“What made you decide to open another one here?”
“The original restaurant was doing well, and I was getting a little bored. Kittiport is a small town. I spent most of my life in Chicago, so you can imagine that the change took some getting used to. I decided I wanted to expand it, then my grandmother and I visited Miami and I fell in love with the place.”
“I see.” Detective Vega gave her another smile. “Well, I’m glad that worked out for you so well. According to the records at South Florida Films, you hired them to help you make an advertisement for the local restaurant, so things must be going well.”
“They are,” Ellie said. “Better than I had expected, in fact.”
“Good, good. Do you know why you’re here, Ellie?”
“I’m guessing it has something to do with Mr. Jacobson’s death,” she said.
Detective Vega nodded. “Could you tell me how you knew Mr. Jacobson?”
“I only met him once, the day before he was killed,” Ellie said. “We only spoke briefly.”
“Why did you choose that particular film studio?”
“The lady who manages the local pizzeria knows someone who works there. Johnathan. I didn’t get his last name. He recommended them to us, and told us about the discount they were offering.”
“I see. Could you tell us about the day you went to the studio? Just anything you can remember.”
“Let’s see…” Ellie thought back and did her best to relate everything she could think of. When she got to the argument she’d had with Mr. Jacobson, she hesitated for only a fraction of a second before continuing.
“Thank you, Mrs. Ward. That could be very helpful. Now, could you tell me what you did for the rest of the day after you left the studio?”
“I went home with my grandmother. We went to the pool for a while, then when we got back, she took a nap and I ran out to the grocery store to pick up groceries for dinner. After that we just stayed indoors and spent time together.”
“Why did you need to go to the grocery store? Surely your grandmother would have bought food, since she knew you were coming over to stay.”
“I wanted to make a pizza. I’d had the idea in my mind for a while, and needed special ingredients for it.”
“Oh?” The woman’s eyebrows raised with interest. “What kind of pizza?”
“Mango chili pizza with white Stilton cheese.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anything like that before.” The woman gave her a friendly smile, but this time Ellie noticed it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Can anyone confirm your whereabouts that evening?”
“My grandmother can.”
“Anyone else?”
Ellie shook her head.
“Can anyone confirm that you were at the grocery store?”
“I don’t think so. I was on the phone with my husband right before going in, maybe you could talk to him.”
“Can I have his name and some contact information for him?”
“Russell Ward.” Ellie gave her his phone number.
“Thank you. Excuse me for a moment while I give this information to someone who will check on it.” She got up and left the room, returning just seconds later. She sat down at the table and continued the discussion as if it hadn’t been interrupted. “Did you pay for the groceries with a credit card?”
“Cash,” Ellie said, suddenly very much wishing she hadn’t.
“I see. Ellie, are you sure you didn’t see Mr. Jacobson after you left the studio?”
“I’m positive,” she said.
“Have you noticed anything of yours missing?” the other woman asked. “Maybe something small, something that could have fallen out of your purse?”
Ellie blanched. “Yes,” she said. “I’m missing some lipstick.”
Detective Vega reached down and took a baggy out of her briefcase. “This lipstick, maybe?”
Ellie stared at it. This close, she could read the little sticker on the bottom that said what color it was and knew without a doubt that it was hers. She closed her eyes for a long moment. “Yes, that appears to be it,” she said, opening them again.
“This lipstick was found on the passenger side floor of Mr. Jacobson’s car. Do you have any idea how it might have gotten there?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Odd.”
“Sorry, but Detective, how did you know it was mine?”
“A possible witness mentioned that she saw you wearing a similar color the day before Mr. Jacobson’s death. But right now, I’m more concerned with why your lipstick was in Mr. Jacobson’s car, since according to you, you haven’t seen him outside of the studio.”
“I don’t know,” Ellie said, feeling the beginnings of panic. “I have absolutely no idea. Maybe someone stole it out of my purse, or I dropped it in the parking lot, and he picked it up for some reason, or maybe he was just seeing someone who happens to wear the same color of lipstick. I have no idea.”
“I thought you just confirmed that the lipstick was yours?”
“I said it appears to be. I know it’s the same color as the one I’m missing, but it might not be the same one.”
“We can check your DNA against traces left on the lipstick,” the detective said. “If you would just tell me why the lipstick was in his car, this would be over so much more quickly. It’s getting late. You must be tired.”
Ellie spared a moment to look around the room, suddenly realizing that there weren’t any clocks. She did feel tired, and she didn’t doubt that it was getting late. She had a sneaking suspicion that they had picked her up so late in the evening on purpose, just for that reason.
“I’m sorry, but I honestly don’t know,” she said. “I’d tell you if I did. I met the guy once. I have no idea how my lipstick got in his car.”
The detective looked like she was about to say something else, but then the door to the room opened and a uniformed officer came in. He murmured something to Detective Vega. She turned to look at Ellie, frowned, then sighed.
“Mrs. Ward, if you can think of anything that might be useful, please call me directly. Here’s my card.”
Puzzled, Ellie took it. “Thank you. I will. Can I… can I go now?”
The detective nodded stiffly. Confused, but extremely relieved, Ellie followed the officer out of the room and out of the building.
Chapter Eleven
Ellie had barely gotten past the condo’s front door when her cell phone rang. She took it out of her purse and, seeing Russell’s number, answered it.
“Ellie, thank goodness,” he said when he heard her voice. “I was worried I’d need to fly down there myself.”
“Russell, how do you know what’s going on?”
“The police,” he explained. “They called me, asking if I spoke to you two days ago. Once they realized I’m a sheriff, their tone changed, and I managed to get them to tell me that you were being detained and questioned. I let them know that I would be checking with you and if I learned they held you without cause, I would kick up as many complaints as I could. I gave them a bit to see if they let you go, then called you to see how things were.”
“Thank you,” she breathed. She felt tears prick at her eyelids and blinked them away. “Oh, Russell, I was so frightened. I know I didn’t do anything wrong, but I kept double guessing everything I said. I felt so guilty, even though I know I’m not.”
“Ellie, it’s okay. Everything’s fine. You and I both know you’re innocent, and I’ll make sure they follow regulation to the letter with everything involving you. Now, tell me everything they said to you…”
She did, pausing only to give her grandmother a one-armed hug and a promise that she was okay when the older woman appeared in the hallway. She gestured to Nonna to sit and listen in, so she wouldn’t have to explain everything twice.
“Russell, I’m going to put you on speakerphone,” she said when she was done telling her story. “Nonna’s here, she’ll want to join in on the conversation.”
“All right.”
She did so, and her grandmother leaned over slightly so she was closer to the phone. “Hi, Russell.”
“Hello, Ann. How are you?”
“Good.” Her gaze flickered to Ellie. “Worried about my granddaughter. How are you?”
“The same,” he said. “So, Ellie, what do you say about coming home early?”
Ellie hesitated, then shook her head. “I already promised the studio we’d give them a second chance. I can’t cancel again.”
“Do you want me to fly down there?”
“Would it be hard? With work?” she asked. He hesitated for long enough that she shook her head. “No, stay there. I’m only here for a couple more days. I’ll be fine.”
“I think you should cancel with the studio,” her husband said.
“Why?” She and Nonna spoke the word almost simultaneously.
“Someone from there must be involved in that man’s death,” he said. “Think about it. You told me before that you left your purse unattended in the studio. If someone wanted to commit a crime and frame you for it, it would have been easy for them to go through it and grab something with your DNA on it. I doubt you left your purse unattended anywhere else. It’s not like you, you’re usually pretty careful with it. Unless there was an extremely odd coincidence, like you dropping the lipstick and the victim finding it and bringing it into his car for some reason, it’s safe to assume that it was planted.”
Ellie frowned. “But why would someone want to frame me? No one at the studio even knows me.”
“How many people were there? Including the people you work with.”
“Not that many…” Ellie thought back. “It’s a pretty small operation. It was just the two brothers and their cousin, the woman who did the makeup, an older lady who they tried to substitute for Nonna, Linda and most of the employees from the pizzeria, and Nonna, of course.”
“All right, well we can safely say your grandmother isn’t a suspect.”
“I certainly hope so,” Nonna said.
Russell chuckled, his voice tinny over the phone. “How about Linda?” he asked. “How have things been between the two of you?”
“Linda?” Ellie blinked. “Things are great. She’s my friend, Russell. She’s not a suspect.”
He hesitated. “All right. I’ll trust you on this. Do any of the employees have a reason to dislike you?”
“I don’t think so. I don’t know them very well. But if I ended up going to prison, it would just end up delaying their paychecks, which I doubt they’d want. I can’t think of a motive there.”
“Hmm. Maybe we’re thinking about this wrong,” Russell said.
“What do you mean?”
“Well we’re looking at people who had a motive to frame you. What if you were just incidental? We should be looking at who may have had a motive to kill the director too. How was his relationship with his relatives?”
“I’m not sure. They were supposedly all very close growing up together, but both Trevor and Johnathan seemed pretty much normal when I met with them the day after his death. They seem very focused on the business.”
“Is the business doing well?”
“Not at all,” Ellie said.
“Did you get the sense that they might have blamed him for that?”
“I… guess.” She frowned, thinking back to the comments that she had heard when they had been leaving the studio for the first time. “Yes, they do seem to blame him for driving away clients. And Trevor said that Johnathan is the really skilled director.”
“I see.” She heard a sound that might have been Russell covering up a yawn. “It’s something to keep an eye on. Be careful when you see them again, Ellie.”
“I will be,” she promised, knowing that there was no way she would be able to let herself relax around the two men again now that Russell had pointed out that either or both of them could be the killer. “It’s late. We should all be getting to bed. I’ll call you tomorrow and update you, okay?”
“Okay. I’ll see if I can dig up anything on the brothers or their cousin,” he said. “Goodnight, Ellie. Goodnight, Ann.”
The two women said their goodnights and goodbyes, and the call was ended. Ellie met her grandmother’s gaze and gave her a small smile.
“Sorry for all of the craziness,” she said.
“I don’t mind,” the older woman said. “I’m just glad you’re all right.”
“We should both head to bed. It’s been a long day.”
Her grandmother nodded her agreement. After promising they would talk more about the murder tomorrow, they went their separate ways. Even though Ellie was tired, sleep took a long time to come to her.
Chapter Twelve
Two days later, the day of the second filming attempt and the day before Ellie was supposed to be flying home, she and Nonna arrived at the pizzeria bright and early, armed with changes of clothes, makeup, and hairspray. Ellie had been glad when nothing exciting had happened after the incident with the police, but she was dreading today. She hadn’t really considered Trevor or Johnathan as suspect, since Linda had said how close they had all been growing up, but now she couldn’t get the thought out of her mind. We just have to get through filming the ad, she thought as she set her supplies down on a table. Then I won’t ever see either of them again.
With a guilty jolt, she realized that while she would be flying back to Maine and wouldn’t ever have to worry about running into either of the men again, Linda would be left in the thick of it. She was still seeing Johnathan, and from the way the two acted around each other, Ellie had a feeling that it would last a while. They seemed to be a good match for each other… other than the little fact that Johnathan might be a murderer.
She turned her head to look at Linda, who had gotten there before her and Nonna and was in the middle of cleaning one of the front windows. Linda looked happy. Really happy. Something that Ellie hadn’t seen on the other woman for a while. After her coworker and friend Sandra had been killed, Linda had had a tough time of it. If Johnathan turned out to be guilty, Ellie didn’t know how her friend would cope. She felt terrible for only thinking of it now, and she felt even worse that a small part of her was worried about what would happen to the Florida pizzeria if Linda quit. She wanted to be the sort of person who only worried about her friend, not about the business.
Linda seemed to feel her gaze and turned her head to give her a smile. Ellie smiled back, then picked up the cleaning supplies. She could decide what to do about the new conundrum later. Right now, they had to focus on getting the pizzeria in top shape, even going so far as to touch up nicks in the paint on the walls. Regardless of who was innocent and who was guilty, they would soon be filming an advertisement here, and Ellie was determined to put her best foot forward.
Once the main eating area was so refreshed that it practically sparkled, Ellie went back into the kitchen to whip up a couple of pizzas. They would feature them in their ad, and they would also serve as lunch for the group once the filming was done. She had decided to stick with simple recipes, and made three of their most popular pizzas; cheese, pepperoni, and barbecue chicken pizza.
By the time the last pizza was in the oven, the others were beginning to get ready for the shoot. Ellie hurriedly cleaned the kitchen, waited the last few minutes for the pizza to get done, put it under the warmer with the others, then stepped into the bathroom to get changed into her nice clothes — a rule of thumb she never broke, was to never wear anything she didn’t want stained while she was cooking with pizza sauce.
The other employees began to arrive, and the women helped each other with their hair and makeup while chatting excitedly. Ellie tried not to let her nerves show. She knew that the chances of anything happening even if one of the men was the killer were low. Ellie was surrounded by people she knew and, for the most part, trusted.
Ellie was double checking her face in the bathroom mirror when she heard the jingle of the front door opening. She
poked her head out of the bathroom to see who had arrived, and was shocked to see Johnathan standing at the front of the restaurant, giving Linda a quick hug before getting out of the way so a handful of other people could come in.
“You’re early,” Ellie said, stepping out of the bathroom. She realized how rude that sounded, and tried to fix it. “We’re almost ready. Sorry, I don’t want to keep you waiting.”
Sweet Chili Murder Page 5