Linda beamed and the other employees applauded.
“All right, I guess we’re ready for tomorrow. I’ll help you guys clean up, then let’s all meet out front for a picture together. We’ll hang it up in the pizzeria back home.”
After making sure the restaurant was ready for the grand opening the next day, all of them gathered in front of the pizzeria’s doors outside. Ellie looked around for someone they could ask to take the photo for them, and her eyes landed on a young woman across the street in front of a Chinese restaurant, Szechuan Cuisine. She hurried across, carrying her phone.
“Hi, my name is Eleanora Pacelli. I own the restaurant across the street, Papa Pacelli’s Pizzeria. I was wondering if you could take a picture of all of us. It would mean a lot to me.”
“I’d be happy to,” the woman said.
Ellie handed her the phone and rejoined her friends across the street. They stood together in front of the restaurant and smiled. She watched as the woman took a couple of pictures, then looked both ways and ran back across the street to take the phone from her.
“Thanks so much,” she said. “Our grand opening is tomorrow. Come on over if you’d like, we’re offering a free slice to the first ten customers.”
She was just turning to walk away when an older woman came out of the restaurant.
“Tai, what are you doing?” the older woman snapped. “You’re supposed to clean the tables. Don’t socialize while you’re supposed to be working.”
Ellie winced. “Sorry,” she said. “I’m opening the new Papa Pacelli’s restaurant across the street, and I just asked her to take a photo of us to commemorate it. I didn’t mean to interrupt her work. The two of you are welcome to come over tomorrow and have a slice on the house. I’d love to get off on a good foot with our neighbors.”
“Maybe,” the woman said. “Thank you for the offer. Tai has to get back to work.”
She turned back to the younger woman and started talking to her again, this time in Chinese. Feeling guilty, Ellie went back across the street where her friends were waiting. She hadn’t even been in Florida for a full twenty-four hours, and she had already made somebody angry.
CHAPTER FIVE
* * *
Ellie could hardly sleep that night. It seemed as if thoughts of everything that could possibly go wrong kept running through her mind. What if no one came? What if one of the fridges stopped working overnight and all of their produce was wrecked? What if the card machine didn’t work? It was a model she was unfamiliar with. She would have no idea how to problem solve.
There were just so many variables, so many things that could make or break the restaurant. When she did doze off, she had dreams of throwing the doors wide open to an abandoned street, and waiting all day without a single customer showing up. She woke up repeatedly, terrified that the dreams had been real.
She was finally able to fall into a deep sleep just a couple of hours before the alarm went off. She was exhausted when she hit the button to silence it. She was glad that she had scheduled their departure for tomorrow, instead of this evening.
She, Nonna, and Russell took their turns getting ready that morning. It was a big day for her grandmother too; after closing the restaurant that evening, she was going to drive Nonna to her new condo. Her grandmother would spend the night there, getting accustomed to her new home before Ellie and the others came to visit the next day.
However, for now Nonna was with them. She had volunteered to help at the grand opening today. Ellie knew that Papa Pacelli’s meant a lot to her; it had been more than just her husband’s hobby, he had cared deeply about the restaurant. She was glad that her grandmother was getting the chance to see the opening of the second Papa Pacelli’s restaurant.
At ten o’clock, they all piled into their cars and drove to the restaurant. Linda, Sandra, and Maria were already there. The restaurant was due to open at eleven, and considering how much work they had done the day before, there was very little to do that morning besides put in the first pizzas of the day, so people wouldn’t have to wait for their free slices.
Ellie and Linda worked together to get the first two pizzas in the oven. While Linda focused on the classic pepperoni pizza, Ellie made the new restaurant’s first ever weekly special; a breakfast sausage pizza on her grandfather’s famous thin crust. Slathered with a creamy cheese sauce and topped with fluffy scrambled eggs, onions, sausage, and bacon bits, it was a flavorful pizza and one of her new favorites. She couldn’t wait to see what the first few customers thought of it. As far as she knew, none of the other pizzerias nearby had anything like a breakfast pizza, and she was hoping that the unique take on a classic food made them stand out.
Once the pizzas were in, she took a quick last-minute walk around the building before she sat down and took a deep breath. In just minutes, all of their hard work would pay off. The doors to Papa Pacelli’s Florida location would open to the public for the first time.
When the time came, she nodded and Maria went to the back to flick the switch for the sign out front, and Linda unlocked the doors. They had debated whether to leave one of the doors propped open to make the restaurant look more inviting, but decided against it; it was warm enough out that they had the air conditioning on inside, and didn’t want to run the unit with the door open. The customers, they were sure, would appreciate the colder air inside.
At first, Ellie and the others waited eagerly, tensing up with excitement every time someone walked by outside. After half an hour with not a single customer, Ellie began to worry. Had her nightmares come true? She and Linda had been pushing hard in the last couple of weeks to advertise. They had had a lot of responses from people, many of whom had promised to get there as soon as the doors open for their free slice, but so far not a single person had stopped in.
“This is terrible,” Linda moaned, echoing her thoughts. “Why is no one here?”
“I have no idea,” Ellie said. “It’s a Saturday, they can’t all be at work. Are you sure you hung up the flyers, sent all the emails, and posted on social media like we spoke about?”
“Yes. I shared our information everywhere I could think of. Plenty of people acted like they were interested.”
“I know what the problem is,” Russell said, picking up one of the flyers from the counter. “You put the time for the grand opening at noon.”
Ellie hurried over and took the flyer from him. He was right. Either she or Linda had mistyped their opening time. She breathed a sigh of relief. It was a mistake, but it wasn’t the end of the world. People didn’t hate the restaurant; no one knew it was open yet.
Sure enough, right around noon people began to arrive. Within twenty minutes, the restaurant was packed. Ellie and her employees hurried about, taking orders, and clearing plates, and bringing food to people. Nonna walked around, introducing herself to the customers and telling them the story about how the original Papa Pacelli’s had opened over twenty years ago. Russell made himself helpful where he could, cleaning up spills and clearing tables when people left. Ellie grinned at him as they passed each other.
“I knew you could do it,” he said, giving her a quick kiss on the forehead before hurrying to clean up a spilled glass of soda.
Ellie turned around and almost bumped into someone. It was the young woman from the other day, the one that she had gotten in trouble for taking a picture of them.
“Oh, sorry,” she said. “I’m glad you came. I hope we didn’t get you into too much trouble at work.”
“No, it’s fine,” the woman said. “That was my aunt. She can come across as kind of strict sometimes, but she really isn’t too bad. She actually immigrated here before I was born. It’s a pretty neat story. She tells it a lot.”
“It looks like she’s doing quite well. Her restaurant looks beautiful.”
“It is really nice, but it keeps her busy. I’m just here to help her out. I was raised in Chicago, so it’s been a pretty big change for me.”
“I spent most of
my life in Chicago,” the pizzeria owner said, smiling. “It’s quite the city, isn’t it?”
“It is. It’s so different from Miami. I miss it, but I also love it down here. The weather is just amazing, and are so many new people to meet. Everyone’s attitude is so different down here. Plus, I love the ocean.”
“So do I. I live in Maine right now, and even though I’m by the coast, we don’t really have beaches… Not like Miami’s beaches, anyway.”
“Yeah, if you get a chance, you’ve got to go to the beach. Anyway, thanks for the invite. I’m about to go try a slice of your pizza… Well, when the line moves forward a bit. You’re busy today.”
“We are.” Ellie grinned. “I’m so happy things have been going well. Do you think your aunt is going to stop in?”
“Oh, she was already here,” the young woman said. “She brought a piece of pizza back to the restaurant. I could tell that she liked it, even though she would never admit it.”
“Well, it was nice seeing you. I hope you enjoy the food. I’ve got to go start cleaning these.” She gestured to the dishes in her hand.
In the kitchen, Ellie dumped the plates in the sink and began to wash them. Linda was in the back with her, putting the toppings on an everything pizza.
“This is amazing,” she said, looking overwhelmed. “It… it won’t be like this every day, will it?”
Ellie chuckled. “No, it will slow down. You’ll get some regular customers that come in at the same time every week, and eventually things will settle into a mostly predictable rhythm. The fact that we’re so busy right now is a good sign. People are interested. I’ve been working out front, and people have been saying how much they love the pizza. We may not be the only pizzeria around, but I’d guess that we’re one of the best.”
“I just can’t thank you –”
There was a crash. Both women jumped. Ellie spun around and saw a pile of shattered plates on the floor. Sandra had dropped them; she had her hands pressed to her mouth in shock.
“Oh my goodness. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s fine,” Ellie said. “Don’t worry. We have plenty of plates. What happened?”
“I… I guess they just slipped.”
She could see that the other woman was very shaken. She gave her a reassuring smile before bending down to begin cleaning up the mess.
“It happens,” she said. “Don’t feel bad. Once, I dropped a whole pizza just as it came out of the oven. Now, that was bad.”
The other woman gave her an anxious smile. “Here, let me do that. It’s my fault they fell.”
They got the floor cleaned up and Ellie finished scrubbing the dishes in the sink before returning to the dining area. Fighting back a yawn, she glanced at the clock. It was only three in the afternoon. It was going to be a long day.
When the time finally came for them to start shutting down, Ellie and the others had to ask people to leave so they could begin cleaning. Ellie was happy with how the first day had gone. It had been even busier than she had hoped, and everything had gone smoothly besides Sandra dropping the plates – which really wasn’t that big of a deal, all things considered. Even better, Russell had gotten a good look at her everyday life. She couldn’t help but smile to see him looking exhausted, leaning against the counter up front.
“Pardon me, sir,” she said to one of the last customers to leave. “We’re about to close. If you’d like, I can give you a box for your leftovers.”
The man sitting at the table in the corner didn’t stir. She frowned. He was leaning over, his head slouched against the window. Had he fallen asleep?
“Sir?” She touched his shoulder, and knew immediately that something was wrong. She shook him gently and then stumbled back, gasping. His hat shifted on his head, and she could see his wide, staring eyes. He was dead.
CHAPTER SIX
* * *
Ellie had an arm around Linda. The other woman was sobbing silently into her hands. Ellie felt too numb to cry. She knew that she was in shock. None of it had really sunk in yet. Someone had died in the pizzeria, and no one had even noticed. She felt sick to her stomach, and kept glancing over at Russell, who was talking to the detective in charge of the case.
The body had already been taken away, for which she was grateful. Everyone was still there, including Nonna, who looked pale enough that Ellie was worried. Everyone had been shocked into silence, all their happy chitchat from earlier in the day gone.
She saw Russell gesture towards her and Linda. The detective looked in their direction, frowned, then approached them.
“Which one of you is the owner of this building?” The detective asked, looking between her and Linda.
She and the other woman both moved at the same time, then shot glances at each other. In any other circumstance, Ellie may have smiled. Instead, she cleared her throat. “I am,” she said.
“This is the first day this restaurant has been open, is that correct?”
She nodded.
“I’m sorry to hear that. I’m going to ask you to close this restaurant down temporarily while we determine what happened.”
She felt Linda tense beside her. “But we just opened…”
“I understand that this is going to be difficult for your restaurant,” the detective said. “However, I really don’t have a choice. I’m sorry.”
Ellie bit her lip. This was such a disaster. She felt terrible that the man had died while in the restaurant, but surely it wasn’t their fault. All of them had put so much time and effort into this opening, and she didn’t know how they could possibly recover from this.
“We’re going to take statements from everyone, and then you’ll be free to go,” the man said. “The sheriff told me that you folks are from out of state. How much longer are you planning on being here?”
“We were planning on going home tomorrow,” Ellie said. “But I can stay a couple of days longer if that would help.” She didn’t want to leave Linda to deal with all of this on her own.
“Oh, would you?” her friend asked. “Ellie, it would mean so much to me. I don’t have any idea how to deal with any of this.”
She put her hand on the other woman’s arm. “It will be okay,” she said. “I’m sure once the police figure out what happened, we will be able to reopen with no problem.”
“We’ll try to figure all of this out as quickly as possible,” the detective assured them. “I’m going to start collecting people’s information. Is this everyone that was working in the restaurant today?”
Ellie looked around and realized with a start that Sandra was missing. Everyone else was gathered in the dining area, but she was nowhere to be seen. When had she left? She couldn’t remember if Sandra had been there when they had discovered the body or not.
“We’re missing one of our employees,” she said. “However, she had a rough day. She might have left early?” She looked over at Linda and raised her eyebrows. The other woman shook her head. She had no idea where Sandra was either.
The officer frowned. “I’ll need her name and a description, as well as her contact information.”
Ellie left Linda to give the officer the information that he needed. She walked over to Russell and leaned into his hug.
“It’s going to be okay,” he said.
“How could this have happened?” she murmured. “Everything was going so well. For something like this to happen on the very first day… it might be the end of this place.”
“The restaurant will bounce back. The Papa Pacelli’s in Kittiport has been through worse, hasn’t it?”
“I suppose so.” She sighed. “To top it all off, Sandra is missing. Would you happen to know when she left?”
He frowned. “I’m not sure. I don’t remember seeing her while we were cleaning up, but I wasn’t looking for her specifically. Why? Do you think she might have had something to do with this?”
“No, of course not. It’s just that the detective wanted to speak with everyone that was here, and i
t looks bad that none of us know where she went. I don’t want her to get in trouble. I don’t remember seeing her either, but like you said, I wasn’t paying much attention. It was too busy to focus on much besides what was right in front of me.”
As soon as the detective said they were free to go, Ellie tried calling Sandra, but the other woman didn’t answer. The only thing that kept her from panicking was when Rose said, “Oh, I saw her leave a while ago. She looked pretty upset. I think she was still shaken up from when she dropped all of those plates.”
“I’m glad someone saw her,” Ellie said. “I was worried about her. Hopefully she’ll get in contact with one of us tomorrow. She probably doesn’t even know what happened.”
Breakfast Pizza Murder Page 3