A Baked Ham (8 page)

Amanda looked at him coldly, and
then she called out, “Hey, Reggie.
 
Come
here.”

I looked over to see a large man
lumbering over our way.
 
He looked to be
a real bruiser, and I wondered if they employed him to move large furniture all
by himself.
 
From his size, I doubted it
would be that much of a problem for him.

“What’s up, Amanda?” he asked.

“These two need help finding
their way out,” she said.

“Let’s go.
 
Follow me; it’s this way,” Reggie said.

Moose didn’t look as though he
wanted to budge, but I tugged at his arm.
 
“That’s not a bad idea.
 
I’ll bring
my husband back later.
 
Maybe you could
show us something then.”

“Leave this one at home, and I’d
be happy to help you any way that I can,” Amanda said.

“Come on,” Reggie said a little
impatiently.
 
“I don’t have all day.”

“Let’s go, Moose,” I whispered,
and he finally agreed.

After we were outside, I asked,
“What were you thinking?
 
You really went
after Amanda in there.”

“She wasn’t going to answer our
questions unless we got her off-balance,” he said.
 
“I decided to push her a little and see what
happened.”

“What happened is that we got
thrown out of the store,” I said.

“At least we got a reaction,”
Moose said.
 
“I don’t know about you, but
I’m not buying the ‘gentle breakup’ routine.”

“It doesn’t really match her
style, does it?”

“Not a chance,” he said.
 
“At least she confirmed that Vern has a
motive for killing Benny.”

“I’ll have to ask her more the
next time I come back.
 
I hope I can
convince Greg to come with me.
 
You know
how he hates to shop.”

“I’m happy to come back with
you,” Moose said.
 
“She’ll get over it by
the time we get here next time.”

“What if she doesn’t?
 
Moose, we need to be able to interview our
suspects without alienating them.”

“Sorry, I just thought a little
direct action was called for.”

It didn’t do any good scolding
him, partly because there were times when his direct approach was perfect.
 
“Don’t worry.
 
We’ll find another way to tackle her.”
 
I glanced at my watch.
 
“Well,
since that took a lot less time than I thought it might, we’ve still got time
to tackle Marcus Jackson.
 
What do you
say?
 
Do you feel like going to the gym?”

“As long as I don’t have to do a
workout, I’m all for it,” Moose said as we got back into his truck and took
off.

I grinned at him.
 
“You never know.
 
A little exercise might just do you some
good.”

“Or it could kill me.
 
Frankly, I’m not willing to take the
chance.
 
I get all of the exercise I need
walking, thank you very much.
 
I don’t
need a machine to get a decent workout.”

“I don’t know.
 
I’ve often thought that it might be nice
joining a gym,” I said.

“When would you have time?” he
asked.

“You’ve got a point, but let’s
not tell anyone there about my schedule at the diner.
 
The only way we’re going to get anyone to
talk to us is if I pretend I’m about to sign up.”

“I’ll keep quiet,” Moose said.

I raised one eyebrow, but I
didn’t say a word.

“What?
 
Don’t you believe I can keep my mouth shut if
I want to?” my grandfather asked.

“I believe that you
can
,” I said with a smile.
 
“I’m just not sure that you
will
.”

“Just watch me,” Moose answered.

We walked into the gym, and I was
amazed by the wide variety of exercise equipment they had there.
 
On the right, there were rows and rows of
treadmills, about half of them currently occupied, and nearby there were a
dozen elliptical machines.
 
Only one of
them was in use, and I had to wonder if it might be a harder exercise than
simply walking or running.
 
On the left,
there were pieces of equipment that I couldn’t even guess how to use, or even
know exactly what they were supposed to do.
 
In the rear of the large room was a wall full of mirrors, along with
free weights that were being ignored.
 
The attire of the people there ranged from shiny spandex to cotton
sweatpants and sweatshirts, and it was pretty easy to see who had come for a
workout, and who had come fishing for some attention.
 
A fit man wearing a polyester track suit
approached us with a smile the second he noticed us, and I saw by his badge
that his name was Marcus.
 
To my
knowledge, he’d never been in our diner, but to be fair, this was the first
time that I’d ever stepped inside his gym.

“Hello,” he said warmly.
 
“Are you here in response to our ad in the
paper?”

“I am,” I said.
 

“How about you, sir?” he asked
Moose.

“I’m just along for the ride,” my
grandfather said.

“I can assure you, we have a
great many members in your age range here.
 
They mostly come in later in the day, though.”

“I’m sure that they do,” Moose
said.
 
“For now, though, we’re here for
her.”

“I’d be glad to answer any
questions you might have about our facilities.
 
It’s important to know that we have men and women trainers, so if you’d
be more comfortable with a woman, I can highly recommend Sandra to help you.”

“Does she happen to be here at
the moment?” I asked.
 
I had my own
reasons for asking.
 
I didn’t want the
amateur thespian seeing me interview her boyfriend.

“No, she’s off for the next three
days because of the play she’s in, but she’ll be back in four days after they
wrap it all up.”

“You seem to know her schedule
pretty well,” I said.
 
“Are you two an
item, by any chance?”

“We’ve been dating for a while,
yes,” Marcus said with an easy smile.
 
“The gym is a handy place to meet members of the opposite sex.”

“Oh, I’m already married,” I said
as I waved my ring at him.

“Me, too,” Moose said.

“Did you just say that she’s in a
play?” I asked as innocently as I could manage.
 
“That’s where that man was murdered last night, wasn’t it?
 
Do you know anything about what happened to
him?”

“Just what’s in the paper,”
Marcus said, but it was clear that he wasn’t in any mood to talk about
Benny.
 
That was too bad, because I
wasn’t about to just let it go, since it was the real reason I was there.

“Hang on a second,” I said as
though the information was just dawning on me.
 
“Your girlfriend isn’t playing the lead, is she?
 
Funny, I heard that she had something going
on with the lead actor behind the scenes, if you know what I mean.”

“That’s nonsense.
 
I hate it when people spread rumors,
especially when they aren’t true,” Marcus said, suddenly having a more difficult
time keeping his smile front and center.
 
“We’re open from six am until nine pm every day, so I’m sure we can make
your schedule work here.
 
Would you like
to take a tour of the facilities?
 
I can
personally show you how to use each machine in order to get the maximum benefit
from it.”

“In a minute,” I said.
 
The last thing I wanted to do was watch
Marcus Jackson exercise while Moose and I watched him.
 
“I’d like to hear more about the play.
 
Where were you when that unfortunate man was
murdered?”

“Why should you possibly care
about that?” Marcus asked.
 
“That’s
exactly what the sheriff wanted to know last night.”

“What did you tell him?” I asked.

“Listen, I’m afraid that we’ve
gotten off-track here.
 
Our memberships
are refundable on a prorated basis if you find that you’re unhappy with your
decision, but I can assure you that you won’t be.
 
When people join our gym, they tend to
stay.
 
I’d be happy to talk to you about
what we have to offer here, but I’m not all that comfortable answering any
other questions.”

“That’s a shame,” I said.
 
“I was kind of hoping that this was a
friendlier place than that.
 
Don’t people
like to talk about anything
besides
working out?”

He
had
to be working on commission signing new members, because
Marcus’s tone changed instantly.
 
“Of
course we do.
 
It’s just that the play is
difficult to talk about, given what happened.”

“I don’t know why you won’t tell
her where you were when it happened,” Moose asked.
 
“It’s not like she’s accusing you of
anything.
 
Is there something that you’re
hiding?”

“If you must know, I was
backstage in Sandra’s dressing room,” he said.
 
“She was nervous before her big performance, and she wanted me nearby.”

“Were the two of you together the
whole time?” I asked.

“No.
 
She had a bad case of nerves, so she spent
quite a bit of time in the restroom.
 
Unfortunately, she doesn’t have one in her dressing room, so she was
down the hall most of the time.”

“Are you saying that you just sat
there alone and waited for her?” I asked.

“What else could I do?
 
I’m a loyal boyfriend,” he said.
 
“Now, what do you think about our gym?
 
I can assure you that it’s the best in the
region.”

I was about to ask him another
question when a middle-aged woman cramming too much body into too little
spandex approached us.
 
In a cloying
voice, she asked, “Marcus, could you show me how to use this machine
again?
 
I can’t seem to get the knack of
it.”

“I’d be glad to, Mrs. Nance, but
I’m with some guests right now.”

I doubted that Marcus was going to
answer too many more questions, and I needed to get out of there before he
managed to talk me into joining.
 
“Why
don’t you go ahead and help her?
 
I’ll
take a brochure and think about it.
 
Who
knows?
 
I may come back later and talk to
Sandra herself.”

“About the gym, right?”

“Of course,” I said, and then
turned to my grandfather.
 
“Are you
ready?”

“I am,” he said, and we walked
out of the gym with Marcus watching us in clear frustration.
 
He thought he’d had a live one on the hook,
but I was going to slip away before I signed anything.

Once we were back outside and in
my grandfather’s truck driving away from the gym, Moose said, “The man’s kind
of persuasive, isn’t he?
 
I thought he
had you there for a second.”

“Just because I don’t act in any
community theater productions doesn’t mean that I can’t be convincing when I
want to be.
 
Marcus has no alibi for the
murder, does he?”

“He said he was waiting for
Sandra in her dressing room,” Moose said.

“He admitted that he was alone,
though, so there’s no way to prove it one way or the other.
 
How hard would it be for him to slip next
door, kill Benny, and then get back to Sandra’s dressing room before anyone
noticed that he was gone?”

“But the sheriff said that
Benny’s outside door was unlocked.”

“Then I’d say that Marcus was
pretty smart to open it after he killed Benny.
 
What better way to divert suspicion away from himself than to open that
door as he was leaving?
 
No one thinks
the murder was committed by someone inside with that door found unlocked.”

“He was still taking a chance,”
Moose said.
 
“Sandra could have come back
in at any second, and then where would he be?”

“I just had another thought,” I
said.
 
“What if Sandra did it
herself?
 
She claimed to be in the
bathroom, but who would notice the leading lady walking down the hall toward
Benny’s dressing room?
 
She could have
killed him, and then walked back to the bathroom without anyone knowing what
she’d just done.”