A Baked Ham (3 page)

I could see the relief flood
through Greg.
 
Moose’s opinion meant a
great deal to him.

My grandfather pulled his hand
away, and then he turned to Sheriff.
 
“Now, what’s this about Benny, Sheriff?
 
Surely you don’t think that
I
killed the man.”

“I’m just gathering information
right now.
 
Do either one of you happen
to have an alibi for the past forty-five minutes?” Sheriff Croft asked.

Moose laughed, which was not the
reaction I’d been expecting.
 
“Are you
accusing
Martha
now?
 
You’re kidding, right?”

“I don’t know why that’s so hard
to believe.
 
I’m
just
as capable of doing it as you are, Moose,” my grandmother
said.
 
“Why
shouldn’t
I be a suspect?”

“Is that really a list that you
want
to be on, Martha?” he asked her as
though the rest of us weren’t even there.

“Of course not.
 
I just don’t want to be taken for granted,
that’s all.”

Moose just shook his head as he
looked at the sheriff.
 
“The only alibis
we have are each other.
 
I’ve got a hunch
that’s not going to be good enough for you, is it?”

“What about when you first
stormed off?” the sheriff asked.
 
“Martha, you didn’t leave for at least three minutes after your husband
off, and who knows how long it took you to find him.”

Martha nodded.
 
“I suppose our alibis aren’t as good as I’d
hoped they be.
 
Sorry, but I can’t help
you.
 
I admit that it took me fifteen minutes
to find Moose back here at the diner.”

“Martha,” Moose snapped.
 
“You didn’t have to tell him that.”

“I want him to know the truth,”
she said.
 
“A lack of a solid alibi does
not make either one of us guilty of murder, Moose.”

“Maybe not, but it can’t help
your causes,” I said.

The sheriff looked at me and
frowned, but at least he’d dropped that bit of nonsense about Greg and me
leaving.
 
This was our diner, and it was
where we belonged.

“Are you going to arrest either
one of them right now?” Greg asked.

“Of course not.”

“But they’re both on your list of
suspects, aren’t they?” I asked.

“Victoria, even you’d have to
admit that I’d be a fool not to at least include them,” the sheriff answered.

Moose surprised me by patting the
sheriff’s arm.
 
“You would indeed.
 
Sheriff, nobody here is blaming you for doing
your job, but I’m afraid this is a dead end for your investigation.”

“Martha said that she was looking
for you,” the sheriff said.
 
“You never
told me what you were doing.”

“I was driving around,” Moose
said.
 
“I hate it when my temper gets the
best of me, and I didn’t want to be around anybody.
 
After ten minutes, I decided that what I
really needed was a cup of coffee, so I came here and made myself one.”

“There’s an awful lot of time
that you can’t account for,” the sheriff said.

“That’s not strictly true.
 
I can account for every second of it,” Moose
said.
 
“What I can’t do is offer you any
proof that I’m telling the truth.
 
I
guess we’re at a stalemate, aren’t we?”

“For now,” the sheriff said as he
headed for the door.
 
He hesitated before
he left, though, and turned back to look at my grandparents.
 
“You two aren’t going out of town anytime
soon, are you?”

“To be honest with you, we had
thought about going to the fishing cabin tomorrow for a few weeks,” Moose said.

“Well, I can’t make you, but I’d
appreciate it if you’d both hang around town, at least for now,” Sheriff Croft
said.

“We can do that, can’t we,
Martha?” he asked his wife.

“You were the one with a burning
desire to go fishing,” my grandmother said.
 
“If it were up to me, we’d have stayed here all along.”

“There you go, Sheriff.
 
Can I pour you a cup of coffee to go?”

“Sure, why not,” Sheriff Croft
said, the weight of another murder clearly pounding down on him.
 
Moose poured him a paper-cup full, and the
sheriff put a dollar on the counter.

“Don’t worry about it.
 
It’s on the house,” Moose said.

“You know me.
 
I
always
pay my way as I go.”

“Suit yourself,” Moose said as he
folded the bill up and tucked it into his shirt pocket.

After the sheriff was gone, I
looked at my grandfather and asked, “Would you mind explaining what that was
all about?”

“What are you talking about,
Victoria?”

“You haven’t been that nice to
the sheriff since you were selling raffle tickets for your lodge,” I said.

“You
were
awfully nice to him,” Martha said.

“What can I say?
 
I’m trying to turn over a new leaf,” Moose
said.
 
“To be frank, I’ve been losing my
temper too much lately, and I’m trying to change.”

“
You
?” I asked incredulously.
 
“There’s got to be more to it than that.”

“Granddaughter, are you
questioning my truthfulness?”

“Absolutely.”

Moose grinned.
 
“Okay, I can’t really blame you for
that.
 
Part of it is that I didn’t want
to antagonize the sheriff any sooner than I had to.
 
I figure that as soon as he finds out that
we’re digging into Benny’s murder, he’ll have reason enough to be upset with
the two of us.”

I felt a sinking feeling in the
pit of my stomach.
 
“So, we’re going to
try to solve Benny’s murder ourselves.
 
You’re right about one thing.
 
The
sheriff isn’t going to be too happy about that.”

“You’re with me, though, aren’t
you?” Moose asked as he studied me carefully.

“You shouldn’t even have to
ask.
 
Why don’t you pour us all more
coffee so we can get started?”

“None for me,” Martha said.
 
“I’ll never get to sleep if I start drinking
caffeine this late in the day.
 
Honestly,
I’m just going to be in the way here.
 
I
think I’ll go home, if you don’t mind.”

“I’d be happy to drive you,” Greg
said.

“I don’t want to put you out,”
Martha said.

“It’s no trouble, believe
me.
 
I’ve found that it works out better
for me if I stay our of their way when they’re sleuthing.
 
All I need is my grill and my family to be
happy.”

I kissed Greg’s cheek.
 
“Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“I’m happy to do it.
 
Just don’t stay out too late.
 
Remember, you’ve got an early start
tomorrow.”

“Thanks,” I said.

“I could always come in and work
your opening shift tomorrow,” Martha offered.
 
My grandmother used to have my job until she’d retired, and she still
filled in for me every now and then.
 
Even though she’d gotten a little careless with making change over the
years, it was still wonderful having her there.

“Thanks, but until we have some
kind of plan, I’m not sure when I’ll need you.
 
I plan on taking you up on your offer eventually.
 
I’m just not sure when yet.”

“There’s no rush.
 
I’m here if you need me.”

“I won’t be long,” Moose said as
he kissed my grandmother soundly.

“Don’t make promises you can’t
keep, you old fool,” she said with a laugh.

After they were gone, Moose
looked at me, grinned, and rubbed his hands together.
 
“Let’s get started, shall we?”

“You’re enjoying this just a
little too much for my taste,” I said.
 
“A man died tonight, remember?
 
And you’re one of the sheriff’s chief suspects.
 
It’s not exactly a cause for
celebration.
 
I know you weren’t all that
fond of Benny, but it’s still no reason to smile about what happened to him.”

“That wasn’t why I was smiling,
and you know it.
 
You’re right.
 
Benny was a rat, but he still deserved better
than to get whacked with his own trophy.
 
The reason I smiled is because I live for these puzzles of ours.
 
Retirement isn’t all that it’s cracked up to
be, and a little excitement every now and then is a welcome thing.”

“Funny, I could do just fine
without too much of it myself.
 
Now,
should I get our Specials board out so we can make a list of who might have
clobbered Benny from behind?
 
I mean
besides you and Martha.”

“That’s not a bad idea.
 
Thanks for not including our names on
it.
 
I can’t imagine having too much
trouble making a list.
 
Benny wasn’t
exactly beloved around here, was he?”

I shook my head.
 
“Sure, he could be annoying at times, but
that’s not enough reason to kill a man, is it?”

“It depends on how irritating he
is,” Moose said, and I swear that I couldn’t tell if he was kidding or
not.
 
I decided to leave that one alone
as I got the whiteboard out from behind the counter.
 
After erasing the daily specials, I headed up
the list with the word Suspect, and then I added another section and titled it
Motive.
 
It was as good as anyplace else
to start, but I had a hunch that Moose and I were in for a long night.
 

Moose took the pen from me and
started to write.
 
“The first name on the
list has to be Benny’s understudy in the play.
 
Do you have any idea who that might be?”

“Surely you’re not suggesting
that someone killed him just so they could play a role in a community theater
production.”

“People have killed for less,
Victoria.
 
Let’s at least put the man’s
name on the board.
 
All of this is just a
starting point, remember?”

I shrugged as I pulled a playbill
from my purse and scanned the names.
 
“It
says here that Fred Hitchings is playing the bartender, third man in crowd, and
he’s also acting as Benny’s understudy.
 
That’s a lot to ask from one man, isn’t it?”

“I doubt the other roles are all
that large, since they don’t even merit their own names,” Moose said.
 
“Fred’s been a frustrated actor for
years.
 
He sells cars to earn a living,
but countless times he’s told me that he nearly went to Hollywood when he was
younger.
 
It had to be to take a tour,
because he’s
never
been any good as
an actor.
 
As bad as Benny was, at least
the man could remember his lines.”
 
Moose
wrote Jealousy beside Fred’s name, and then asked, “Who’s next?”

“How about Vern Jeffries?” I
suggested.
 
“He and Benny were on the
outs over their insurance business, weren’t they?
 
From what I heard here at the diner last
month, Vern nearly choked the life out of Benny right there in their office.”

“That sounds like reason enough
to me,” Moose said as he wrote Vern’s name down.
 

“Were there any women in Benny’s
life?” I asked.

“I doubt that any sane lady in
town would go out with the guy,” Moose said.

“Don’t sell Benny short,” I
said.
 
“Whether you liked the man or not,
he could be quite charming when he wanted to be.
 
It wouldn’t surprise me a bit if he had
something going with his costar.”

Moose looked surprised by the
suggestion.
 
“I suppose it’s worth a
shot.
 
Who’s his current leading lady?”

I didn’t have to get the playbill
out this time.
 
“It’s Sandra Hall.
 
The reason I know that is because she was in
the diner three days ago with a brooding young man.
 
He was pretty solicitous towards her, and to
be honest with you, she seemed a little uncomfortable with the intensity of his
attention.
 
I’m sorry, but I have no idea
what the man’s name was.”