Pepperoni Pizza Can Be Murder Read Online Free Page B

you’re all by yourself.”
    I could tell he was bracing himself for a blast, but I didn’t have any more fight in me. “You know what? You’re right. It’s a little like locking the barn door after the horse is loose, but I’ll buy a safe tomorrow.”
    “And you need a better alarm system,” he added.
    “Don’t push your luck. I can barely afford to stay in business as it is.” I waved a hand at his paperwork. “Are we finished here? I just want to go home.”
    “Just sign this and you’ll be finished for now,” he said as he handed me the report he’d been working on since he’d first arrived.
    I did as he asked, and he handed me a copy of it. “There’s not much chance you’ll get that money back, you know that, don’t you?”
    I nodded. “I know. Right now I just want to forget this ever happened.”
    “In Timber Ridge? You’re kidding, right? You’re going to have to tell this story two dozen times before the week is over, and you know it.”
    “Just let me have my fantasy a little while longer, okay? Good night, Chief.”
    “What happened to calling me Kevin?” he asked.
    “When you come in for pizza, or ask me something about your son, I’ll call you Kevin, but not when you’re here on business.”
    He waited until I got into my Subaru and drove away. I half-expected him to follow me home, but he must have had other, more pressing business to attend to besides acting as a police escort to a shaky ex-girlfriend.
    I debated calling my sister, knowing she’d left the Slice with a raging headache, but I realized that if I didn’t, she’d never forgive me. I pulled out my cell phone and punched in her number as I drove.
    “Hey, it’s me,” I said.
    “Miss me already?” Maddy asked.
    “I just got robbed.”
    She laughed, then hesitated. “Don’t do that, it hurts when I laugh.” There was a brief pause, and then she added, “Wait a second. You’re not serious, are you?”
    “I wish I were kidding, but I’m not. He got all of today’s cash, including the money the Elvis entourage spent, and all of our receipts.”
    “Forget the money. Are you okay?”
    “Yes, I’m fine. He stuck a gun in my face, and that was about all I could see. Not that much skin was showing otherwise. The robber was wearing a heavy coat, jeans, work boots, and a ski mask.”
    “Did you at least recognize his voice?”
    “Do you think someone I know robbed me?” The volume of my voice tripled as I said it. Being robbed by a stranger was one thing, but having someone I knew hold a gun on me was a thousand times worse.
    “Hey, settle down. I didn’t mean anything by it. It was just a question.”
    “Sorry, my nerves are a little frayed.”
    Maddy said, “Come over to my place. I’ve still got your pajamas here, and there’s a new toothbrush still in its wrapper waiting for you.”
    “I should go home,” I said.
    “Why?” she asked. “You shouldn’t be alone tonight.”
    “You’ve got a headache.”
    “It’s getting better by the minute. No more excuses. Come on.”
    “You know what? You’re right, I don’t need to be alone tonight,” I said as I turned my car around and started for her apartment. “I’ll be there in five minutes.”
    “I’ll put the popcorn on,” she said. “We’ll make it a party.”
    “Thanks, but I just want to go to bed and try to forget what happened.”
    Maddy shifted gears instantly. “We can do that, too.”
    I shoved my telephone back into my purse, and then as I drove to my sister’s place, I thought about what had happened. Something she’d said had really shaken me up. I hadn’t told Kevin, but I was just beginning to realize that there had been something familiar about that voice.
    I’d heard it before, even though the robber had tried to disguise it.
    The question was, where?
    The more I concentrated on isolating it, the fuzzier it got. I decided that the only way I was going to identify it was to forget all about it and let my subconscious