Pepperoni Pizza Can Be Murder Read online

  Ten minutes later, we had our first customer, and the evening hours flew past in a steady blur of pizzas and sandwiches. Maddy and Josh kept busy out front, and I was hopping all night in the kitchen.

  It was the kind of evening I lived for these days, but the joy didn’t last for the rest of the night. We had a visitor who upset our happy moods the second she walked through the door.

  Katy Johnson—Greg’s on-again, off-again girlfriend—burst into the kitchen like she was running away from a fire. Tall and curvy, Katy had flaming-red hair and an attitude that matched, most of the time.

  “Where is he?” she snapped at me as she looked wildly around the place.

  I knew who she was looking for, but that didn’t mean I had to answer the question. “Sorry, Katy, but customers aren’t allowed back here.”

  “I’m not buying anything. I have to find Greg.”

  “He’s off tonight,” I said. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

  She stared hard at me, and then to my complete and utter surprise, Katy started crying. It was the strongest display of vulnerability I’d ever seen in her.

  “Eleanor, I’ve got to find him. I did something stupid, and I can’t fix it,” she said through her tears.

  “I don’t know much that can’t be repaired in this world,” I said, my voice softening. The girl was obviously in some serious pain.

  “This is too much. Greg caught me with Wade,” she simpered.

  “Are you talking about his brother? Are you kidding me?”

  “We were just kissing,” Katy said as she dabbed at her tears. “It was all pretty innocent. Honestly.”

  “I’m sure Greg didn’t think so,” I said. “Katy, what were you thinking?”

  “Greg was getting tired of me,” she said, nearly wailing the words. “I had to show him he couldn’t just throw me away like an old pair of shoes.”

  I lost a lot of my sympathy for her then. I hated relationship games, and always had. “How did Greg find out?” Not that he needed much of a clue. Small-town living was notorious for gossip, and Timber Ridge was no exception.

  “Wade set me up!” she screamed.

  Josh came into the kitchen and looked straight at me. “Eleanor, is everything all right?”

  “It’s fine,” I said, more out of habit than actuality. Katy was anything but fine, but she’d brought it all on herself.

  Josh nodded, glanced sideways at Katy, then took the wisest course of action he could; he left.

  “Katy, how did Wade set you up?”

  “I was at his place, you know, to talk,” Katy said. “He excused himself, made a phone call, and then he came back in with drinks. The next thing I knew, we were on the couch making out. I would have stopped it—I suddenly lost my taste for revenge—when Greg crashed in. He was furious, and Wade admitted that he wanted his little brother to see that he could have me whenever he wanted. Greg’s face just died. He wouldn’t listen to me, no matter how much I begged him to give me another chance. Now I can’t find him, and I have to make it right between us.”

  “Good luck with that,” I said.

  “That’s it? You’re just going to stand there? Don’t you care?”

  I stared at her for a few seconds, and then said, “I care about Greg, and you hurt him. Don’t expect any sympathy from me.”

  “Wade did this,” she said petulantly. “Why can’t you see that?”

  “You were the one on the couch with him, Katy.”

  “I wish he were dead,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

  “Be careful what you wish for,” I said.

  “You’re useless to me—you know that, don’t you?”

  Before I could reply, she slammed the kitchen door open and stalked off. I grabbed my cell phone and called Greg the second she was gone. It sounded as though he needed a friend right now.

  He didn’t pick up, which was no real surprise. When the voice mail came on, I said, “Greg, Katy was just here. I know what happened. If you need to talk to somebody, I’m here for you. Call me. I don’t care what time of night you get this. It’s going to be all right,” I added, then ran out of things to say. It was in his hands now. If he needed me, Greg knew where to reach me.

  Maddy came in as I hung up. “What was that about?”

  “I’m surprised you didn’t come back for the fireworks,” I said as I started cleaning up my station.

  “I would have, but I had a table of customers that wouldn’t let me go. What did you say to her, Eleanor? She shot out of here looking like you’d smacked her in the face with a pizza pan. You didn’t, did you?”

  “No, though it was probably what she deserved. She and Greg had a fight.” Wow, that was the understatement of the year.

  “There’s more to it than that, though, isn’t there?”

  My sister had some kind of radar when it came to conflict. I nodded. “She went to Wade’s house to make Greg jealous, and Wade called him. When Greg got there, Wade and Katy were kissing on the couch, and Greg left before Katy could say anything.”

  Maddy shook her head. “Boy, I can’t even imagine how she could have killed the chance of them ever getting back together better than that. Greg hates his brother.”

  “Katy knows it, too, so it’s not like she’s innocent in all of this.”

  Maddy said, “That’s true, but Wade has reached a new low, even for him. I can’t imagine what Greg must be feeling. We should call him.”

  “I already did, but he didn’t answer. I left him a message to call me if he needed me, but there’s not much else I can do.”

  “Young love. Who needs it?” Maddy asked.

  “Hearts seem to break easier then, don’t they?”

  Maddy nodded, and then started to leave. She stopped at the door, looked back at me, and said, “I nearly forgot. I need two large specials with extra anchovies, capers, hot peppers, and pineapple.”

  “You’re kidding, right?” I’ve been known to throw almost anything on a pizza, but even I had my limits.

  “That’s what took me so long. I tried to talk them out of it, but they insisted.”

  “To each his own,” I answered as I made the pizzas. As they went through the oven on the conveyor, I couldn’t help worrying about Greg. Seeing Katy with anyone else would be bad, but finding her with his brother had to kill him. I just hoped he didn’t do anything stupid because of it.

  We finally got our last customer out of the pizzeria, and I still hadn’t heard from Greg. Knowing him, I figured he was out driving around, trying to figure out how his love life had managed to fall apart so quickly. I wouldn’t trade places with him for anything in the world.

  Maddy came back and was pleasantly surprised that the kitchen was clean. “You started without me,” she said.

  “We had a lull, so I thought I’d take care of the dishes while I had the chance.”

  “Good. I’m beat,” she said.

  “Go on home,” I said. I’d already sent Josh home, since he had a test the next day that he’d admitted he’d failed to study for.

  “No, I’m good,” Maddy said. “I’ll hang around a little longer.”

  I started to say something, when I finally got it. “You’re not going to leave here until I do, are you?”

  “What’s wrong with that? I work here, too.”

  “There’s more to it than that,” I said. “Don’t even try to lie to me. You’re going to hover over me until I go home.” I was kind of psychic when it came to my sister. She could fool a great many people if she put her mind to it, but Maddy had never been able to lie to me.

  “It’s my fault you got robbed last night,” Maddy said, her voice breaking with the confession.

  “Were you the one holding a gun on me? The thief wasn’t as tall as you, and don’t try to tell me you slouched down. Besides, I would have recognized your voice, no matter how hard you tried to disguise it.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  “Then if you weren’t
holding the gun, how was it your fault?”

  Maddy was fighting the tears, and I gave her time to compose herself. After a minute, she said, “If I’d been with you, he wouldn’t have risked taking on two of us.”

  I hugged my sister, and then I said, “Maddy, I know in my heart that it wouldn’t have stopped him. He had a gun, and neither one of us did. The only thing it would have accomplished is that both of us would have been terrified.”

  “Even so, you shouldn’t have had to face it alone,” Maddy said sternly. “I left you.”

  “I’m the one who told you to go home, remember? Listen, we can debate this all night, but nothing’s going to change the facts. There wasn’t anything either one of us could have done to stop him.”

  “I’m still staying,” she said as she leaned against the wall and crossed her arms over her chest.

  “Fine. But I’m not ready to go yet. I have to balance the register receipts, make out the deposit, and sweep up the front.”

  “At least that part’s done,” she said. “Josh and I cleaned up the dining room after the last customer left.”

  “Good enough. I suppose if I can’t talk you out of staying, you can watch me work. I always did like having an audience.”

  “Liar,” she said, finally releasing some of the tension that had been between us.

  I laughed. “Okay, I hate attention, but I’ll make an exception for you.”

  As I ran the report on the cash register, I counted the money we had. It balanced on the first try—miracle of all miracles—and I filled out the deposit slip and slid it into the bag, along with the money we were banking.

  “Now what do I do with it?” I asked, more to myself than to my sister.

  “One thing we’re not doing,” she said as she took the pouch from me, “we’re not walking out the front door with it.”

  “Agreed,” I said. “So, where does that leave us until the safe arrives?”

  My sister looked around the kitchen for a minute, nodded, and then slid the pouch on the conveyor into the heart of the pizza oven. Unless a crook knew where to look, it was doubtful he’d be able to spot the bag there.

  “What if somebody breaks in because they’re craving a pizza?” I asked jokingly.

  “Then they get a bonus for their trouble, but do you honestly think that’s going to happen?”

  “No, but then again, I never thought anyone in Timber Ridge would rob me.”

  “We can put it someplace else, if you’d feel more comfortable,” Maddy said.

  “That’s as good a spot as any,” I said. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

  “I agree.”

  As we walked outside, Maddy said loudly, “There’s no money on us tonight. Just two poor gals going home after a hard day’s work.”

  I looked around to see who she was talking to, but there was no one in sight. “What’s that about?”

  Maddy smiled. “If the robber came back to steal again, I wanted to give him fair warning that we weren’t carrying any cash on us.”

  Just then, someone stepped out of the shadows, and I felt my heart drop to my knees.

  Maddy’s hand dove into her purse, but I stopped her before she could pull out her stun gun.

  “It’s okay,” I told her. Turning to the uniformed officer I’d met the night before, I said, “Good evening, Officer Garvin. Thanks for coming by to check on us.”

  He nodded. “I’m supposed to make sure you get to your car safely.”

  “We’re fine,” Maddy said.

  “I can see that, but it’s the chief’s orders, and I’m not about to ignore them.”

  As the three of us walked toward the back parking lot together, I said to him, “I’m sorry if you got in trouble last night. It’s not fair, the chief putting you on the graveyard shift just for standing up for me.” As I said the last part, a shiver ran down my back. “Graveyard” probably wasn’t the best choice of words.

  “It’s absolutely not a problem,” he said. “To be honest with you, I kind of like working this time of night. Everything’s quiet, you know?” He paused, then added, “Well, at least it usually is.”

  We were finally at our cars, and after I thanked him for the escort, the officer nodded his head toward us and walked away.

  “He’s nice,” Maddy said. She’d been oddly quiet during our walk.

  “He seems to be.”

  Maddy added thoughtfully, “I wonder if he’s single?”

  “He’s not exactly your type, is he?”

  Maddy said, “He’s not too young for me, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

  “No, but I can’t imagine that he’s rich enough.”

  “That’s not fair,” Maddy said. “My first husband didn’t have much money.”

  “And less by the time you were finished with him,” I said.

  “You’ve got a point.” She yawned, and then said, “I’m going home. It was a long day, wasn’t it?”

  “They get that way sometimes. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  We got into our cars and drove away in different directions. I’d half-expected her to follow me home, and I was gratified to see her drive toward her apartment, instead. I was a grown woman, perfectly able to take care of myself.

  But I had to admit that I’d felt better walking to my car with a police escort. I had to give Kevin Hurley credit for that. He took his job seriously, no matter how he was feeling about me at the moment.

  I’d been in my house that morning just long enough to shower and change clothes after staying all night with Maddy, so it was good to be home for the night. Whenever I was away from it, I missed it, and not just because of the comfort I felt being around my own things.

  No, there was more to it than that. I could sense Joe’s presence there more than anywhere else in the world, including the pizzeria. He’d poured his heart and soul into our house renovation, and I could swear there was still a part of him there in it. I was glad I had that. There was no gravestone marking my husband’s passing, no monument or memorial. Per his wishes, I’d had him cremated, and his ashes were spread in the Appalachian Mountains, tenderly poured into a stream, where they’d be among some of the places he loved best. It was a fitting end, and one I’d arranged to share with him someday.

  But for now, I had him all around me.

  I took a quick shower, then headed off for bed. Usually, I needed to read at least a little every night before going to sleep, but Maddy had been right. For some reason, the day had been particularly trying, and I felt as though my energy had been drained from me by more than just work.

  At two minutes after three, I was jolted awake by the telephone. The only thing I could think of was that Greg had finally decided to take me up on my offer to talk.

  How I wish that was what the phone call had been about.

  Chapter 4

  “Greg?” I asked as I rubbed my eyes with my free hand after grabbing my telephone. “Is that you?”

  “Now why would you say that?” Chief Hurley asked.

  “Sorry, Kevin, I thought it was Greg Hatcher. I told him to give me a call, no matter how late he got in. What’s going on?” I stared blearily at the clock, trying to make out the numbers. As the fog started to clear, I could see that it was two minutes past three in the morning. That helped wake me more than a cup of coffee. “What’s going on? Did something happen to Maddy?” She was the only real family I had left, so it was pretty natural that my thoughts would go straight to her.

  “No, as far as I know, your sister’s fine. I’m not sure I can say the same about your deliveryman, though.”

  “Oh, no. Something happened to Greg, didn’t it?”

  “Besides the fact that I can’t find him, I wouldn’t care to speculate on that. Do you have any idea where he might be?”

  None of this was making any sense. “Hang on a second. Why are you looking for Greg? What happened?”

  “You’re going to find out soon enough, so I might as well tell you now. Somebod
y took a rolling pin to the back of his brother’s head, and the way they’ve been fighting lately, it just makes sense that I want to talk to him.”

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Do you honestly think Greg had something to do with the attack on his brother?”

  “It’s more than assault, Eleanor. It’s murder. He died on the scene.”

  “And you think Greg is the murderer.”

  “I didn’t say that I thought he did it, just that I needed to interview him.” He paused a second, then added, “I’m not ready to say he’s not a killer, either. That’s why we need to have a conversation as quickly as possible. The only problem is, I can’t find him.”

  “So you thought I might know where he was,” I said, finally clearing out some of the cobwebs left over from being suddenly awakened.

  “That’s not the only reason for this call,” he said. “I need you to come down to your restaurant.”

  “What’s wrong? Are you hungry?”

  “No, and even if I were, it wouldn’t do me any good. You can’t exactly make me something to eat. It’s a crime scene right now.”

  “Please don’t tell me you’re at the Slice,” I said as I rubbed my eyes again.

  “I wish I didn’t have to. Wade was murdered in your kitchen. I need you to get down here as soon as you can.”

  “You don’t need me to identify the body, do you? Honestly, I didn’t really know Wade all that well.” The gears in my mind were spinning at an alarming rate, and mostly I was thinking about Greg, and the different ways his brother had pushed him in the last twenty-four hours. Could it have been hard enough to make him commit murder?

  The police chief said, “Don’t worry, I know Wade by sight, so there’s no doubt about that. What I need to know is if the murder weapon belongs to you.”

  “A murderer isn’t likely to carry a rolling pin around with him waiting for an opportunity to use it, is he?”

  “Are you coming down on your own, or do I need to send a car after you?” It was easy to hear the weariness in his voice.