A Pizza To Die For - A Pizza To Die For Part 14
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A Pizza To Die For Part 14

"Trust me. We have friends you don't want to make unhappy," Maddy said. That certainly wasn't part of our plan. What was she doing threatening this woman?

Lacy backed off with that comment. "I didn't mean anything by it. It was such a shock hearing about what happened to Judson."

"I bet it was," I said. "When's the last time you were in Timber Ridge?"

"What possible business is it of yours?" she asked me.

"You can tell us, or you can tell the state police," Maddy said.

"Those are your friends?" she said with a laugh. "I'm not afraid of the police."

Maddy chuckled softly. "Neither are we, but if things go south, we may use them as a backup."

"I've heard enough from you. You both need to leave."

I knew where Maddy was headed, but I wasn't about to let her use Art's name to intimidate this woman. If anyone was going to do that, it needed to be me. "Do you have any idea who has been asking questions about you, Lacy? Surely someone's reported back to you that there have been inquiries made."

"I had a call earlier," she said as she looked at me. "They said it was nothing to worry about."

"There's where you're wrong. The man who is helping us isn't known for putting up with foolishness from anyone."

"I'm not saying anything until I know who wants to know."

"Do you mean us?" I asked.

"Of course not. I'm talking about the heavy-hitter backing you up."

I just laughed. "He wouldn't appreciate me using his name like that, but think about who called you. Do you know anyone they might be afraid of?"

Lacy took it all in for a moment. No one had said she was stupid. "I don't know anything about Judson's death. I haven't been in that town since I was in college, and that's the truth."

"Where were you the night of the murder?"

She didn't want to answer, I could see it in her eyes, but she did just the same. "I was at my apartment. I had a cold, so I left here early and I didn't come in at all that day. I was shocked to hear about it on the radio, but I didn't kill him."

I didn't know whether to believe her or not. There was something about the way she spoke that made me doubt every word out of her mouth. She could have told me it was hot in July, and I would have asked to see a thermometer before I believed her.

"Is that all?" she asked, finally getting some of her spirit back. This would be a hard woman to browbeat for very long without a very real weapon in our hands. "I have work to do."

"That's it, for now," Maddy said.

As we left, I stopped at the shop door before I exited. "I hope for your sake that you're telling us the truth."

She made no reply, and Maddy and I walked out of the shop. There was a man hovering nearby, pretending to read a newspaper, but it was obvious he was watching us.

"Well, it's good to know that you're the calm one," Maddy said softly outside. "Nice subtle hint there."

"I saw where you were going with your line of questioning, so I decided to step in. If anyone was going to use our connection to Art, it needed to be me. Besides, I wanted to have a little fun myself and try to make her squirm. Don't tell me that you would have just stood there and taken the way she was treating me." I looked back for the man with the newspaper, but he was gone. Could that have been the mysterious Jack that Art told me about?

"Me? She would have been wearing that hanger as a choker if she'd said it to my face. I was honestly impressed with your restraint."

"At least we did one thing-we established that she has a temper," I said as we made our way back to Maddy's car.

"You almost had proof of that up close," she said. "Her story doesn't give her much of an alibi, does it? With that convenient 'cold' she had, no one can say when, or even if, she was home. Where does that leave us?"

"I'd say she's a genuine suspect, so that's progress." I glanced at my watch. "I'm afraid that's all we're going to be able to do right now. We need to get back to Timber Ridge and open the restaurant."

"We might as well," Maddy said. "I hate to admit it, but Art Young came through for you today."

"He's not all bad," I answered.

"I'll withhold judgment on that," she said.

As we started back to Timber Ridge, Maddy's cell phone rang. I wasn't crazy about her talking and driving, and she knew it.

After a moment, she said, "Tell Eleanor."

Maddy handed me the telephone, and I heard Bob Lemon on the other end.

"Where are you?" Bob demanded.

"We're in Maddy's car. Is this a new game we're playing? I just love games. Now it's my turn. Where are you?"

"I'm in front of the Slice with two very worried young men," he said, finding no humor in what I'd said at all. "You've got to tell someone when you're not going to be here. We were all worried about you."

"I appreciate that," I said, "but it's misplaced. Maddy and I have been getting into trouble for years together, and I don't see any indication of it stopping anytime soon. Besides, we left a sign on the door."

"It must have fallen off, because I don't see it. There's someone dangerous out there, Eleanor. You can't take it too lightly."

I'd had enough of that. I felt like David Quinton had finally learned his lesson, but Bob Lemon clearly hadn't. "Trust me, we're not," I said with an edge in my voice. "That's why we're investigating Judson's murder. So, unless you have important information for us about that, I suggest you hang up before you say anything else you might very well live to regret."

"I'll tell you the rest when you get here," he said.

"Fine," I replied, and then hung up.

I put the telephone back in Maddy's purse, and she glanced over at me for a second. "Wow, you missed your calling, Eleanor. You should have been in the diplomatic corps."

"He was trying to protect us," I said.

"We both know he has a reason," Maddy said calmly. "You need to take it easy on him."

"That's funny. I never thought you'd put up with that kind of behavior."

Maddy bit her lip, and I knew she wanted to say something, although it was clear that she wasn't certain she should. I decided to help her with it. "Go on, say what's on your mind."

"What are you afraid of, Sis?"

That wasn't what I'd been expecting. "I'm sorry?"

"You reacted the same way when David Quinton started caring too much about you, and when Bob shows the least concern for our welfare, you bite his head off. Can't you let any man get close to you again? Do you think that's what Joe would have wanted?"

I was so stunned by her words that for one of the few times in my life, I was literally speechless. Maddy looked over at me, but I couldn't meet her gaze. My thoughts were going a thousand miles a second. Is that how I was acting? Had I reacted that way every time David had expressed concern over my well-being? My sister had held a mirror up to my behavior, and I didn't like what I saw.

We drove the rest of the way in silence, and when Maddy parked in back of the pizzeria, she said softly, "I didn't mean to be so hard on you. I'm really sorry."

"Don't apologize," I said. "I needed to hear it."

"Then you agree with me?" she asked with a grin.

"Let's just say you've given me food for thought."

We got out and moved to the shortcut. "Let me give you one more piece of advice. When you see Bob, you need to apologize."

"Funny, I gave him that exact advice last night concerning you."

Her smile broadened. "And see how well that worked out?"

We walked around to the front to find the three of them waiting for us.

Ignoring Greg and Josh for the moment, I hugged Bob as I said, "I'm sorry for my behavior. It's sweet of you to care about us, and I appreciate your concern."

He nodded and pulled back away from me. "I didn't mean to upset you."

"We're fine," I said.

I turned to Greg and Josh and added, "We should have warned you we were skipping out, but we got a hot lead, and we decided to follow up on it while we had the chance. If it makes you feel any better, there's a note on the floor on the other side of this door that says we'll be back at four-thirty."

"It's all good," Greg said. "Did you have any luck?"

"We added someone to our list of suspects," Maddy said.

"Then it was worth it." He slapped his hands together and rubbed them. "Now, I don't know about you ladies, but I say we start making some pizza."

"That sounds like a plan," I said. I hesitated after unlocking the door. "Bob, would you like something? It's on the house. You can think of it as a peace offering."

"Thanks, but I'm waiting for a telephone call back at my office. I might stop by later, if that's all right with you."

"You're welcome here anytime," I said.

After he left, I walked into the Slice and flipped the CLOSED sign to OPEN as I picked the handwritten sign up off the floor. As I suspected, the tape hadn't held on the cold, moist glass. Maddy and I might have missed out on a little business while we'd been gone, and if we had, I was sorry for that, but what we'd confirmed was much more valuable than the money we'd lost. It felt good having at least one viable suspect-besides the two of us-make the list.

I wasn't expecting to see Bob Lemon back so soon, but half an hour after he left us, he came into the kitchen.

"Did you decide to take me up on that free meal?" I asked.

"Maybe later. My phone call came through, so I rushed right over here as soon as it was over."

"Should we wait for Maddy?" I asked. I knew how my sister hated being scooped, especially when it came to news from her boyfriend.

"She gave me her blessing to go on and tell you," Bob said.

"Then go on," I replied.

"Gina Sizemore is in quite a bit of financial trouble," he said. "She has outstanding debt on her credit cards that you won't believe."

"How much are we talking about here?" I asked. It wasn't hard to see a motive if Nathan had been murdered, but unless her brother, Judson, had an insurance policy that listed her as sole beneficiary, it was tough to blame her for the murder.

"From what I discovered, she's amassed over a hundred thousand dollars in debt, and she's just been paying the minimum balance for years. Until this month, that is."

"What changed?"

"If I were guessing, I'd have to say that Nathan stepped in and started helping her out," Bob said.

"He paid off that kind of debt, just like that?"

"No, that's the odd part. There haven't been any charges on her accounts since the first, and only five percent of the debt has been paid as of today."

"That's really strange," I said as I took a finished pizza from the line and cut it before sliding it into a waiting box. "Why would Nathan pay off such a small percentage of her debt? You'd think it would be either all or nothing."

"I'm guessing that he's doing it to teach her a lesson," Bob said. "Can you imagine how angry she must be that he wouldn't clear it all off the books as soon as she found out he could handle it without any financial hardship on him at all?"

"It still doesn't explain why she would kill her brother."

Bob nodded. "You're going to have to think a little more deviously than you're used to," he said. "With Judson out of the way, what do you think becomes of Nathan's money if something happens to him now?"

"I imagine that Gina would get all of it," I said, suddenly aware of the positioning Gina might have made by committing the murder. It would take a cold-blooded woman to kill her own brother, much harder than murdering an uncle. "Are you saying that half of Nathan's estate wouldn't be enough for her?"

"It's possible. Greed knows no boundaries with some people."

"We have to warn Nathan," I said.

"And tell him what, that his last living relative wants him dead, based on no more proof than information he already has? It's not time to do that yet."

"Then what should we do?"

"The best thing I can think to do is to let her know that we're on to her," Bob said.

"Hang on. What do you mean, 'we'?"

"I've decided to help you," he said proudly.

"You just did."

"I mean, take a more active role in your investigation."

I wasn't about to let him risk his law practice, not to mention his life, because of us. "Thanks, but no thanks."

He studied me carefully. "This isn't about before, is it?"