A Chili Death: A Classic Diner Mystery (11 page)

“I prefer this to be confidential.  I’m sure your boss will understand, and if you don’t let us see him, he’s not going to be very happy with you, I can promise you that.”

“Know him well, do you?” the woman asked, not intimidated by my grandfather at all.

“I know enough.  Let’s just say that he’ll want to hear what I’ve got to share as soon as possible,” Moose answered.  It was clear that he was trying to get past the receptionist, the attorney’s only line of defense.

She leaned back and put her heels on the desk instead of being the slightest bit intimidated.  “Well, at least you’ve got my attention.”

I got it instantly, but Moose clearly didn’t grasp it yet.  He said, “I’m not going to prove the value of what I’ve got to say to you.  Let me talk to your boss.”

“If you won’t give me any idea what this about, then I’m afraid I can’t help you,” she said firmly.

“Moose,” I said as I tugged at his arm.

“Not now, Victoria.”  He was irritated by my interruption, but the woman simply found it amusing.

“You might want to listen to her,” she said with a smile

“What is it?” Moose asked as he stared at me.

Instead of answering him, I walked over to the woman and stuck out my hand.  “M.T. Ingram, I presume?”

A broad smile spread out on her face.  “At your service.  And you are?”

“I’m Victoria Branson, and that gentleman over there slowly turning red with embarrassment is my grandfather, Moose Nelson.”

Her smile died instantly at my grandfather’s last name.  “I’m sorry, but it’s not appropriate for us to be speaking.”

“Howard Lance is dead.  Has anyone told you that?” I asked softly.

“What?  Are you certain?”  She was clearly surprised by my news.

“Feel free to call around and check,” I said. 

“I’ll be right with you,” Ms. Ingram said as she disappeared into her office.

When she was gone, I turned to Moose.  “That was smooth, Moose.  Thanks for the lesson in how to deal with people.  I should have taken notes.”

“How was I supposed to know that Ingram was a woman?” Moose asked.  “If she’s really the attorney, why was she sitting behind the receptionist’s desk?”

“I don’t know, but you can ask her yourself when she comes back.”

“No, thanks,” Moose said.  He chewed his lower lip for a moment, and then asked, “Would it help if I apologized?”

I was surprised to hear his offer, but I had a hunch that it no longer mattered.  “Let’s just see what she has to say first.”

“I like that plan,” Moose admitted.  He wasn’t a big fan of handing out apologies, no matter how much they were merited, and I knew that it would have been tough on him doing it.

Three minutes later, Ms. Ingram came out of her office, a troubled expression on her face.  “Our chief of police just confirmed the news.  I’m sorry, but I’m still not at liberty to disclose anything that passed between my client and me.”  There was something in her glance that told me she wanted to help, but was bound by her ethics.

“We get it,” Moose said as he started for the door.  “It’s just like I told you, Victoria.  This was just another dead-end.”

I had a hunch, though.  “You go on without me.  I’ll be right out,” I said.

My grandfather wasn’t at all pleased with my suggestion, but when he looked at me, I narrowed my eyes, and to my delight, he did as I asked and kept going out the front door.

Ms. Ingram studied me a moment after he was gone, and then she said, “I’m really sorry, but I meant what I said.  I can’t disclose anything about Mr. Lance or the business I might have had with him.”

“Understood,” I said as I took a step forward and held out my hand.  “Sorry we got off on the wrong foot.  As I said, my name is Victoria, but I didn’t catch your name in that barrage of initials you use.”

“I’m Monica,” she said as she took it.  “I find the initials are useful at times.”

“I have no trouble believing that.”

“By the way, I love the way you handled your grandfather.”

I had to smile at that.  “Oh, Moose is pretty harmless if you know what you’re doing.”

She shook her head.  “I doubt that.  He reminds me a lot of my grandfather, and there’s not a week goes by that I don’t miss him.  You’re lucky to still have him.”

“It doesn’t always feel that way, but I know what you mean.  Do you mind if I ask you a nosy question?”

“That depends.  Does it have anything to do with Mr. Lance?”

“No Ma’am,” I said.

“Then I’m game.”

“You’re clearly very good at what you do, so I’m curious.  What made you set up practice here?”

She offered the hint of a smile as she explained, “I was born just outside of town, and when I left for Duke, I had grand dreams, but this place kept calling to me, and as soon as I finished law school, I came back home.  There’s just something about small town life, isn’t there?”

“I know.  I couldn’t imagine ever leaving Jasper Fork.  Monica, I need some advice.”

“That will cost you a dollar,” she said with a slight smile.

“You actually charge for giving people directions?” I asked.

“If you want our conversation to be just between us, pay me the retainer and I’m all yours.”

I smiled as I handed her a buck.  “Those are pretty good rates for a Duke graduate.”

She scribbled out a receipt and handed it to me.  “What can I say?  You caught me on a good day.  Now, how can I help you?”

“I understand that you can’t talk about your relationship with Howard Lance, but I was wondering if you might tell me where I might go to get a few answers.”

“In general, you mean?” she asked, clearly leading me in that direction.

“Of course.  Any overlap of information would strictly be a coincidence.”

“Well, I’ve always found that if there’s something I want to know about anyone in a town that’s new to me, I head over to the restaurant closest to the town square.”

Was she trying to tell me something?  It was time to probe a little more.  “And if we were discussing Laurel Landing?”

“Oh, I’d say the BBQ Pit would be the place to go.”  She gave me a simple set of directions, and I knew that we’d have no trouble finding it.

“Good,” I said.  “We’ll do that.  Is there anything else I should know before I go stumbling blindly around looking for information?”

“Well, folks around here are pretty willing to chat, especially if they know why they’re being asked questions.  Women in particular might be your best bet.”  It was clear she was straining to stay within her boundaries, and still somehow help us.  This was the kind of woman I liked.

“Do you happen to know Rebecca Davis?” I asked on a whim.  “She’s an attorney in Jasper Fork.”

“We’ve never met, but I’ve heard good things about her,” Monica said.

“You should look her up when you get the chance.  She’s my best friend, and I have a feeling that the two of you would get along just fine.”

“I’ll make it a point,” she said.  “I wish I could do more, Victoria, but I’m afraid I can’t say much else.”

“I totally get it,” I said as I offered her my hand again.  “Monica, it was a pleasure to meet you.”

“The same, right back at you.  And don’t forget, I’m on retainer now, so if you need me, I’m just a phone call away.”

I thought she was half joking, but I accepted the offered card from her just the same.  While I had Rebecca to handle any jams I might find myself in, it couldn’t hurt having another attorney on my side if I needed her.

“You should come by our diner sometime and I’ll treat you to a free meal,” I said.

“I might just take you up on it.  What’s it called?”

“The Charming Moose,” I said, “all evidence you’ve seen so far to the contrary.”

“Oh, I can believe he’s charming enough when he puts his mind to it.  I’ll see you there sometime, Victoria.”

“Until then,” I said and walked out of her office. 

As I was tucking the receipt and her business card into my handbag, Moose was leaning against the side of his truck. 

He asked, “What took you so long?”

“I was having a nice conversation with Monica,” I admitted.

“So, the M stands for Monica.  I really botched that one up, didn’t I?”

“You did fine,” I said as I patted my grandfather’s shoulder.  “I think you helped break the ice with your bluster, and when you left, she and I had a nice little conversation.”

“What did she say?”

“I’d tell you,” I said as I got the receipt out, “but I’m afraid that it’s covered under attorney-client privilege now.”

“You hired her?” he asked incredulously.

“I did.”

I retrieved the receipt and offered it to him.  He took it gingerly from me, shook his head when he saw the amount I’d paid, and then handed the paper back to me.  “Are you sure you got what you paid for?”

“Are you questioning my judgment?” I asked him.

“What?  No, of course not.  I’m sure you did what you thought was right.  So, was she any help at all?”

“She advised us in a roundabout way that we might have some luck if we go to the BBQ Pit.  It’s two blocks over and one down.”

“You don’t have to tell me where it is.  Charlie and I go way back, if the old scoundrel is still running things there.”

“Moose, we’re not going to have a repeat of what just happened, are we?”

“Victoria, you might be better with lawyers than I am, but I can handle anyone from a fry cook to the head chef if I need to.  It doesn’t matter what we cook; we all speak the same language.  If there’s any information here to be had about Howard Lance, I’ll get it.”

“Well, if nothing else, I admire your confidence,” I said with a laugh as we got into the truck and drove over to the BBQ Pit.

“Charlie, you old horse thief.  Don’t tell me you’re still hanging around this joint after all these years.”

“Moose, when did you get out of jail?” he asked my grandfather with a grin.

“They’ve never been smart enough to catch me,” he replied, and the two men started laughing.  Their conversation had attracted a great deal of attention from the other patrons there, but as soon as they saw that Charlie was happy about seeing Moose, most of them went back to their meals.  The BBQ Pit must have spent every dime they earned on their food, since their decorations appeared to be unchanged from the fifties.  It wasn’t one of those sleek, retro look places, either.  The walls had earned every faded square inch of paint and paper, and the floor was a uniform gray concrete that offered a roadmap of stains and spills from over the years.  The place would have been depressing if not for the lively music coming from a jukebox in the corner, and the satisfied smiles of diners all around me.  The place just oozed character, and despite my recent meal at The Charming Moose, I felt tempted to try the food there.  How had I missed this place, being just half an hour from home?  I suppose it was because I spent so much time in our diner that I didn’t care much for checking out other places on one of my rare days off, but I was beginning to think that might have been a mistake.

“Come on back to the kitchen,” Charlie said.  “I want to show you my new smoker.”

“You actually cracked open your wallet and bought something new?” Moose asked in genuine surprise.

“No, I swapped for it.  I catered a big wedding in Lenoir, and they offered me the smoker in exchange for it.  It works like a charm.”

“This I’ve got to see,” Moose said as the two men disappeared into the kitchen.

It appeared that, at least for now, I was on my own.  I took a seat at the double U serpentine shaped bar and grabbed a menu.  Though the restaurant looked old and worn, the menus were spotless, something I appreciated, running The Charming Moose.

A waitress in her forties approached me wearing jeans and a checkered blouse as well as sporting a white starched apron.  The nametag that hung from it said, “Josephine.”

I pointed to it and said, “Now, there’s a name you don’t see much these days.  I like it.”

She grinned. “You’re welcome to it, then.”

“You could always just go by Jo,” I offered.

“That’s the one name in the world I hate more than Josephine,” she admitted.  “What’s yours?  I might be willing to swap if I like it.”

“I’m Victoria,” I said as I extended one hand.

“On second thought, I believe I’ll keep mine, though you can have my married name for free.  I’m done with it, now and forever.”

“Did you have a bad breakup?” I asked.  That was one thing I loved about being from the South.  Most anyone will tell you their life story with the slightest bit of provocation, especially folks who worked in the food service industry.

“The worst.  He was bad enough when he was alive, but now the fool has gone and got himself killed, and I don’t know what to do about it.”  As she said it, the tears began, and she put down her order pad and hurried out the front door.