Pepperoni Pizza Can Be Murder (21 page)

“Just don’t do anything stupid,” Bob said. “If I know Kevin Hurley, he’s going to be watching you day and night.”

“I’ll behave myself. I promise.”

Greg grabbed his apron, and I asked, “You’re honestly not thinking about working tonight, are you?”

“Why not? Josh has been covering for me long enough. I thought I’d send him home, if you don’t mind.”

How could I say I didn’t want my customers to see Greg at the pizzeria, when I’d gone to such great lengths to tell Kevin that I knew he was innocent? In the end, I just couldn’t do it. I either had to support him all of the way, or take back everything I’d said before.

“I don’t mind a bit. I’m sure he’ll be thrilled.”

“I know that for a fact. He’s got a new lady in his life. Boy, a guy lays low for a few days and the whole world goes crazy.”

After Greg disappeared, Bob said, “You’re doing a brave thing here.”

“I know Greg didn’t rob me any more than he killed his brother,” I said.

“I’m not talking about that. Aren’t you concerned what people will say when they see him working here?”

“Bob, if Clara can’t scare them off with her phony roach story, I doubt seeing Greg waiting tables is going to affect them.”

He shrugged. “It’s your business, and I mean that literally. I just wanted to stop by and see how you were holding up.”

“I’m doing great,” I said. “Thanks for all you’ve done for Greg. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.”

“It’s been my pleasure. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to be going.”

“Don’t tell me you’ve got a date. I thought you were seeing my sister, and I know she’s not free tonight.”

He laughed. “Do you honestly think I’d do anything to jeopardize that? No, I’m afraid I’ll be wading through paperwork most of the night to make up for being out of my office all day.”

I grabbed a hamburger pizza sub off the assembly line and cut it in half, then slid it into a to-go box. “Take this for the road.”

“What about the person who ordered it?”

“I can make another one in a heartbeat,” I said. “You deserve at least that.”

“I wish I had the willpower to say no, but I can’t.”

“I expect you to bill me promptly for the full amount, so we’ll call this a bonus for not being mad at me for waking you in the middle of the night.”

“We can talk about that later,” he said as he took the sandwich and left the kitchen.

As I prepared a replacement sandwich, Maddy came back.

“What’s going on with my hamburger pizza sub?”

“I gave it to Bob,” I said. I’d expected Maddy to scold me for doing it, but she just smiled.

“That’s a wonderful idea. He did a lot of good for us today, didn’t he?”

“It’s nice having Greg back. Did he really tell Josh he could leave for the night?”

Maddy laughed. “Are you kidding me? Josh was so happy he tore out of here without even taking off his apron.”

I smiled, and then it faded just as quickly. “Maddy, Bob asked me if we were doing the right thing having Greg work out front after what’s been happening lately.”

“Bob tends to err on the conservative side,” Maddy said. “Don’t hold that against him.”

“Don’t tell me you agree with him,” I said.

“Did I say that? Eleanor, I understand where he’s coming from, but I think you’re doing the right thing. Timber Ridge needs to see that we stand behind Greg, and the sooner they do, the better off we’ll all be.”

“That’s the spirit,” I said. “Your sub will be out in a couple of minutes.”

“No rush. It’s for Stephen Haley. He’s on a date with some woman from Westchester County, and I doubt he even realizes I haven’t served him yet. Love is in the air out there, Eleanor.”

“Just make sure none of it gets back here,” I said as I took a pizza off the conveyor and cut it into eight slices. I handed it to Maddy and added, “By the time you get back, Stephen’s sub will be ready.”

“I’m on it,” she said.

Greg came back and placed an order, and I couldn’t help but respond to the silly grin on his face. “You’re happier than I’ve seen you in a long time,” I said.

“I have good reason to be, don’t you think?”

I remembered what Bob had just told me. “Greg, you know you’re not out of the woods yet, don’t you?”

“I know,” he said. “But I also fully understand that you and Maddy believe in me, and that’s really all that counts.”

“We’ve got your back.” I took a deep breath, then said, “Greg, there is one thing we need to talk about.”

“Then let’s talk.”

“It’s about Wade. Do you know if he actually signed the settlement papers for your grandparents’ estate?”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“There’s a rumor going around town that Wade signed the papers the afternoon he was murdered.”

Greg stared at me, his mouth dropped wide open. “Where did you hear that?”

“I can’t really tell you that,” I told him, not wanting to reveal that Emma was my source.

“All I can say is that if he did, he never told me, and Bob didn’t, either. Why don’t you ask him?”

“I can’t,” I admitted. “He’s got attorney-client privilege with you, so you’re the only one who can ask him if it’s true.”

“Then what are we waiting for?”

“You can probably catch him at his office,” I said.

Greg took out a card, dialed the number, and then waited. I didn’t even pretend to ignore what he was doing.

“Bob, it’s me. Yeah, I’m fine. It’s about Wade. Did he sign the agreement? Okay. No, that’s all right. Thanks.”

“So, did he?”

“If he did, Bob isn’t aware of it. But he told me that didn’t necessarily mean that Wade didn’t.”

“I don’t understand.”

Greg shrugged. “Bob said Wade asked for a copy of the agreement so he could study it. If he decided to sign it, and he had it witnessed, it could be enforced once it’s filed at the courthouse, and Bob wouldn’t know anything about it.”

“Would your brother do something like that?” I asked.

“Who knows? Wade never was easy to predict. If I had to guess, though, I’d say no. He was pretty adamant about getting more than his fair share. He would have had to be pretty desperate to sign it.”

“Wouldn’t you say that’s what he was?”

Greg shook his head. “I have no idea what drove the guy to do the things he did, and I’m not going to waste any time worrying about it.”

I wanted to tell him about the legal ramifications of a signed document, but I didn’t have the heart to ruin his good mood.

“Why do you bring it up, Eleanor? Is it important?”

“Who knows?” I admitted. “I wonder if your mother would know.”

A look of disgust crossed his face. “Well, I’m not about to ask her. I can’t believe what that woman did to you. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” I said.

“No, but I still feel responsible.” His frown faded for a moment. “If you want to get her back, I’ve got some great ideas.”

“You know what? I might just take you up on that.”

“I’m hoping you do. We’ll have a great time, that’s for sure.”

He vanished again, and I found myself smiling as I worked to fill the new orders. Our pizzeria had been missing something when Greg had been gone, and it suddenly felt whole and complete again.

I just hoped things stayed that way, but with the ongoing murder investigation, none of us could be sure of tonight, let alone tomorrow.

But for once, I planned to enjoy it while it lasted, without another thought about any troubles that the next day might bring.

That turned out to be a wish that wasn’t going to be fulfilled anytime soon, but I didn’t realize it at the time, and in a way, I was just as happy that I hadn’t known what was about to happen next.

I would be engulfed in it soon enough.

“G
reg just took off,” Maddy said as she came back into the kitchen later that night. It was three minutes past closing, but usually our wait staff helped us clean up at the end of the night. “I hope you don’t mind. I told him it would be all right if he slipped out a little early.”

“Of course it is,” I said. “We were lucky to have him come in at all. For a while there, I thought it was just going to be the three of us, but things really perked up at the end, didn’t they?”

Maddy nodded. “I don’t often say this, but you were right.”

I cocked one ear toward her. “I’m sorry, I missed that last part. What did you just say?”

Maddy smiled at me. “You were right. I thought it was a waste of time giving away all that free food this afternoon, but it appeared to do the trick.”

“I didn’t know what else we could do,” I said. “A rumor can break a restaurant, and it doesn’t have to be true to do it.”

“We win and Clara loses. That’s a combination I can live with.”

“Don’t kid yourself,” I said as I dug my hands back into the soapy water. I’d been doing the dishes when she’d come into the kitchen. “We lost customers today that we’ll probably never get back. I’m not about to let Clara get away with it.”

“Wow, and usually I’m the mean one,” Maddy said.

“I’m not being mean—I’m protecting this business.”

She said, “Don’t get me wrong. I wasn’t criticizing. I approve.”

“This is the last thing my husband loved, and I’m not about to sit back and see it destroyed.”

Maddy’s voice softened. “You’re wrong about that.”

“What do you mean?”

“Eleanor, he loved you the most.”

“I know that,” I said, “but this place was a part of him, too.”

“And it will live on,” Maddy said. “I’ll work on the front while you’re doing dishes, and we’ll have this knocked out in no time.”

“That sounds like a plan,” I said. As she wiped tables down and swept the front, I finished my kitchen cleanup. I’d started it early, so for once, I finished before Maddy did. I was about to go out front to help her wrap things up when I spotted our specials board. It was a whiteboard with dry-erase ink, and in the summer months, we used it out front to announce our specials for the day, which were usually what we had too much of from the day before. It was another way of attracting summertime customers, and I enjoyed embellishing the board with some artwork, too.

But for some reason, the clean board seemed to be calling out to me. I grabbed a black marker and drew a line down the center, from top to bottom. On the left side, I wrote,
What We Know,
and on the right, I put,
What We Don’t.

I’d barely started my list when Maddy came back. “That wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” she said as she put her apron away without even glancing in my direction. “Are you ready?”

“You go on without me,” I said. “There’s something else I want to do tonight.”

That got her attention. Maddy pulled up a bar stool as she looked at what I was doing and said, “I’ve got nothing to do at home, but even if I did, I’m not about to let you have all of the fun without me.” She studied the board’s headings, and then she said, “I hope this is about Wade Hatcher’s murder.”

“What else could it be?”

“Are you kidding me? It could be anything from what really happened to Elvis to who shot J.R.”

“I didn’t realize there was any doubt about Elvis, and I thought
Dallas
cleared all of that up before they went off the air.”

“Wade it is, then,” Maddy said. “Why are both sides under your headings blank?”

“Give me a second. I’m just getting started.”

Maddy nodded. “The first thing we know is that someone killed him right over there.”

“This isn’t the Obvious Board,” I said. “I was thinking more along the lines of suspects and motives.”

“Okay, that makes more sense,” Maddy said. “So, what exactly do we know so far?”

I uncapped the marker again and spoke as I wrote under the
KNOW
side. “Wade could have been murdered because of jealousy, revenge, retribution, or by accident.”

“I doubt whoever took a rolling pin to his head was trying to accomplish anything short of killing him,” Maddy said.

“I meant ‘mistaken identity,’ and you know it.”

“Go on, then, let’s match some names with the motives.”

Under
JEALOUSY
, I wrote down
Sandi Meadows
and
Jamie Lowder.
For
REVENGE
, I added
Katy Johnson.
RETRIBUTION
got
Art Young
and
Roger Henderson,
and finally, coupled with
ACCIDENT
, I put
Clara Hatcher.

I studied the list, and then asked, “Is there anyone I’m leaving out?”

“I can’t imagine, unless you want to put Greg’s name down, too.”

“No, I’m not even willing to think that. Besides, what would he think if he saw this and his name was on it?”

“You’re right there. I doubt it would make him happy,” Maddy said. “Okay, now that we have a list, what do we do next?”

“Maybe it’s time to stir the pot,” I said.

Maddy looked around the kitchen. “I thought we were done cooking for the night.”

“I’m not in the mood for your bizarre sense of humor. You know what I’m talking about. We need to figure out a way to get the killer to reveal himself to us without endangering our own lives.”

“That’s going to be a neat trick,” Maddy said. “How do you propose we do that?”

“I’m not sure yet, but I’m going to figure something out.”

“I believe that. There’s only one person I know in Timber Ridge who’s more stubborn than I am, and I’m looking at her.”

“I’m going to take that as a compliment.”

“That’s how I meant it. So, are we going to stir the pot tonight, or will it wait until morning?”

I frowned at what I’d written, and then I turned the board around so no one would see it. “I don’t know about you, but I need some time to come up with something good.”

“Then let’s get out of here,” Maddy said. “It’s been a long day.”

“And tomorrow’s not going to be any better. Why don’t you come by my house around seven tomorrow morning so we can get an early start?”

Maddy wasn’t exactly a morning person, but she agreed quickly to my suggestion. “I’ll see you then.”

As we walked out of the pizzeria, I said, “I thought I’d have a little more trouble convincing you.”

“We don’t have a lot of time, and we can’t just sit around waiting for Kevin Hurley to make an arrest. If we do that, Greg’s going back to jail, and it’s going to take a lot more than Bob Lemon’s blustering to get him out the next time.”

As we approached our cars, it started to rain. Maddy waved at me as she raced to her car, and I got into the Subaru just before the deluge hit. We sat there, side by side in the dark waiting for it to ease up, but evidently my sister got tired of waiting. As she drove off, I decided to head home as well. Otherwise, I would be sitting out there alone in the dark with the rain pounding down around me, and that wasn’t anything I wanted to do. It never eased up, and as I pulled into my driveway, a flash of lightning lit up the sky. Was there someone on my porch, or had I just imagined it? I sat there trying to think of what I should do when there was another flash, and I saw that the porch was empty. Pulling my jacket off and throwing it over my head, I made a mad dash to the front of my house, and though no one was there, I didn’t dawdle getting inside. It wasn’t until I had the heavy oak door dead-bolted behind me that I think I actually started breathing again.

I’d been thinking about homicide too much lately, and it was starting to affect my imagination. The sooner we cleared up Wade Hatcher’s murder, the happier I’d be. I liked my simple life of running the Slice with my sister. I knew in my heart that investigating murders should be left to the professionals, even though I felt I had to step in from time to time. I just wished Kevin Hurley would focus on someone besides my best employee.

But if he wasn’t, I was going to have to do it myself, along with some help from my sister.

I was ready the next morning at six forty-five and began to regret not offering to pick Maddy up at her apartment. My sister wasn’t the most punctual woman who’d ever lived, and early mornings were not her best time.

I was just about to call her at seven to tell her I was on my way when she pulled up and parked behind my car. Before she could get out, I left the house, being careful to lock the dead bolt behind me as I went.

“No coffee?” Maddy asked, clearly disappointed by our sudden departure.

“We’ll get some at Brian’s. My treat.”

“How about some eggs and a biscuit to go along with it?”

I nodded. “Okay, but I never knew you could drive such a hard bargain.”

“Just be glad I didn’t hold out for the Hungry Cousin’s Sampler.”

We’d shared one of Mark Deacon’s specials once and still had food left on our plates. The portions of bacon, sausage, ham, and eggs were enough to feed a lumberjack, but Maddy had been certain we could polish one off by ourselves.

She’d been wrong.

As she drove to the diner, my sister said, “I didn’t realize there were this many people out running around this time of day.”

“Just think; Paul’s been at his pastry shop for three or four hours by now.”

“That’s why he’s still single,” Maddy said. “I don’t know a woman alive willing to put up with that schedule.”

“I’m sure there’s someone out there for him, even with his crazy work hours. He’s not ready to give up on romance, and I don’t blame him.”

“How can you sound so positive?”

I shrugged. “I’m a firm believer that there’s someone for everyone out there.”

“Sometimes even more than one,” Maddy said.

“Hey, I wasn’t taking a shot at you. I promise.”

“Sis, it’s not like I haven’t thought the same thing myself. I’ve had some near misses, but I’m still looking for my Joe.”

“He’s out there,” I said as I patted her shoulder.

“Well, I wish he’d quit dillydallying around and make himself known to me, because, honestly, I’m getting tired of looking for him.”

I laughed, glad that my sister was so easy to talk to. Sometimes that personality trait was a real thorn in my side, but on other occasions, it was exactly what I needed.

We got to the diner, and the parking lot was nearly full.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Maddy said as she found a place to park. “This just isn’t right.”

“Mark told me once that he did a better breakfast trade than lunch and dinner put together, though he didn’t make nearly as much money doing it. Evidently, folks around here aren’t as willing to pay top dollar for their breakfasts.”

“So, why does he stay open in the mornings?” Maddy asked as we got out of her car and started toward the door.

“It keeps his customers happy, and he admitted to me that he liked getting up early every day.”

“If I had my way, I wouldn’t get up until the crack of noon,” Maddy said.

“Not me. The older I get, the more I like getting up early every morning.”

We walked into the diner, and I thought we were going to have to take a seat at the bar when Hank Parkinson waved us over to him. Somewhere in his early seventies, Hank was dressed in worn but clean blue jeans, a flannel shirt, and a burgundy baseball cap that had
ALASKA
blazed across the front of it in bold white letters.

“Take my booth, ladies,” he said as he shoved his dishes to one side. “I was just leaving.” He took a last sip of coffee, then stood.

“We don’t want to rush you,” I said.

“Nonsense. Chivalry’s not dead, at least not as long as I’m still living in Timber Ridge.”

Maddy leaned toward him and kissed his cheek. “If you were thirty years younger, you’d have to watch out for me.”

He smiled at her. “Darlin, if I were thirty years younger, you wouldn’t be able to keep me away. I guess it’s just a matter of bad timing, isn’t it?”

“It’s the story of my life,” Maddy said as Mark came over with a large gray plastic tub.

“Let me clear that for you,” he said as he quickly dispatched the dirty dishes and wiped down the table.

“I didn’t even have a chance to leave you a tip yet,” Hank said.

“You can catch me next time,” Mark said.

“You’re putting an awful lot of faith in me. How do you know I’ll be back?”

Mark grinned at me. “Where else would you go? I heard you’ve already been thrown out of all of the nice places in town.”

“You’ve got a point there.” Hank tipped his hat toward us, and then walked over to the cash register.

“He’s something, isn’t he?” Mark asked.

“I think so,” Maddy said. “I wonder if he was serious about chasing me.”

“I don’t know what he said,” Mark said, “but I wouldn’t assume he was kidding. The man has more energy now than I ever had in my life. I don’t know how he does it.”

“Flirting with women like us probably helps,” I said.

“It couldn’t hurt, could it? Do you two know what you want?”

“We’ll split a Hungry Cousin’s Sampler,” Maddy said.

“Cancel that,” I said quickly. “I’ll have two eggs over easy, a biscuit with sausage gravy, and coffee.”

“Party pooper,” Maddy said.

Mark smiled. “Not everyone’s as brave as you are.”

She nodded. “You’d think at least some of it would rub off on her, though.” She glanced at the menu, and then said, “You might as well bring me what she’s having.”

“Got it,” he said as he jotted our orders down and left. While we were waiting for our food, I said, “I’ve been thinking about the list we made last night.”

“Me too,” Maddy admitted. “That’s about all I seem to be able to think about lately.”

“Come on, that’s not true. What about your new boyfriend?”

I’d said it offhand, but she got serious as she looked at me. “One date does not make him my boyfriend.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“It’s not that,” she said. “I just hate that term. I’m a grown woman. I don’t have boyfriends.”

“What would you like me to call him, then?”