Pork, Pizza and Murder

by Patti Benning

  Once she was satisfied that all of the glass had been cleaned up, they began mopping and scrubbing the floor, removing the black marks from the tire tracks. Ellie and Jacob carried the broken table and chairs out to the dumpster behind the building. They would have to find a way to replace them, which wouldn’t be easy; they were nearly twenty years old. For a moment, she wondered whether she could find someone to repair them, but looking at the splintered wooden legs, she knew that the damage was too much. The loss of one of her grandfather’s original table and chair sets, was just another thing to blame on the mysterious caller.

  With the glass cleaned up, the broken furniture removed, and the floors clean, the restaurant looked a lot better. They had done a lot in a surprisingly short amount of time, and Ellie felt satisfied with their work.

  “Good job, guys,” she said. “This place is starting to look normal again.”

  “When will they be able to fix the window?” Jacob asked.

  “They're supposed to call me Monday with a date,” Ellie said. “With any luck, it won't be too long. Anyway, I think we’re done here today. I will email you all Monday after I hear from the insurance company and let you know what's happening.”

  “I’m glad we could help,” Jacob said.

  Ellie went into the kitchen to grab her purse. The employees had lagged behind to replace the tarp on the window. She could hear them talking through the door, and hesitated. Jacob was asking the others if they planned to go to the big election speech and cookout. She was touched when they all said yes.

  “I’m sure the sheriff will win,” Jacob said. “I know he’s got my vote, for sure.”

  Ellie hadn't told anyone what was going on, including her employees. She realized that the only ones who knew about the threats were her and Russell, their family, and the deputies at the police station. She wondered what her employees would think when they realized that Russell's name wasn't on the ballot.

  Feeling sad, Ellie hoisted her purse and grabbed her keys, letting herself out through the back door and trusting her employees to lock up. She turned toward her car only to find her path blocked by one of her regulars.

  “Oops, sorry,” Dillon said. “I didn't mean to run you over.”

  “That's all right,” she said automatically. “Can I help you?”

  “I just saw the cars parked here and I wondered if you are reopening.”

  “We won't be reopening until the window’s fixed,” she told him.

  “So, it will be a while, then?” he asked. She thought that he sounded almost hopeful. Trying not to frown, she said, “A few weeks, probably. Don't worry, we’ll be up and running again as soon as possible.”

  “I’m sure you will be. It’s a shame about what happened. I’ll let you go. I’m guessing you’re going to go watch your husband give his speech?” He looked from her keys to the parking lot where the cars were. She felt goosebumps rise on her skin. He hadn’t said anything threatening, not exactly, but him bringing up the election made her uncomfortable.

  “I'm going to the park for the speech and the cookout, yes,” she said carefully. “Are you headed there too?”

  “Sure am,” he said. “My stepfather’s running. Benjy Jameson. I’d ask you to vote for him, but I’ve got a feeling your vote is taken.” He chuckled. “Personally, I don't think he's got much of a chance of winning, but he wants to get his name out there. Maybe when our current sheriff decides to retire he might have a chance. Sorry again for almost running over you.”

  With a small wave, he turned on his heel and started back toward the parking lot. Ellie stared after him, still feeling uncomfortable.

  With a jolt, she realized that he was motivated both to hurt the pizzeria and to get Russell out of the running. With the pizzeria his uncle owned in Benton Harbor that was going out of business and his stepfather running for sheriff, he would have reason to want to hurt both her and Russell.

  She watched as he got into his car and pulled away. Pulling out her cell phone, she dialed Russell's number, but the call went to voicemail after a few rings. Frustrated, she hurried toward her own vehicle and got in, starting the engine and tearing out of the driveway. She wanted to find Russell and tell him of her suspicions. If she was right, then they might be able to catch the man and put a stop to all of this before it was too late.

  Chapter Twelve

  The park was already crowded when she got there. She was forced to park further away than she had wanted and walk up to the grassy area where they were setting up the podiums. She looked around, hoping to see Russell, but had no such luck. Where could he be? She knew that he wanted to keep an eye on things, so she had expected him to be somewhere central to the stage that they were setting up. After a moment of frantic searching, she spotted Liam and made a beeline for the deputy, worried that she would lose him in the crowd.

  “Ellie?” he said when he saw her. “Is everything okay?”

  She wondered what her expression looked like. She felt both concerned and also excited. “I just need to find Russell,” she said. “I might have learned something about the person who has been calling in the threats.” She said the last part in a low voice, not wanting anyone to overhear.

  “Russ is behind the stage,” he said. “One of the techs needed a hand setting up the speaker equipment. Do you need me to do anything?”

  “Not yet,” she said. “I just need to talk to him. I'm sure he'll know what to do from there.”

  She thanked him, then made her way toward the stage. Behind it, she found a handful of people struggling with the sound equipment. Russell was helping one of the young men carry a heavy speaker. Ellie waited till he had set it on the ground, then hurried over to him. He looked surprised to see her.

  “Ellie? Did something happen?”

  “Yes and no,” she said. “I'm fine, but I just had an interesting conversation with Dillon – the regular who was there when the car came crashing through the window. Do you remember him?”

  He was silent for a second, thinking, the nodded. “He had light brown hair and was wearing a blue polo shirt?”

  “Yes to the hair. I have no idea how you can remember something like the color of his shirt,” she said, amused.

  “Anyway, he stopped by the pizzeria today just as we were getting done cleaning. He asked when we were opening again…” She trailed off, biting her lip. Now that she was saying all of this out loud, it didn't sound quite as condemning as it had when she had just been thinking it. “Okay, if I'm being honest, he didn't actually say anything incriminating, and he was perfectly friendly, but it was the way he was asking questions that set me on edge. He was asking about the pizzeria and seemed relieved when I said it wouldn't open again for a while, which makes sense because his uncle owns a pizza place as well, though I always got the feeling that he rather liked my pizza better. After that he told me that his stepfather is one of the candidates for sheriff, but he knows he probably won't have a chance against you until you retire. That means he has motive to hurt both the pizzeria and you. That can't be a coincidence, can it? He must be the person who's been calling in the threats.”

  Russell’s eyes widened. “You might be right,” he said. “He said he would be here?”

  She nodded. “Do you want me to go look for him? I can give you a call when I see him.”

  “I don't want you to put yourself in danger, Ellie.”

  “I won't be,” she said. “I'll just be walking around. He already knows I'll be here. There won’t be anything suspicious about me walking around. He'll never even know I'm looking for him.”

  “All right, but I'm going to call Liam and Bethany and have them keep lookouts too. I may not be in the running anymore, but as of right now I'm still the town’s sheriff.”

  “If we figure out what happened in time, do you think you can get put back on the ballots? Surely if he confesses to interfering with the election, they’ll have to delay matters.”

  “I'm not sure,” he said. “We might be ab
le to petition for the election to be delayed, but for that we would need proof. To get that, we need to find and question Dillon.” He glanced at his watch. “We've only got about an hour and a half until the speeches are supposed to begin.”

  “I’ll start looking,” she said.

  “Promise me you’ll be careful. Keep your distance, Ellie. The last thing I want is for you to get hurt despite everything I've done.”

  She made her promise, then hurried away from the stage, feeling a buzz of excitement. For the first time since Russell had decided to resign, she had a spark of hope. It might not be too late after all. With luck, they would catch the man responsible for the threats and the accident that had killed Edmund, and Russell would find a way to get put back on the ballot.

  Looking for one man in a crowd was easier said than done. A couple of times out of the corner of her eye she saw Liam and Bethany patrolling the paths, and knew that they were looking for Dillon as well. All they had to go on was a description – she had told Russell what the man was wearing today, which would help – but she knew firsthand what he looked like, so she had the advantage.

  Not that it did her much good. The park was filling up as the time for the speeches drew near. With hot dogs sizzling on the park’s grills, there was a festive atmosphere that she might have enjoyed if the circumstances had been different.

  She was so focused on looking for Dillon that she forgot to pay attention to where she was going. She bumped into someone as she was circling back toward the stage. Embarrassed, she put an arm out to steady the other person and saw that it was Yvonne, Ralph’s wife.

  “I'm so sorry,” Ellie said. “That's the second time I’ve nearly collided with someone today.”

  “You're fine,” the other woman said. She was wearing a shirt that said Ralph for Sheriff! Appearing taken aback, she looked Ellie up and down in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

  “I’m here to support Russell,” Ellie said. “Nice shirt.”

  “Thanks,” Yvonne said, looking down at the shirt distractedly. It seemed like she wanted to say something, but Ellie didn’t have time to pursue it further. She smiled and made her excuses to leave, then continued down the path, getting more and more anxious to find Dillon.

  It wasn't until she spotted her husband standing by the stage and speaking into his radio that she stumbled to a halt, something clicking in her mind. Yvonne had seemed surprised when she had mentioned that she was here to support Russell, which didn’t make any sense. No one knew that he had dropped out of the election yet, no one except for their immediate family, the deputies… and whoever had been making the threats against Russell’s family.

  Ralph might be running for sheriff, but he hadn't won yet, and she doubted that Liam and Bethany would share the details of a case like that with someone who was a member of the general public. That meant that his wife would have had to find out another way. Since she knew that she and Russell hadn’t told her, and she doubted Shannon, James, or Nonna had said anything, that left one option. Either Yvonne or her husband were the one making the threats.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Ellie pushed through the crowd, walking toward her husband. He didn't see her come up; his attention was on the radio that he was speaking into. She tugged on his sleeve and he looked down at her, blinking in surprise.

  “Just one second, Liam, Ellie found me,” he said into the receiver. Turning to her, he said, “We spotted him; he's near the parking lot. Liam’s going to bring him over here and we’ll ask him some questions.”

  “I don't know if it's him,” Ellie hissed. “I ran into Yvonne, and she seemed surprised when I mentioned I was here to support you. The only reason I could think that she would be surprised was –”

  “If she knew somehow that I wouldn't be running,” Russell said. They stared at each other for a moment, then Russell said, “Where is she?”

  “She was over that way,” Ellie said.

  Russell began to move in the direction in which she had pointed, and she hurried to follow him. It didn't take long to spot Yvonne again, now speaking with her husband. As she and Russell neared, the other couple began to move away from them. At first, Ellie thought it was just coincidence, but as they continued to lose sight of them in the crowd time and time again, she began to realize that the couple was avoiding her and Russell on purpose.

  What ensued was a very slow-motion chase. Russell was loath to draw attention to them in case the two people they were chasing decided to do something drastic.

  It was hard to keep track of them in the crowd of people, and slowly Yvonne and Ralph were gaining distance. Ellie realized they were hurrying toward the marina. In a way, that was good because the marina was far less crowded than the park was right now, but it would be hard to keep track of them on the docks.

  Sure enough, when they reached the edge of the crowd, she couldn't spot either Yvonne or Ralph. Russell looked around as well. His hand was on his gun, which was still holstered.

  “Ellie, you should go back,” he said.

  “I’m not letting you go looking for them alone.”

  “I’ll radio Bethany for backup,” he replied.

  He radioed his deputy and gave her a quick summary of the situation. She radioed back, saying that she was on her way over. Never one to sit and wait while the bad guy was getting away, the sheriff moved forward, trusting that Bethany would find him. Ellie followed him, not giving him a chance to argue.

  They moved through the marina carefully, trying to walk quietly despite the creaking wood.

  They turned the corner and saw Ralph on the deck of a luxurious boat. He was sitting in a chair, sipping a drink and checking his watch every couple of seconds. Ellie looked around, but she didn't see Yvonne.

  “Hey there,” Ralph said when he saw Russell. He raised a friendly hand. “I guess you got the same idea I did. Is the stage fright getting to you? I just had to duck away from the crowd for a bit and go over my notes.”

  Ellie looked at Russell and they both frowned in confusion. Ralph certainly wasn't acting like a suspect.

  “Mind if I come up?” Russell asked.

  “Go ahead,” he said. “Want a beer? I think we’ve also got some lemonade in the cooler. I can check if you want.”

  “This isn’t a social call, Ralph. This is business.”

  Ralph looked surprised for a moment. “Really? What's going on? Everyone's okay, aren't they?”

  “Well, that's what I'm here to ask you,” he said. “Did you know that I dropped out of the running?”

  The expression of surprise on the other man’s face looked genuine. Ellie bit her lip. Had they gotten it all wrong again?

  “No. Why on earth would you do that?”

  “Someone’s been threatening my family,” Russell said. “It took me a while to make the connection. Strangely enough, the number they were using belonged to a burner phone with a Dallas area code. Now, I know that you and your wife went down to Texas last month to visit family. That's quite a coincidence, don't you think? And no one knew that I had resigned besides the people involved in the case, but when my wife was talking to your wife today, and Ellie mentioned that she was here to support me, she said that your wife seemed surprised. Why would she be surprised if she thought I was still in the running?”

  “Russ, slow down,” the other man said. “I wouldn't do anything to sabotage you. I thought we were buddies. I mean, I know we’re running against each other, but there's no hard feelings. I know you can’t be sheriff forever, and I'll get my day eventually. If you want someone to blame for all this, you could ask Benjy. He's pretty serious about this race.”

  Ellie and Russell shared a look. Benjy was Dillon’s stepfather. Ellie had considered the possibility of him being a suspect, but had decided that she simply didn’t know him well enough to form a real opinion either way.

  “Still, Ralph, I think I'd better bring you in,” Russell said. “We’ve got to get this straightened out. The connection w
ith Texas is something I just can't ignore.”

  “Bring me in? I’ll miss my speech. Are you trying to sabotage the election? I didn't think you would do something like that Russell. I thought you were a better man than that.”

  “Are you refusing to come down to the station with me?” Russell asked. “Because I’m trying to do this the easy way, but I’ll do it the hard way if I have to.”

  “I –”

  A shot rang out. Ellie jumped as a bullet ricocheted off of one of the metal supports on the boat. Russell drew his gun in an instant and Ellie slipped into the protective cover of being behind him, knowing that she was unarmed and made an easy target. She looked around and spotted the door that led to the cabin. Yvonne was standing there, a small firearm in her hands. Her husband was standing in the middle of the deck, looking shocked. His beer had slipped from his hand when the gun went off and was currently spilling across the deck.