Pepperoni Pizza Can Be Murder (26 page)

He was gone before I knew what had happened.

I found Maddy working in the kitchen when I came back to the Slice. Greg was setting up the tables out front, and I just nodded to him as I blew past him.

“You’re not going to believe what just happened to me.”

Maddy asked, “Did Slick give you an even bigger discount when you protested?”

“You know him, don’t you?”

She looked at the bag I still clutched. I’d forgotten all about it during my conversation with Art Young. “What’s that?”

“It’s protection,” I said.

I pulled out the dart gun, and she pulled back. “You actually bought a pistol after your rant at me? I didn’t even know he sold those.”

“It shoots tiny little darts,” I said.

“What good is that going to do?”

“I don’t know,” I said, rethinking the purchase. “I just thought it might be a good idea to have something on hand around here besides a baseball bat.”

She took it from me, broke the gun free of its packaging, carefully loaded it, and then said, “Who knows? It might come in handy after all, but I still don’t think it’s something I’d have a hard time believing.”

“That wasn’t what I was talking about,” I said. “I just had a long conversation with Art Young. He gave me alibis for Roger Henderson and himself for the night Wade was murdered.”

“And you believed him?” Maddy asked.

“I do,” I said. “He had proof to back it up.”

After I told her what Art had said—and the driver had verified—Maddy nodded. “Okay, that’s good enough for me too, then. Katy looks guilty right now, but I feel better eliminating some of our other suspects. I can’t believe you had the nerve to confront him like that.”

“He’s been very polite with me,” I said.

“So far.”

“He actually told me that he owed me a favor, if you can believe that.”

Maddy frowned. “Why would he owe you anything?”

“I told him how I knew he was telling the truth.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I’m not sure I do, either, and I was right there when it happened.”

Maddy knew to accept that for what it was worth. “So, where does that leave us in our investigation?”

“Do you mean in case Katy didn’t do it?” I thought about it for a few seconds, then said, “We can take Art Young and Roger Henderson off our list, so if we’re still saying Greg is innocent—”

“Which we are,” Maddy said as she interrupted me.

“Which we are,” I agreed. “That leaves Jamie, Clara, and Sandi.”

Maddy said, “Sandi came to you with what Jamie saw. That should clear her.”

“And if what Jamie told her was true, it clears him as well,” I said.

“I still can’t see Clara killing her own son, even if it was a case of mistaken identity.”

“Then that points us right back to Katy Johnson,” I said.

“Until something more convincing comes along,” Maddy agreed. “Should we really wait until morning to bring Kevin Hurley in on this?”

“I don’t see what it can hurt,” I said. “It looks solid to us, but you know Kevin. He’s going to want more to go on than third-hand information to change his mind that Greg is guilty.”

“Then we wait,” Maddy said. “In the meantime, I’m canceling my date with Bob tonight.”

“Why would you do that?” I asked.

“With Katy on the loose, I don’t want her coming after you when you’re alone.”

“Don’t be silly. She doesn’t have any reason to want to harm me.” I picked up my dart gun and said, “Besides, I have this. Don’t look for excuses to break your date. Go, and have a good time.”

“That sounds like an order to me,” Maddy said.

“Think of it as a strong suggestion.”

“You’ve been spending too much time with hoodlums lately,” my sister said.

“Art Young doesn’t seem like a hoodlum to me.”

“From what I hear, those are the ones you have to watch out for.”

I didn’t deny it, but for some odd reason, I wasn’t afraid of Art Young—though by all accounts, I should be.

Instead, I was afraid of a young woman I never would have imagined had the capacity to murder. It just proved that none of us know what we’re capable of doing until we’re pushed up against a wall with nowhere to go.

Soon after we opened for dinner, Maddy came back with another order—one of many, so far—and a smile on her face.

“You’ve got a visitor,” she said. “Why don’t you go up front, and I’ll run the kitchen for a little bit?”

“I don’t have time to see anybody right now,” I said. I was churning out pizzas as fast I could and still having trouble keeping up. Our conveyor oven was usually just fine for our needs, but when we were busy, I wished I had another one just like it.

“Make the time,” Maddy said as she took the pizza dough out of my hand. “Josh and Greg have the front, and I can do this.”

“Who is it?” I asked as I wiped my hands on a dish towel.

“It’s David Quinton,” Maddy said.

I threw the dish towel down on the countertop. “I don’t really feel like talking to him right now.”

“Get over it then,” Maddy said. I’d heard that tone in her voice before, and I knew that she was serious. “This is important.”

“Fine,” I said in a bit of a snit as I pulled off my apron. “I’m sure he just came by to dump me.”

“I didn’t think you two were going out,” Maddy said. “So how can he dump you?”

“We’re not, so he can’t. You know what I mean. He’s leaving town. I’m sure he just came by to tell me in person. Frankly, I’d just as soon he wrote me a note.”

“Well, he didn’t, and he’s waiting out front for you.”

I shot her a dirty look as I walked past her. All she could manage was a grin in return. Maddy was enjoying my discomfort just a little too much for my taste.

I touched my hair lightly as I walked through the door. David was standing there, waiting patiently for me.

“Hi, David. How are you?”

“I’ve been better,” he said a little curtly.

“What happened? Didn’t they want you in Raleigh, after all?” Why was my pulse suddenly starting to race? Could it be that I didn’t want him to leave?

“They wanted me, all right, but I told them I had to think about it. You know why, don’t you?”

I noticed we were gathering a crowd of watchers, including my two servers. “Come on, let’s find an empty table so we can have a little privacy.”

I pulled him to a booth, and then shot a warning look at Josh and Greg. I had no interest in having them come over to wait on us—even as a gag—and they both knew it from the way they scurried away.

“Why haven’t you said yes?” I asked.

“I don’t want to leave you,” he said, open and honest, without any guile or guilt. “I can’t stand the thought of not being in your life.”

I had to admit that, just a second, I was tempted. And then I remembered Joe, and the way he’d looked the day before he’d died. “I can’t give you any more than I already have,” I said.

“I’m not asking you to,” he said.

David reached out for my hands, but I pulled them away. “That’s exactly what you’re doing. You think this is going somewhere, and I’m telling you, it’s not. If you can find happiness in Raleigh, you owe it to yourself to go there.”

The poor man looked as if he was ready to cry. “Don’t you want me at all?”

“Not now, maybe not ever.” They were the cruelest words I’d ever spoken to someone in my life, and I hated myself a little for saying them. But I owed David my complete honesty, if I couldn’t give anything more.

He looked at me intently for a second, and then smiled softly as he said, “You just said ‘maybe.’”

“I wouldn’t pin my hopes on that, if I were you. It’s probably not ever.”

“But there’s a chance, no matter how slim it may be right now.”

I just didn’t seem to be able to get through to him. “Listen, I’m not all that special. You can find someone better than me. I’ve got faith in you.”

“What if I don’t want anyone better?”

I had no idea what to say to that. I stood and looked down at him, then said, “David, I can’t tell you how to run your life, but I hope you’ll give what I said some serious thought. You need to make the best decision you can for yourself.”

“Even if it’s staying here,” he said.

“Or leaving,” I said.

“Then I guess I don’t really have any choice. I’m going to take the job in Raleigh, Eleanor.”

“It’s probably for the best. I’m sorry, David.”

“So am I.” For a second, I thought he was going to kiss me, but after hesitating a second, he left the pizzeria for the final time.

I walked back into the kitchen, knowing that I’d ended any chance David Quinton and I had of ever getting together. More than a little part of me was saddened by the prospect, but I’d done the right thing. I knew that in my heart.

So, why did I feel so empty inside all of a sudden?

I was just about to go back into the kitchen to tell Maddy about my conversation with David when I heard the front door of the pizzeria open.

Kevin Hurley walked in and headed straight for me.

Josh tried to cut him off. “Hey, Dad. What’s going on?”

“Not now, son. I need to speak with your boss.”

“She’s kind of busy right now. Is there anything I can help you with? Would you like a pizza, or maybe a sandwich?”

“Joshua, I don’t have time for this. Step out of my way.”

“Sure thing,” he said as he looked at me and shrugged. I had to give him credit for trying. Most of the people I knew would have hesitated facing down our chief of police like that.

“We need to talk,” Kevin said.

“Why is that never a good thing when you say that?” I asked.

“Do you want to do this out here in front of all of your customers, or should we go into the kitchen?”

“Do you really want Maddy as a witness?”

“Good point. Let’s go outside.”

I followed him out of the restaurant, and as I started toward one of the benches on the promenade, he asked me, “Where are you going?”

“Can’t we sit? I’ve been on my feet all day.”

“I guess so,” he said as he followed me, albeit reluctantly.

Score one for me.

“What’s so important that it couldn’t wait until later?” I asked. There were a lot of folks out strolling in the early evening, no doubt enjoying the pleasant weather we were having. I saw a couple kissing in the shadows under a tree, and another pair who were chasing their young toddler in and out of some of the lines of shrubbery. One thing led to another, I thought, and couldn’t help but smile.

“What’s so amusing?” Kevin asked.

“I don’t know. Something just struck my whimsy.”

“Well, try to rein it in for a few minutes, could you?”

I wiped the smile away. “What’s going on?”

“I thought you were going to stop snooping,” he said.

“When did I ever promise that?” I asked.

“Sure, you might not have promised anything, but it was implied.”

“I’m not even willing to acknowledge that,” I said.

“Eleanor, do you really think I don’t know what you’ve been up to lately? It’s bad enough talking to all of my suspects, and even a few I’m not even considering, but talking to Art Young is a whole new level of stupid.”

“How did you hear about that?” I hadn’t seen a soul around when I’d talked to Art, and yet the chief of police knew about it less than four hours later.

“At least you’re not denying it,” he said.

“Why should I? There’s nothing wrong with me talking to him.”

“There you’re wrong,” Kevin said. “He’s a very bad man, and people around him have an unfortunate habit of regretting being a part of his world. You’re so far out of your league on this one that you can’t even see the playing field.”

“So far, I’ve found him to be a reasonable man,” I said, aware inside that Kevin was probably right in his assessment.

“I’m sure everyone does, right up to the point where he sticks his knife into them.” His face softened, and he added, “Listen, if you’re hurting for money, I have some put away. It’s not much, but you’re welcome to it.”

I couldn’t believe it. “Is that what you think? Do you honestly believe I’d be stupid enough to ask Art Young for a loan?”

“Why else would you be talking to him, then?” He frowned, and then asked, “This isn’t about Wade Hatcher, is it?”

“What if it is? Art’s been very helpful to me.”

“Art? You two are on a first-name basis?”

“I’m on a first-name basis with most of this town.”

He studied me for another second, then said, “There’s something else you’re not telling me, isn’t there?”

How did he do that? “I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Eleanor, withholding information from a peace officer is a criminal offense, and you know it.”

“I don’t know anything for sure, and the last time I checked, you weren’t interested in my idle speculations.”

He clearly wasn’t in the mood for my wisecracks. “What is it? I need to know what you found out.”

“I can’t say anything just yet,” I said. “But I have a feeling someone’s going to be talking to you tomorrow.”

“If the conversation can happen tomorrow, then it can happen right now,” he said. “Come on, I don’t have all night.”

“I’m sorry, but I gave my word. If that means you have to arrest me, then you should go ahead and do what you have to do.” I shot my wrists out at him, but I was hoping with all my heart that he didn’t cuff me.

After a full ten seconds, he shook his head. “When are you going to learn that this isn’t some kind of game?”

“Trust me, I know how dangerous this is.”

“I doubt it,” he said as he stood up. “And I hope you never do.”

“If you don’t hear something by nine
A.M
. tomorrow, come by the pizzeria and I’ll tell you everything myself. I promise.”

“I just hope it’s not too late by then,” he said as he walked away.

That made two of us.

“A
re you sure I should go out with Bob tonight?” Maddy asked me an hour before we were supposed to close for the night. “I don’t mind canceling.”

“It’s late as it is,” I said. “I’ve been trying to get you to go for hours. I’m not sure what you can do at this hour of night.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Maddy said, laughing. “We’ll find something. I just hate abandoning you like this.”

“Greg and Josh are here to cover the front, and we’ve slowed down to next to nothing. Honestly, if you stay, too, we’ll all be tripping over each other.”

“If you’re sure,” she said.

“Don’t make me throw my own sister out of my pizza place,” I said.

Greg poked his head into the kitchen. “Maddy, your date’s here.” He looked her over, and then added, “From what I just saw, you’re grossly underdressed.”

“What is he wearing, a tuxedo?” she asked.

“No, but it’s a couple of steps above that outfit.”

Maddy threw a wet kitchen towel at him, and Greg ducked back through the door just in time.

“Your aim isn’t as good as it used to be,” I said.

“That was just a warning shot.” Maddy leaned toward me and hugged me. “Don’t do anything stupid tonight, Eleanor.”

“I was just about to say the same thing to you,” I said.

“Dating is something else altogether. See you tomorrow.”

“Bye,” I said.

After Maddy was gone, I decided to get a jump on the dishes. We were normally slow late at night, and I often contemplated shutting the pizzeria down an hour earlier than we did at the moment, but after instituting the lunch-dinner break we were now taking, I wasn’t convinced that it was that good an idea. I wouldn’t have to pay salaries to my employees, but they weren’t making that much, anyway. The real reason I’d been considering it was because of the wear and tear it was taking on me. Some days it felt like I spent every waking moment either thinking about pizza or homicide, and I wasn’t sure either topic was all that healthy for me as a steady diet.

I had the dishes done in half an hour, and the kitchen was spotless. When I walked out front, I found Josh and Greg playing rummy.

They didn’t even try to hide it when I walked in.

“This place is really dead tonight,” Greg said.

Josh asked, “Do you need any help in the kitchen? I’m so bored I’ll even do the dishes.”

I knew that was saying something for him. “Why don’t you two go on home? I just have to balance the register, and then I’m right behind you.”

Greg shook his head. “No way. We promised Maddy we’d walk you to your car, and that’s what we’re going to do. There’s no chance you’re walking down that alley by yourself tonight. If something would happen to you, we’d never be able to forgive ourselves.”

“I don’t need a pair of nursemaids young enough to be my own nephews,” I said.

“Think of us as trained bodyguards, then,” Josh said.

I thought about it a moment, and then said, “I’m making an executive decision. Greg, you’re going to go move my car to the front of the promenade. While you’re doing that, Josh and I are going to sweep up and finish cleaning the front. Then you two are leaving, and as soon as I balance the cash register report, I’m going home myself.”

Greg started to protest, but I held up my hand to let him know that I wasn’t finished. “Anyone who has a problem with that doesn’t have to bother coming in tomorrow. Am I making myself clear?”

“I just have one question,” Greg said.

I prepared myself for his challenge. “Go ahead and ask it.”

“Where are your car keys?” he asked with a grin.

“I’ll get them,” I said. I went back into the kitchen and grabbed my purse. Coming back into the dining room, I found that Greg and Josh had already started on the cleanup out there. They’d even flipped the
OPEN
sign to
CLOSED
.

“We came up with a better plan,” Greg said as the vacuum died. “We’re going to clean up while you do the register. Then we’ll all leave together.”

“Greg, I wasn’t kidding,” I said, keeping my temper in check. I knew he meant well, but the Slice was mine, and when it boiled down to it, Maddy was nothing more than an employee, just like they were.

Greg looked aggravated, but Josh said quickly, “How about this? Run your report, and if it doesn’t balance the first time, we’ll go and leave you to it. But if it does, you get an escort to your car.”

“I’m not in the mood to make a deal with you two,” I said.

“Come on, where’s your gambling spirit?” Greg asked.

“I run a pizza place with students and my sister as my only employees. You don’t think that takes nerves of steel?”

“You’ve got a point,” Greg said. “Just humor us, okay?”

I was tired of fighting about it. I counted out the cash in the drawer and ran the report on the register as they finished cleaning up. It probably wasn’t a bad idea having them walk me to my car, but I wasn’t sure how I could accept their offer after making all that fuss before.

Unfortunately, it didn’t matter.

We were short fifty dollars—a pretty substantial amount in the general scheme of things—and I wasn’t about to leave the Slice until I knew exactly what had happened to the missing money. I trusted my three employees implicitly, but money is money, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to get to sleep until I figured out what had happened.

They didn’t take the news very well.

“Could Maddy have borrowed it without telling you?” Greg asked.

“No, she always asks me first when she does that,” I said.

“We didn’t take it,” Josh said, just a little more defensively than I would have liked.

“I never said you did,” I said. “I’m sure there’s a perfectly good explanation for it, but I’m not leaving until I know what it is.”

“How about if I put fifty bucks in the till myself?” Josh asked.

“That depends on one thing,” I said.

“What’s that?”

“Did you take fifty out?”

“You know I didn’t,” Josh said.

“Then it won’t work.” I chucked my keys to Greg. “Would you mind moving my car for me, after all? I might be here awhile.”

He took them, and then hesitated at the door.

Before he could say a word, I said, “Greg, I mean it. Just do as I ask, okay?”

He finally understood that I was in no mood to mess with. “Yes, ma’am,” he said, and then turned to Josh. “Are you coming?”

“No, I’m going to wait right here until you get back,” he said.

After Greg was gone, Josh said, “Listen, I know you and my dad have had your share of troubles in the past, but if you need him, you should realize that he’ll come running and ask questions later.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I know that.”

“Just don’t wait too late to call him,” Josh said.

I grinned at him. “I appreciate your concern, but how am I going to know when it’s too late, until it already is?”

“That’s a good point,” he said.

Greg pulled into the closest spot to the Slice, but it was still a fair distance away. It didn’t seem that far in the daylight, but at night, it could be intimidating. At least the promenade stayed lit for most of the night.

Greg waved to Josh, and he turned to me before he left.

“Be careful, Eleanor,” he said.

“Right back at you,” I replied.

He waited until I dead-bolted the door; then he gave me a ‘thumbs up’ sign, which I returned.

After they were gone, I turned the radio off and started working on the report. I counted the cash three times, but the number stayed off by the same amount. What happened to that fifty dollars? I was about to call Maddy to ask her—date or no date—when a thought occurred to me. I pulled the till all the way out of the register, but I couldn’t see anything in the expanse. I was almost ready to shove it back in when I decided to have a closer look. Taking a flashlight from under the counter in back, I turned it on and peered into the opening.

Something was jammed in the back where the drawer slid in, and after some maneuvering that barked up one of my knuckles, I was able to extract a bit of paper from the opening.

Unfolding the money, I saw that it was a fifty-dollar bill, no doubt the missing culprit that had thrown off my balance for the night.

It felt good knowing that there was a simple explanation for the missing money, but even better that I hadn’t jumped to the conclusion that someone had been stealing from me. I would rather have lost a hundred times that amount than think bad of one of my employees, and I was glad my faith in them had been justified.

I filled out the next day’s deposit, slid the cash and change into the bag, then deposited it all into my new safe. It felt good knowing that I wouldn’t be walking around at night all by myself with money in my hands. The robbery was still too fresh in my mind. I saw the dart gun on the counter, and I thought about returning it to Slick in the morning. It had been a silly impulse purchase, and I already regretted making it. I slid the dart gun and its packaging back into the bag it came in, and tucked the whole thing under my arm. As I walked back out front, I turned all of the lights off as I went.

As I walked to the Subaru in the silent night, I was glad that I’d asked Greg to bring my car around front. There was no way I wanted to walk by myself in the dark tonight. There was something in the air, something unsettling, and I breathed a sigh of relief when I made it to my car and drove back safely to my house.

I’d barely taken my jacket off when there was a pounding at my front door. I put my keys and the bag from Slick’s on the table, and then I wondered who was trying to get my attention so urgently.

Peeking out through a side window, I saw Sandi Meadows standing there beating on the door, begging me to let her in.

A stream of blood was trickling down her face.

“Help me!” Sandi screamed. “Katy’s after me, and she’s got a knife.”

My fingers trembled as I unbolted the door and let Sandi in. She stumbled into my house, and I latched the bolt behind her as quickly as I could.

“Go into the living room,” I ordered. “We can call the police from there.”

I helped her into the other room, and as I reached for the telephone, Sandi said in a hard voice, “Put that down, Eleanor.”

And at that second, I knew. There was something in Sandi’s voice that made me doubt everything she’d told me before. I suddenly realized that every shred of evidence I thought I had pointing at Katy had come from Sandi. It had all been just a little too convenient, and with the will she thought she had, and the scene Wade had made with Katy, it gave her a double whammy of a motive for murder.

“I have to call Kevin Hurley,” I said without looking at her. I wished I’d thought of retrieving Joe’s shotgun, but the key to the gun case was in the other room, and I didn’t have any time left.

I felt a nudge on the back of my neck, and I wondered if I was about to die, too. When I’d turned my back, Sandi must have picked up the baseball bat I kept by the door for protection. A bat was always my weapon of choice. At least she didn’t have a knife or, worse yet, a gun.

I was beaten, and I knew it. I put the receiver back into its cradle and then slowly turned around as the pressure of the bat eased.

“I can’t believe the way you played me,” I said hoarsely.

“Don’t act so surprised,” Sandi said. “It’s pretty clear you were onto me, so there’s no reason to play dumb now.”

“Did you actually cut yourself to convince me to let you inside?” I asked, still having a hard time wrapping my mind around what I now knew had to be the truth. I should have seen it sooner, but she’d fooled me for so long with her act of helpless innocence. Once I got past the fact that she’d been playing me from the start, I could see patterns start to emerge. Why hadn’t I realized that I had only Sandi’s word that Jamie had seen Katy going into the pizzeria after hours? Sandi had been the one to plead with me not to say anything to anyone else right away. She was buying time, and I’d let her. The motive was clear enough, after the fact. She’d been under the impression that she was Wade’s lone beneficiary. The murder was a way to exact her revenge for his dalliance with Katy Johnson, and she managed to make herself rich in the process.

Sandi wiped the crimson smudges away from her forehead with her free hand. “It’s novelty blood. I got it at a joke shop. It looks pretty real, doesn’t it?”

“Why would you want to hurt me?” I asked. “I’m not a threat to you.”

“Sadly, you are. You have to understand my confusion. I told you to let me handle things on my own, but after we talked today, you went to Greg’s apartment, talked to Art Young, and then had a long conversation with the police. What was I supposed to think? I had a perfect suicide/confession planned for Katy, and then you had to go and ruin it. I had a hunch you wouldn’t leave well enough alone. It was a good thing I followed you today.”

“You were watching me the entire day?”

“It wasn’t all that hard—you’re not exactly the most observant person in the world. You looked right past me when you were talking to Chief Hurley on that bench out in front of your shop. Believe me, it wasn’t hard to get Jamie to kiss me, and it made for perfect cover.”

I suddenly remembered the couple making out on the promenade, and I was surprised to realize that I hadn’t identified two of my suspects. The fact that their faces were both obscured still didn’t count for much. I should have been watching a little closer, and seeing them kissing would have sent warning bells sounding in my mind, if I’d only noticed.

Sandi waved the bat toward my head, and I felt a shiver run through me. I hated the thought of being bludgeoned to death like Wade had been. I had a hunch Sandi wouldn’t take care of me with just one blow. If I let things run their course, I was going to suffer before I died. Panic was starting to sweep through me, but I had to fight it back if I was going to have any chance to survive. But what could I use as a weapon? Since I didn’t have the key on me, the shotgun in its sturdy case was as inaccessible as if it had been back at the Slice.

That’s when I remembered the dart gun sitting on the table just a few steps away.