Marja McGraw - Bogey Man 01 - Bogey Nights (2 page)

Chapter Two

C
onstance, my friend, babysitter and former neighbor, got up while Chris and I slept, fed Mikey and sent him off to school. She left me a note on the table and headed home. Constance and I both lost husbands to cancer and we’d spent time commiserating with each other over the back fence (when I wasn’t working one of my multiple jobs), and became good friends. She’d been thrilled when I met Chris, but told me she never wanted to get married again. The loss of one husband was enough for her. I’m in my mid-thirties and I figured she was about fifteen years older than me, although we’d never talked about age.

Chris and I only slept for a few hours before arising to face the day
. Even the small act of sitting up felt like a chore, but we had to keep things moving. Chris called the fire department first and found that yes, the fire had been a grease fire and it appeared to be an accident. He then called the insurance company and filed a claim. With that done, we quietly ate breakfast. You’d have thought one of us had done something wrong, but that wasn’t the case. We were just worn out, and maybe still a little bit shocky.

“I wonder how the grease fire started,” I said.

“I’m sure we’ll find out eventually,” Chris replied. “At least the fire department believes it was an accident. They’ll know more after their investigation.”

“I’m so glad everyone got out okay
. It was difficult to tell with so many people jumping in their cars and leaving. I’m assuming the fire department didn’t find any bodies, right?”

“Not a one,” Chris said.

“The dogs sure surprised me when they tried to pull Luis out of the building. That tells me something about their personalities,” I said.

“I would guess it was instinctual,” Chris said
. “I know that Labs can be trained to do that kind of thing. I think I’ll do some research on them. I think they can even be trained as cadaver dogs.”

“
I’ve read articles, and they can. I’m sure glad they didn’t have to show us that side of themselves last night.”

It was easy to be light about it now that it was over
. There had been so many fires over the years where people were killed trying to get out of the doors at the same time and clogging the exits. I didn’t want to think about what could have been and turned my thoughts in another direction. I began to think about the new location for the restaurant. And a name came to mind.

“
Bogey’s Bistro
,” I said.

“Huh?”
Chris looked confused.

“A name for the restaurant
.
Bogey’s Bistro
,” I repeated.

“No,” Chris replied. “I have a lot of respect for Humphrey Bogart. I may look like him, but I don’t want to trade on his name.”

“But you’re already doing that by dressing up like him and
walking and talking the way he did in his movies,” I reminded him.

“Okay, I see your point
. But I don’t want to use his name for the business. We’ll think of something else.”

“When can we go look at the location you told me about?” I asked.

“Pamela, are you sure you want to think about this right now? Don’t you want to, well, recuperate first? Your beautiful green eyes still look awfully blood shot. We’ve been through a lot in the past few hours.”

Chris glanced at my hair but
tactfully didn’t say anything.

I must look frightful
, I thought.
I probably look like I used an electric mixer on my hair this morning
.

“I know
we’ve been through a lot. But I think looking at the new location and keeping busy will help us get past this. Oh, and we need to contact all of our employees and let them know they’ll still have a job, if they want it, at the new place. Especially Luis. He’s such a wonderful chef, and he really went above and beyond what was expected of him last night.”

Chris
curled his upper lip under, one of his Bogey habits, and didn’t look happy. “We’ll probably lose most of them. The new place, if we take it, is going to take time to remodel. If we buy this place, we want to do it right. It will be
ours
. You know, the hardest type of business to get off the ground is a restaurant. It’s got to appeal to people.”

“But we already had a following
, and it did appeal to them,” I reminded him. “I think people will come back, even if we move. We were a novelty with our ambiance and you looking like Bogey. And I have to admit, I enjoy dressing in the styles of the 1940s.”

Chris patted my hand, apparently thinking he needed to comfort me
. “People will remember the fire, and the fact that they could have died. We’re going to have to prove ourselves before customers come back.”

I shook my head
which caused my long, messy auburn hair to fall in my face. “I don’t agree.”

“They’re going to read about a grease fire and believe that our kitchen was dirty
. It wasn’t, but that’s what they’ll think.”

“Again, Chris, I don’t agree
. We received top ratings from the health department and it was in the newspaper. This fire was purely an accident.”

“What was that reporter’s name
– the one we had to deal with last year when that other murder happened?” Chris asked. “I’ll bet we could get her to do a story about the new place. Maybe we could talk her into coming in to see how we refurbish it and sort of follow the process.”

“That’s a great idea,” I said
. “Her name was Sharon, but I don’t remember her last name. I’ll call the newspaper and get a phone number for her.”

“
Good idea,” Chris said. “And you’re right about keeping busy. Let’s go see this place while Mikey’s still in school. We can take him to see it later, if we buy it. Get the dogs and let’s go.”

“You know we shouldn’t have had the dogs at the restaurant,” I said, “but if we hadn’t taken them, Luis might have died in the fire.”

“They were never near the food,” Chris said. “They were in the office in the back. I have to admit though, it’s a good thing we didn’t close the door or they couldn’t have gotten out. And it’s a good thing the Health Department didn’t know they were there.”

I reminded Chris that we needed to clean up before we went anywhere, and that he should probably call the
Realtor to see if we could meet him and get inside to see what we’d be working with if we took it. I rubbed my eyes, deciding to use some drops to see if I could get rid of the redness.

“You
’re the brains in this outfit, shweetheart,” he said, slipping into his Bogey persona. “I don’t know what I’d do without ya.” He curled his upper lip under again before giving me his best Bogey smile.

“And don’t you forget it,” I replied, smiling back
. “Last night you said
you
were the brains.”

***

We arrived at the new location a couple of hours before time to pick Mikey up at school. The Realtor was waiting for us.

“Okay, Bogey Man,” I said, surveying the building
. “This isn’t a restaurant. It’s a brick house. An old brick house. I thought you were taking me to see a restaurant site. Would you like to explain?”

His face beamed
. “Picture this with a big sign out in front. We’ll convert it to a restaurant and bar.”

“You make that sound so easy
. There’s so much to look into,” I said. “Zoning – ”

“Already checked
. Look around you. Do you see any other homes? No? That’s because this was rezoned to a commercial district.”

“Oh
. But we’d have to renovate – ”

“I’ve already talked to Big D about that,” Chris replied
. “He’ll help us. All we have to do is invite him to a barbeque and he’ll take the job. Well, maybe we’d have to invite a single woman for him to meet, too.”

Big D is a friend of Chris’s who happens to be a contractor, and his name is Dav
ey. He also happens to be a really big guy. He’s gruff, but that comes with a gentle giant shyness. He isn’t always comfortable in social situations.

“I know there are other issues, but I’ll have to think about all of this
. Have you seen the inside yet?”

He looked sheepish.
“Yes. I didn’t want to get your hopes up until I knew more about it. I knew I wanted out of the other location, but I sure didn’t expect to get out of it this way.”

“Uh huh
. How many square feet is it?”

“
Over two thousand.” The Realtor walked over to meet us when we climbed out of the car. He and Chris shook hands.

“Pamela, this is Max Avery,” Chris said, introducing us
. “I met with Max about a month ago and told him I might be interested in this building.”

“
In a couple of days it’s going into foreclosure,” Max said. “I’m not sure why the current owner even bought it. Maybe as an investment. He never lived here.”

Max was eager for a sale
. I could see it in his pudgy little face. And he was smiling way too widely, but at least it was a pleasant smile. He was a short man who had to look up at Chris, and Chris was about five-ten.

Sherlock and Watson watched us from the car
. Sherlock had a worried look on his face and I knew what the meant. “Excuse me. I’ve got to let the dogs have a potty break.”

Chris and Max nodded and turned to head for the
brick house. While the dogs did their business, I took a good look at the exterior of the place. It had potential. There were two mature oak trees, one on each side in front of the house, and it had a large, open porch in front that ran the width of the dwelling. There were two pillars, one at each end, and two in the middle of the porch with one step leading up. A walkway ran from the sidewalk to the porch step. The porch would be just right for a few tables for outdoor dining when the weather permitted. The lawn, what there was of it, needed a lot of work, and anything even resembling a plant was dead. Oh well, I enjoyed yard work. And the oak trees seemed to be okay. I shook my head, realizing that I’d better see the inside before even thinking about visiting a nursery and buying plants. And realistically, we’d probably need to hire a landscaper.

I walked around the house to get a feel for the place and discovered a door that apparently led under the house
. I assumed there was a cellar or something along those lines. I’d ask Max about it.

Since
Chris and Max had already entered the house, I whistled to the dogs, who were busily sniffing the trees, and they came running, following me into the house. For such young dogs, they were quite well-behaved – usually. At two and a half, they responded well to training. Of course, we’d started training them as soon as we brought them home. Labs are great dogs, but they’re big and strong, and sometimes headstrong. They make up for that with love and loyalty. I think it was the headstrong part that caused their previous owners to let us have them.

I entered a living room and
, looking around, noticed that there was a bedroom off to the side and a dining room straight ahead through an archway. There were built-in book cases on either side of the arch. I could hear Chris talking and followed his voice, which led me into a kitchen.

The floors were all hardwood and would probably be beautiful, with a lot of hard work
. They’d been neglected for a long time, from the looks of them. Layers of faded wallpaper adorned the walls. Hmm. If it was forties style, maybe some new wallpaper would work. That and a lot of fresh paint. Although our restaurant would be from that era, I was pretty sure the house was older than that.

“When was this house built?” I asked.

“In the late 1920s,” Chris replied. It seemed he had done his homework. “This used to be a residential area. Come on, Pamela. Let’s look through the rest of the house.”

Max led the way, still grinning
. There were a total of four bedrooms in the house and two bathrooms. At the rear of the house sat a master bedroom with a walk-in closet. I opened the door and looked inside. I could tell that renovations had already been done to the house, but obviously a very long time ago. And a house this size, built in the twenties, must have been built by someone with money.

“Max,” I said, “
I noticed a door outside, near the rear of the house. Where does it lead to?”

“There’s a
cellar back there, but it was never finished. It’s pretty dirty down there. Do you want to see it or would you rather wait until you’re dressed for dirty?”

I laughed
. “Now is good.”

Chris and Max walked outside and around the house with me
. I lifted the door and two large dogs raced past me and flew down the stairs.

“Hey, you two
. Come back here!” I had no idea what was in the cellar, but images of spiders and mice ran through my mind’s eye.