“He did it,” she managed to gasp. “He killed Sandra.”
Frank only had eyes for her. Whether he was blinded by his hate, or his own blood, he didn’t even seem to notice Russell coming at him. Russell tackled him, his arm catching Frank around the middle and throwing him to the ground. Ellie watched, terrified, as the two men grappled for a second, but then Russell managed to pin the hand with the knife to the ground. Placing a knee on Frank’s chest, he turned to look at Ellie.
“The police,” he said. “Hurry. They’re still at Pizza Perfect.”
EPILOGUE
* * *
Ellie sighed and leaned back against the lounge chair, closing her eyes and enjoying the feel of the sunlight on her face. It was everything she had dreamed of. St. Lucia truly was an island paradise.
“I’ve never been outside of the country, other than to Canada,” Russell said. “This is definitely worth it.”
Ellie looked over at him. He was in his own lounge chair, in the shade of the beach umbrella beside her. Between them was a low table with drinks on it, and a half-finished plate of fruit.
“I’m sorry the first half of our honeymoon was stolen from us.”
“We spent a week in Florida solving a murder,” he said. “I’m considering it a working vacation. I’m glad we went. Frank Harris’ disappointment must have made him crazy over the years. If we hadn’t stopped him, he probably would have tried to contact Linda again.”
“He spoke so callously about Sandra’s death. He didn’t mean to kill her, but he didn’t seem to care at all that he did. How could anyone not be consumed with guilt over that?”
“There are bad people in this world,” Russell said. “I don’t really have any explanation for it other than that.”
Ellie sipped her piña colada, thinking back over the past week. Whenever she thought about Sandra’s death, she felt a stab of pain in her heart. Sandra had been a genuinely good person, and she had not deserved to have her life cut short. She knew it could never cure the pain of their loss, but she had offered to pay for Sandra’s funeral, and her family had accepted.
There was very little to be grateful for, besides the fact that Linda was okay and no one else would get hurt. With luck, Linda would heal both physically and emotionally as time went on. Ellie knew that she would give the other woman a lot of leeway in the coming months. She had been through enough; if she wasn’t up to handling the day to day tasks of running the pizzeria, that was okay.
“Ellie?” Russell said a few minutes later.
She looked over at him, shading her eyes. The sunlight was beginning to feel like it was baking her, and she was trying to get up the energy to pull her chair over next to Russell’s. The ocean was a glittering, turquoise blue, she thought she might go cool off in it in a few minutes.
“What is it?”
“What now?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, we have a whole week… with nothing to do. What do normal people do with so much downtime?”
Ellie laughed. The truth was, she didn’t know. She rarely had more than a day off once a week, and even then, she was usually busy taking care of the animals, or last-minute business needs.
“I’m not sure,” she said. “I’ve been enjoying relaxing today. The thing is, I’m not sure I can see getting up and doing the exact same thing tomorrow. We will have to check out some of the guidebooks. I’m sure there are things we can do – hiking, tours, scuba diving, that sort of thing.”
“Neither of us is this type of person who will be happy without a little bit of excitement in our lives,” Russell said. “We go well together.”
“That we do,” she said. “I’m looking forward to years of enjoying adventures together, whether it’s on the beach in St. Lucia, or in our snowy little northern Maine town. I know wherever our lives lead us, it will be interesting… and we will be together, which is what matters the most.”
Pizza, Paradise, and Murder (Papa Pacelli's Pizzeria Series Book 24) Page 7