Pork, Pizza and Murder

by Patti Benning

  The thought that someone might have done this on purpose made her feel sick. Even more frightening was the knowledge that if Edmund hadn't thought quickly enough to shove her out of the way, she very well might be laying there in his place.

  She looked back down at the older man, and felt her lower lip begin to tremble. Not even five minutes ago, he had been talking to her like usual. How could everything have gone so wrong so quickly?

  She heard a car door slam outside and looked up, recognizing the flashing lights. The sheriff and his deputies had arrived. She stood up, absentmindedly brushing some shards of glass off of Edmund's chest as she rose. She still felt unsteady on her feet, and knew from experience that she was going into shock. Everything seemed numb and far away.

  The pizzeria door slammed open and Russell was the first inside. He spotted her immediately and ran over, pulling her into his arms. “You're okay,” he said, burying his face in her hair. “Thank goodness.”

  She clung to him, grateful for the contact. He was the only thing that felt real just then. Still, his words struck her as odd. She might be mostly uninjured, but she was far from okay. Someone had just killed one of her customers, and they were getting away.

  Chapter Five

  With Edmund’s body gone, it was easier for her to gather her thoughts. No one but the paramedics had been allowed to leave yet. Her customers, first-timers and regulars alike, had been told to stay for questioning since the deputies needed to take witness statements.

  Ellie was the first one that Russell questioned. She knew it was probably just because he wasn't ready to let her out of his sight just yet. She tried the best that she could to answer his questions while everything was still fresh on her mind.

  “Did you see what direction the car turned into the parking lot from?” her husband asked her. They were in the kitchen, which had been claimed as a makeshift interview room. It got the witnesses away from the broken glass and chaos in the main eating area.

  “No,” she told him. “I didn't even see it coming at the pizzeria until the last second. Edmund… I think he must have seen it. He shoved me away from the window just as the car hit. I didn't know what had happened at first.”

  “Describe the driver to me.”

  Ellie did so. “Do you think you'll catch him?” she asked once she had finished.

  “We will,” Russell said grimly. “Even if the car’s not registered to him, we’re bound to pick up something. We’re going to dust for prints and check all of the security cameras in the area to see if we can't figure out what path the car took.”

  “I just can't believe someone would do something like that on purpose, but if it was an accident, then why would he run? Is he the one who threatened us?”

  “People don't always think straight after something traumatic happens,” he said. “I don't think there's any cause to worry about that just yet.”

  She took a deep breath and nodded. “Is there anything else?”

  “If I need to know more, I can ask you later,” he said. “You look like you could use a break. Go get a glass of water and make yourself comfortable. I'm going to finish up here, then we'll discuss what we’re going to do about the damage to the pizzeria.”

  She did as he said, grabbing a glass and filling it with fresh, cold water. She took it out of the kitchen and went to sit in the dining area, as far away from the broken window as possible. The deputies were working through the other witnesses, taking statements. Later, they would compare notes to see if anything useful could be gleaned from the information.

  Ellie noticed Jacob, who was speaking with Bethany nearby. She didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but couldn’t help but to overhear part of their conversation.

  “I was looking right at him when the crash happened, and he didn’t even jump at all,” he was saying. “I don’t know, it just struck me as weird. I think he even finished eating his pizza while the rest of us were panicking.”

  Ellie frowned. Who was he talking about? She waited until Bethany finished speaking to him, then made sure to catch his eye. The deputy called over Joselyn and her daughter, who were the only people left. Jacob made a beeline for Ellie.

  “Did you say one of the guests was acting strangely after the crash?” she asked.

  He nodded. “Yeah, that guy who comes in here all the time and just gets a slice or two. Dillon, I think?”

  “Dillon Forrest,” she said. “I’ve run his card enough times that I’ve probably got the number memorized by now.”

  “Yeah, him. It was strange, but I might have been mistaken. I was pretty freaked out myself. Anyway, what are we going to do about the window?” he asked. “How long do you think the pizzeria will be closed? The others will hear about this soon, and they'll want to know.”

  “I'm not sure,” Ellie said. She knew that Jacob was right; her other employees would certainly want to know what they could expect for the foreseeable future. “Russell and I will talk more tonight, and I’ll try to see if I can get a hold of the insurance company. I think we should plan on having the pizzeria closed down for at least a week, if not longer. We can’t open up until the window and the damage to the front of the building has been repaired.”

  Jacob nodded. She saw worry flash through his eyes. She knew that her employees counted on the money that they got from their shifts to make a living. A whole week without working would make a noticeable dent in their paychecks. She bit her lip, feeling terrible for them. She would have to think about what she could do to make things easier. Maybe she could have some extra shifts dedicated to cleanup. She was sure that cleaning up the glass, repainting the wall, and fixing the table and chairs would take more than just a couple of hours.

  It seemed like no time at all before Joselyn and her daughter were done. Juliet was quiet, her face streaked with dried tears. Ellie felt her heart break a little. It was a horrible thing for a little girl to have seen, and even though she knew that the accident wasn't her fault at all, she still felt guilty.

  After the last of the witnesses left, including Jacob, Ellie found herself alone in the pizzeria with Russell, Liam, and Bethany. The four of them stood in the middle of the dining area, staring grimly at the car for a long moment before Russell sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

  “Let's head home, Ellie,” he said. “After that, I'll come back here and start going over the car. The sooner we finish investigating the scene and get the car towed, the better. I think it's supposed to rain tonight, and we’ll want to block off this window somehow. Liam, could you start the search for the missing man? You have his description, and it sounds like he must have been injured in the crash, so he should be easy to find.”

  Liam nodded and strode toward the door. Ellie frowned at her husband.

  “Wait why are we going home?” she asked. “Wouldn't it be better if you stayed here and started the investigation with everyone else? I’m not hurt, I can make it home on my own. “

  “Ellie, I need to make sure you get home safely,” he said. “We don't know who did this or what it means.”

  She met his eyes, and knew that he was referring to the threat he had received the day before. She felt a chill crawl up her spine. If she was being honest with herself, she would feel better knowing that Russell was with her when she got home. They had both been gone for most of the day. Who knew what could be waiting for her inside? If whoever had threatened Russell's family on the phone was serious, they may not be done trying to carry through with their threat.

  “All right,” she said. “But as soon as we get there, you should come back here. I want to know why this happened.”

  “I will,” he promised. “I won't let whoever did this get away with it.”

  Ellie followed her husband out through the door. He walked toward his truck, and she made her way toward her car. As she did so, she glanced behind her. The sight of the vehicle half inside the pizzeria was chilling and unsettling. Whoever had done it would have had to aim directly at the pizzeria, and
speed up before hitting them. They weren’t close enough to an intersection for this to be an accidental swerve. If someone had been driving along the road and had accidentally swerved, they would have hit at an angle, but this had been head-on. Whoever had done it must have meant to hit the building.

  With that unsettling thought in her mind, she got into her car and strapped on her seatbelt. She waited until Russell was ready to go, then pulled out of the parking lot. She felt guilty going home, leaving the pizzeria in the state that it was in, but logically she knew that there wasn't anything she could do. The next step was in the hands of the police. She would just get in the way.

  Once at home, she would be able to make the phone calls that she needed to. Her grandmother, for one, needed to know what had happened, and Shannon and James would need to be alerted as well. Then, she would have to talk to her insurance company. At least I won't have any trouble getting a hold of the police report, she thought. It was just one of the many benefits of being married to the town's sheriff.

  Chapter Six

  After she and Russell walked through the house together, making sure that there were no surprises, human or otherwise, waiting for her inside, Ellie settled into the living room with Marlowe, her family's greenwing macaw on a wooden play stand, and took out her cell phone.

  Her grandmother, the woman who had brought her to Kittiport and who had given her the new start at her life that she had so desperately needed, was the first person that she called. She was glad when the older woman answered instead of the phone going to voicemail. This news wasn't something that she wanted Nonna to hear in a message.

  “Ellie,” the older woman said. “This is a surprise. I thought you had work?”

  “Work ended early today,” Ellie said. “The pizzeria's closed down until further notice.”

  “Why?” her grandmother asked, concern entering her voice, which had previously been cheerful. “What happened? Is everyone okay?”

  “There was an accident…”

  It took her a few minutes to go over what had happened in detail with the older woman. Nonna was silent on the other line for a long moment, then said in a shaky voice, “Well, I'm glad you're okay, dear. It sounds like you came very close to ending up like that poor man.”

  “If it wasn't for him, I would have,” she said. She felt a twist of sadness at her own words. Edmund had saved her life… at the cost of his own.

  “I have faith in that husband of yours,” the older woman continued. “I know he'll figure out what happened. I'm just thankful that you're okay. We can fix the building, but we can't fix you.”

  “I'm just worried that this might not be a one-time thing,” she said. “You know about the call that Russell received yesterday. I admit, I didn't really think that whoever made the threat would follow through, but what if that's what this was?”

  “Even if it is, Russell will catch them,” Nonna said. “Someone ran a car into a building, and left the car behind. I'm sure that there is plenty of evidence that Russell and his deputies will find. Whoever did it won't get away with it for long.”

  “Until they catch him, I won't be able to sleep easily. We could all be in danger.”

  Suddenly, she was extremely glad that her grandmother was out of town, though she knew that the older woman's relative safety wouldn't last for long. “What time will you be home this evening?”

  “Oh, seven or eight,” Nonna said.

  “Do you want me to talk to Russell about us sleeping over there tonight? I wouldn't feel right leaving you alone in your house with this person still on the loose.”

  “You know that my house is always open to you,” Nonna said. “You're more than welcome to sleep there if it would make you feel better.”

  It would, and Ellie said as much. She talked to the older woman for a few more minutes, then said her goodbyes and hung up the phone. Knowing that she and Russell would be able to spend the night next-door at her grandmother's house did make her feel better. There was safety in numbers. Still, that left Shannon, James, and Andrew to worry about.

  She picked up the phone and dialed her best friend's number. Shannon answered with a yawn.

  “Hey,” she said, sounding sleepy. “You caught me napping.”

  “Sorry,” Ellie said, wincing. She knew that Shannon needed her sleep. Their baby was only a few months old, and still didn't always sleep through the night.

  “I'm sorry,” she said again. “But it's important. I'm not sure if it's on the news yet or not, but someone ran into the pizzeria earlier today.”

  “Ran into the pizzeria? What do you mean?”

  “They drove a car into the pizzeria. It broke through the front window and killed one of my guests and… and almost killed me. If he hadn't pushed me out of the way –” She broke off, feeling her throat close up. She blinked rapidly, fighting back tears. She wanted to focus on talking to her sister-in-law. Crying, she knew, would come later.

  “Oh, Ellie,” Shannon said, sounding much more awake now. “You're okay, though? Did anyone else get hurt? What happened?”

  “I just got some scratches. No one else is hurt. And we don't know what happened. The driver fled the scene, so I don't know if it was an accident or if he did it on purpose.”

  “Who would do something like that on purpose?” Shannon asked, sounding stunned. Before Ellie could say anything, the other woman gasped. “Do you think that this is what the person who called yesterday meant when they threatened to go after Russell's family if he didn't drop out of the election?”

  “That's what I'm afraid of,” Ellie said, her voice almost a whisper. “But until Russell catches the driver, there isn't any way to know for sure. I’m hoping it’s just a coincidence, and that this was a terrible accident, but it doesn’t seem likely.”

  “What are you going to do, Ellie?” the other woman asked. “Do you think that you're in danger now? Are we in danger? I have to call James soon to tell him. He'll want to know. I'm home alone, but all the doors are locked, I double checked before I laid down for my nap.”

  “Keep your cell phone on you,” Ellie suggested. “Call Russell if anything seems off. I know that he'd rather head out there for no reason than have you wait until it's too late.”

  “I'm scared,” Shannon admitted. “You don't think someone would try to hurt Andrew, do you?”

  “I don't know, but I hope not,” Ellie said. “Just be careful. I know the person driving the car was hurt. He must've been pretty banged up. He hit the restaurant quite hard. He might not try anything else.”

  “Let me know as soon as Russell finds him,” Shannon said. “I'm going to go. I should call James. Thanks for letting me know, Ellie. I'm so sorry about what happened, but I'm glad that you're okay.”

  Satisfied that all of her most urgent calls had been made, Ellie went into the kitchen and made herself a cup of tea. She still felt completely shocked by what had happened. Bits and pieces of it kept coming back to her in flashes. It was hard to believe that one of her customers was dead, and the next time she drove past the pizzeria, she would see a gaping hole in the shattered window where the front wall used to be.

  Thoughts of the damage to the building reminded her that she still had to call her insurance provider, so she went to grab her laptop to look up their website. Half an hour later, she put down her cell phone, in an even worse mood than before. It had taken her ages to reach an actual representative, and then they had said that they wouldn't be able to give her a quote until they got the police report. She had finally managed to get some answers as to when the fix should be completed, and it had been unsatisfactory.

  “Within a month,” she grumbled. “That doesn’t tell me much at all.”

  She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. She knew that the damage to the pizzeria should be the least of her worries. Human beings were so much more important than any restaurant ever could be, and one person was already dead. If her fears were correct, then the accident hadn't been an accident at al
l. She and her family might still be in danger. The only question was, what could she do about it?

  Chapter Seven

  The rest of the afternoon dragged by at a snail’s pace. Eventually, the sun began to set, and Ellie saw a car pull into her grandmother's driveway. She was glad that the older woman was back; it would be good to have some company. She had heard nothing from Russell since he had left to go finish his investigation at the pizzeria, and was beginning to get restless.

  Once she saw her grandmother's friends drive away, she made sure Marlowe was safely in her cage and clipped the leashes onto the dogs’ collars before walking over to the neighboring house. Nonna was waiting for her on the porch. She came up and hugged Ellie before saying anything.