Doughnuts & Deadly Schemes - Culinary Competition Mystery #3

Chapter 5

(Carla)

Carla slid a slice of the Greek pizza onto her paper plate. The thin crust had no tomato sauce, just feta cheese, kalamata olives, cherry tomatoes, olive oil, and a generous sprinkle of herbs. Heaven. Bruce's pizza looked like a vegan's worst nightmare. The pizza place called it The Meat Market, and it appeared to have every kind of meat ever known to be used as a pizza topping from humble ground beef crumbles to spicy chunks of capicola ham. She figured it should be called The Grease Bomb, but he deserved a decadent treat. Between getting ready for the wedding and solving the murder, he was in all-work-no-play mode 24/7.

"Did you have any luck finding someplace to have the wedding?" he asked as he dropped another overloaded slice of pizza on his flimsy paper plate. Eating greasy pizza while wearing a white dress shirt was tempting fate, but her soon-to-be husband had more to worry about than potential laundry stains. After she left, he would probably go back to his laptop to try to dig up some leads on the murder.

"Nope. I can't even find a back room at a decent restaurant that isn't booked to have a small reception. It seems that half the town is getting married the same weekend. When I brought up having everything here Amy offered her backyard. It would work, unless it rains. There's really no space inside large enough for the ceremony. Her house is big, but it has a lot of smaller rooms instead of an open concept."

She'd spent the day calling every venue on the list Amy had made for her, plus a few others that the banquet halls and restaurants suggested when they couldn't help. There didn't seem to be anything available on their wedding date within a fifty-mile radius of Kellerton. She could continue the hunt the following day, but she needed to head to work as soon as she finished eating. Working opposing shifts from Bruce would get the wedding planned, but it wasn't easy. If absence made the heart grow fonder, then they would be the most in-love couple in history by the time they exchanged vows.

They were sitting side by side on the couch with the pizza boxes strewn over the coffee table. Bruce patted her knee. "There's always Las Vegas." He leaned over and kissed her cheek. "You know I'd be happy to marry you at the courthouse while wearing blue jeans and T-shirts, but I understand you want something nicer. I'm so sorry I can't help much because of this case."

"It's okay. I understand. Amy is being a huge help, even though she isn't happy with the short deadline." Carla leaned back and rested her head on the back cushion of the black leather couch. "Although, at least this way, we'll get the casual, small wedding we want. She is in super wedding planner mode. If I gave her much longer, we'd end up with a fancy, formal gala straight out of a bridal magazine. She loves this kind of thing. Since she's competing in some cake recipe contest at the bridal expo this weekend, she's dragging me there, too. No vendors can do anything with only two weeks' notice. She'll spot something that she thinks we need and then take on the burden to make it herself."

He shrugged. "That's just how she rolls. She isn't afraid to do things herself, even murder investigations. So maybe she can help with this one. Has she seen or overheard something suspicious? Does she have any ideas about what happened?"

"She hasn't come up with any ideas yet, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time. She already told me she wants to help with the case."

"If she has any theories, please let me know. We can't find any evidence of the demands and threats to the store's computer system. No other businesses have reported being harassed for money, either. I have no witnesses, no solid suspects, very little evidence, and a giant headache from trying to figure anything out."

Carla slid another slice of pizza onto her plate. Carbs were good. She'd need the energy boost to help make it through the night shift in the ER. "You wouldn't have known about the extortion if it wasn't for the murder. Sorry, but I heard most of your interview at the store. Matt said there were specific instructions not to call the police or there would be consequences. If the hackers are going after other businesses all they have to do is bring up the murder, and people will be scared into silence. Then, poof, the hacker erases the death threat so nobody can trace it."

"True. Even if the murder was random and not tied to the extortion, whoever is sending the threats could still use it for leverage." He plucked an errant chunk of sausage off his plate and popped it into his mouth. "The murder could be a totally unrelated crime, maybe a burglary gone wrong, but a big happy accident for the hacker."

"So you think the crimes are unrelated?"

"I think they could be. There's a greater chance that they are connected."

All of the what-ifs and maybes that went along with solving a crime would drive Carla insane. Nursing was usually much more direct. There were certain medical procedures to follow in a nice, orderly fashion. No trying to figure out the thought patterns of a psychotic killer. She glanced at the bridal magazine lying beside the pizza box. The gown on the cover made her remember the bridal salon. "Would crashing all of the computers in a business be another way for the extortionist to get money?"

"Yeah. A show of power or maybe bringing the system down to mine for credit card numbers or something like that. Why?"

Carla tossed a half-moon of uneaten crust in the box. "When Amy dragged me into a bridal salon downtown yesterday it looked like every computer in the place had a blue error screen."

Bruce pulled an ink pen out of his shirt pocket. He leaned forward and drew circles on the lid of the pizza box to get the ink flowing. "What was the name of the place? It could've been a random computer problem, or it might've been the work of the hacker."