A motive doesn’t make him a killer, she thought. He hasn’t raised any red flags in the police investigation. I’m sure Russell would have looked at him as a suspect. Yes, he had his arm around Leigh, but that was because this was an impossible day for her. She needed his support to get through it. They were still friends, that much was evident. What she was seeing now was simply one friend comforting another.
Something about his visit to the pizzeria a couple of days ago nagged at her. She hadn’t been suspicious of him at the time. Now, seeing them together, it made her wonder. Had he been so interested in the case because he was waiting to hear whether or not he was going to get away with murder? And at the wedding, just after John had died, he had asked Ellie if Leigh had said anything. Had he been checking to see if she had seen him slip her husband something?
Ellie shook her head, trying to convince herself that she was connecting dots that weren’t supposed to be connected. She forced herself to turn away. Russell. She needed to find Russell. She would mention it to him, but that was it. She wasn’t here to do any investigating, and she wasn’t about to bring unnecessary drama to the funeral of a good man.
She turned, surveying the room for the sheriff, and instead saw another familiar face—one that she hadn’t been expecting, with a veil over her hair, face tilted downward. It was Britney. She was standing by the door and her eyes were fixed on front of the room, where Leigh was standing. She was fumbling through her handbag for something. Ellie's heart skipped a beat. She was caught between two potential murderers, but only one looked like she might be reaching for a weapon. If she didn’t act fast, she could find herself witness to a second murder.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
* * *
Where was Russell? Ellie looked around for him, but he was nowhere to be found. Britney suddenly shut her handbag and started moving forward. Ellie was frozen. If Britney had a gun in her bag, or even a knife, she could pose a serious threat to anyone here. She was making a beeline toward the casket, but when Ellie looked back, she realized that Leigh and Damien were both gone. Had Britney been forced to wait to pull her weapon out because they walked away, or had she been innocently looking for a lipstick or bottle of lotion in her purse?
Darn it, Russell, where are you? Ellie thought. This was his job, he should be here dealing with this, not her. The last thing she wanted was to cause a scene at his friend’s funeral. Of course, someone getting shot or stabbed would cause a scene too.
With a sigh, Ellie gave up on her visual search for the sheriff and turned to follow Britney. The least she could do was to keep the woman in sight. If she approached Leigh, then Ellie could try to stop her. If she was just here for the viewing, well, watching her wouldn’t hurt anything.
Britney stared into the casket for a long time. Ellie could see how sad she was. Once again, she found herself wondering if this woman could have killed the man that she had so clearly loved. But if it wasn’t her, then who? His best friend? Either way, John had been betrayed by someone who had claimed to care about him. If he was even murdered, she found herself thinking. Russell and I might both be wrong. The coroner said it was a heart attack. He was a man in his mid-forties with a family history of heart issues. It’s not impossible that his death was as simple as that.
She sighed and scanned the crowd again, looking for Russell. She really just wanted to share her concerns with him. He would know what to do. He always did.
When she turned back to check on Britney, the woman was gone. Shoot. She can’t have gone far, Ellie thought. She had already lost track of her boyfriend, but somehow losing sight of a potential killer was even more embarrassing. How on earth had the woman managed to slip away so quickly?
She approached the casket and saw what she had missed before; a door just around the corner from the viewing area. That would explain how Leigh and Damien and Britney had vanished from view in just a few seconds. She shot one last, desperate look out across the room for Russell, then decided that this was too important to wait until she found him. Hoping that she wasn’t about to make a fool of herself by walking into a supply closet, she opened the door and slipped through, shutting out the sounds of the funeral home behind her.
She found herself in a small bereavement room. It was empty, and there was nowhere for anyone to hide unless they could fold themselves up enough to fit under the couch. There was another door across the room, however, and this one had a red exit sign above it. Ellie sighed and, hoping that it didn’t lock behind her, pushed her way through.
She found a beautiful garden behind the funeral home. It wasn’t in full bloom just yet, but the air still smelled sweet with the scent of flowers. Surprised at this unexpected little slice of paradise, she followed the stone path. It was a beautiful area for the bereaved to go to recover from their tears. She would love to have a garden like this herself, but knew that she would never keep up with all of the work it would take to maintain it.
The find was so unexpected that she almost forgot what had caused her to stumble upon it in the first place. When she heard the honking sound of someone blowing their nose, it reminded her that she wasn’t alone. There was at least one other person in this garden, and she very well might be a murderer.
Ellie slowed her pace and walked as silently as she could in her heels. The path wound its way around a large, slightly overgrown bush, and she paused to peer through the branches. She saw blonde hair, and knew that she had the right person. The only question was, now what? It was easy to forget that, despite all of her suspicions, Britney might be completely innocent in all of this. She had followed the woman out here in the off chance that Britney intended to hurt Leigh, but neither Leigh nor Damien were anywhere to be found. She didn’t even know if they had come out here. Britney might really be the grieving woman that she seemed to be.
It was, she knew, time to tell Russell what she was doing. This was a personal case for him, and he would want to be involved, whether or not she was right about Britney.
Retreating down the path far enough that, with luck, her voice wouldn’t carry, she pulled her phone out of his pocket and dialed his number. She wasn’t surprised when it went to voicemail. Russell was in the habit of keeping his phone on vibrate, one of the few things he did that she wished he wouldn’t. The whole point of having a cell phone is so people can contact you when you’re out, she thought as she waited for the greeting message to end. What’s the point of even having the thing if he never notices it going off?
When the beep sounded, she left her message, telling him where she was and why before hanging up and returning to the spot behind the bush. She didn’t know how long Britney would stay out there, but with luck the woman would retreat inside before the service started.
It startled her when her phone rang loudly in her hand. She pressed the volume rocker down to mute it out of reflex, but it was too late; through the branches, she could see Britney straighten up. If Russell keeps his phone on vibrate too much, then I don’t silence mine often enough, she thought, annoyed at herself.
“Is someone there?” Britney called out. Ellie shoved her phone in her pocket and walked around the bush. It wasn’t difficult to look embarrassed.
“Sorry, that was me,” she said. “I stepped out to make a call. I forgot my ringer was on. Good thing I hadn’t gone back inside yet.”
“It’s okay, I was just startled.” The other woman wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. “I came out here to cry, I didn’t expect to see anyone else.”
Ellie opened her mouth to tell her that she was going to head back inside, when she heard another voice coming from somewhere else in the garden.
“There’s no one else here, Leigh. That ringtone was probably from someone in the parking lot. Just tell me whatever it was that you brought me out here for. The service is going to start soon, and we can’t miss it.”
She was almost certain that it was Damien’s voice, and there was no doubt that the woman who answered him was Leigh.
“Damien, I know how John died, and it wasn’t an accident.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
* * *
Both Ellie and Britney froze. It seemed like they waited an eternity before Damien responded.
“What are you talking about, Leigh?”
“He didn’t die of natural causes.” Her voice cracked. “I just… I thought you should know.”
The pizzeria owner slid her eyes over to the blonde woman still sitting on the bench. Had she killed him? If Leigh gave her name up, would Britney try to escape? Ellie knew that one place that she did not want to be was right next to a killer that was about to be exposed. She began inching back, putting space between herself and the woman who was listening so intently.
“It was a heart attack. That’s what they told everyone. Why do you think it was something else?”
“It was a heart attack.” Her voice twisted, as if she had started to cry. “But it wasn’t from natural causes. I caused it. I did it. I killed him.”
“Oh, Leigh, don’t say that. Just because his heart attack happened after your wedding doesn’t mean it happened because of your wedding. For all we know, it could have happened while he was on the couch watching football. At least when he passed, he was surrounded by the people he cared about.”
“You don’t understand what I’m saying,” the woman said unevenly. Her voice shook, and Ellie thought that it wouldn’t be long before she began to sob. “I killed him, Damien. I did it. I poisoned him during the toast.”
The garden fell silent. No, Ellie thought. It’s not possible. She’s just confused. She doesn’t know what she’s saying. Damien seemed to have the same thought.
“Of course you didn’t. Whatever silly wedding tradition you broke, that’s not why he died. Come here, let’s go back inside. You shouldn’t miss his service.”
“Stop it!” Leigh snapped. Ellie heard the crackling of small branches breaking. Had she shoved him. “Why aren’t you listening to me? I killed him. I put poison in his drink. I did it so I could be with you.”
Britney stood up in an instant and began moving down the path toward them. Ellie hissed at her to come back, but the other woman ignored her. She followed, realizing the irony in the fact that she was now trying to protect the woman that only a few minutes ago she had thought capable of murder.
She wasn’t quick enough to catch up to Britney before Britney reached Leigh and Damien. The blonde woman didn’t hesitate for even an instant. She strode right up to Leigh and, before the woman could react, punched her in the face.
Leigh stumbled backward. She reached out to Damien to balance herself, but he jerked his arm away from her. She ended up half falling into a prickly bush, but didn’t seem to notice the brambles that got caught in her dress. She wiped her hand across her mouth and looked in shock at the back of it, which had come away bloody.
“I’m going to kill you! How could you do that to him?” Britney shrieked. She pulled back her hand to punch the woman again, but Ellie grabbed her by the arm—not to protect Leigh, but because the widow had just slipped a bottle of pepper spray out of her purse. It wasn’t lethal, but she wasn’t eager for any of them to be sprayed with it.
“I was being kind to him,” Leigh said, trying to disentangle herself from the bush with one hand while keeping the pepper spray pointed in front of her like a shield with the other.
“You’re a crazy freak!”
“Shut up, you don’t know a thing about love,” the auburn-haired woman snarled. She gave up on her dress and simply yanked herself free, ripping it in the process. “Do you really think he would be happier if I had broken up with him? On the eve of his wedding? The man died happy, and as painlessly as any of us can hope for.”
“He’s not happy now. He’s dead!” Britney tried to yank herself out of Ellie’s grasp. The pizzeria owner let go of her arm, but managed to get both arms around the other woman’s waist before she lunged forward again. One of Britney’s elbows hit her in the ribcage and she grunted with pain. It was tempting to just let her go, but she knew it wouldn’t be the right thing to do. There was no telling who would end up getting hurt.
“Well he’s not sad either, is he?” Leigh was breathing heavily. Her lip was still bleeding from the punch, and that, combined with her torn dress, made her look like an asylum escapee. Her eyes darted from side to side, looking for a clear path away from them. It was obvious that this confession hadn’t gone how she had planned. She hadn’t expected witnesses.
“You… tell me you aren’t serious.” Damien was staring at her, his face a mask of shock. “I don’t… why would you…”
“I thought it was the answer to our problems,” she said, her eyes flicking back up to his. “After you kissed me that night, I knew I couldn’t go through with the wedding. How could I, when I was in love with you?”
“You could have broken up with him like a normal person, you psycho,” Britney snarled.
“I didn’t want to hurt him! Why can’t any of you see that? I cared about him. I loved him. I just wasn’t in love with him.”
“You didn’t want to hurt him, so you killed him.” Damien’s voice was flat. “That’s your version of love, is it?”
“Just stop it!” Her voice climber higher. “All of you, stop. None of you know the truth. His heart… he had heart disease. It used to be under control with medicine, but it had been getting worse. The surgery that the doctors suggested didn’t have a high chance of success, and he didn’t want to die on an operating table. He didn’t want anyone to know, he thought they would treat him differently. If I had called off the marriage, that might have killed him. But he wouldn’t have died happy then, would he?”
She was crying again. Ellie thought that the tears were real; Leigh really might have thought that she was making the kinder choice.
“How did you do it?” Damien asked. His voice was thick, and his hands were shaking. Ellie tried to imagine what he was feeling. From the sound of it, he had shared a kiss—and maybe more—with his best friend’s fiancée a few nights before his wedding. Then he had watched that same friend’s body carried out on a stretcher, only to discover that the woman for whom they both had feelings had been the murderer.
“Potassium chloride,” Leigh said. She took a shaky breath and let it out slowly. “It was an oral solution. I poured what would have been a fatal dose for a healthy man into his wine. He didn’t finish the drink, but with his heart condition, it was enough to cause a fatal arrhythmia. You have to believe me, Damien, he felt very little pain. It was a good way for him to go; I made sure of it.”
The man nodded, his gaze far away. “There’s just one thing I don’t understand,” he said slowly. He raised his eyes to hers. “Why would you tell me this? How the hell could you think that I would feel anything—anything—other than disgust after learning that you murdered my best friend?”
Leigh inhaled sharply as if his words had physically hurt. “I couldn’t keep lying to you. You deserved the truth. I’ll never lie to you, never.”
“You’ll never get the chance to,” he said. He stepped toward her. Ellie expected Leigh to raise the pepper spray, but instead her fingers opened and it dropped to the ground. She looked at the man in front of her, and took a hesitant step back, as if she wasn’t sure what she was reading in his eyes.
Ellie and Britney watched, mesmerized, as Damien reached up to wrap his hands around Leigh’s throat. She didn’t move until he began to squeeze, then she began to struggle. The movement broke the spell, and Ellie realized what she was witnessing.
She spotted the pepper spray on the ground and did the only thing that she could think of—she grabbed it. After fumbling for a moment, she got the nozzle pointed the right way and depressed the plunger. A fine orange mist sprayed out, covering both Damien and Leigh’s faces.
Damien let Leigh go immediately, and both collapsed on the ground in fits of violent coughing. Ellie took in a breath to shout for help, but something painful caught in
her throat and she choked on her words as her lungs tried to expel the blowback of the spray. She stumbled away until she felt someone’s hands on her. She let the person guide her back through the gardens. Within minutes she was leaning against the sink in the ladies’ room splashing water into her face. Britney was standing behind her, wringing her hands.
“Get Russell,” Ellie managed to croak. “Sheriff.”
Britney slipped out of the room, and Ellie hoped that she knew who she was looking for. She tried to take a deep breath, but ended up coughing again. When she finally looked back up, she saw that her eyes were red and puffy. She had barely caught the finest mist from the spray. She couldn’t even imagine what the two people who had caught it directly were feeling just then.
She didn’t have to wait long before Russell came through the bathroom door, Britney on his heels. He came over to her immediately and looked into her face.
“Did you wash your eyes out?” he asked.
“Yes. I think I’m okay. But the others, they got it worse,” she said. “Leigh killed John. She confessed everything. Hurry, before she gets away.”
He hesitated for a split second before nodding. “Stay here with her,” he demanded of Britney before he left the room. Ellie squinted at herself in the mirror. The killer was found. The case was closed. John would be able to rest in peace after all.
Garlic Artichoke Murder (Papa Pacelli's Pizzeria Series Book 11) Page 6