Killer Crust (A Pizza Lovers Mystery) Read online

  When I saw Jeff and Sandy from Asheville on the other side of the fireplace nestled together on a couch, I realized that we might just learn a little more tonight about who might have wanted to see Laughing Luigi dead.

  Chapter 9

  “We’ve got to tell the police chief everything we know,” Sandy said as she stared into her husband’s eyes. “It’s going to look a thousand times worse to the cops if they find out what happened on their own, Jeff.”

  “What makes you think they’ll learn anything at all?” her husband asked. “If we don’t tell them, who does that leave? Luigi can’t say a word anymore, and if we don’t talk, it dies with us. Sandy, this isn’t the time or the place for your ethical theories. We could be in some big trouble here if this cop Hurley finds out what really happened.”

  “Luigi could have told someone here at the competition, though. Somebody could have heard us,” she said plaintively.

  “If they had, don’t you think they would have come forward by now? If we just keep our cool and don’t say a word about it, we’ll be fine.”

  “I suppose so,” Sandy said, though she was clearly unconvinced.

  I was hoping they’d say something a little more revealing when the restaurant maître d’ approached them. “Excuse me, but your table is ready. If you’ll follow me, please.”

  As they left, I asked Maddy, “What do we do now? Should we follow them back into the restaurant and see if they say anything else about what happened here with Luigi?”

  “And do what? If I have to eat another bite right now, I’ll explode.”

  “We could have coffee,” I suggested, though it wasn’t the drink of preference for either one of us.

  “I guess so,” Maddy said. “What makes you think that we’re going to get lucky twice, though? Chances are they aren’t going to discuss anything else juicier than the weather.”

  I shrugged as I stood and stretched. “One thing’s certain, Sis. We won’t learn anything new if we just sit here.”

  Maddy nodded. “You’ve got a point. Let’s see if we can slip the maître d’ something for putting us close to their table.”

  “Fine, go ahead and try.” Maddy was a little more worldly about giving someone money for preferential treatment. I’d always been at a loss as to why I should pay someone extra just for doing their job, which explained why I was kept waiting for tables while my sister breezed past me and laughed. “I’ll just wait for you right over here.”

  I found the concierge’s desk near the checkout, both of which were currently unmanned, and started looking at a local open map.

  I was still picking out my house on it when a woman’s voice behind me asked, “May I help you?”

  “Thanks, but I’m just looking for my house,” I said as I glanced around at the concierge.

  The woman looked a little puzzled by my response. “Have you misplaced it, by any chance?”

  “No, of course not. It’s where it’s always been. I was just curious, that’s all.”

  “So then you don’t need directions on how to get there?” she asked.

  “No need to worry about me. I could find the place with my eyes closed,” I said, and then rethought the phrase. “Well, probably not with my eyes closed. Chances are I’d never make it out of the parking lot if I couldn’t see where I was going.”

  The concierge was clearly at a loss as to how to deal with me. I hadn’t meant to sound so confusing, but then I realized that it had certainly come out that way.

  “Eleanor,” Maddy said to me before I could explain myself any further to the woman.

  “It was nice chatting with you,” I said.

  “Of course.” The woman looked genuinely relieved that I was moving on, at least away from her desk.

  I looked at my sister and asked, “So where are we sitting?”

  “We aren’t,” Maddy admitted reluctantly. “The restaurant is jammed, and short of calling Gina and getting someone else removed from their table, we aren’t going to be getting anywhere near them.”

  “We’re not calling Gina,” I said firmly.

  “I know that,” she answered. “Sorry I struck out.”

  “Are you kidding? I’m just glad to finally find out that you’re as human as the rest of us.”

  Maddy frowned. “You don’t have to look so happy about it.”

  I hugged my sister as I said, “Perfection is overrated, if you ask me.”

  “I feel the same way about you. So what should we do now? Do we head off to bed so we can rest up for tomorrow, or dig around a little more?”

  “You can go ahead if you’re tired, but I’m not done snooping yet,” I said. “We don’t have a whole lot of time, so we’d better keep after this till we drop.”

  “Hey, I like the new you. Where did that come from?”

  I shook my head. “Believe me, I’d rather just make pizza and let the rest of the world take care of itself, but we’re involved in this whether we like it or not, so we need to dig into Luigi’s murder while we’ve got our suspects all here in one place. I’ve got a hunch that if this murder is unsolved by the time everyone splits up, we’ll never know who killed the man.”

  “Great. I’m still at a loss where we should go next, though.”

  “Why don’t we see if Kevin’s cleared the greenroom yet? I don’t know about you, but I’d like to see the place where Luigi was murdered for myself.”

  “Lead on,” she said, and I headed for the auditorium, and the place where Luigi, aka George Vincent, took his last breath.

  The door to the greenroom was locked, though there was no police tape across it. Did that mean that Kevin was finished with it?

  “What do we do now?” Maddy asked. “Should we try to break in?”

  “Do you even know how?” I asked my sister with a smile.

  She grabbed a credit card from her wallet and held it up. “No, but I’ve read about it in enough books, and I’ve always wanted to try it. Stand back and give me some room to work.”

  “Before you break your card,” I said as I put a hand on her arm, “I’ve got a better idea. Why don’t we call Gina and have her unlock it for us?”

  “What fun is that?” Maddy asked as she put her credit card away.

  “Well, the way I figure it, we’ve had enough fun for one day, don’t you think?” I got my phone out of my pocket and dialed Gina’s direct number. It was nice having such direct ties with the complex’s manager. It had to save us a lot of energy and effort not running around in circles trying to make things happen, and at the moment, time was the one thing we didn’t have a lot of.

  I was thrilled when Gina answered on the first ring. I didn’t want to give my sister any excuse to try that credit card trick. Knowing her, it would probably end up breaking and we’d still be on the wrong side of the door.

  “Go,” Gina answered, instead of saying hello.

  “Where exactly am I supposed to go?” I asked.

  “Who is this? The number’s blocked on my phone.”

  “It’s Eleanor. Did I call at a bad time?”

  “No, you’re fine,” Gina said, her voice instantly relaxing. “I had to step away from the property for a few minutes, and my telephone won’t stop ringing. Is there anything I can do for you, Eleanor?”

  “If you’re not around, I can ask you later.” I hated to interrupt her rare time away from Tree-Line.

  “Nonsense. I’ve always got time for you. All you have to do is ask.”

  “This should only take a second. Do you happen to know if the police department has already released the greenroom space where Luigi was killed?”

  “I haven’t heard. Let me make a quick call and get back to you.”

  She hung up before I could even thank her for her time.

  I turned to Maddy and said, “I don’t envy her the job she’s got. She must always be on the clock. When we finish our pizzas, the time we have left is all ours.”

  “I don’t know,” Maddy said. “I think it mig
ht be fun sometimes to be in charge of so many people.”

  “You’re welcome to it,” I said. “I have enough on my hands as it is with three people on my staff. She must have dozens working here.”

  “Do you honestly think there’s that many?”

  “There’s no doubt in my mind. Besides the front desk and the restaurant staff, I can’t imagine how many maids she has on her payroll.”

  “Don’t forget security,” Maddy said.

  “There’s that group, too. What made you think of them?”

  She pointed behind me. A big beefy man in his late forties with gray hair was approaching, and from his blazer with the resort logo on it and the way he carried himself, I had a hunch that we were about to meet the head of the department.

  “We have every right to be here,” I said quickly before he could throw us out. “I just called Gina, your manager, and she’s trying to find out if we can get in the greenroom.”

  The big man smiled, and though he might have been trying to make it look nonthreatening, I wasn’t certain that he could do it on his best day, let alone when a murder happened right under his nose and on his watch that afternoon. “That’s why I’m here. I’ve been instructed to let you in, and do anything else I can in my power to help.”

  “Wow, that’s a dangerous offer,” Maddy said as she stepped toward him. “I’m Maddy Spencer, and this is my sister, Eleanor Swift.”

  “I know who you ladies are, by reputation, if nothing else.”

  “I hope it’s not all bad,” I said with a slight smile.

  “On the contrary, my boss speaks very highly of you both. I’m Hank White, by the way.” Before he unlocked the door, he said, “I meant what I said. I’d like to offer any help I can in solving this case.”

  I was about to ask him how he knew we were digging into the murder when I realized that Gina had to have told him. “We’re strictly amateurs,” I said. “You should offer any help you can give to the police.”

  “I did, but they weren’t interested,” Hank said matter-of-factly. “I used to be a cop a long time ago, so I might be of some assistance.”

  “That’s great,” I said. “Let me ask you something. Who had access to this room today? Do you know?”

  “Well, as you know, each contestant got a key card that was set to this lock,” he said as he swiped his electronic key through the slot. It didn’t work the first time he slid it through, so he tried it again as he said, “You’re really the only ones who had access.”

  “Besides you, the other senior staff, and the caterers, you mean,” I said.

  “Point taken,” Hank said as he stopped what he was doing and shot me with his finger. “It wasn’t as secure as I would have hoped after the fact, but then again, no one considered the possibility that someone might be murdered inside.”

  “Are there any security cameras around here?” I asked as I looked around the auditorium.

  “That’s a good question,” Maddy said as she patted my back. There wasn’t a trace of condescension in it.

  “I agree, but I’m sorry to say that the answer is no. Our security cameras are in the lobby, sections of the parking lot, the main hallways, and the restaurant entrance. They were set up in case we were ever robbed, more than anything else. I lobbied for more cameras throughout the property, but that budget was cut so they could fill the atrium with trees and lights.”

  “You have to admit that they are quite lovely,” Maddy said.

  “They are, but they don’t make my job any easier,” he responded.

  “So, have you been able to come up with any suspects?” Maddy asked. “I know that you must have been thinking about it.”

  “Maddy, I don’t know that that’s a fair question to ask him,” I said.

  “It’s fair enough,” Hank said. “Unfortunately, as far as I’ve been able to tell from what I’ve learned so far, it could have just as easily been any of you.”

  I wasn’t sure I liked the idea of being investigated by so many different people, but there wasn’t much I could do about it at the moment. Besides, Maddy and I knew that we were innocent, so that helped.

  “That’s fair enough,” I said as he finally opened the door, and Maddy and I walked inside. The greenroom had changed quite a bit since the last time I’d seen it. The tables and chairs were now positioned in different places, and all of the food and beverages had been removed. In fact, besides the little bit of furniture that was still there, the room was nearly stripped down to the walls and the carpet. Had Kevin taken everything with him as evidence? I was going to have a hard time finding any clues, given the state of the place, and then I noticed the carpet.

  Were those bloodstains? I knelt down and got a closer look. A section of the carpeting had been cut out, for testing no doubt, but there was enough of the stain still there.

  Maddy put a hand on my shoulder. “That’s kind of creepy, staring at bloodstains like that,” she said.

  “They aren’t bloodstains,” Hank and I said at the same time.

  “My, did you two work that out ahead of time?” Maddy asked.

  “No, it’s pizza sauce,” I said. I started to wet my finger and dip it in when Hank said, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

  “Why not? He wasn’t poisoned, was he?”

  Hank was about to say something when I heard another voice behind him. “As a matter of fact, yeah, it turns out that he was.”

  It was Kevin Hurley, and evidently he was in the mood to share again.

  “They need you at the front desk,” Kevin told Hank, who nodded toward us, and then hurried away. For a big man, he was pretty light on his feet, and I wondered how he’d do in a fight. I had a hunch that he wouldn’t have any trouble dealing with the average rowdy guest at the complex.

  “You’re not a big fan of his, are you?” I asked Kevin after Hank was gone.

  “What makes you say that?”

  “Come on, you were just about bristling when you found him here with us,” Maddy answered for me. “It doesn’t take a detective to figure that out.”

  “Let’s just say that Hank and I have had our differences in the past,” Kevin said, “and leave it at that. Now, what are you two doing here?”

  “Looking for clues, remember? I kind of thought that was the plan all along,” I said.

  Kevin bit his lip for a second. “I was under the impression that you’d be talking to your fellow contestants and leave looking for clues up to me and my department.”

  “Why can’t we do both?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “I was just hoping for more information about your fellow contestants by now, that’s all.”

  “Well, tell me how Luigi was poisoned, and then I’ll tell you what we’ve found.”

  Kevin must have been desperate for new information, because he didn’t even try to fight me on it. “I’ve been able to confirm that George Vincent, aka Laughing Luigi, was poisoned. There was a portable crime lab in Charlotte working another case, and they were nice enough to come up here and lend me a hand. That’s the only reason we got the results of the tox screen so quickly.”

  “What was the poison, and how was it administered?” I asked.

  Kevin frowned, and I could tell that he wanted to keep it from us, but ultimately he decided to answer my question. “The poison was doused on a slice of pizza, but not the same one we found in Luigi’s mouth. That was jammed in a few minutes later after he died. The killer must have delivered the pizza, watched Luigi take a fatal bite, and then rammed another piece in before he left. That tells me that this was personal. It can’t be easy to stand by and watch a man die from poisoning without a whole lot of hate in you. As to what poison the killer used, it turns out that it was some kind of common industrial cleaner—some pretty nasty stuff—and I’m guessing that all of you had access to it in your restaurants. We even found some in one of the cleaning supply closets nearby, so anyone could have done it. Now, that’s enough questions from you before I get some answers m
yself. What did you find out?”

  I looked at Maddy, who nodded. We’d agreed not to hold anything back from Kevin, given the nature of this particular investigation. It was an odd set of circumstances that had us working so closely together, but I wasn’t about to violate the faith he’d put in the two of us. “We saw the Raleigh twins give what looked like a pack of money to someone in the shadows in the parking lot about an hour ago.”

  “Did you see who it was, or is there any logical reason that you’d have to believe that it was really cash?”

  “No,” I admitted. “But even you have to admit that it looked awfully suspicious.”

  “Go on,” he ordered. “What else did you find out?”

  “Well, it appears that Tina Lance, that food reporter from Charlotte, was right. We heard Kenny and Anna from the Charlotte team talking to Frank Vincent in the restaurant earlier. Kenny was upset that the contest was no longer rigged because of Luigi’s murder, and he wasn’t mincing words about it.”

  “Was Anna in on this as well?” the chief asked.

  “I don’t think so. Do you, Maddy?”

  “Not a chance,” my sister said.

  “And you’re going by what, forming your opinion?”

  “I just don’t think she was involved,” Maddy said. “I can’t give you any real reasons that you’d buy, but it’s what I believe.”

  “I’m not about to laugh at women’s intuition, or any other kind someone might have,” the police chief said. “I’m a firm believer that hunches are how our subconscious communicates with us sometimes. Where did you leave things with her?”

  “She didn’t know anything concrete, but she’s promised to keep an eye out for whatever might look suspicious,” Maddy said.

  “I don’t like so many civilians taking these kinds of chances,” Kevin said with a frown.

  “We’re all being careful. You don’t have to worry about any of us.”