Pepperoni Pizza Can Be Murder
Page 15
“That’s why I came up front. Your timer just went off.”
“Then let’s get to it,” I said. “Standing here talking about this isn’t going to do us any good.”
“Not only that, but we’ve still got a box of papers to sort through before we open.”
“Don’t worry,” I said. “I haven’t forgotten about that. Give me ten minutes, and then we can get started.”
“I’m ready now,” Maddy said with a grin. “But you’re welcome to join me as soon as you’re finished with your work. I’ve waited as long as I’m going to wait.”
I laughed, to ease the tension in my heart more than at my sister’s feeble humor. “You win. Start digging and I’ll be right with you.”
Maddy didn’t join in my laughter. “Wow, he really must have shaken you up.”
“I just told you that he did,” I said.
“Yeah, but I didn’t realize how much. I’ve never won an argument that fast in my life, at least not with you.”
“Mark it on your calendar—it’s not going to happen again soon.”
“Then I’ll relish the victory while I can. Come on, Eleanor. Everything is going to be all right.”
She put her arm around me, and we walked back into the kitchen together. I was glad to have Maddy with me, and not just for the help she gave me in running the pizzeria. She was a part of me; sometimes I thought the better part. Together, we could handle just about anything that came our way.
Including tracking down a killer and making him pay for what he’d done.
Maddy was just getting started on the box when we heard pounding on the front door.
“He just doesn’t get the hint, does he?” Maddy asked.
“No, but I’m going to make sure he gets it this time.”
My sister put a hand on my arm. “You’re not seriously thinking about going out there again, are you?”
“I won’t let someone bully me in front of my own pizzeria,” I said.
“At least call someone for backup.”
“Who do you suggest? Do you honestly think the police chief is going to trot right down here to look out for me? Besides, I don’t need a man to protect me. I’ve got this,” I added as I reached out and grabbed the cleaver again.
“And I’ve got my stun gun,” she said as she dove into her purse.
“I don’t want you coming with me,” I said as the pounding repeated itself.
“Well, I don’t want donuts to go to my hips, but I’ve got a feeling they’re going to, anyway.”
I raised an eyebrow. “There’s barely an ounce of fat on you, and you know it.”
Maddy said, “It was an expression, okay?”
I looked at my own hips. “Not with me it’s not.”
Instead of answering, she started for the kitchen door. “If we’re going to do this, let’s go right now.”
I caught up with her as she walked out into the dining room, ready for trouble. Instead of finding Jamie outside, though, Jenny Wilkes stood by the door, armed with nothing more dangerous than a bouquet of pink roses from her shop, Forever in Bloom.
Maddy lowered her stun gun, and I put the knife down on the counter, where the drink machine was. As we approached the door, I wondered what had possessed David Quinton to send me flowers. I’d been pretty clear that he needed to back off, but apparently he wasn’t listening. What did I have to do, send them back to him shredded?
As I unlocked the door, I said, “I don’t want those.”
“Hi, Eleanor. I’m fine, how are you?”
Jenny was a petite blonde barely into her thirties, and she was a die-hard romantic. She had the perfect personality for running a floral shop, where love was always in the air.
“Sorry,” I said as I stepped aside and let her in. “It’s just been one of those days, and those flowers aren’t making it any better.”
She looked startled by my declaration. “Is that any way to talk? Flowers always make everything better.”
“Not today they don’t,” I said. “I was serious before. I don’t want them.”
Jenny smiled at me. “Then isn’t it a good thing that they aren’t for you? Maddy, it appears that you have a not-so-secret admirer.”
As she handed the flowers to my sister, I felt like a complete fool. “I’m sorry. I’m just not myself today.”
Jenny patted my shoulder. “That’s okay. But it’s good to know how you feel if anyone ever does try to send you flowers.” She paused a second, then said, “Eleanor, I didn’t mean that how it sounded—honest, I didn’t.”
Maddy laughed. “Come on, when you get in a zinger like that, it’s important to take full credit for it.” My sister breathed in the scents of the flowers, then smiled. “I don’t even have to see who sent them.”
“It was Bob Lemon, wasn’t it?” I asked.
When Maddy didn’t answer, Jenny shook her head. “Don’t look at me, because I’m not telling.”
“What is it, some kind of privileged florist-client thing?” I asked.
“You’re joking, but believe me, you wouldn’t imagine the men who send flowers to women around here who aren’t their wives.”
I’d never thought of it that way. “Have you ever had to testify in court?”
“Once,” she admitted. “The husband was buying flowers from me and having them sent to Hickory. His wife found out, though. I hated seeing my flowers used as a weapon like that. It made my heart sick.”
Maddy pulled out the card, read it quickly, and then chuckled. “I’ll spare you the suspense, Eleanor. They’re from Bob.”
“What did he have to say on the card?” It had been so long since I’d gotten flowers from anyone, I suddenly realized that I missed the gesture. My late husband, Joe, was many things, but a romantic was not high on the list of his attributes. He’d rather tell me that he loved me by giving me a new hammer, or maybe a heavy-duty spatula, but the only time he’d given me flowers had been the year before he died. After some prompting, he’d finally admitted that they’d been marked down 75 percent two days after Valentine’s Day.
Maddy said, “I’d show you what it says, but you wouldn’t understand.”
“Contrary to what you might think, I’m not all that dense, Maddy,” I said.
“Fine, have it your way.” She handed me the card, and I read, Umbrellas are better than butterscotch only when it’s raining. Bob.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
Maddy smiled. “I told you that you wouldn’t get it.”
I handed the card back to her. “No sane person would. Aren’t you going to give Jenny a tip?”
Maddy looked flustered. “Of course I am,” she said. “Just let me get my purse.”
“It’s not necessary,” Jenny said. “Most people don’t tip the store owner.”
“I’d like to think I’m a little better than most people,” she said as she ducked in the kitchen to grab her purse.
While she was gone, Jenny said, “Eleanor, I was sorry to hear about you and David Quinton.”
“Why? What did you hear?” I asked as a knee-jerk response. “Cancel that, I don’t want to know.”
I couldn’t believe it when she actually respected my wishes. A part of me had been hoping she’d tell me, anyway. It mattered what folks in Timber Ridge thought of me, and I hoped it was all good, though I knew for a fact that wasn’t entirely the case. Some people thought that living in a small town meant being friends with a lot of people, which was true. However, it also meant that enemies made in the course of a lifetime were there forever, a thought that was more than a little oppressive at times.
Maddy came back out with a five-dollar bill clutched in her hand.
Before she could even give it to Jenny, the florist said, “That’s too much.”
“Nonsense. I think it’s perfect.”
Jenny shrugged and accepted the offering, giving up the fight pretty quickly, in my opinion.
I let her out, and then locked the door behind her.
Maddy took in a deep breath of the pink roses and baby’s breath florets, and said, “I just love these, don’t you?”
“They’re nice,” I admitted. “How did he know pink roses were your favorite?”
Maddy looked surprised. “I suppose I assumed that you told him.”
“He didn’t ask me,” I admitted.
Maddy smiled gently. “The man is managing to surprise me more than I ever could have imagined. I like that in a suitor, don’t you?”
“To be honest with you, it’s been so long since I’ve had one, I’ve forgotten what it’s like.”
“Nonsense,” Maddy said as she put them on a counter in the kitchen. “David Quinton would send you flowers every day if you gave him the slightest amount of encouragement.”
“That’s not something I’m prepared to do,” I said.
“Then in the meantime, you can enjoy mine with me,” she said as she spun the vase around until she had the perfect view of them. Clapping her hands together, she said, “Now, why don’t you get busy with your work while I dig into Katy Johnson’s box of discards, and we’ll see if I can figure out what happened to her.”
I finished my prep work and joined Maddy as she dug into the box of papers. We worked quickly together, discarding old dry-cleaning receipts, auction notices, and even a few parking tickets, which still hadn’t been paid. I doubted if Kevin Hurley would reach out the long arm of the law toward her to collect thirty or forty bucks, but with our chief of police, it was hard to know for sure.
I’d just about given up when I saw a yellow piece of paper that had slipped down between one of the folds in the bottom of the box. Retrieving it, I saw that it was from Jenny Wilkes at Forever in Bloom.
“What’s that?” Maddy asked.
“It’s a receipt for flowers,” I said. The date was less than two weeks ago.
“So what? I bet even Katy got flowers every now and then.”
“No, that’s not it,” I said. “This is a bill.”
“So Katy sent flowers to someone else. It’s a little odd, but I don’t really think it’s all that significant, do you?”
I tapped the paper. “That’s the thing, though. This isn’t Greg’s address.”
“Who lives there?” At least I had finally gotten my sister’s attention.
“I’m not sure,” I admitted, “but it may give us an idea about where she could have gone.”
Maddy nodded. “You’re right. That might be important. But this could be, too.”
“What is it?” I asked as I laid my receipt down on the counter by the telephone.
Maddy waved a piece of notebook paper in the air. “This must have been on top originally. Give me the phone.”
“You’re not just going to call without coming up with an excuse, are you?”
“Planning is for sissies,” Maddy said.
“Hey, just because I like to prepare for different contingencies doesn’t mean that I’m a sissy.”
She patted my arm. “I didn’t mean you.” Maddy dialed the number, and then she held the telephone so both of us could hear.
“Calvin’s,” a gruff voice said.
I didn’t recognize the voice, or the name.
Maddy asked, “Is Calvin there?”
When I looked at her, she just shrugged. It was pretty clear she didn’t know what to do next, either.
“Lady, Calvin’s been dead three years come August, so I might have a little trouble calling him to the phone.”
“What exactly is it that you do?”
I didn’t blame her for asking the question, but I wasn’t sure what kind of response she was going to get. To my surprise, the man said, “You need it, we rent it. We’ve got everything from backhoes to pickup trucks. You can rent by the hour, by the day, or by the month.”
“I’ve got a question for you. Did you rent something to Katy Johnson late last night or early this morning?”
The man’s voice hesitated, and then he asked, “Who wants to know? That stuff is confidential, you know.”
Maddy didn’t know what to say, so I grabbed the telephone from her and said, “This is her mother, young man, and if you’ve helped an underage girl run away from home, the police will want to speak with you.”
Maddy started to laugh, and I held up a finger for her to be quiet. After a moment, the man’s tone shifted. “Ma’am, she had proper ID when I carded her.”
“It was fake,” I said. “My baby’s just seventeen years old.”
He stammered, and then finally admitted, “She brought the truck back an hour ago, so she couldn’t have gone that far.” He hesitated, and then added, “There was an older woman with her when she brought it back. I thought it was you. Her mom, that is.”
“Clearly you were mistaken,” I said.
Maddy asked me something, but I couldn’t understand her. She tried to get my attention again, so I said, “One moment, young man.”
I covered the telephone with my hand, then looked at my sister and asked, “What’s so important?”
“Find out how many miles she put on the truck.”
That was actually pretty brilliant. I nodded, then pulled my hand away from the mouthpiece. “Young man, how many miles were on the rental agreement?”
“Hang on,” he said. I heard him tearing through some papers, and he came back on the line and said, “She went twelve miles from the time she got it to the second she brought it back. That’s not much, is it?”
“Don’t you worry, I’ll find her,” I said as I hung up on him.
“That was brilliant,” I said to Maddy. “What made you think of that?”
“I don’t know. I was just playing a hunch. How far did she go?”
“Twelve miles total,” I said.
“So she’s still in Timber Ridge.”
“It looks like it. Should we go check on this address?” I held up the florist’s receipt as I glanced at the clock and saw that we had twenty-seven minutes before we opened.
Maddy grabbed her purse. “I’m game if you are. Let’s go.”
We locked the place up, and then took Maddy’s car to track down who Katy had sent flowers to.
On a hunch, when we got into the car, I told Maddy, “Reset the trip meter.”
She asked, “Why?”
“I’m curious to see if we come up with a twelve-mile round-trip.”
“Do you think she’s at the same address she had the flowers delivered to?”
I shrugged. “It’s a thought.”
“And a good one at that,” Maddy said. “I’m surprised I didn’t think of it myself.”
“Wait until you tell someone else this story,” I said with a smile. “In that version, I don’t doubt that you will.”
She laughed as she drove off. “You know what? You’re probably right.”
We got to the address on the outskirts of Timber Ridge, closest to the mountains. The houses were farther apart, and a bit run-down. If there was a part of our area that classified as the other side of the tracks, this would be it.
We pulled up to a row house that hadn’t been painted in thirty years. There were garish lawn ornaments scattered among the weeds, and I wouldn’t have been surprised to find a garden gnome crinkling his porcelain nose in disgust.
“Should I go by myself, or do you want to go with me?” I asked.
Maddy shook her head. “Kiddo, I’m not about to let you have all of the fun. What should our lie be this time?”
“I hadn’t even thought about not telling the truth,” I admitted.
Maddy said, “Eleanor, if Katy’s hiding here, what makes you think whoever owns this place is going to give her up just because we asked nicely?”
“You’re right,” I said.
I could have used more time in the car to come up with something, but a middle-aged woman in a flowery housecoat came out onto the front stoop and stared at us. “It looks like we’re on.”
“We still haven’t come up with a story yet,” Maddy hissed.
We were three steps onto the woman’s property when she said, “Whatever it is you’re selling, I’m not interested. I’ve got nothing to say to either one of you.”
“That’s too bad,” I said. “We have something for Katy Johnson, but if you don’t want to talk to us, that’s fine.”
Maddy was looking oddly at me, but the woman on the porch couldn’t see it.
I said to my sister loudly, “You were right all along. We’ll keep it and split it. It’s not our fault that we couldn’t find her.”
I barely turned around when the woman asked, “You can’t do that. Whatever you’ve got belongs to my niece.”
“You don’t even know what I’m talking about,” I said as I kept walking away from her.
“I don’t need to. I’ve heard enough already.”
I turned, and then looked at her a few seconds before I spoke. “I’m not about to hand it over to you. I don’t even know who you are.”
“I know you,” she said. “You run that pizza joint downtown, the Spike.”
“It’s called A Slice of Delight,” I said, correcting her.
“I guess that does make more sense,” the woman said. “I’m Katy’s aunt. Whatever it is of hers that you have, hand it over and I’ll see that she gets it.”
“Sorry, but I wouldn’t feel right about doing that. We went by her place this morning, but she moved out in the middle of the night.”
The woman shook her head in obvious disgust. “There was too much going on there. She needed to be somewhere she felt safe.”
“Like here, with her aunt?” Maddy asked.
“I never claimed she was here,” she said.
“But you know where to find her.”
“I might,” the woman answered cagily.
“Then find her and tell her I’ve got something that belongs to her, something she’s going to want back.”
Katy’s aunt seemed to think about that, and then finally said, “If I don’t know what it is, I’m not going to tell her.”
“It’s money,” Maddy said. Why on earth had she chosen to say that?