A Baked Ham (17 page)

“How’d you like to go jewelry
shopping?”
 
I explained my idea to her,
and she was delighted by it.
 

“It sounds wonderful.
 
I’ve been meaning to pick up a new set of
pearl earrings for ages, so this will be a perfect excuse.”

“You don’t really have to
buy
anything,” I said.
 
“You’re mostly going to be there as window
dressing.”

“Nonsense.
 
You know how much I hate
window-shopping.
 
If I go, I’m going to
buy.”

“That’s fine.
 
Just don’t do it on my account, okay?”

She laughed, a sound I’d loved
dearly since we’d both been kids.
 
“It
won’t be, you can bank on that.
 
Shall we
go together, or should I just meet you over there?”

“It will look better if it
doesn’t appear that we planned it,” I said.

“Am I allowed to even speak to
you, or is this deep cover?” Rebecca asked.
 
I swear, I could hear her smile over the telephone.

“No, it’s fine to say hello, but
I’m hoping that if you’re there, Garret will keep his temper in check.
 
Maybe I can get him to answer a question or
two without him dodging every time I ask him something.”

“This sounds like fun.
 
Thanks for thinking of me.
 
I’ll see you soon,” she said.

“We’re all set,” I told Moose as
I hung up.
 
“Let’s head over to the
jewelry store.”

“That’s awfully nice of Rebecca
to pretend to shop for you,” Moose said as we headed across town.

“She made it perfectly clear that
she’s not doing it for me,” I answered with a smile.
 
“I honestly believe that she’s going to enjoy
it more than we are.”

“It wouldn’t surprise me in the
least,” Moose said.
 

Five minutes later, we pulled
into the jewelry store’s parking lot, and sure enough, Rebecca’s car was
already there.
 

It was time for us to question
Garret about what Sandra had just told us, and to see if Amanda Lark had been
elsewhere like she’d told us, or if she’d lied and had been at the theater when
her recent ex-boyfriend had been murdered.

Rebecca winked at me as I walked
through the door of the jewelry store.
 
“Fancy seeing you here, Victoria,” she said with a broad grin.
 
In my opinion, it was way over the top, but then
again, what could I expect from the rascal?
 
She loved acting, and it was a wonder that she wasn’t a member of the
local troupe herself.
 
“How are you?”

“I’m fine,” I said as I smiled in
Garret’s direction, and then I returned my attention to Rebecca.
 
“Have you found anything interesting yet?”

“Actually, there are
two
pairs of earrings I’m deciding
between,” she said.
 
“Who knows?
 
I might just get them both.”

“Don’t let me interrupt your
shopping, then,” I said.
 
“Moose and I
are here to speak with Garret.”

“About jewelry?” she asked.

“No, I’m afraid not,” I
said.
 
“I’ll talk to you about it all
later.”

I turned to Moose and I said,
“There he is.
 
Let’s go.”

We approached Garret, who didn’t
look all that happy to see us.
 
“I heard
what you just told Rebecca, and I should warn you both right up front that if
you’re not here to shop, I’m not interested in talking to you.
 
I’ve made up my mind, and it’s final, so
there’s no use trying to change it.”

“I understand,” I said.
 
I could see Moose’s eyeballs nearly bulging
as I said it, but he should have known me better than that.
 
I wasn’t about to give up that easily.
 
“Moose, let’s go get Rebecca and take her out
to lunch.
 
I’m sure if she really wants
to buy something here, she can come back later if she has the time.”

My grandfather nodded.
 
“That’s an excellent idea.
 
The three of us could go to Union Square and
eat at that Italian restaurant you’re always talking about.
 
I hear they have some pretty fine jewelry
shops there as well.”
 
He turned to the
jeweler and smiled at Garret.
 
“It was
nice seeing you again, Mr. Wilkes.”

“Hang on.
 
There’s no reason to be hasty,” Garret
said.
 
I knew that he loved every sale
that he made, and the idea of Rebecca’s money walking out the door without him
snagging some of it was too much of a temptation for him.
 
Knowing Rebecca, she might just buy both
pairs of earrings anyway, but he didn’t have to know that.
 
“Now, what was it you wanted to know?”

“It’s simple enough, really,” I
said.
 
“We understand that you had an altercation
with Amanda Lark at the theater the night Benny was murdered.
 
Is that true?”

“I don’t like to spread gossip or
rumors,” he said.

I doubted that was true at
all.
 
Maybe all he needed was a little
push.
 
“You wouldn’t be.
 
This won’t go any further than between the
three of us, unless we’re forced to tell the sheriff about it.
 
If that happens, you’d rather he hear from us
than you, wouldn’t you?”

Garret nodded, and it was clear
that he’d had his share of Sheriff Croft already.
 
It didn’t really surprise me.
 
I knew that the sheriff could be a doggedly
determined man when he was on a case, and there was no doubt that he’d already
been pressuring Garret, as well as his other suspects.

“I suppose so,” Garret said,
still hedging a little.

It was time to play my last
card.
 
“Unless you’re the one who left
that note at my house last night, I can probably keep the sheriff off your
back, at least for now.”

“What are you talking about?” he
asked as he glanced over at Rebecca.
 
She
was showing no sign of impatience, and I wondered just how long she could
pretend to be mesmerized by two pairs of earrings.

“Never mind.
 
So, are you going to tell us about Amanda, or
do we need to call Sheriff Croft and tell him that you’re not cooperating?”

I fully realized that the sheriff
would be baffled if I made that particular telephone call, but Garret didn’t
know that.
 
“It’s true.
 
She was backstage where she didn’t belong.
 
She was drunk, so I ended up throwing her
out.
 
I couldn’t afford to have my actors
upset before a performance, you see.”

“How did she take that?” Moose
asked.

“About like you’d expect.
 
She wasn’t very happy with me, and I have a
hunch that hasn’t changed since Benny was murdered.”

“Why didn’t you tell us this the
last time we spoke?” I asked the director/producer.

“I didn’t want to be the one who
dragged Amanda Lark into this,” he said.
 
“And I don’t want her to know that I told you what happened,
either.
 
The woman can be all kinds of
nasty when she puts her mind to it.
 
I’ve
been around some rough crowds in my life, but Amanda Lark chills me with her
demeanor.
 
I don’t want to be looking
over my shoulder for the next month waiting for her to retaliate, so I’d
appreciate it if you’d keep my name out of it.”

“We’ll do what we can,” I
said.
 
“Is there anything else that
you’ve forgotten to tell us?” I asked.
 
“Now would be a great time to come clean.”

“No; that’s it.
 
I swear it.
 
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a customer.”

He started toward Rebecca, and I
looked at her and nodded my head.
 
I knew
that we weren’t likely to get much more out of Garret, and if my best friend
wanted to exit now without buying anything, it was the perfect opportunity for
her to do so.

She clearly had other plans,
though.
 
“Tell me, Mr. Wilkes, what kind
of deal can you make me if I buy both pairs of earrings on the spot?
 
Don’t try to highball me, either.
 
I may be an attorney, but I know the value of
a dollar, so you’d better make your opening salvo count.”
 
Rebecca winked broadly at me as Garret
started to stammer, and I knew that she was happy to be in her element.
 
Rebecca would barter in businesses that
others said couldn’t be done, but I knew better after watching her over the
years.
 
Garret Wilkes had better count
the change in his pocket and his fillings after my best friend left.
 

“Do we need to go back in and
save her?” Moose asked me once we were outside again.

“If you ask me, Garret is the one
who needs saving.
 
There’s no way that
I’d ruin Rebecca’s entertainment.
 
She
lives to haggle.
 
No, we need to get over
to the furniture outlet and see what Amanda Lark has to say for herself.
 
I’m wondering if we should call the sheriff
first, though.
 
He has a right to know
what we found out.”

“Maybe after we speak with her
ourselves first,” Moose said.
 
“After
all, I hate generating a good lead and then just handing it over to him.”

“I know exactly what you mean,
but as soon as we talk to her, we have to call him.
 
You agree with that, don’t you?”

“I suppose,” Moose said.
 
“Do you think she killed him, especially
after being caught at the theater like that?”

“What if she
already
killed him, and was just trying to get away?” I asked.

“Wouldn’t she use the outside
door, if that were the case?”

“Not if she panicked,” I said.

“Funny, but Amanda Lark doesn’t
seem the sort to panic to me.”

“You’ve got a point, but then
again, we’ve never murdered anyone, so it’s hard to say how we’d react, let
alone try to predict her behavior.
 
What
it boils down to is that we need to talk to her directly and see how she reacts
to our questions.”

“She’s not going to be happy;
that’s how she’s going to react,” Moose said with a crooked grin.
 
“Next question.”

“I don’t know.
 
She might surprise us both.”

“She might, but I doubt it.”
 
We got into his truck, and Moose drove to the
outskirts of town where the furniture outlet was located.
 
I wasn’t all that thrilled about going back
inside.
 
The place creeped me out.

But it turned out that I didn’t
have to go in after all.

Amanda Lark was out front smoking
a cigarette and looking for all the world like she was ready to take on the
world in a knife fight with her bare hands.

I hoped Moose parked the truck so
that it was ready for a quick getaway, just in case we needed it.

“Hey, Amanda,” I said as Moose
and I approached.
 
“Can we have a
minute?”

She ground the cigarette on the
pavement with the toe of her shoe.
 
“If
it’s all the same to you, I’d really rather not,” she said.

“It might be better if you talk
to us out here rather than in there,” Moose said, adding a nice ominous tone to
his voice.

“Better for me, or for you?” she
asked.
 
There wasn’t a hint of warmth in
her voice, not that it surprised me any.

“For all of us,” I said.
 
“Why didn’t you tell us that you were at the
theater the night Benny was murdered?
 
You said that you were busy elsewhere, but that wasn’t true, was it?”

Amanda shook her head in
disgust.
 
“That lying little weasel.
 
He promised to keep his mouth shut, but I can
see what his word is worth.”

“Who are you talking about?” I
asked.

“Garret Wilkes, as if you didn’t
know,” she said.

“Actually, someone else told us
that you were there,” Moose said.
 
Technically it was true, but it nicely hid the fact that Garret had
confirmed the information for us.

“They’re all a bunch of
blabbermouths,” she said.
 
“Sure, I was
there.
 
Big deal.
 
I didn’t see Benny; Garret saw to that.
 
I tried his dressing room door, but it was
locked.
 
I knocked three or four times,
but he never answered.
 
I never had a
chance to knock again.
 
Garret threw me
out, along with a few of his football-playing bodyguards.
 
He’d better have them with him the next time
I see him, or it’s not going to turn out so well for that fancy-pants director,
I’ll tell you that.”