember?”
“I don’t care. She ate our food before. I’m going to force myself to choke down at least one of her slices. How about you? Are you game?”
“I can always manage a slice,” I said. “Much to my dismay.”
Maddy patted my hip, then said, “Don’t worry, a lot of men like curvy women.”
“And for those who don’t, there’s always you,” I said with a smile.
“Nice. We’ve got all our bases covered then, don’t we? Are you ready to tackle Sheila?”
“As ready as I’m ever going to be,” I said.
We took the food out to Sheila, who’d moved to a table in back, out of sight of passersby.
“I decided to move,” she said as we joined her. “I hope you don’t mind.”
“As you pointed out, we’re not exactly overflowing with customers at the moment, are we?” I asked.
“Don’t worry, they’ll come around. Just give them time.”
A pep talk was the last thing I wanted from Sheila Olsen. She wanted something from us, though I didn’t know exactly what that was yet.
I served her a slice while Maddy refilled her glass, all without being asked. I wanted her to be comfortable with us, relaxed enough to let something slip. To her credit, my sister was nicer than I’d ever seen her, playing her role to the fullest. I swear, I kept waiting for her to offer a pillow and a fan to our one customer, but if Sheila noticed the shift in attitude, she did
n’t show it outright.
After she took a bite, she said, “I don’t know why you aren’t more popular. Your pizzas are wonderful.”
“Thanks,” I said as Maddy leaned back and stuck her tongue out at Sheila, thankfully out of the woman’s line of sight.
“I’m going to miss these,” she said as she took another bite.
“Are you going somewhere?” I asked.
“I’m afraid there are too many memories of Richard here. I’m interviewing Realtors for the next two days. Then I’ll be leaving Timber Ridge for good. It doesn’t matter how long the house stays on the market. I don’t have to be here to sell it.”
“Did you find the will?” I asked, trying to keep my knowledge of the answer out of my voice.
“Yes, but it didn’t matter. My sweet brother put my name on everything he owned. I had no idea he’d be so generous.”
“How nice,” I said, ignoring the faces my sister was making. Honestly, sometimes she could be so juvenile, not that I wasn’t thinking dark thoughts myself. There hadn’t even been a service yet, and she was already erasing her brother’s presence from the world.
“I have a friend who might be able to help sell the house,” Maddy said suddenly. If she knew someone personally in real estate in Timber Ridge, I wasn’t aware of it. Then again, there were depths and levels to my sister that I fully realized I didn’t know.
“I’d be glad to interview her,” Sheila said. “Have her come by the house this afternoon or tomorrow.”
“Actually, it’s a man, and a rather handsome one at that,” Maddy said. “I’ll take care of it right now. I have to call him from the back, though. His number’s in my purse.”
After my sister darted off on her errand, I said, “It must be an awesome burden tying up the loose ends of someone else’s life.”
“More than I ever imagined,” she said. “Have the police made any progress on discovering who killed him? Is there anyone they’re looking at?”
Besides me? I wanted to ask but somehow managed to stifle. “Not that I’ve heard, but then again, the chief of police doesn’t exactly confide in me.”
“Nor me,” she said. “In fact, I just came from his office. He refused to give me any information at all. All he would say is that the case is still an open investigation. That doesn’t sound very promising, does it?”
“No, it doesn’t,” I said. I suddenly remembered her promise to help us and realized it was a perfect opportunity to go fishing. “If you’re still willing to help us investigate, Maddy and I would love to have you.”
That certainly got her attention. “Who are your suspects so far?”
“That’s the problem,” I said. “We really don’t have any.” It was an outright lie, but I was looking for information at the moment, not dispensing it.
I wasn’t sure she was buying it, though. “Honestly? Eleanor, you can tell me. He was my brother, after all.”
“We haven’t made any progress at all,” I lied again. “I’m afraid my sister and I are much more suited to running a pizzeria than we are to solving crime.”
“How disappointing,” Sheila said. She looked down at the pizza, then said abruptly, “I’m afraid I’m full.”
“Would you like me to box it up for you?”
“No, don’t bother,” she said as she stood.
“Let me get your bill,” I said, hoping to stall her until Maddy came back.
It wasn’t going to happen, though. Sheila threw a twenty on the table, then said, “Keep the change. Good-bye, Eleanor.”
“Bye,” I said as she disappeared back out into the snow, draping her jacket over her shoulders.
Maddy came back out, looked around, then said, “Don’t tell me you let her get away again. Honestly, Eleanor, you’ve got to start doing better.”
“I couldn’t lock her in,” I said. “Did you get hold of your Realtor friend? Who is he, by the way?”
“Tom Frances,” Maddy said.
“I didn’t realize you and Tom were that close.” I knew him enough to nod in his direction in public, but he wasn’t a pizza kind of guy, at least not my kind of pizza. Tall and fit with gray creeping into his temples, he handled the high-end sales in our region, absolutely no homes like the place Richard Owens had lived in. “Isn’t he a little too upscale for that neighborhood?”
She shrugged. “Be that as it may, he’s going to go by this afternoon and talk to her. When he’s finished, he’s coming by to bring me up to date on what she said.”
“Don’t tell me; he owes you a favor, too.”
She wouldn’t answer, which was a response in and of itself. “Let’s just say he was willing to do it for me and leave it at that.”
“Who exactly are you?” I asked.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re my sister, and I thought I knew everything there was to know about you, but you still manage to keep surprising me.”
She just laughed. “Life’s full of that, isn’t it? Just accept my contributions for what they are. It’s better for everyone if you don’t ask for too many details.”
“So I’m learning,” I said as the front door chimed and we had a new customer.
It was a stranger to me, though I wouldn’t have been surprised if Maddy had known her.
“Are you open for business?” the older woman asked as she looked around the empty dining room.
“Yes, ma’am,” I said as I grabbed a menu. “Where would you like to sit?”
“By the window, if I could. I needed a place to come in from the cold, but I love watching it snow, don’t you?”
“It’s one of my favorite things in the world to do,” I said.
She rubbed her hands together, then said, “Let’s see. I’d like a cup of coffee to start with. Then I’ll have a small cheese pizza.”
“Very good,” I said as I motioned Maddy to the back.
As she got the coffee, I said, “Sheila was pumping me about our investigation while you were calling your Realtor.”
“He’s not my Realtor,” Maddy said. “So, what did you say?”
“I basically told her we were incompetent investigators with no clue about what happened to her brother.”
“So you told her the truth,” Maddy said as she laughed.
“Not exactly. We have a list of suspects, including her, but I didn’t see any reason to tell her that.”
“How did she react when you told her we had nothing?”
I scratched my lip as I said, “She said she was disappointed, but I could swear she looked relieved.”
“But that could just have easily been your imagination,” Maddy said as she left to deliver the coffee to our lone customer.
After I finished making the pizza and put it on the conveyor, I heard the door chime again and wondered if we’d lost our customer.
Instead, I saw a group of twenty people coming in, stamping their feet on the mat and hanging their coats up on the hooks along the wall.
In a few minutes, Maddy came back with their orders and explained, “Their bus broke down on its way to the mountains for a ski trip, so while they’re waiting, they all decided to have some pizza.”
“Let’s hear it for mechanical malfunctions,” I said as I started preparing the orders. Maybe, just maybe, we’d make enough today to break even after all. It would be a nice change of pace after the business lull we’d been experiencing.
At the very least, it would give Maddy and me something to do in the meantime.
Something we were both good at, at any rate.
Chapter 11
“Are you here on official police business, or is this a social call?” I asked Kevin Hurley as he walked back into my kitchen a little after eight.
“Eleanor, you know I don’t make social calls in uniform,” he said.
“Then what can I do for you, Chief?”
“You can still call me Kevin,” he said, trying to smile, but not quite making it.
“As long as I’m on your list
of suspects, I think it makes sense to be a little more formal, don’t you? I am still on your list, aren’t I?”
When he didn’t deny it, I added, “Well, there you go.”
“I’m here looking for Josh. Have you seen him?”
“Not since I threw him out for trying to work his shift,” I said. “Why, is he missing?” Josh was a good kid, and I hoped nothing had happened to him.
“He’s probably just hiding out to get back at me. He’s your biggest fan. You know that, don’t you?”
“I like him,” I said. “He’s got a good heart.”
“Believe me, I know. I’m just afraid it’s going to get him into real trouble one of these days.”
“He’ll turn up,” I said. “He’s not about to do anything stupid, like take off for long.”
“I hope you’re right.” He started for the door, then stopped and turned back to me. “Listen, if he shows up, let me know, would you?”
“I will,” I said. I’d get Josh’s permission first, but Kevin had a point. He deserved to know where his son was.
“Thanks,” he said. “That’s all I’m asking.”
After he was gone, Maddy came back. “What was that all about?”
“Josh is missing,” I said.
Maddy didn’t look the least troubled by the declaration.
I asked, “Aren’t you concerned?”
“Not really. Come on, Eleanor, you know that Josh is just as headstrong as his father was at that age. He’ll turn up.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“Is that all he wanted?” Maddy asked.
“That was it. Now, don’t you still have customers to wait on?”
“I’m going, I’m going. Who knew you’d turn out to be such a slave driver?”
I laughed. “If anybody in the world knows it, it should be you.”
After she was gone, I started wondering where Josh might be. I hoped Maddy was right. I’d hate to think that he’d done something stupid on my account, like running away. There was nothing I could do about it at the moment, though, except wish that he’d turn up soon, and be all right.
My hands were buried in a sink of hot, sudsy water when Maddy came back. “I need you out front,” she said.
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