“That looks amazing,” she said. “Do we have all of the ingredients?”
“I think so. There’s a stash of candy bars on the top shelf in the back. I’ll get started on the crust if you want to do the filling.”
The recipe for homemade chocolate chip pie was surprisingly simple. The graham cracker crust was ready in no time. Ellie finished melting down the marshmallows, then set the pot aside to cool while she whipped the cream and grated the candy bars. She folded all three ingredients together, then spread it over the pie crust. Other than the whipped cream she would bring to put on top, that was it.
“That was easy,” she said. “I hope it’s good.”
“I made it once a few years ago,” her nonna said. “You won’t be disappointed.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to come to dinner?” Ellie asked.
“No, no. I’m going to be much happier in front of the fire here. You know how early I go to bed. I would probably fall asleep at the table. You go and enjoy yourself, dear.”
“Thanks, Nonna. I’ll set a slice of pie aside for you.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
* * *
“You look nice,” Russell said as they pulled out of his driveway. “I’m sorry about this. I should be the one picking you up. I can hardly wait until I get the all-clear to drive again from the doctor. I’m itching to get behind the wheel.”
“Do you know how much longer you have to wait before you can start doing all of the normal things again?” Ellie asked. “Kittiport needs its sheriff back.”
“I should be able to stop using the crutch by Friday. It will feel wonderful to use my own two feet to get around again. I’ve been shot before, but it’s never laid me up like this. It was just an unlucky shot.”
Ellie grimaced and he chuckled.
“I know, I know, you think I’m lucky to be alive. But look at it this way—the guy was drunk, and it was dark out. He was shooting blindly. What are the chances that one of the bullets would hit my leg? Not very high.”
“Either way, you have to admit it could have been worse.”
Before the shooting, the danger that Russell put himself in every day hadn’t felt quite real to Ellie. She knew he had devoted his life to catching the bad guys, but he had always seemed somehow invincible to her. Hearing the news about him getting shot had been a sharp reminder of reality for her. She knew that once he went back to work, she would be worrying about him constantly. It wasn’t something she was looking forward to.
“I know.” He fell silent for a moment, then changed the subject. “So, what’s in the bag?”
“Dessert,” Ellie said, smiling. “You’ll have to wait and see to find out what it is.”
“I’m okay with that sort of surprise,” he said with a laugh. “I have to say, it feels weird to be completely off duty. I don’t even know how long it’s been since I wasn’t on call. I’m not saying I like having Detective Mendez take over, but it is a good feeling to know I won’t be called out in the middle of dinner.”
“How is he doing on that case?” Ellie asked. “I haven’t heard any news since your call yesterday. Did Tina end up confessing?”
“No, but she’s still in custody,” he told her. “They found some incriminating messages on her phone, but nothing strong enough to hold her for more than forty-eight hours. With any luck by this time tomorrow, Mendez will be able to press charges.”
Ellie pulled into Shannon’s driveway a few minutes later, feeling happier than she had in a long time. Everything seemed to be looking up. The police had a likely suspect in the murder case, Russell was doing better, and they had all just gotten through what looked to be the last big storm of the season unscathed. In a few weeks if they were lucky, it might start warming up for good. With the warmer weather came a whole new set of possibilities for the pizzeria, which she was excited to explore.
Inside, Ellie followed her friend into the kitchen while James and Russell caught up in the living room. Shannon’s kitchen was modern and large, and Ellie was utterly in love with it. Her grandmother’s kitchen was a good size as well, but it didn’t have the smooth granite counter tops or the expansive island with a gas range that her friends did.
“Do you mind if I peek?” she asked, gesturing at the oven. “Whatever it is, it smells delicious.”
“Go ahead. It will be done in a few minutes, anyway. I’m going to go get the wine from downstairs.”
Ellie turned on the oven light and peered through the little window. Inside were bubbling stuffed pasta shells, topped with marinara. They looked delicious. Her stomach rumbled. This dinner was a phenomenal idea, and something they all needed.
It was beginning to get dark out by the time they were all seated around the table. There was more than enough food to go around, and Shannon urged them not to be shy about taking seconds. At first, they ate in silence, but once the sharp edge of their hunger had been dulled, the conversation began to pick up.
“How’s the drive-through window working out for you?” James asked.
“It’s wonderful. It really makes handling the pickups a lot smoother. Thank you so much for all of the work you did on it.”
“I would have been happy to do the entire thing,” he said.
“I’m glad she didn’t take you up on your offer at first,” Shannon said with a shudder. “It terrifies me to think what could have happened. The first person she hired got killed. It could so easily have been you.”
“I don’t like thinking about that either,” Ellie said. “There have been too many close calls lately. Let’s talk about something else. How has work been, Shannon? You stop in and visit me pretty often, but I feel like I never get the chance to ask how things are going at the paper.”
“Work is actually going pretty well,” her friend said. “They have me doing a lot more now. I might be looking at a promotion soon, in fact.”
“Really? You haven’t mentioned that before,” James said. “Congratulations. I hope you get it.”
“It’s nothing set in stone yet.” Shannon frowned. “To be honest, I almost hope I don’t get it. If the position opens up, it will be because the current employee is fired. She’s been breaking company policy, but she has good reason.”
“Is this Kristy you’re talking about?” Ellie asked. “I remember you mentioned her the other day when we had coffee. I’ve spoken to her a few times. She seemed nice. What did she do to get in trouble?”
“Yeah, it’s her,” her friend said. “It’s kind of a long story, but one of my bosses found out that Kristy has been skimming money from the newspaper. She’s been there a long time, and the stealing only started about six months ago. If it was anyone else, she probably would have been fired on the spot, but my boss took her aside and talked to her to try to find out if something was going on. It turned out that her fiancé is an abusive jerk, and she’s desperately trying to gather enough money to leave him. She got put on probation and was told to return the money. I know she was offered resources that could help her. She was given a second chance and a lot of understanding, but earlier today I heard that more money went missing. If it’s her, I don’t think she’s getting a third chance.”
“Wow,” Ellie said. “I didn’t know any of that.
Shannon nodded. “I feel bad for her, but I also don’t think it’s right for her to steal from the paper. We’re like a family—granted, a pretty dysfunctional one—but it’s not like she wouldn’t have had help if she had asked for it.”
Something occurred to Ellie. “Hey, when I spoke to Kristy last, she told me that Courtney stayed with her and her fiancé for a while. If the fiancé is abusive to Kristy, do you think it’s possible he might have lashed out at Courtney, too?”
Russell frowned. “It’s a possibility, but they would have had to have an altercation recently. She was injured a few days prior to passing, not weeks or months. I’ll mention this to Mendez in the morning. It’s possible that Tina didn’t do it, of course, in which case they’re go
ing to be back at square one.”
“Do you know if a guy named Ronald is on their list of possible suspects?” Ellie asked.
“The name sounds familiar,” he said.
“He’s one of a few paid employees that works at the community center,” she said. “Skinny guy, balding. He was there the day that she was found, so I’m sure Detective Mendez took a statement from him.”
“I really wish I was on this case,” Russell said, shaking his head. “I don’t know who you’re talking about, but if you’ve got a reason to suspect him, I’ll pass it on.”
“I don’t, really,” Ellie admitted. “Other than the fact that he seems a little bit off, and Bunny doesn’t like him. I know Courtney wanted to get hired there full-time, so maybe he felt threatened by her, like she was trying to take his job.”
Shannon laughed. “I think you missed your calling, Ellie. You should have been a private investigator, not a pizza chef.”
“Sorry,” Ellie said, giving an embarrassed grin. “I can’t help it. Who can turn down a good mystery?”
“I can,” James said. “Right now, the only mystery I care about solving is what sort of dessert you brought.”
“I’ll go get it,” Shannon volunteered. “You guys sit tight.”
Ellie glanced over at Russell, who was tapping his fingers slowly on the table. She smiled when he met her gaze. She knew that he, like her, was still mulling over the mystery of Courtney’s death. Maybe that was why she liked him so much; they were two of a kind.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
* * *
The next day, even most of the rural roads had been cleared of snow and ice. That meant back to work for Ellie and everyone else in town. The city kept the sidewalks along Main Street clear, but they hadn’t touched the parking lot behind the pizzeria. Ellie had hired a private company to come out and plow the lot in the mornings after they had received more than two inches of snow, but they didn’t offer a salting service. As a result, the pizzeria’s parking lot more closely resembled an ice rink.
After getting the restaurant ready to open, Ellie tackled the hard-packed, icy snow herself with a bag of salt. She was still salting the most traveled areas when Clara arrived, closely followed by Rose. She gave each of them a bright greeting on their way in. It was another sunshiny, beautiful day, and it had put her in a good mood.
When she got inside, she pulled off her coat and gloves and held her hands out to the warmth of the stove. The kitchen, which usually felt too hot once the ovens had heated up, now felt perfect.
“Man, it’s good to be back in civilization,” Rose said. She was sitting at the small table in the kitchen that they used for lunch breaks with her phone charging from the socket next to her.
“What do you mean?” Ellie asked, trying to remember if her employee had mentioned some sort of camping trip.
“We lost power during that storm two nights ago,” the younger woman said. “A huge branch snapped off a tree under the weight of all of that ice and broke the power lines. The power company said it might be another couple of days before they get someone out to fix it. We’ve got a fireplace and stuff, so I’ll be able to stay warm, but it still kind of sucks.”
“A lot of people lost power again,” Clara said. “I’m glad I didn’t. I have a parrot, and he wouldn’t be able to handle the cold.”
Ellie felt a stab of guilt. She had enjoyed a delicious dinner in a warm home with her friends the night before, when there were dozens of people around town who didn’t even have heat. She hadn’t even thought of donating anything to the community center, even though there were still a few lonely blankets in the basement that they were never going to use and it would barely cost her anything to throw together some piping hot pizzas to donate to people who didn’t have any way to heat up food on their own at the moment. She had liked the community center when she first discovered it, but had been eager to avoid it ever since Courtney’s death. She realized that wasn’t fair to the people who really needed the help. It looked like it was time for another delivery.
***
She arrived at the community center with a stack of pizza boxes a couple of hours later. The building was busier than ever. She realized a lot of people must be planning on spending the entire day here, and maybe even the night too. For people who had lost power and didn’t have a fireplace or a generator, the low temperatures could be dangerous, or even deadly, especially for the young and the old. It made sense that families would want to spend the day somewhere with power, running water, food, and community.
Ellie walked down the hall to the room where all of the donations were brought. She looked around, but didn’t see any familiar faces. A smiling older woman greeted her and thanked her for the pizzas.
“We’ll just put them on the table right here,” she said. “Is there anything else I can help you with?”
“Do you have a bathroom I could use really quickly?”
“Sure. Go out the door and turn right. The bathroom will be on your left, just past the kitchen. It’s clearly labeled; you won’t miss it.”
Sure enough, Ellie had no trouble finding it. After attending to her needs, she paused to check her phone. She was hoping for an update from Russell about the case. Today was the day that they would have to either release Tina or charge her with something, and she felt anxious waiting for the verdict. Disappointingly, there was nothing from the sheriff. She reminded herself to be patient, and that even if something had been decided, he might not know about it yet.
She exited the bathroom and started back up the hallway, but paused after taking only a few steps. The sound of arguing had caught her attention. It was coming from the door marked Kitchen. She tried to convince herself it wasn’t eavesdropping if they were talking loudly enough that she could hear them without even trying.
“We have gotten more complaints, Ronald.” The voice was feminine and kind, but firm. Ellie thought it probably belonged to the older woman that she had just spoken to, but couldn‘t be sure. “I’m sorry to say, this is your last warning.”
“Ms. Shippey, I need this job. And you need me. I know this place better than anyone.”
“After multiple guests have come to me complaining about rudeness, I don’t have much of a choice,” the woman said. “I’m not trying to be mean. I’ve given you plenty of chances. Just think before you open your mouth, Ronald, please. The last thing we want is to drive people away.”
“There isn’t even anyone to take my place, now that Courtney is gone. I care about the community center as much as anyone. I’ve told you before, and I’ll tell you again. I wasn’t rude to those people. It’s not my fault if some people can’t follow the rules, or can’t read the signs.”
“It’s not your fault, no, but it’s your job to correct them kindly. And please be more respectful when you speak of that poor woman. She was a wonderful soul, and I wished many times that I could have offered her the job that she wanted here.”
“I knew it,” Ronald said. He sounded hurt, more than angry. “You were planning on replacing me with her, weren’t you?”
“We’ve gone over this, Ronald,” the woman said. She sounded tired now, as if rehashing an old argument. “Yes, I was considering hiring Courtney when a spot opened up, but I wasn’t looking to replace you specifically. Look, I’m sorry, but I have to be firm on this. Begin treating our guests with respect. This is your final warning.”
Ellie jumped back and ducked into the bathroom seconds before the kitchen door opened. She leaned against the wall, going over what she had heard in her mind. Ronald had seemed fixated on Courtney taking his job. He was obviously very attached to working at the community center. If he really believed that the older woman, Ms. Shippey, was going to fire him in order to hire her, he might have taken extreme action. Was a job at the community center worth killing over? Ellie had a feeling that for Ronald, the answer just might be yes.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
* * *
Ellie took out he
r phone and dialed Russell’s number. She had a feeling that what she had overheard was too important to wait. Ronald seemed unstable, and if he thought that Ms. Shippey was going to fire him, then there was no telling what he might do.
The sheriff listened as she reiterated the conversation to him. She was a little bit embarrassed to admit that she had hung around outside the kitchen door to listen to the conversation, but her own pride was a small sacrifice to make if the information ended up saving somebody’s life.
“I’ll pass the information on,” he said when she was done. “I just heard that Tina was released, so that means the killer is still out there. We can’t be too careful. It seems that for a nice girl, Courtney had quite a few people who disliked her.”
“The more I find out, the more shocked I am,” Ellie said. “I guess most people probably have their fair share of secrets, though.” She chewed on her lip, trying to think if there was anything else she wanted to say before she hung up. She was ready to get out of there and get back to the pizzeria, that was for sure.
“Oh,” she said, suddenly remembering something from another of their conversations. “The other day, you said that Tina had incriminating messages on her phone. What were they about?”
He hesitated. “I suppose I’m not technically on the case, so I might as well tell you. They were messages between her and a friend. The friend asked how she was holding up, and she replied saying she was better than ever, and that she was relieved Courtney was gone. In the message, she said that she felt like a big weight had been taken off her chest, and that she was glad the house was her own again.”
“It sounds like she’s glad Courtney died,” Ellie said, horrified. “She didn’t seem happy when I saw her at the restaurant.”
“She may have been faking her grief, if she was trying to get attention off her as the killer,” Russell said. “Or, maybe she really does feel bad for Courtney and the messages were sent while she was under the influence of alcohol. Whatever the truth, it’s out of my hands. I’ll keep digging, but it’s not your job and you should be careful.”
Four Cheese Murder: Book Seven in Papa Pacelli's Pizzeria Series Page 5