Pork, Pizza and Murder

by Patti Benning

  “It's good to see you,” she said. “I know you said you were okay, but I was still worried. Do you have any news about what happened?”

  “None yet,” Ellie said. “Do you mind if I spend some time over here? I can get the guest bedroom ready for Russell and me.”

  “Of course, dear. Have you eaten dinner?”

  Ellie shook her head. Eating had been the last thing on her mind, but now that the older woman had mentioned it, she realized that she hadn't eaten lunch or dinner, and her stomach gave an impatient grumble.

  “I'm sure there's something inside that we can make for dinner,” Nonna said. “Come on, let's go look in the fridge.”

  Ellie followed her grandmother inside, feeling a pang of homesickness as she walked through the familiar door. She knew it was silly to feel that way; she lived right next door, after all, and could visit whenever she wanted, but that didn't change the fact that the Pacelli house been her home for nearly two years. It felt strange to visit as a guest.

  They went into the kitchen, Ellie unclipping the dogs’ leashes as she walked. Both of them were familiar with the house, and seemed happy to be back.

  “I think I have everything we need to make sloppy joes,” her grandmother said, peering into the fridge. “I'm going to need to go grocery shopping soon, it looks like.”

  “I can take you later this week,” Ellie said. “I'll have plenty of spare time; the pizzeria will be closed for a while. I have no idea when we’re going to be able to get the window fixed.”

  Her grandmother got out all the ingredients needed for sloppy joe's, and Ellie began to help her cook, taking charge of preparing the onions and fresh garlic. Her grandmother started frying the meat on the stove, and soon the delicious scent of the cooking dinner filled the kitchen. For the first time since the accident hours ago, Ellie felt herself relax. It was good to be back in the familiar kitchen, cooking next to her grandmother. She was glad that Nonna had come back from Florida. It just wasn't the same without her around.

  It wasn't long before the two of them were sitting at the kitchen table, sloppy joe's on the plates in front of them. Her grandmother had poured them each a small glass of wine, and there was part of a leftover blueberry pie in the fridge that they would be able to have for dessert.

  “Thanks for all of this, Nonna,” Ellie said. “I feel a lot better now. I think I just needed some company.”

  “You shouldn't have let Russell leave you all alone at home,” the older woman said. “You must have been so lonely and upset.”

  “He needed to go back and finish investigating the crime scene,” Ellie said. “If I had asked him to stay, he probably would have, but I want him to focus on finding out exactly what happened. I'm not going to interfere with an investigation just because I'm lonely.”

  Nonna patted her hand. “I know. It can’t be easy being married to the sheriff. I just don't want him to forget that now that he is married, taking care of the town isn’t his only job. You’re important too, dear.”

  “He's been everything I could ask for in a husband,” Ellie said. “I knew before I married him how important his job was to him, and I'm okay with that. It's not like my own work doesn't affect our marriage. With me traveling to Florida a couple times a year and picking up shifts when one of my employees calls in unexpectedly, I’m usually kept just as busy as he is.”

  Before Nonna could say anything else, Ellie’s cell phone began to ring, distracting them both from their conversation. She got up, rummaging around in her purse to find the phone. When she saw Russell's name on the caller ID, she felt a rush of relief. Sliding her thumb across the touchscreen, she answered the call.

  “Hey,” she said, knowing that her relief could be heard in her voice.

  “Hey,” Russell said. “First, is everything okay there?”

  “Yes,” Ellie said. “I'm at Nonna's. We just ate dinner. We saved some for you. She said we can spend the night here. I'm worried about her being all alone after what happened.”

  “You don't have to be, I’ve got good news,” her husband said. “Liam found the car's driver and is bringing him in as we speak. Can you come to the station? We need an eyewitness to identify him. I can't let you speak with him, but you can wait in my office while I do the interview and we can discuss whatever he has to say afterward.”

  “I'm so glad you caught him,” Ellie breathed. “I'll head over. Are you sure it's him? I don't want to leave Nonna here alone if you might have the wrong person.”

  “We're sure,” Russell said. “The car is registered in his name, his injuries are consistent with the crash, and he matches the description we got from you and Jacob.”

  Ellie was more relieved than she could say. At least they would be able to get some answers now. With luck, the man would tell them exactly what happened. Of course, she knew it wouldn't be that easy. If he had purposely run into the pizzeria, he probably wouldn’t admit it easily.

  She said her goodbyes to Russell and hung up the phone. After telling her grandmother what was going on, the older woman volunteered to watch the dogs while Ellie went into town. She made sure that all the doors and windows in her grandmother's house were locked, then hugged the older woman goodbye and grabbed her purse, walking over to her driveway, where her car was parked. Before long, she was headed into town.

  Everyone at the police station knew her, and she was waved through to the back as soon as she walked in the doors. As she walked by, she heard the woman at the desk page Russell to tell him that she was there. He met her in the hall between the front room and his office.

  “Thanks for coming so quickly,” he said. “Like I said, he matches the description, but if we get a positive ID from an eyewitness, it will help the case a lot.”

  “Whatever you need,” she said. “Where is he?”

  “Interview room one,” Russell said. “But you can look at him through the cameras.”

  He took her into his office where one of the monitors was set up to a live feed of the cameras in the interview room. She took one look at the man on the screen and felt her body tense.

  “That's him,” she said. “He's the man who was driving the car.”

  Russell nodded, unsurprised. “He clammed up,” Russell said. “He won't say anything until he gets a lawyer. With a positive eyewitness identification, we can hold him here for a while. There's no question that he did it; not with your identification and the fact that the car is registered to him. But we want to know why.”

  “If it was an accident, wouldn't he just admit to it?” Ellie asked.

  “He might think he can talk his way out of it if he has a lawyer,” Russell said. “Unfortunately for him, he’s getting a public defender, and no one is available until tomorrow.”

  “I'm glad you got him,” Ellie said, moving closer to her husband until her arm was brushing his. “But I'm going to feel a lot better once we get to the bottom of all of this and figure out exactly what happened.”

  Chapter Eight

  The next morning was a strange one for Ellie. Normally, she would head into the pizzeria and get started on the day’s cooking, but with the restaurant closed for the foreseeable future, she didn't know what to do with herself. After Russell went to work to hopefully get some answers out of the driver, she settled down in the living room with her laptop to answer emails from the pizzeria in Florida. She wrote up a quick report to Linda, telling her what had happened at the Florida pizzeria’s sister store, then emailed her meat and produce suppliers for the Kittiport store to let them know that she would have to delay her orders. She didn't want all of that food to go to waste.

  After that, she spent a few hours playing with the dogs in the yard. It was a beautiful day out, but she felt gloomy nonetheless. Edmund’s death sat heavily on her shoulders. Edmund had saved her life, but at the cost of his own. She wondered if she would ever be able to forget that horrible moment when she had looked up to see him gone, and the car in his place. She wished that she had known mor
e about him. She wanted to do something for his family, but didn't even know if he had a family. All she knew was his name, his favorite type of pizza, and that he liked his bottled water cold.

  When she heard her cell phone ringing through the open kitchen window, she called the dogs and went inside, dropping the much loved tennis ball in the bucket of toys by the back door. She spared a moment to wash off her hands, and answered the call on the last ring. It was Russell, and there was a tone to his voice that she didn't like.

  “Are you free for lunch?” he asked.

  “I'm free all day,” she said. “Without the pizzeria, there’s surprisingly little to keep me occupied.”

  “Do you want to meet me at Hot Diggity Dog?” he asked. “We can grab lunch there.”

  “Sure,” she said. “Is everything all right?”

  “Well, Mark Madison, the driver, finally talked. I want to tell you about it in person, though. I'll see you there in about half an hour?”

  “Sure,” Ellie said, feeling uneasy. “Half an hour. See you soon.”

  She got ready to go, her stomach a bundle of nerves. Just what could the driver have said that was so bad? Russell rarely refused to give her news over the phone, so she knew it must be something unsettling. Surely if it was something simple, like he had admitted to being drunk while driving and it had been an accident, he would have simply told her right away.

  “You two be good,” she said to the dogs, bending down to pet Bunny and Sawyer. “I'll be back soon.”

  Moving in a daze, she grabbed her purse, keys, and phone and walked outside, locking it behind her. She drove the familiar route into town automatically. Hot Diggity Dog was just a few streets away from Papa Pacelli's. One of her good friends, Joanna, owned the place, and while it wasn’t as popular as the pizzeria, it got a good amount of business.

  She recognized Russell’s truck in the parking lot and took the spot next to it. Going inside, she saw her husband standing at the counter, talking to Joanna. The smile on his face looked strained. He waved Ellie over as she came in. She realized with a surge of guilt that she hadn't told Joanna about what had happened. By now the other woman would have seen something about it on the news.

  “Hey,” Joanna said. “Russell was just telling me some of the details about the case. I saw video of the pizzeria on TV last night. I called Shannon first to see if she knew how you were. I didn't want to bother you if you are busy dealing with everything.”

  “I should have called you,” Ellie admitted. “So much has been happening though, I've been worried about my family.”

  “Trust me, I understand,” Joanna said. “I'm just glad you're okay. The damage is pretty bad. Do you think you'll be able to reopen?”

  “We will definitely be reopening eventually,” Ellie said, her voice firm. The thought of not reopening the pizzeria hadn't even crossed her mind. “It might take a while for the insurance company to come around, but it will happen. If they deny our claim for some reason, I'll just have to dip into my savings account. I'm not giving up on the restaurant.”

  “Good,” Joanna said firmly. “Now, what can I get the two of you? Clara is in the back. I’ll take your order and then send her out to say hi.”

  Clara was one of Ellie's old employees. Ellie normally looked forward to seeing the younger woman, but right now she just wanted to talk to her husband privately. Still, she didn't want to be rude. She smiled and gave Joanna her order, then waited while the other woman went into the back to prepare it and send out her employee.

  Clara was every bit as horrified as Joanna had been about the state of the pizzeria. After reassuring her that everyone was okay, besides the man who had been killed in the accident, she told Clara that she should call Jacob for more information, then she and Russell went to a small table in the corner. A moment later, Joanna brought out their food. Ellie's hot dog, which had pickled carrots, honey mustard, and shredded chicken on top, looked delicious, but her usual appetite didn't seem to exist. She was too nervous about whatever Russell had to tell her. She smiled and thanked her friend, then began to pick at her food while she waited for her husband speak.

  “Someone paid him to drive his car into the pizzeria,” Russell said in a low voice without preamble once Joanna was out of earshot.

  Ellie looked up from her hot dog, staring at her husband in disbelief.

  “Somebody paid him?” she said, horrified. “Does this have to do with the call you got the other day?”

  “I believe so,” Russell said. “He said that somebody paid him far more than his car was worth to run into the pizzeria. He admitted that he was supposed to target you, specifically, if he could.”

  “How did you manage to get him to confess all of this?” she asked.

  “Apparently, he was supposed to get half of the money after the incident, and he fled immediately to the place where the money was supposed to be after the crash, but the person who paid him never left the other half there. The lawyer convinced him it was in his best interest to come clean, and we cut him a deal. It took us all morning, but I think we finally got everything that he's going to confess.”

  “Did he tell you who paid him?”

  “No. He said he didn't know. The person reached out to him – said he didn't have any idea how they got his number – and offered him the money. He said that it sounded like they used one of those voice changing machines, like anyone can buy from a toy store.”

  “Just like the person who called you,” Ellie said.

  “Exactly.”

  “So, what do we do now?” Ellie asked.

  The sheriff took a deep breath. “Now, I'm going to resign.”

  “No!”

  She said the word so loudly that Joanna looked over at them, surprised. Lowering her voice, she added, “You can't. That's what this person wants. Don't let them win. You love your job, and the people of Kittiport need you. You can’t just give up.”

  “Ellie, you know my job’s important to me,” Russell said. “But you're more important to me. You, Shannon, James, Andrew, and Nonna… you're my family. If any one of you got hurt because of my job, I would never forgive myself.”

  “I don't like the thought of just giving up,” Ellie said. “Look, you still have that man in custody, don't you? Maybe you can get more information out of him. Or maybe whoever paid him won’t try again. Please, promise me you won't resign until you either hear from the person who made the threats, or you figure out what's going on. You’ll never forgive yourself if you quit.”

  Her husband sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Ellie, I can't risk anyone else getting hurt.”

  “Just give it another couple of days. It’s not long until the election, I don’t know what else these people could do in just a couple of days.”

  “Fine,” he said reluctantly. “I’ll wait a couple of days. But if anything else happens, I'm resigning.”

  The two of them stared at each other stubbornly until the door at the front of the shop jingled open. Ellie looked around to see Ralph coming in. She nudged Russell with her foot and he turned, immediately straightening up and putting on his professional law enforcement face as he rose, shaking his adversary’s hand.

  “Fancy seeing you here,” Ralph said. “I just stopped in for a quick ‘dog to tide me over until dinner. How's everything going? I heard what happened at the pizzeria. I hope you're pulling through.”

  “We’re managing,” Ellie said. “Thank you. It's been tough.”

  “Things are looking up, though, I’m sure. The election is right around the corner. I’ve been thinking, we should all get together at the gathering on Sunday after the big speech. We can have another cookout.”

  “We'll see,” Russell said. “I'll have to talk to my family and see what they want to do. It's a big day for all of us.”

  “I'm sure it is. Well, I'm going to order my food and head out. As always, may the best man win. I'm glad to be running against you, Russell.”

  Ellie watched as the
other man walked up to the register and placed his order. She frowned, something was bothering her, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. Russell heaved a sigh behind her, looking even more exhausted than before.

  “Nothing against him,” he said in a low voice, “but I would feel bad leaving this town in his hands. He's a nice guy, but he doesn't have what it would take to be sheriff. You're right, Ellie. I should give it another couple of days. But I'm serious about dropping out if even one more thing happens. My family's far more important to me than any job could ever be.”

  “I know,” she said, taking his hand. “I just don’t want to let them win, Russell. We'll figure out who’s behind this, and somehow, we will stop them.”