A Pizza To Die For - A Pizza To Die For Part 20
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A Pizza To Die For Part 20

"What's really important is how Nathan reacted," I said.

Josh explained, "It's funny, but he seemed to take her statement at face value. Nathan even invited her to come stay with him, and she accepted so fast it wouldn't have surprised me if she had her bags packed in the car."

"I would have loved to have seen Gina's face when all of this happened," Maddy said.

"How about Lacy's expression?" I asked. "Do you think she knew that Judson was playing around on her? She doesn't seem like the type to just take something like that like a good sport."

"It appears that it doesn't seem to matter what anyone thinks about it except Nathan," Greg said.

"Hang on a second. If it's true that this woman is carrying Judson's baby, it brings a whole new set of motives into play for his murder," I said. "Lacy could have killed Judson when she found out about the baby."

"Or Nancy could have done it if Judson refused to have anything to do with her or their baby."

"Jack could have done it," Greg said.

"Why is that?" I asked.

"A new heir would have messed with his plans. If Judson turned out to have an heir of his own coming, Lacy would be out of luck, and Gina's stake could be cut yet again. Who's to say that Nathan wouldn't skip Judson and Gina altogether and leave everything to the next generation?"

"That could still happen," I pointed out.

"Yes, but this way, Jack's already lost one claim through Lacy. If Gina's inheritance was going to be cut off, that would leave him with nothing."

"So we have four suspects," Josh said, getting into it.

"Actually, I think we have five," I said.

"Who did we miss?" Greg asked.

"Nathan Sizemore himself," I answered.

Greg looked at me as though I'd lost my mind. "Nathan? Why would he kill his own nephew?"

"I don't know. Maybe he found out something that he couldn't live with. Or they could have had a fight in the pizzeria. What if Judson hit him up for more money, and when Nathan said no, he started a fight? There could be a dozen reasons. All I'm saying is that he belongs on our list. He's involved in this murder just about every way you look at it."

"Fine, we'll include him, too," Josh said.

"We, not you," I said firmly.

I could see his face begin to cloud up, much as his father's had when we'd all been younger, and I knew to head it off while I still could. "Thanks, Josh, but that's as far as you're going to go with this. You can speculate with us, but I don't want you to do a thing to investigate the murder, or anyone associated with it. Do we understand each other? I know your job here isn't much, but if your parents ever suspect that you're helping me do something behind their backs, neither one of them will let you anywhere near the Slice ever again."

"Yeah, you're right," he said softly. "But that doesn't mean I can't brainstorm with you all, does it?"

"The more I think about it, I don't even know if that's a good idea," I said.

Maddy stepped up. "Give the guy something, Sis. At least throw him a bone."

"Fine, but the fact that he's involved at all doesn't leave this room, and Josh, you can't join in if anyone else is around. Agreed?"

"That's fine with me," he said. "Now let's catch ourselves a killer."

"Not so fast, hotshot," Maddy said. "We have customers to wait on first."

I looked outside and saw some folks approach the pizzeria. "Let's get to work, everyone. There will be time for investigating later."

A little while later, Maddy came back to the kitchen to pick up an order and as she did, she asked me, "Did you know David Quinton was coming by this evening?"

"David's here? Send him back."

She laughed at me. "My, don't you have a healthy ego. What makes you think he's here for you, and not for our pizza?"

It was true. I'd automatically assumed he'd be there for me, but that line of reasoning had gotten me into trouble before. Still, I found myself hoping, just a little, that I was the reason for his visit. "Couldn't it be a little of both? Are you telling me he didn't even ask about me?"

"Of course he did," she said, having entirely too much fun with the fact that David was back in town. "He asked me if he could come back here and say hello to you, but I told him that I'd have to check with you first."

I rolled my eyes at her as I said, "Sometimes you're impossible. You know that, don't you?"

"Hey, if I can keep it to sometimes, then I'm ahead of the game, wouldn't you agree?"

"I suppose so," I said as I brushed past her.

"David," I said when I found him standing outside the kitchen door. "Come on back, if you'd like."

"That would be great," he said, "but only if I'm not going to be getting in the way. I don't like people watching me work, so if you'd rather I stayed out here, it's fine. We could always chat later."

Maddy slipped between us carrying the pizza I'd just finished. "Just agree, David. That's the only way she's going to get any work done, and we have hungry customers out here clamoring for food."

I looked around and saw two couples who hadn't been served yet, and they were in deep conversation, apparently not aware that they were wasting away.

"Oh, yes," I said with a gesture, "the hungry hordes."

"Then I'd better hang out with you while you cook for them," David said with a smile. Had he always had those dimples? I could swear that I'd never seen them, but dimples don't just mysteriously appear one day. Maybe it was because I'd rarely seen him smile so openly before. Now he appeared to be grinning most of the time.

"Take a seat," I said pointing to a stool by the prep table in the kitchen. It was probably a health code violation, but I knew that the inspector was out of town on his honeymoon, so I decided to push the boundaries a little.

"How's the case coming?" he asked as I kneaded dough into a pan. I'd enjoyed the challenge of trying to make a deep dish pizza earlier, but there was something really comforting about going back to my old and familiar style of pizza-making.

"What case is that?" I asked.

"Come on," he said with a laugh. "I know you and Maddy aren't about to let a murder happen in your own backyard without digging into it. Do you have any leads so far?"

"A few," I admitted cautiously. In the past, David had a real problem with our amateur investigations, and he hadn't been shy about sharing his concerns with me. We were getting along so well right now that I didn't feel like backsliding into our old ways again.

"I know better than that," he said. "I'm guessing our loyal chief of police has been putting pressure on you two as suspects, given the fact that Judson Sizemore was opening a pizzeria within sight of this place. I wouldn't blame either one of you if you decided to start digging into the case yourselves."

"Have you been following the case?"

"Who hasn't? From the talk I've heard around town, it appears that the majority of folks in Timber Ridge think you are both innocent."

"Just the majority? I was hoping it would be unanimous."

He smiled as he said, "You're kidding, right? I've actually heard a few folks say that it was just a matter of time before one of you did something like this. Don't worry, I defended your honor."

"As if it would do any good," I said. I kneaded the dough a little harder than I needed to, and it tore in the bottom of the pan. Wetting my fingertips, I worked it back to form a new seam, and then spread sauce over the dough to hide it.

"Hey, the people who care about you know that you could never be a murderer," he said softly.

"I know, but I just can't stand people who won't give us the benefit of the doubt. We've both lived here our entire lives, if you don't count Maddy's brief detours into matrimony. You'd think they'd know us better than that."

"If I've learned one thing since I left town, it's that you can't make people feel the way you want them to, no matter how much you wish it. So tell me, who are your prime suspects?"

"Do you really want to know, or are you just being polite?"

"Trust me a little, Eleanor. I'm honestly interested," he said.

As I finished spreading the cheese on the pizza I'd been working on and slid it onto the conveyor belt heading for the oven's heart, I explained. "We have several so far. At the top of our list is Gina Sizemore. She's Judson's sister."

"Why would she kill him? He's family."

I nodded. "That's precisely the reason why. We believe that she might not want to share Nathan Sizemore's wealth if something happens to him." I studied his reaction to the news, and David hadn't even flinched. "You knew he was loaded, didn't you?"

David grinned as he nodded. "I didn't know for a fact, but, in all honesty, I suspected as much."

"How did you know? No one else in town had any idea."

"Believe me, I came across the information by accident. I was researching the title to some land I was thinking about buying before I left town," David said. "The funny thing is that Nathan's company kept showing up on the deeds I was interested in."

"That was supposed to be a really closely guarded secret. How did you know that the company belonged to him?"

David shrugged. "You're not the only one in Timber Ridge with connections. Anyway, I suspected Nathan was wealthy, at least as far as land was concerned. Funny, you could never tell by the way he lives."

I grinned. "A few days ago, he offered to buy my house, and all of its furnishings with a check," I said, though I wasn't sure why I felt the need to share it.

"How many pieces did you tear it into?"

"How can you be so sure that I did? His offer was for double the fair market value," I added.

"I'm not buying it. Eleanor, you wouldn't sell that place if he offered you your own state. That house means too much to you, and it should. You and your husband worked hard to make it happen. I can't imagine you ever leaving it."

"No, I can't either," I said, but then added with a grin, "though holding that check in my hand was a close call."

"It wasn't that close. I'm sure of it. So, who else has made your list?"

"Let's see, there's Lacy White, Judson's former and-if she is to be believed-future fiancee. And we've got a man named Jack Hanks who appears to be working behind the scenes on both Lacy and Gina. Then there's Nancy Thorpe. She's new on the investigation, and she claims to be carrying Judson's baby. From the sound of it, Nathan believes her."

"Is that it?"

"Well, we've been considering the idea that Judson and Nathan might have had a fight over something the night in question. That would mean that Nathan killed him, but I can't see that happening."

"Anyone else make your list?"

"No, that's really about it. Why?"

David shrugged. "Don't mind me. It's your investigation."

"Come on, talk to me." I knew he had an idea, and I wasn't about to disregard it unless I heard it first and thought he was off-base.

"I was just wondering if there were any more relatives who might be in line to inherit. That would put Gina in danger before anything happens to Nathan."

I remembered something I'd heard recently. "You might be right. Nathan told me he's got a cousin in town, but he's not even sure who it is. Apparently it's some kind of family secret."

"So you have another suspect, Cousin X."

I nodded. "I'll put him on the list. It's getting hard to go outside without tripping over a suspect, the way they're piling up," I said. "We seem to be adding to our total, not taking away from it."

"Don't worry. I'm certain you two will uncover the truth."

I made the last pizza order Maddy had given me as I asked, "What gives you so much faith in us all of a sudden?"

"Eleanor, it isn't so abrupt. After all, this isn't the first time you two have gone after a bad guy. Whoever it is, I'm betting that he doesn't stand a chance."

"Or she," I said, reminding him that at least, so far, the majority of our suspects were women.

"Oh, yes, I can well imagine a woman being angry enough to commit murder. As a group, you seem to have a greater capacity for love, and hate, than most men are capable of."

"You make that sound like a bad thing."

He shook his head. "I believe that the ability to feel is one of man's greatest achievements," he said solemnly. David must have sensed his own serious tone. "To be honest with you, I'm a little peckish watching those pizzas fly out of here. Is there any chance you could make something for me?"

"All you need to do is ask," I said.

He nodded. "I was hoping you'd say that. I've been craving one of your garbage pizzas since I left town. The only problem is, you won't make a small one, and there's no way I could eat a medium by myself."

"You have two options then," I said. "You can ask me to break my own rules and make you one, which is a possibility-but by no means certain-or you can snack on something to hold you until I get off, and then I can make a medium we can share on my front porch this evening. I had a lot of fun last night."

"So did I." David scratched his chin as if he was having a difficult time deciding what to do. After an elaborate act of consideration, he finally said, "Eleanor, if it's all the same to you, I choose option two."

"That sounds great. I'm looking forward to it."

"So am I," David said as he pushed off his stool.

"Where are you going?"

"You suggested it yourself. I've got to get something to hold me over," he said. "I really am hungry." With an added smile that brightened the room a little, David said, "Don't worry, I won't fill up. See you soon, Eleanor."

" 'Bye, David." I found myself laughing as he left, wondering about the change in him that appeared to have brought out a change in me as well. I found myself humming as I worked, unaware that our plans had suddenly given me a lighter step.

Unfortunately, it didn't take all that long for my good mood to be ruined.