Four Cheese Murder: Book Seven in Papa Pacelli's Pizzeria Series Page 2

  “What do you think?” she asked Clara. “When I asked about how much food they could use, the person I spoke to, Ronald, just said that they would appreciate whatever I could bring. I have no idea how many people need to be fed.”

  “Ten pizzas should go a long way,” Clara said. “From what I saw yesterday, there was a steady stream of people visiting the community center, but they weren’t completely packed. This should last them a while.”

  “Good. I’ll run all of this over, then come back and help out for a bit. We should be getting a shipment of the new menus in today—can one of you send me a text if we get it while I’m gone?”

  “Sure thing,” Rose said. “I’ll let you know.”

  With the boxes of clothing in the back and the pizza in the front passenger seat, Ellie’s little car was full to the brim. The community center wasn’t far, which was a good thing since the stack of pizza boxes was decidedly unstable. She pulled into the parking lot with one hand on the wheel and the other supporting the stack of pizzas. She grabbed one of the boxes of clothes from the back and made her way up towards the building.

  “Thanks,” she said when an unseen person opened the door for her. She entered carefully, hardly able to see over the top of the box. A sweet-looking woman with mouse-brown hair appeared from behind the door. She kicked down the door stop deftly with one foot to hold it open, then reached out to take the box from her.

  “Are these donations?” she asked.

  “Yes, and I’ve got more in the car,” Ellie said.

  “Wonderful. I’ll take these to the back, and send someone out to help you.”

  A minute later, Ronald, the person that Ellie had originally spoken to about the donations, appeared. He made a beeline over to her and gave her a quick wave.

  “Hi,” he said. “Courtney said you could use some help?”

  “I’ve got another box of clothes, plus a bunch of pizzas,” she told him. “I didn’t want to try bringing all of the pizzas up at once—I was afraid I’d drop them.”

  “Right, I’ll grab those, you get the box.”

  Together they carried the rest of the donations and the food inside. Ellie followed Ronald to the back, where a few volunteers were sorting donations. A long table was set up at one end of the room, with a lonely bag of potato chips, a water heater, and a selection of instant teas and hot cocoa. It was here that Ronald deposited the pizzas. He cracked open the top one and gave an approving nod.

  “Looks good,” he said. “Papa Pacelli’s is great. It’s nice of you to buy these for us.”

  “Actually, I own the place,” she said with a smile. “Consider them a donation directly from Papa Pacelli’s.”

  “Did I hear that right?” The woman with the mouse-colored hair had reappeared. “I thought you looked familiar. I stop in there sometimes when I’m too tired to cook dinner. My name’s Courtney.”

  “Ellie,” the pizzeria owner said, shaking her hand. “It’s nice to meet you. Do you work here?”

  “I’m just a volunteer,” Courtney said. “There aren’t many paid positions. I’d love to, though, if one ever opened up. Ronald’s one of the lucky ones, he’s been working here for years.”

  Ellie turned to look at the man who had helped her, but he was gone. It seemed odd that he would just vanish without saying anything, but Ellie figured he hadn’t wanted to interrupt her conversation with the other woman.

  “So, is this your first time donating for one of our charity drives?” Courtney continued. “I don’t think I’ve seen you around before.”

  “It is. I just moved to town around the end of summer, so there’s still a lot I have to discover about Kittiport. I didn’t even know the center did anything like this. I thought it was just for community events and weddings and stuff like that.”

  “Oh, we do everything here,” Courtney said. “In the summer, we organize day camps for kids, which is fun, and sometime in the spring we’ll have an adoptable pets day where the local animal shelters all bring out some of their long-term residents and try to find them homes.”

  “That sounds wonderful. Maybe I’ll volunteer this year if I have the time.”

  “We’d love the help. Our team is kind of rag-tag, but people are nice for the most part. I know everyone here. That woman with the black hair is Tina, my roommate. There’s Jason, our janitor. He’s also the one who dresses up as Santa for the kids over the holidays. The redhead in the corner is my best friend, Kristy, and then of course you already met Ronald. There are a few more people that come and go as we need them, but this is the core team. If you want to know more about volunteering or what donations we need for the winter food and clothes drive, any one of us would be able to help.”

  “This seems like such a wonderful way to spend your spare time,” Ellie said. “I’ve got a few more boxes of clothes and blankets at home, so when I bring those by I’ll talk with you more about volunteering at one of the events later this year.”

  “Please do. It’s always nice to see new people get involved with the community.”

  Ellie left the community center feeling happy and refreshed. It was wonderful to see so many people helping others out of the goodness of their hearts. She was glad that Clara had told her about the food and clothing drive, or else she would never have heard of it. She decided to make a point of seeking out Courtney the next time she stopped in to drop off donations—she liked the sound of the adoptable pets day in the spring, and thought that it would be a good idea to sign up as a volunteer sooner rather than later.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  * * *

  Ellie had planned on staying only a few hours at the pizzeria, but the shipment of new menus arrived shortly after she returned. That meant that they were ready to start rolling out their newest option; gluten-free thin crust pizza.

  It might have made more sense to wait until the next day and announce it properly, but Ellie decided to give the new menus a test run then and there. She had had a large enough number of people ask for the special crust that she was sure there was a fairly good market for gluten-free foods in Kittiport. The nit-picky part of her felt like she should have done more market research before ordering a whole new set of menus, but even if the new addition was a complete disappointment, the amount of money the store would be out would be negligible.

  The sale of their very first gluten-free pizza brought a smile to all of their faces. Sometimes Ellie felt like it could be hard to innovate with a pizzeria, but if this new, healthier crust option ended up being a success, then there was no telling what they would be able to try in the future. She had the beginnings of an idea for a low-carb bacon crust, but she needed to do more research before she began playing around with it.

  “Hey, Ms. P, your phone is ringing,” Rose said, poking her head out from the kitchen as Ellie and Clara celebrated yet another successful sale of their new menu option.

  “Shoot, I forgot to put it on vibrate,” Ellie said. “Thanks for letting me know, Rose.”

  Just the other day she had reprimanded Jacob for leaving the volume turned up on his cell phone, so she was glad that he wasn’t here to see this. Feeling a bit embarrassed, she hurried into the back and managed to catch the call before it went to voicemail. The caller ID told her it was her best friend, Shannon Ward.

  “Hey, can I call you back in a few minutes? I’m just about to leave the pizzeria and I want to leave instructions with Clara and Rose before I go,” she said, tucking the phone between her ear and her shoulder as she reached for the second to last slice of the pizza they had made for lunch.

  “Ellie, you need to come over right now. Russell’s been shot!”

  Ellie’s blood turned to ice. She put the pizza slice down, then sat numbly in the chair.

  “Is he okay?” she asked, realizing how stupid she sounded as she said it. Of course he wasn’t okay; he had been shot.

  “He’s in the hospital. James got the call because he’s his brother, and he called me while he was on his way to
go see Russell. All I know is that he’s in surgery.”

  “What should I do?” Ellie bit her lip. She and Russell had been dating for only a few months, but she cared about him deeply. He was a good man, and a good sheriff. If something happened to him, it would affect not just her and his family, but the entire town.

  “Can you come over and wait for news with me?” Shannon sniffed. She must have been crying. “It’ll be better to wait together.”

  “Of course,” Ellie said. “I’m on my way right now.”

  Shannon and James lived in a nice house in town. Ellie went over a couple of times a month for dinner, or just to see her friend. Never had the drive seemed to take so long as it did that day. Every other vehicle on the road seemed to be moving at a crawling pace. She tried to keep an eye on the speedometer—the last thing she wanted was to get into an accident and possibly hurt someone else—but it was hard to force herself to go slowly when all she wanted was to reach her friend and find out if Russell was going to be all right.

  When she finally pulled into her friend’s driveway, she saw Shannon standing in the doorway, waiting for her. She wasn’t wearing a coat, but didn’t seem aware of the cold. Ellie shut off the car and hurried up the steps.

  “No news,” Shannon said before she could ask. “Come on in.”

  The two women waited together at the kitchen table with untouched cups of tea until Shannon’s cell phone finally rang. Ellie watched as her friend answered, and crossed her fingers under the table.

  “Okay. Okay, that’s good. Yeah, she’s here. I’ll tell her.”

  Ellie bit her lip impatiently as she waited for the other woman to hang up. It didn’t sound like bad news. For the first time since hearing about the injury, she wondered how it had happened. When she first got the call, she had been too concerned about Russell to think of anything else, but now that it sounded like he was out of danger, a million scenarios seemed to play through her head at once.

  “He’s fine,” Shannon said as she put down the phone. “He got shot in the leg. It hit bone, so he’ll be out of commission for a few weeks and might have to deal with physical therapy to avoid having a limp, but James said the doctor expects a full recovery.”

  “Oh my goodness, that’s great news,” Ellie breathed. “I was expecting the worst.”

  “Me too,” Shannon said. She shook her head, then grinned. “Well, now that we know our favorite sheriff is going to be okay, do you want to hit the store with me before we go and see him? James said he can have visitors after he wakes up from the anesthesia, so we have time to pick up a gift basket or something. Hospital stays are never fun.”

  “No, they aren’t,” Ellie agreed, thinking back to when she had suffered through a serious concussion in November. She had not enjoyed the hospital stay very much at all, and knew that Russell would go stir-crazy if he were kept there for long. With any luck, he would be out within a day or two to begin his road to recovery.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  * * *

  “Give me about three hours,” Ellie said. “I’ll bring over pizza, some brownie bites, and two liters of whatever soda you want.”

  She hung up and shoved her phone into her pocket before glaring at the large box sitting in the snow outside of her car. The darned thing just didn’t want to fit. She had to get to the pizzeria, make another batch of pizzas for donation, whip up something for herself and Russell, then actually drop off the donations and leave the community center in time to make it to Russell’s by lunch. She didn’t have time to wrestle with an uncooperative box.

  “One more try,” she sighed.

  After finally managing to wedge it into the passenger seat, Ellie drove straight to the deli, keeping an anxious eye on the clock. She really should have given herself more time, but it would be doable if nothing else came up.

  The weekly special at the pizzeria was a thin crust margherita pizza, with fresh herbs and thick slices of the best mozzarella cheese around. Ellie made up three of these to take with her to the community center, plus a few plain pepperoni pizzas, before turning her attention to the special dish she was planning on making for her and Russell’s lunch—a bacon cheeseburger pizza.

  She started with a Chicago-style deep dish crust. Instead of the normal red sauce, or even barbecue sauce, she slathered it with creamy cheddar cheese sauce. A generous layer of ground beef followed, to which she added finely chopped white onions and garlic, then a layer of the shredded smoked bacon cheddar cheese that she had discovered a few months back. It had quickly become a favorite topping at the pizzeria. Over this she sprinkled even more bacon in the form of finely chopped bits. She brushed the crust with butter and dusted it with garlic powder, then put the entire thing in the oven.

  While it cooked, she cleaned up her workspace and replaced the dough that she had used up. She carried the pizzas for donation out to the car and made sure they were stable in the back seat before heading back inside to check out the bacon cheeseburger pizza. When she peered into the oven and saw the melted cheese lightly bubbling, she smiled. The delicious-looking, cheesy monstrosity was sure to cheer up the sheriff.

  She hummed to herself as she drove over to the community center. She had been in a good mood ever since she and Shannon had visited Russell at the hospital earlier in the week. The relief of learning that he would be perfectly okay after spending some well-deserved time resting had been overwhelming. Her thankfulness seemed to leak over into the other parts of her life as well, making her upbeat even during the normally dreary tasks that she usually disliked, like doing the dishes.

  Her humming stopped mid-note when she turned the corner onto the road that the community center was on and saw an ambulance and two police cars with flashing lights in the parking lot.

  “What’s going on?” Ellie asked as she approached a small group of people huddled on the sidewalk. She recognized Ronald, and a few of the other faces looked familiar but she couldn’t place names to any of them. She had left her car running a few spots away, and as the cold air nipped at her face, she was already wishing that she was back inside.

  “I don’t know,” one of the women said. “I just got here. The police asked me to wait, so here I am. They aren’t letting anybody leave.”

  “I heard the janitor say that someone was hurt,” someone else said.

  “I don’t see what could have happened,” the first woman said. “Was it one of the workers, or someone coming here to collect donations?”

  “No idea. I was hoping you would have an idea, Kristy. You’re way more involved in this place than I am. Maybe Ronald knows something. Ronald?”

  The second woman turned to look, but Ronald was gone. Surprised, Ellie looked around. She saw him marching towards one of the police officers. A moment later, he was talking and gesturing at the building. It almost looked like he was arguing, though she couldn’t imagine what about. The officer took a step back and said something into his walkie-talkie. A moment later a second officer approached and guided the man away.

  “What in the world was that about?”

  “No idea. That Ronald is an odd one,” Kristy said. “He hasn’t said a word since I got here.”

  “I thought he seemed a bit off when I met him the other day,” Ellie admitted.

  “Oh, I remember why you look so familiar. You dropped off all of those pizzas, didn’t you? I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself before. I’m Tina.”

  “Ellie.” They shook hands. “It’s nice to meet you. Are you a volunteer, or do you work here? The woman who showed me around last time said that you were her roommate, but she didn’t mention much more than that.”

  “Oh, you met Courtney. I work here. Courtney actually started volunteering here after I told her about this place. I know she’s hoping to get a paid position sometime soon. Her heart’s in the right place, but I think she’s hoping for too much. We don’t have a very high employee turnover.”

  The other woman, Kristy, snorted. “Yeah, unlike your roommat
e turnover.”

  “Kristy, I told you that Courtney and I are working things out. Lay off, all right?”

  Ellie raised her palms. “I don’t want to get involved in whatever this is. I just came to drop off some more donations. I’m going to go ask someone how long they think this will take—I may have to come back later.”

  She started towards a police officer—the same officer that Ronald had spoken to, in fact—but before she had gone more than a few steps, the doors to the community center opened. A man that she didn’t recognize came out and stood on the top step. He raised a megaphone to his lips.

  “All right, everybody come inside, please. No one leaves the premises until they have spoken to an officer.”

  “What happened?” someone shouted as they began milling towards the door.

  “A woman has been found dead. Anyone who knew a Courtney Morgan, please come to the front of the line.”

  Beside Ellie, Kristy gasped and teetered. She reached out to support the woman. The look on her face was heartbreaking. With a pang, she remembered what Courtney had said during her last visit.

  “The redhead in the corner is my best friend… Kristy.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  * * *

  Ellie helped the grieving woman inside, then made a beeline for the one familiar face among the police.

  “Bethany,” she said. “What’s going on? Who is that guy?”

  “That’s Detective Mendez,” the female cop said. “He’s interim sheriff while Sheriff Ward is on leave. It’s bad luck that something like this happened now.”

  “What happened to the woman? I met her the other day. She seemed so nice.”

  “Sorry, Ellie, but I can’t talk about it. If you get in line, I’ll try to get you out of here as soon as possible. I know you’re probably busy, but I’ve got to go by the book.”