A Baked Ham (11 page)

“I just hope that it has a better
ending tonight,” Greg said, and then he caught himself.
 
“That wasn’t the best thing in the world that
I could have said, was it?”

“That’s why you work in the
kitchen away from our customers,” I said with a laugh.
 

“Yeah, when you think about it,
that’s probably a good thing.
 
At least
nobody’s going to die at the theater tonight.”

“That’s my hope, too, but I’m not
making any promises.”

Chapter 7

“What are
you
doing here?” I asked Moose as he walked into the diner’s
kitchen a little before seven.
 
It wasn’t
his usual habit of showing up near the end of our day.

“I came by to have a few words
with you,” he said.
 
“I’m just glad that
you’re still open.”

“Why wouldn’t we be?” I
asked.
 
“It’s not seven yet, is it?”

“No, but with the play tonight, I
was afraid you might lock the doors early.”

“There’s not much chance of that
happening,” I said with a smile.
 
“After
all, I learned from the best, and someone once told me that unless there’s an
emergency of epic proportions, our doors stay open as long as the sign says
they should be.”

“That’s my girl,” Moose said with
a grin.
 
“Victoria, I think Jenny might
need a little help cleaning up out front.”

“I’m on it,” I said.
 
Jenny was our late afternoon and early
evening waitress.
 
During the day she
took classes at the community college, and after she left us she normally
pursued an extremely active social life, but she was a sweet girl, and a real
asset to the diner.

I peeked my head out and saw that
we were out of customers at the moment, and Jenny was sweeping the floor.

When she saw me, she said
apologetically, “I hope you don’t mind, but I got started on cleanup a little
early since we didn’t have any customers.”

“I think it’s brilliant,” I
said.
 
“I’ll be back to give you a hand
in a second.”

As I reentered the kitchen, I
said, “Moose, there’s nobody out there.”

He’d been conferring with Greg at
the grill, and as soon as I walked in, my grandfather stopped talking
instantly.
 
“My mistake.
 
Victoria, don’t forget to come by my house
after the show tonight.
 
I expect an
immediate update about what happened, okay?”

“We’ll be there,” I said.

“Good.
 
Now, I need to get out of here.
 
I can’t keep your grandmother waiting all
night.”

After he was gone, I looked at
Greg steadily as I asked, “What exactly was that all about just now?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking
about,” Greg said, refusing to make eye contact with me, a sure sign that he
was holding something back.

“Greg, do you honestly believe
that you can get away with that?
 
How
long have we been married, anyway?”

“That’s a trick question,” Greg
said.
 
“I told you before, I won’t answer
your marriage-related quiz questions anymore.”

I laughed as I shook my
head.
 
“That’s really nice.”

“What’s that?”

“The way you just tried to divert
my suspicion.
 
What did Moose tell you
while I was in the dining room?”

Greg frowned.
 
“I told him that I couldn’t keep a secret
from you.”

I was intrigued now that my
husband had even tried.
 
“You were
right.
 
So give.”

“He told me to keep an eye on you
tonight, and if anything happened to you, I should get in my car and start
driving, because if he ever caught up with me, that would be the end as far as
I was concerned.”

I was touched by my grandfather’s
concern, but not to the point where I’d easily forgive him saying something
like that.
 
“Greg, you have to forgive
him.
 
Sometimes Moose forgets that I’m a
grown woman perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”

“I don’t see how he could
ever
forget that,” Greg said.

“That’s because you didn’t help
raise me.
 
I’ll have a word with him
later.
 
I can’t have him threatening you
like that, no matter what kind of motivation he thinks he has.”

My husband looked extremely
uncomfortable with the idea.
 
“I’d really
rather you didn’t say anything to him at all, if it’s all the same to you.
 
I don’t want him to think that I ran to you
complaining, Victoria.
 
I know that he’s
your grandfather, but he’s my friend, and I don’t want to disappoint him.
 
Do you understand?”

“Completely.
 
He expects the best out of us all, and it’s
hard to let him down, isn’t it?
 
Okay, I
promise. I won’t say a word.”

“I appreciate that,” Greg
said.
 
“Now, why don’t you help Ellen so
we can get out of here?
 
It’s going to be
cutting it close if we don’t hurry.”

“Since when are you in such a
rush to get to the theater?”

He grinned sheepishly.
 
“I figure that the sooner we get there, the
quicker we’ll be able to leave.”

“I hate to be the one to tell
you, but your logic if flawed.
 
It just
doesn’t work that way.”

“Maybe so, but don’t take away my
last shred of hope, okay?”

“Okay,” I said with a laugh.
 
“Let’s get cracking.”

“Wow, it’s déjà vu all over
again,” Greg said as we reentered the crowded theater lobby for the second
night in a row.
 
As he looked around the
crowded room, he added, “I believe that Moose and Martha are the only ones who
didn’t come back for take two.”

“They gave their tickets away to
their neighbors, so it’s no less crowded than it was before.
 
Do you still have my cape with you?”

“It’s right here,” Greg
said.
 
“I still don’t know why you
brought it with you.”

“It’s backup for right now, but I
might need it, so don’t lose it.”

“No, Ma’am,” he said with a
smile.

“Come on,” I said as I tugged at
his arm.

“Where are we going?”

“We’re heading backstage before
the play so we can do a little snooping.
 
I have to thank you for that.
 
We
never would have had the time if you hadn’t rushed me so much at home getting showered
and changed.”

“Remind me never to do that
again,” Greg said.
 
“Victoria, you know
that I’m not comfortable taking part in your investigations.”

“You don’t have to go with me if
you don’t want to, you know,” I said as I stopped pulling his arm.

“Oh, no.
 
I’m under strict orders that I’m not about to
disobey.
 
Wherever you go tonight, I go,
too.”

I wasn’t sure how I felt about
that.
 
Sure, I loved the fact that Greg
was concerned for my wellbeing, but then again, I wasn’t all that crazy about
having my husband follow me around while I tried to question some of my
suspects.

When we got to the stage entrance
off to one side, it looked as though it wasn’t going to matter what I thought
anyway.

There was a big, husky football
player from the high school standing guard by the door, and from the looks of
him,
no one
was going to get past.

Fortunately, the young man was a
frequent patron of our diner, and I knew Peter Davis well.
 
“Pete, I’ve never seen you in a suit
before.
 
How handsome you look.”

He blushed a little from my
praise.
 
“You look nice too,
Victoria.”
 
Almost as an afterthought, he
looked at Greg and added, “Nice suit.”

“Right back at you,” my husband
said.

“Peter, I was wondering if I
could go backstage for one second before the show starts?” I asked.

The young man frowned.
 
“I’m sorry, but I can’t let you past me, Victoria.
 
Mr. Wilkes is paying us all good money to
keep these doors blocked, and he told me specifically that if anyone gets
through from the auditorium,
none
of
us will get paid.
 
I’m really sorry about
that.”

“Don’t worry,” I said as I patted
his arm.
 
“I understand completely.”

“Are you sure?” he asked me.
 
“Because I’d hate to have you mad at me.”

“We’re perfectly fine,” I
said.
 
I leaned in a little closer and I
asked him, “Do you know of any other ways in?
 
I don’t want you to lose your pay for the night, but this is important.”

Peter looked around, and then he
frowned.
 
“Well, there might be one way
that won’t get me in trouble.
 
If you use
another entrance, Mr. Wilkes won’t have any choice but to pay us.
 
There’s one door he forgot to post a guard on
tonight.
 
I almost said something, but
then I realized that the information might come in handy, so I kept my mouth
shut.”

I looked at him carefully before
I asked, “Peter, you’re not asking me for a bribe, are you?”

He seemed honestly surprised by
my suggestion.
 
“Of course not.
 
I just meant… what I meant to say was…”

Greg stepped in and saved
him.
 
“Don’t take it personally; she does
the same thing to me all the time.
 
Victoria actually thinks it’s funny to watch men squirm a little.
 
The best thing you can do is just smile and
pretend that she never asked you a question in the first place.”

Peter nodded, and then he turned
to me and offered his smile without uttering another word.

“I give up.
 
Where’s the door we need?” I asked with a
smile after a few seconds of silence.

“I hope you’re not spooked by it,
but it’s the outside door into Benny Booth’s dressing room,” Peter said.
 
“I don’t know if you know this about me, but
I’ve always been interested in the theater.”

“Do you want to be an actor?” I
asked.

“No, what goes on behind the
scenes is what interests me.
 
I’ve even
worked the spotlight on a few shows recently.
 
That’s kind of how I found out about the door being unlocked and
all.
 
I’m here so much that nobody even
notices me when I go wandering around the building.”

“Isn’t Fred Hitchings using
Benny’s dressing room tonight?” I asked.

“Nope.
 
Evidently he was too spooked to get dressed
there, so he’s staying right where he was the night before.
 
The room is empty right now; at least it was
the last time I heard.”

I nodded, and then I said,
“Thanks so much.
 
Come by the diner
tomorrow, and I’ll give you a free slice of pie.”
 
Peter was crazy about our pies, and he
especially liked Greg’s Crumb Apple.

“You’ve got yourself a deal,” he
said.

“Let’s go, Greg,” I said as I
started toward the exit.

My husband asked, “Are we really
going to sneak into a room where someone was murdered last night?”

“Do we have any choice?” I
asked.
 
“You’re free to be my lookout if
you’d like, but I’m going in there.”

“Then I am, too,” Greg said.

We walked outside and around the
theater.
 
The temperature was
unseasonably chilly, and I was glad that I’d had Greg bring along my cape for
more than just as a disguise.
 
“Can I
have my cape now, please?”

He handed it over, and I wrapped
it around my shoulders, pulling the hood up over my hair in one easy motion.

“Now it’s like being out with the
Phantom of the Opera,” Greg said as he checked out my new look.

“Laugh all you want, but this
might come in handy, just you wait and see.”

“I don’t doubt it for one
second,” Greg said as we made our way around the building.
 
There were several doors along the back of
the building, but only one had a makeshift star stenciled on it.
 
That had to be Benny Booth’s door, and
knowing the man even just a little, it wouldn’t have surprised me one bit to
learn that he’d most likely put that star there himself.