Page 85 of A Fabulously Unfabulous Summer for Henry Milch

“Yes, but it’s not polite to talk about it.”

“Is this the only place you can order pizza?”

“It’s good pizza. And the fried chicken—”

“Is it the only place?”

“Well, the only place in Masons Bay. There’s pizza in Bellflower. And Traverse, though I can’t imagine why you’d drive forty minutes there and forty minutes—”

“Do you think this is where Reverend Hessel ordered pizza the night he died?”

“I imagine it is. I mean, it makes sense.”

I stepped forward and rang the bell. After a moment, Dinah came out. She looked around and then at us.

“It’s not ready yet.”

“Oh, I know. I just have one question. Did you take Reverend Hessel’s order the night he was killed?”

“I certainly did. I ended up stuck with a vegetarian delight.”

“But you can’t be certain it was him, can you?” I asked.

She glared at me. I guess I had two questions.

“He always ordered the vegetarian delight. And it was his credit card. Detective Lehmann said so.”

“Don’t pay any attention to him,” Nana Cole said. “We’ll just take our pizza and go.”

“It’s not ready yet,” she said, clearly getting annoyed.

“So, you can tell the difference between a man and a woman?” I asked.

“Of course, I can.”

She was obviously offended. I mean, I thought it was an important question.

“Why do you get to ask me something like that? I have a disability. Are you making fun of me?”

“No. I’m sorry. It’s important that you actually spoke to Reverend Hessel.”

“Well, I did. I’m sure I did. He coughed a lot and apologized. Apparently, he had a cold when he… died.”

Did he have a cold? No one else had mentioned that.

After giving me a nasty look, she went back into the kitchen. I relaxed a little. She was really pissed off. I worried about what she might do to my pizza.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Nana Cole asked.

“Well… don’t you see? It might not have been Reverend Hessel who ordered the pizza.”

“Why would someone pretend to be Reverend Hessel just to get a pizza? I mean, they didn’t even come pick it up.”

“Detective Lehmann thinks the murder happened in the time between the order being placed and when Reverend Hessel should have left to come get it. But if someone else made the call, he might have been dead already.”

“But, no—”

“All they needed was his credit card information and what kind of pizza he liked. The credit card would be easy—if you killed him just take it out of his pocket.”