Ettie Smith Amish Mysteries Box Set 6 Page 29

  Ettie grimaced, sorry for Stacey if that truly were the case. They’d never seen Stacey as even remotely close to being a friend. “We wouldn’t know how or where to start.”

  “Do what you usually do with Amish people, only do it with normal people.”

  Ettie frowned at Stacey wondering if she knew that she was being insulting.

  “Okay, we’ll help,” Elsa-May said. “As long as you don’t want me to lie about anything, okay?”

  Stacey’s face brightened, while Ettie couldn’t believe Elsa-May had agreed to help.

  Stacey leaped forward and hugged Elsa-May and then Ettie. “I’ll be in touch.”

  Elsa-May and Ettie stood there watching while Stacey headed back outside and got into the white car with her sister. When the car had zoomed away, Ettie turned to her older sister. “One word, Elsa-May. One word. Why?”

  “What else could I do? She was desperate for our help. And, it’s so sad she thinks we were her friends. My heart went out to her.”

  “She thinks we are her friends. She truly seems to have no one else, except for her sister.” Ettie closed the door. “What about the police?”

  “I don’t know.” Elsa-May headed to the kitchen.

  “Well, what about all those dreadful things she said about Amish people?”

  Elsa-May chuckled. “She has no idea she was being rude. She’s just ignorant.”

  Ettie unclipped the dog door and Snowy rushed in, ran around in circles for a bit, and jumped on his dog bed. Then Ettie noticed they’d left the front door open. When she'd closed it, she headed over to Snowy. “You’re a good boy, Snowy. You didn’t even try to get out the front door when we had it open just now.” He looked up and wagged his tail before dropping his head onto his front paws.

  “Who are you talking to?” Elsa-May asked from the kitchen.

  “Just Snowy.”

  Ettie sat and looked out at the last few people milling around outside the house next door. Would they get new neighbors now? If Stacey stayed on, would she be at their place a lot, pushing her way inside with one excuse after another?

  “Tea’s ready.” Elsa-May placed a teacup and saucer on the table in front of the couch.

  “Denke. Are you having one?”

  “Jah. But I can only carry one cup at a time.”

  Ettie moved to the couch, wrapped her cold hands around the teacup to warm them, and then sipped her hot tea. When her sister came back out and sat in her usual chair, Ettie thought more about Elsa-May offering to help. “How are we going to do this?”

  “What?”

  “Find out who killed Greville.”

  Elsa-May blinked rapidly. “Do what we normally do. We wait to see what the police find out and go from there.”

  “Hmmm. Seems a lazy approach.”

  “Don’t forget we—”

  “Elsa-May, we don’t know anything about Greville, or his background, or who his friends are—were, I mean.”

  Elsa-May shrugged. “I don’t think he had any friends, and we can find out the rest. We can do this.”

  Ettie shook her head.

  “We can find out where he worked and go from there.”

  “I guess.” Ettie slowly nodded.

  “I fancy a pizza one night soon.”

  “Ah, I see why you said we’d help,” said Ettie with a giggle. “It’s all about the pizza. You’re never this enthusiastic about anything to do with investigations.”

  Elsa-May chuckled. “You’re wrong.”

  “I’m not so sure about that.” Ettie took another sip of tea thinking of how much Elsa-May liked her food.

  “The first thing we need to do is find out where he worked. Kelly said it wasn’t a pizza chain restaurant, so we’ll check in the phone book and …”

  “Why don’t we call Stacey and ask her where he worked seeing that she asked for our help?”

  Elsa-May chuckled. “I guess we could do that. See, it’s not so hard, is it?”

  Ettie grunted. “You call Stacey later and get the name of the restaurant. We’ll start tomorrow. Right now, I need a quiet rest of the day followed by an early night to make up for all that’s happened around here.”

  Chapter 6

  The very next day, Elsa-May and Ettie stood outside Emilio’s Family Pizzeria reading the signage on the window. “They’re open for lunch. Good. I’m hungry,” Ettie said.

  “Of course they’re open for lunch, silly. Don’t you remember they said Greville worked the day shift? The day shift is …. well, the day shift.”

  “I was just saying I’m happy about that because I’m hungry. Do we have a plan of how to go about this?”

  “Nee. We’ll just see what happens.”

  Ettie walked through the wide doorway and Elsa-May followed close behind.

  “Table for two?” a young woman asked.

  Ettie smiled at her. “There’s just the two of us, yes.”

  “Would you like to sit near the window?”

  “My sister would love to sit where she can look out the window. That’s a hobby of hers.”

  Ettie giggled and the young woman’s smile increased. “I’ll seat you at number fifteen.” Once they were sitting at the table, the young woman handed them menus.

  Ettie read the woman’s name tag pinned to her uniform. “Lauren, what would you recommend?”

  “The seafood pizza is good. That’s number five.”

  Elsa-May shook her head. “No, neither of us likes fish.”

  “It’s not really fish it’s prawns—”

  Ettie interrupted her, “What about number three? Three cheeses with three different types of meat?”

  “Yes, I’ll have that one.” Elsa-May grinned from ear-to-ear.

  “I’ll have the same.” Ettie closed the menu pleased that they agreed on something.

  “No, Ettie. You can’t have the same as me. If we’re having one each, get a different one so I can try yours and you can try mine.”

  Ettie frowned and opened the menu again. “It’s such a difficult choice.” Ettie looked up at Lauren. “Have you worked here long?”

  “I started at ten.”

  “I mean, how long have you been working here?”

  Lauren giggled. “I see. I’ve been here two years this coming Friday.”

  “Ah, that is a long time.”

  Elsa-May blurted out. “We knew Greville.”

  Ettie looked at her in surprise. She’d been leading up to that.

  The waitress shook her head. “It’s so sad. Everyone’s shocked. All the staff wanted to close this place today and the new manager wouldn’t let us. He said we’d close it the day of the funeral, not both days.”

  “Oh, I thought Greville was the manager.”

  “He was a chef, Ettie,” Elsa-May told her.

  “Actually, he was both.”

  “Who’s the manager now?” Ettie asked.

  The young waitress looked over at the kitchen. “See that man with the black hair?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s him. Nate Bowen.”

  The man was middle-aged and had jet black hair poking out from under the sides of a white chef’s cap. “He’s a manager and the chef as well?”

  “That’s right. Just like Greville.”

  “And how would Greville have felt about him taking over his job?”

  Lauren smiled. “He wouldn’t be happy about that.”

  “Why’s that?” Ettie asked.

  “Nate was always telling him how to do things better. They were constantly at each other’s throats. One night there was a big …” She stopped herself. “I shouldn’t be telling you this.”

  “Go on,” Ettie urged. “We won’t say a thing.”

  “One night when Greville had to work a double shift, after closing they got into a physical fight. That’s why one worked days and the other worked the evenings.”

  “That’s dreadful,” Elsa-May said.

  “Yes, I was scared I can tell you that.” She looked at E
ttie. “How about the number ten? It’s the vegetarian option.”

  Ettie smiled. “That’ll be fine. I like my vegetables.” When the waitress left, Ettie and Elsa-May stared across the red and white checkered table at one another. “Well, what do you think of that?”

  “Dreadful. Why would you choose the vegetarian? You can have that all to yourself.”

  “Nee, I mean about Greville having an enemy.”

  Elsa-May huffed. “A man like him would’ve had more than one enemy. We should put him on the list though, what was his name?”

  “Don’t you remember?”

  “Jah, I was checking if you do.”

  “His name is Nate Bowen.” Ettie touched the side of her head. “It’s locked in here. They hated one another and now Nate has his job. But ... people don't kill over jobs, do they?” Ettie asked.

  “I wouldn’t know. I’m sure the detective will interview everyone here. We’re probably wasting our time.” Elsa-May leaned back in her chair.

  “How can you say that? We’re here at this lovely establishment eating food we didn’t have to cook ourselves. And someone else gets to wash the dishes.”

  Elsa-May chuckled. “You’re right. We’ll just enjoy it while we can.”

  “You can enjoy eating all that cheese and meat. You know what the doctor said about you having too much fat?”

  “I’m sure it’s all low fat, low calorie and all that. No need to worry. A good portion of it is the pizza base anyway.” Elsa-May leaned across the table, and whispered, “Should we talk to Nate?”

  “Lauren made it sound like everyone here will go to the funeral. We could talk to him there. That would be more natural—less forced than trying to speak with him here.”

  “You’re right.” Elsa-May nodded. “We’ll do it at the funeral.”

  Ettie leaned forward. “Say that again?”

  “I said we’ll do it—”

  “Nee, the other thing you said.”

  Elsa-May frowned. “I didn’t say anything else.”

  “You did. You said I was right and I’d just like to hear it again.”

  “I meant, you might be right. We’ll have to wait until the day of the funeral to see if you are actually right.”

  Ettie sighed and shook her head.

  “Anyway, Kelly might have everything solved by then.”

  When the waitress placed their pizzas down on the table, Ettie asked her, “Was Greville a popular boss?”

  She stood there looking a little shocked at the question. “Not really if I’m honest. He wasn’t … well, I mean, he was moody. He used to fire people all the time until the owner said he wasn’t allowed to fire anyone else, he had to retrain them.”

  “The owner?”

  “Yes. Greville’s cousin.”

  Elsa-May leaned forward becoming more interested. “Where’s he from?”

  “It’s a she. She’s from around here. She owns a few businesses around town.” She got closer to them, and said in a quiet voice, “She’s very wealthy.”

  “What’s her name?” Ettie asked.

  “Evelyn Chairgrin.”

  Elsa-May and Ettie stared at one another. Evelyn was also the name of Stacey’s sister.

  Chapter 7

  Evelyn wasn’t a common name, and Ettie guessed Greville had been hiding the fact that Evelyn was his sister-in-law. Unless, Greville had married his cousin. “Are you sure that’s his cousin?”

  “Yes, cousin. That’s what he said. We hardly ever see Evelyn in here except when she hands out bonuses at the Christmas party.”

  Ettie and Elsa-May kept quiet and when the waitress left, Ettie pulled off a slice of pizza and nibbled on it. Staring at the two pizzas, Ettie considered Elsa-May’s did look the nicer since her own was full of olives and hot peppers and smothered in a tomato sauce, with hardly any cheese at all.

  “Ettie, that would mean that Stacey is also his cousin.”

  “What if the waitress is wrong? Greville might prefer to have people think he’s working for his cousin and not his sister-in-law.”

  “Jah, you might be r …. could be.” With delight, Elsa-May bit into her three cheeses and three meats pizza.

  “Elsa-May, this all makes sense. The sister-in-law killed him because of how he was abusing her sister, and he was creating problems at work. For all we know this man who’s taken his place might be a whole lot better at his work than Greville.”

  Ettie pulled her mouth to one side. “It’s a little extreme to kill the man. She could’ve asked him to leave and why would she get involved in her sister’s marriage? The two of them weren’t close. Stacey clearly said that.”

  “She’d get involved because even if the sisters weren’t close, she wouldn’t want Stacey to be abused. And she couldn’t fire him without making an enemy out of her sister. According to Stacey, the relationship with her sister was already strained. Evelyn might’ve killed two birds with one stone in getting rid of him.”

  Ettie shook her head. “It’s all a bit far-fetched. I wonder what Detective Kelly will make of all this. Are we going half-half with the pizzas?”

  “Nee, I’m eating all this and having your leftovers. You never eat the whole thing.”

  “How about you give me a slice now?”

  Elsa-May looked over at Ettie’s and laughed. “I told you not to order that.”

  “By then it was too late.”

  Elsa-May broke off a large piece for Ettie.

  When Elsa-May and Ettie got home, the place next door was still deserted. There were no cars, no evidence technicians and neither were there any press or police. The tape across the front of the house was gone.

  Once Elsa-May was inside with Snowy jumping up at her, she held onto her stomach. “I’m so full.”

  Ettie untied her over-bonnet and hung it on the peg by the door. “If you’re sick it’s your own fault. You ate all your pizza but for the one piece you gave me, plus half of mine. I don’t see how anyone can eat a whole pizza let alone a pizza and a half.”

  Elsa-May loosened the strings of her apron. “It was so good and you know it’s my favorite food and I seldom get to eat it.”

  “Well, I hope you enjoyed it.”

  “I did at the time.” Elsa-May sat down in her chair and pulled Snowy onto her lap.

  “Can I get you anything?”

  “Nee denke. I’ll just sit here for a while and wait until I recover.”

  “We’ll only need a light dinner.”

  “Ach, don’t talk about food.”

  Ettie giggled and sat herself down on the chair next to the window and gazed out. When she glanced over a few moments later, Elsa-May was asleep with her mouth wide open. It hadn’t taken long.

  Looking back out the window, Ettie cast her mind back to the night Greville had been killed. It was late, yet he’d been fully clothed and in a business suit. Unusual attire for a chef and strange to wear at that time of night. And, who wears shoes and socks in their own home? Wouldn’t he have been in slippers and pajamas? Stacey was in her nightie, so they hadn’t expected visitors. Unless, Greville had just come home. But, that was different from what Stacey had told them. Stacey said they were both asleep when she heard noises and Greville went out to investigate. That had to mean Greville had been sleeping in a suit and shoes, and that didn’t make sense. Then there were the pajamas tossed in the corner of the room. And, how did it come about that he got strangled with a tie? Also, why would the robbers have bypassed every other house in the street to rob theirs?

  When Ettie heard a noise, she looked out the window. “Elsa-May wake up; we have company.”

  Elsa-May straightened herself. “Who?”

  “It’s Michelle Graber.”

  “Ach nee. Not her. What does she want?”

  Ettie shook her head. This was the woman whose toes Elsa-May had stepped on. “We’ll soon find out.”

  “How about you tell her I’m asleep in bed?”

  Ettie stood up. “You’re not.”


  “I was asleep until you woke me up just now.”

  “You have to face her sooner or later.”

  Just as Ettie had her hand on the doorknob, she heard Elsa-May mutter, “I’d rather it be later.”

  Ettie flung the door open before Michelle knocked. “Michelle, it’s lovely to see you.”

  “Is it? Is that what you really think, Ettie?”

  “Jah, of course. Come inside.”

  Michelle hurried past her and stopped when she saw Elsa-May. “Hello.”

  “Nice to see you, Michelle.”

  “Take a seat, would you? How about a cup of tea?” Ettie asked.

  Michelle sat down. “What I’ve got to say won’t take long. No tea needed.”

  “Oh.” Ettie hurried to sit down, glad she wasn’t the sister in Michelle’s line of fire.

  Michelle licked her lips, took a deep breath and then stared at Elsa-May. “I suppose you know why I’m here?”

  “I’m guessing to suggest a collaboration?”

  “Nee! I discussed with you some months ago that I was organizing ladies to knit teddies for the children’s hospital and you deliberately stole my idea and stole all my knitting ladies. Not all of them, but nearly all.”

  Elsa-May nodded. “You’re right and I’m sorry.”

  Michelle sat there staring at Elsa-May in disbelief. “You admit it?”

  “Jah, I do. It was an excellent idea and when Ettie and I happened to be sitting across from a lady who organized the volunteers at one of the big hospitals, it just came into my head. I didn’t mean to steal your idea.”

  Ettie leaned forward. “It wasn’t a children’s hospital either.”

  “Why didn’t you come to me?” Michelle said. “We could’ve all worked together instead of creating a division.”

  “I thought you might have been upset with me. Everyone knows how you like to organize things.”

  “I do, that’s true and I’m good at it. I could’ve taken over all that if you’d come to me after you’d been to that hospital. With your advancing age, don’t you think you need to slow down instead of taking on more projects?”