A Baked Ham (6 page)

“What makes you think they’ll
talk to you?” Moose asked.

“What makes you think they
won’t?” I asked him in return.
 
“I’m
hoping to catch them off-guard.”

“It sounds like a good plan.
 
I’m going with you, of course.”

“Do you think that’s all that
wise?” I asked.

“Why wouldn’t it be?
 
After all,
you’re
going.”

“Yes, but nobody’s accusing me of
murder this time around, thank the powers that be.”

Moose frowned before he said,
“Victoria, I
need
to be there with
you.”

“What if I take Greg as my
backup?” I asked.
 
“Would that satisfy
you?”

“You’re not trying to cut me out
of this investigation, are you?” he asked me.

“No, but I don’t see any reason
to get people up in arms if we can help it, either.
 
How about if I promise to come by your house
tonight after the performance and bring you up to speed?
 
Would that help any?”

“I don’t suppose that it could
hurt,” he said.
 
“I still don’t like it.”

“You realize that I’m not doing
it to hurt you, don’t you,” I asked as I patted his cheek.

“I know you aren’t.
 
Victoria, tell Greg that he has to be on his
toes tonight.
 
I don’t want anything to
happen to my favorite granddaughter.”

“I’m also your
only
granddaughter, but I appreciate the
sentiment, anyway.
 
So, who are we going
to talk to in the meantime?”

“You should handle the actors
tonight,” Moose said, “so that leaves Vern Jeffries, Benny’s former business
partner, and Marcus Jackson, the jealous boyfriend, for us.”

“That sounds good to me,” I
said.
 
“Do you think we have time to talk
to both of them before my next shift starts at eleven?”

“Three hours should give us
plenty of time, but if it doesn’t, we can always call Martha in to work your
lunch shift.”

I shook my head.
 
“I’d rather not.
 
How is she going to feel when folks come in
and start whispering behind her back?
 
It’s happened to me a time or two, and it’s not fun, trust me.”

“If anyone says one word about
her, I’ll make them sorry that they were ever born,” Moose said angrily.

“Hey, calm down.
 
You’re supposed to be turning over a new
leaf, remember?”

My grandfather bit his lower lip,
and then his expression immediately softened.
 
“You’re right.
 
I’m going to do my
best for the rest of the day not to threaten anyone.”

“I know that it’s asking a lot,”
I said with a grin, “but it would be great if you could follow through with
that.
 
So, who do we go see first?”

Moose smiled.
 
“That’s a no-brainer.
 
I have no idea how we’re going to hunt Marcus
Jackson down if he’s not at the gym, but I know exactly where Vern Jeffries
is.”

“How could you possibly know
that?” I asked my grandfather.

“I drove by his new office on my
way over here, and he’s already there at his desk.
 
It’s time we paid a little visit to Jeffries
Insurance, don’t you think?”

“That sounds good to me,” I
said.
 
“What ruse are we going to
use?
 
Are we telling him that we’re
thinking about changing insurance agencies for the diner?”

Moose shook his head.
 
“No, if we do that, Francie Moore will hear
about it, and I don’t want her to think that we’re leaving her.
 
How about if we shop for a new personal
policy for you?”

I thought about the questions
that Vern would most likely ask me, including the dreaded one about my current
weight, and I killed the idea before my grandfather grew too fond of it.
 
“Let’s make it you, instead.”

“Why not?” he asked.
 
“I’ve got nothing to hide.”

“Then let’s go,” I said.

After we were in his truck and
driving to Jeffries Insurance, Moose said, “I still can’t believe somebody
smacked Benny in the back of the head with a statue hard enough to kill him.”

“Why not?
 
He certainly made
you
angry enough last night.”

“Victoria, he assaulted your
grandmother,” Moose said as he voice began to darken.
 
“I would think you’d applaud my reaction.”

“I’m sure that Martha could have
handled things fine on her own.
 
In a
way, when you butted in, you robbed her of the chance to defend her own
honor.
 
You realize that, don’t you?”

Moose glanced over at me, his
skepticism clear in his expression.
 
“What are you talking about, Victoria?
 
This is the South, where men are still allowed to defend the women they
love, and I hope they always will be.”

“I’m not scolding you, Moose; I’m
just trying to show you how your wife might see it.
 
How has she been acting toward you since you
jumped to her defense?”

Moose thought about it, and then
he said, “She’s been a little on edge, but I thought it was because of the
man’s murder and all.”

“The next time you talk to her,
ask her how she felt about you coming to her rescue before she had a chance to
defend herself.
 
If I’m wrong, I’ll buy
you dinner.”

“On the off chance that you’re
right, what do I have to buy you?” Moose asked.

“I think the dinner bet stands,
but you’re going to have to take me to a
much
nicer place than I’m going to take you.”

“I don’t know, Victoria.
 
I suppose that you
could
be right.
 
The older I
get, the more I realize that I still don’t know what makes half the human race
tick.”

“Don’t worry.
 
You guys baffle us
almost
as much as we confuse you.
 
That’s what keeps things interesting, don’t you think?”

“If you say so.”

We arrived at the new insurance
agency, but instead of going right in, Moose said, “Wait in the truck for one
second, would you?”

I knew better than to allow that
to happen.
 
“Moose, I can understand it
if you’re unhappy about me asking you not to go to the theater with me tonight,
but that doesn’t mean that you can exclude me from interviewing folks from our
list of suspects today.”

“It’s not that,” he said.
 
“I just want to call Martha and see if you’re
right.
 
Not knowing is killing me.”

“I’ll wait right here, then,” I
said with a smile.

I watched as Moose paced around
in front of the truck, talking with great animation to my grandmother.
 
After two minutes, he hung up, and I took
that as a sign that I could get out of the truck, now.

“What did she say?”

“Where would you like to eat?” he
asked me.
 
“She was reluctant to admit it
at first, but there was a little resentment there, there’s no denying it.
 
Victoria, I
still
don’t understand how I could have been so wrong about this.”

“Don’t beat yourself up about
it,” I said.
 
“Better men than you have
failed to understand the women they love.”

“Better than
me
?
 
I doubt that man’s ever
been born,” he answered with a grin, and I could feel his charm wash over
me.
 
My grandfather had a way about him
that appealed to just about everyone, me included.
 
Even when he was contrite, it still showed
through.
 
“Let’s go talk to Vern, shall
we?”

“Lead the way,” I said, glad that
I had Moose with me, not only as a partner in my investigations, but as my
grandfather, too.

Vern Jeffries had a generic
looking office that could have housed any one of a dozen different marginal
businesses.
 
Seeing him sitting behind
his desk, his paunch punishing the buttons of his dress shirt and his bald head
gleaming under the fluorescent fixtures, he could have just as easily been an
accountant or a child’s portrait photographer, for that matter.

“Come in,” he said as we
approached him.
 
“Moose, I’m glad you
called.
 
After I ask you a few questions,
we can study our options for your new insurance policy.”
 
He glanced at me and added, “Victoria, to be
honest with you, I’m not quite sure why
you’re
here.
 
If you’d like to wait in the outer
office, we shouldn’t be more than half an hour.”

“Thanks, but I’ll stay here,” I
said with a bright smile.
 
There was no
way that I was going to take one step away from that particular meeting.

Vern looked at me oddly, and then
he turned back to Moose.
 
“Are you
certain that’s okay with you?”

“She’s my granddaughter,” Moose
said as though it was the most natural thing in the world.
 
“Of course she can stay.”

“Will Martha be joining us?” Vern
asked.

“No, she’s tied up elsewhere at
the moment.”
 
My grandfather was starting
to show his impatience with the ruse, so I figured that it was time to start
asking our questions before he stormed out.
 

“Mr. Jeffries, before we get
started, we have a few questions for you about your company,” I said.

“Go on,” Vern said as he sat back
in his seat.
 
“I’ve got nothing to hide.”

I sincerely doubted that, but I
decided to keep that opinion to myself.
 
“Thank you.
 
We would both
appreciate that.
 
First of all, we know that
up until recently, you were closely associated with Benny Booth and his
firm.
 
Would you mind telling us why you
two split up?”

Apparently Vern wasn’t as
interested in opening up as he’d just implied.
 
“I don’t see what that has to do with your grandfather’s policy.”
 
Vern frowned at me, and then the insurance
adjuster asked my grandfather, “Moose, in all the years we’ve known each other,
I’ve never known you to ever let someone
else
do the talking for you.”

“Don’t underestimate Victoria,”
he said.
 
“There’s a reason I asked her
along.
 
Answer her question.
 
Why should I trust you with my premium
money?
 
What happened between you and
Benny?
 
I hate to tell you some of the
rumors flying around town, especially after what just happened to the man.”

“I’m sure that I’m not the only
one folks are talking about,” Vern said.

That was a direct dig at Moose, but
I couldn’t afford to let my grandfather respond to it, not if I wanted to get
any information about Benny from Vern.
 
“We can appreciate that,” I said, “but we need to know a little about
your past before we can invest any of our future with you.”

Moose started to add something,
but I could see him bite the remark back.

Vern shrugged, and then he threw
his pen down on his desk.
 
“Yes, it’s
true that Benny and I ran an agency together for sixteen months.
 
It was a mistake, something I realized as
soon as we got started, but how big a mistake it was I’m just beginning to find
out.”

“In what way?” I asked.

“I hate to speak ill of the dead,
but the man had a way of making money vanish that still confounds me.
 
It wouldn’t surprise me if they have to screw
him into the ground; he was that crooked.
 
Does that answer your question?”

“Where does that leave you,
besides bitter towards him?” I asked.

“Of course I’m bitter.
 
He took something good of mine and ruined it
for his own benefit.
 
Now I’m picking up
the pieces and trying to start over again.”

“It sounds as though you had
quite a grudge against him,” Moose said.

“I’m not denying that I did, but
the last thing I wanted to happen was for someone to kill him.”

“Would you mind explaining that?”
I asked him.

Vern took in a deep breath, and
then he let it out slowly before he spoke again.
 
“While Benny was still alive, I had a chance,
no matter how slim it was, to get my money back.
 
With him gone, the money’s lost as well.”

“How much are we talking about
here?” Moose asked.