Smoked Gouda Murder: Book 5 in Papa Pacelli's Pizzeria Series

by Patti Benning

  “Just hold on,” she said softly. “Help is on the way.” She didn’t know if the woman could hear her or not. She didn’t appear to be breathing, but Ellie was to scared of taking the pressure from her wound to take the time to check her pulse.

  After what felt like an hour, but could have only been minutes, she saw the flashing of lights through the display window as an ambulance pulled up alongside the entrance. She heard the keening of sirens, and hoped the police were on their way too.

  She moved aside as the paramedics ran up and began checking the woman for signs of life as they moved her onto an emergency stretcher. Shannon came up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder, and the two of them watched mutely as the woman was rolled away. She hadn’t moved at all since Ellie had first knelt behind her, and when she saw the open, unseeing eyes, she knew that despite her best efforts, the woman hadn’t made it.

  Russell walked through the door just after the paramedics left. He paused halfway in and followed their progress to the ambulance with his gaze, his eyes sad. Liam flanked him, his eyes going from the pool of blood on the trail to Ellie’s bloodstained hands, but he didn’t say anything, waiting instead for his sheriff to speak.

  Russell seemed to pale when he saw Shannon and Ellie standing side by side, one of them covered in blood, and the other shaking like a leaf. “Are both of you all right?” They nodded. He took a deep breath, then unclipped his walkie talkie from his belt and spoke into it.

  “Bethany, tell my brother that his wife is all right. She’s here with Eleanora and they both appear to be unharmed. You can let him come on in.” He turned to the two women and beckoned them over. “I’ll need a statement from each of you, but first you two should get cleaned up. James is waiting on the other side of the police barricade. I’m sure he’ll want to go to the station with you. I’ll be over there as soon as I get everything under control here.”

  “Do you think you’ll be able to find the killer?” Ellie asked.

  “Doubtful,” Russell said. “We’ll look, of course, but even if he or she hung around after attacking the victim, then I’m sure they took off when they saw the police vehicles pull up. Did you see anything that might help us identify the killer?”

  “No, sorry,” she said. “They were dressed completely in black, but that’s all I saw.”

  “I think it was a man,” Shannon said. Her voice was quiet, and her eyes were wet. “She kicked him when he attacked her, and the grunt he made sounded like a man’s voice. And he wasn’t much taller than her.”

  “That helps,” he said. “Thanks, Shannon.”

  Russell pulled a worn looking notebook out of his jacket pocket and scribbled in it. Ellie knew it was a pitifully short list that he was writing down. Maybe they’ll be able to get prints from the knife, she thought hopefully.

  He looked up from his note pad as a handsome man pushed his way through the door. “I’m so glad you’re all right,” he said, his eyes glued to his wife.

  “James,” Shannon hugged him tightly, then pulled back to look up at his face. “How did you hear about this?”

  “Russell called me as soon as he got the call about an attack at the pizzeria. When he told me you were the one that made the call…” He closed his eyes and shook his head. “I thought you might have been the one that got hurt, too.”

  “I’m fine, James. Ellie’s fine too.”

  “Good. Are you two free to go?”

  “I need to take an official statement from them first. I was going to have Bethany take them down to the station, unless you want to drive them, and they can get cleaned up and calm down a bit and see if they remember anything else.”

  “Can’t you take their statements tomorrow?” James asked.

  “They witnessed a murder. I need the information as soon as possible.”

  “Russ, this is my wife we’re talking about. Let me take her home. It’s not like either of them killed the lady. Whatever information you need, they’re not going to forget it between now and tomorrow morning.”

  “Would you quit talking about us like we aren’t here?” Shannon said, pulling away from her husband. “I, for one, would rather get it over with now.”

  “Me too,” Ellie said. “I think talking about it will help.”

  “Fine.” James ran his fingers through his hair. “Women. I’m going to go grey because of you.”

  James ended up driving them to the sheriff’s department, freeing Bethany to help with the search for the killer. After Ellie scrubbed her hands clean, she and Shannon were lead to a comfortable interview room, where they each given a cup of coffee and asked to wait. It didn’t take long for Russell to return from the crime scene. He interviewed them separately, going over the attack again, but also asking other questions about the evening and the woman who had been attacked. He seemed surprised when Ellie said that she had recognized her.

  “Papa Pacelli’s is a popular restaurant,” he said. “How come you remembered her specifically?”

  “She used her card to pay. I remember thinking how much I liked her name. It was something unique, and very pretty… Celestine, that was it.”

  He nodded. “Had you ever seen her before that day? Had she ordered pizzas previously?”

  “Possibly. I could check the records at the pizzeria. If she paid with her card previously, then it would show up. Why?”

  “She wasn’t a local,” he said. “At least, not according to her driver’s license. But she had some receipts in her wallet from local stores with dates spanning the past couple of months. If she ever ordered a pizza for delivery, that might tell us where she’s staying.”

  “I’ll check first thing tomorrow,” Ellie promised.

  “Thanks.” He stood up and indicated that she should do the same. “I think that’s all I need for now. Do you need a ride home?”

  “Just back to the pizzeria. My car’s there.”

  “All right, I’ll take you there. I’m glad you’re okay, Ellie. I’m sorry you keep getting dragged into this sort of thing. Be careful, all right?”

  “I always am.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  * * *

  Ellie woke up the next morning feeling as if she hadn’t slept at all. Whenever she closed her eyes, scenes from the murder flashed through her brain. She kept wondering if there was anything she could have done differently, and kept kicking herself for not knowing more about first aid. Twice in the past week she had failed to do anything other than call an ambulance when someone needed help. Maybe she should have applied pressure differently, or tried to keep the woman awake. Part of her wanted to look it up online, but the rational part of her mind told her that would be a bad idea. If she found out that there had been something else she could have done to try to save the woman, she would never forgive herself.

  At least she had one thing to look forward to today to take her mind off the murder; Nonna was coming home. Ellie was supposed to pick her up at noon, which gave her a few hours to make sure the house was clean and throw some cookies or muffins into the oven. She was determined to make her grandmother’s homecoming perfect. She may have only been gone for the weekend, but it felt like a lot longer.

  “There you go,” Ellie said as she buckled the elderly woman into the passenger side seat of her car. “I’ve got your medicine in my purse, and your doctor’s number in my phone.”

  “Thanks for picking me up, dear,” Ann said. “I hope it wasn’t too much trouble for you.”

  “Trouble? Not at all, Nonna. I missed you. It’ll be good to have you back.”

  She hadn’t told her grandmother about the murder at the pizzeria yet, though she knew she couldn’t keep it secret forever. The elderly woman didn’t need any more stress in her life, though; as far as Ellie was concerned, all Ann Pacelli should focus on was healing her broken bones and recovering from her fall.

  The drive back from the hospital took nearly half an hour, and by the time they returned to the Pacelli house, Nonna had fallen asleep. Ellie h
ad no choice but to prod her gently awake and help her hobble inside. Her phone rang, but she ignored it. Bunny greeted them at the door and even though she was almost vibrating with excitement, she seemed to sense that jumping up on the older woman wouldn’t be a good idea. Instead, the papillon ran circles around their feet as the two women made their slow way down the hall to Nonna’s room.

  “It feels good to be back,” the elderly woman said, seeming to perk up a bit as she took in the familiar surroundings. “And it smells simply amazing. Are you baking something?”

  “Cranberry orange muffins,” Ellie said. “I made them fresh right before I left to get you. Would you like some?”

  “Yes, that would be lovely. And a cup of tea if you will, sweetie. Chamomile.”

  A few minutes later Ellie returned to the bedroom with a tray laden with muffins and tea for two. She sat on the edge of the bed and took her cup of tea before handing the tray over to her grandmother.

  “So tell me, Nonna, what happened? Why were you going into the basement in the middle of the night?”

  “I didn’t mean to,” Ann said. “I must have gotten confused. I went to bed so early that I woke up in the middle of the night having to use the toilet. I must have opened the wrong door. I remember falling, but not much else. Thank goodness you found me before morning.”

  “I wouldn’t have if Bunny hadn’t woken me up,” Ellie said. She felt a surge of affection for the little dog, and reached down to help her up onto the bed. “She’s really the one that saved you. She must have heard you fall.”

  “What a good girl.” The elderly woman patted the dog gently with her good hand.

  “Nonna, we should talk about what happens if you fall and I’m not here,” Ellie said. “Maybe we should get you some sort of panic button.”

  “I don’t want a panic button.”

  “But what if you fall sometime while I’m at work and you can’t get up? You could by lying there for hours.”

  “I just won’t walk around the house in the dark again. I’ll be fine, Ellie. This was an accident. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”

  Ellie pursed her lips but didn’t push it. She could sense that this would be an ongoing argument, but now wasn’t the time to get into it.

  “How’s your tea?”

  “Just perfect, dear. Thank you.”

  Once they had finished their tea and muffins, she left the room, shutting the door quietly behind her and hoping her grandmother would get some rest. She had been planning on going in to the pizzeria for the last few hours just to help out – it was opening late today, anyway, while the police finished up their investigation – but was toying with the idea of calling the restaurant and seeing if her employees would be okay without her. It didn’t seem right to leave her nonna alone so soon after she had gotten out of the hospital. No, she thought, I can’t do that. I promised Russell that I’d check the records and see if Celestine had ever ordered a delivery pizza. I’ve got to go in for that, at least. Besides, who knows what might happen once people realize someone was killed in the restaurant.

  Suddenly she remembered the call that she had missed. She fumbled for her phone, hoping against hope that it had been the sheriff calling to tell her that the killer had been caught. But no, her caller ID said that Jacob had been the one to call. Sighing, she dialed his number.

  “Hey Ms. Pacelli, it’s all right, Iris covered for me,” he said when he answered.

  “What are you talking about?” she asked.

  “Didn’t you get my message?”

  “Sorry, I didn’t listen to it. What’s going on?”

  “Well, someone slashed my tires and I had to call a tow truck just to get out of my driveway. I should still be able to make it to my shift on Wednesday, though.”

  “Iris took your shift?”

  “Right.”

  “Okay. Thanks for letting me know. Sorry I didn’t answer.”

  “It’s fine, Ms. P. See ya Wednesday.”

  He hung up. Ellie frowned at her phone for a moment before putting it back in her pocket. First Shannon, and now Jacob had gotten suspicious flats. What was coming over this town?

  After making sure her grandmother was sleeping peacefully, Ellie left the house and made her way towards town. Jacob was out of commission until his car got fixed, and Clara was out of town for the next few days, so that didn’t leave them any extra employees. She doubted that Rose and Iris would be able to handle the pizzeria themselves that evening since it was likely to be busier than usual due to the holidays, and Iris was still learning her way around the kitchen. That meant that she had no choice but to go in and help out for the rest of the evening, whether or not she was able to get the information for Russell.

  As she drove through town, she noticed that Kittiport had gone through an amazing transformation over the last few days. With everything that had been going on over the last twenty-four hours, it had been easy for her to forget about the approaching holidays, but the rest of the town hadn’t forgotten. All month previously, it had looked as if a Halloween decoration factory had exploded in town, but now every spooky decoration was gone, a few trees had already been dressed up with soft white and blue lights, and Black Friday sale signs dominated the display windows of nearly every store.

  The biggest retail day of the year was drawing ever closer, and for the first time, Ellie felt the stirring of anticipation, not as a consumer, but as someone who was hoping to make a lot of sales that day. Nearly everyone in town would be out shopping the Friday after Thanksgiving. She just hoped that shopping made them hungry, because the pizzeria would be more than happy to feed them all.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  * * *

  The first thing Ellie did when she got to the pizzeria was print off the order records for the past two months. She poured herself a cup of soda from the open two-liter in the employee fridge and settled herself down at the table in the kitchen to pour over the papers. It was slow going. More people tended to pay with credit cards than with cash, and the pizzeria had been busier than ever the past couple of months. When she finally found the name that she was looking for, she exclaimed, causing Iris to jump in surprise.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Nothing, sorry,” Ellie said.

  She underlined the entry and felt a stab of disappointment. It had been another pickup order. With a sigh, she took a sip of her soda and kept going down the list.

  Near the end of the last page, she saw Celestine’s name again. She underlined it and followed the entry across the page with her pen. It was a delivery. Grinning, she wrote the address down on the back of the paper and took a picture of it with her cell phone, which she then sent to Russell in a text message, along with the date and time of the order. Feeling triumphant, she stacked the papers neatly and was about to stand up and get to work for real when she noticed something. When she had first sat down to look at the papers, she had started from the date that Celestine had come in to the pizzeria earlier that week, which meant that she hadn’t even looked at the more recent orders. Near the top of the first page was Celestine’s name again, and it was another delivery. She had ordered a pizza the day before she had died.

  “What do you think it means?”

  “I have no idea,” Ellie said. She stirred her butternut squash soup and blew on a spoonful tentatively before tasting it. Perfect. “I told Russell about it, of course. Jacob was the one that delivered it to her, so I imagine that he’ll have to go in for questioning at some point.”

  “You don’t think it could have been him, do you?” Shannon asked, her eyes going wide. It was the Wednesday after her grandmother had returned home, and they were eating lunch at a small bistro a couple of blocks away from the pizzeria. Karen was with them, listening with interest as she sipped a triple caramel hot chocolate.

  “No, of course not,” Ellie said. “But he may have seen someone else there with her, and it’s possible that that person could be the killer. I haven’t
had much of a chance to talk to Russell — I don’t know if he’d tell me anything else anyway — but from what he’s said, this lady isn’t a local, but she’s been in town for at least a month. He needed the address from the delivery to figure out where she was staying.”

  “Well, what’s the address?” her friend asked.

  Ellie recited it. “I already drove by, just out of curiosity. It’s some old house between here and Benton Harbor. I’ve got no idea who lives there.”

  “So we have a mysterious woman killed by an even more mysterious person dressed all in black,” Shannon mused. “Where’s she from?”