NAILED (17 page)

“No, I’m not suggesting any such thing. Of course you wouldn’t lie to the police, or anyone else for that matter,” I said. “All I want to know is why you seemed so enthusiastic to tell the detectives about the argument between my sister and Mr. Sanjari. From what I’ve heard, the man had words with quite a few people, so why did you single Samantha out?”

“I didn’t single her out. The police were at the school questioning us because the man was
dead
. And he died on the same day that he had words with your sister. I thought that was an important bit of information for the police to have.”

“So, tell me, what did you think of Victor?”

“Me? What does that have to do with anything?”

“Just curious. I haven’t heard a lot of nice things about him.”

“Vic was, well, he could be fun.” A small smile played at her inflated lips.

“It sounds like you knew him well. Maybe even on a personal level,” I said.

“We had a couple of dates. What of it?”

“Just some innocent fun,” I said.

“Well, it wasn’t all innocent. But it was fun.”

“Did you see him on the night he died?” I asked, remembering that he was supposed to meet Elizabeth Applegate at a restaurant for dinner and never showed up. Maybe he was with Mary McCarthy.

Ms. McCarthy wrapped her blouse around her tightly, seeming to suddenly remember she was standing on her front porch with a virtual stranger and had very little clothing on.

“As a matter of fact, I saw him after school and asked him if he’d like to join me for dinner, but he said he had some other plans.”

“Do you know what those plans were?”

“No, I don’t. But from the way he was always coming on to your sister, I thought maybe the two of them had something going on.”

“My sister is married!” I just about shouted in the woman’s face.

Mary shrugged. “So?”

I left her then, fairly certain that the only reason Mary had told the police about the argument was to get Sam in trouble because she thought my sister and Victor Sanjari might be having a fling. Just thinking about that made my skin crawl. But if Mary had no problem trying to get my sister arrested for murder, what would she have done to Victor if she thought his interest toward her was waning?

I looked at my watch. My grandmother would be at bingo, John was probably still working, and I had already spent the morning with my mother and sister. I didn’t want to see Kate Cavanaugh at her home, which turned out to be in Madison, not too far from where she met Michael. At least she met him at a public place and not in her home. The more I thought about it, I felt it was better to stop by her office on Monday morning and act like I was interested in her design services, which wasn’t really much of a stretch, because after seeing what she had done with my sister’s old mud room, I really did want to talk with her about some plans. Did I really need a fancy sunroom? I already had a living room, den, and library, which I used as my office. How many rooms did two people need? I smiled. Maybe just a tiny one with windows on three sides where I could have my tea on winter mornings while it snowed all around me. I wondered if she designed snow rooms.

So what should I do now? I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel of my trusty old car. I could go to the mall and look for some new bras. I always seem to need new bras—probably because I hate buying them and stick to the old ones until their underwire starts poking me in the ribs. Or, I could drive out to Fairfield and burst in on the Hachmeisters on a Sunday afternoon. That sounded like a good plan. I pulled away from the curb and followed the roads until I got back on the turnpike.

The Hachmeister home wasn’t too far from the office building housing
Connecticut Custom Homes
. It was a large two-story structure painted a beige so typical of homes close to the beach. It had lots of white trim, a wrap-around porch and lush landscaping.

I pulled into a long driveway that curved to the left and came to a stop at a three-car garage. I parked off to the side so as not to block any of the garage bays, and walked up the steps to a porch decorated with lots of outdoor furniture with brightly colored cushions. I wasn’t even sure I would find Gary at home. Maybe he was in the hospital. But when I reached the top step, there he was, sitting in a rocker, holding a glass with lots of ice and amber-colored liquid.

“I’m glad to see you weren’t seriously injured,” I said, standing there and looking down onto the top of Gary’s bald head.

“How did you—”

I sat down on a chair next to Gary and put my purse on the hardwood floor of the porch. “I have something to confess. The detective in charge of finding Victor’s killer is my husband. He came home last night and told me what happened. So what exactly did happen?”

“I was working like I do most Saturdays. I knew my wife wouldn’t be home, one of her charity event things, so I stayed at the office. We have a pretty well stocked refrigerator so I made myself a sandwich, had a couple of drinks, and went over the figures. We got rid of all the illegals Victor brought in. You were right about that, but it wasn’t my idea. I was making a few calls to people who used to do some good work for us. Basically, I was trying to turn things around. We’ve been in a bit of a slump.” Gary moved his hand up and touched a white bandage that had been taped to his head. “Of course, now I have to worry about repercussions for getting rid of Victor’s workers. They didn’t seem too upset, but God only knows what’s behind all of this. I’m half expecting some mob guy to show up at the office with the intentions of making me a deal I can’t refuse.”

“So what happened last night?” I asked.

“I left the office, turned off all of the lights and locked up. When I got out into the hall, it was dark. The only light was from the exit door sign leading to the stairs. That’s always on for safety reasons. I thought it was a bit odd that the lights were out, but didn’t really think much of it. Figured I have Suzette call the building maintenance people on Monday morning. I made my way to the elevator and next thing I knew someone came at me from behind and hit me in the back with what felt like a baseball bat. Then I started to fall and they whacked me on the head, right here.” He raised his hand again and felt the spot. “I yelled out a couple of times and that’s when one of the doors further down the hall opened and someone came out.”

“And the person who hit you?”

“Ran through the exit door and down the steps.”

“Did you get a good look?”

Gary shook his head and then winced from the pain. “No. Like I said, they came at me from the back. If that guy in the other office hadn’t come out, I probably wouldn’t be sitting here. I have this lump on my head, and a few bruised ribs, hence the drink.” Gary held the glass up to his lips and took a swig. “Sorry, can I get you something?”

“No, I’m fine, thanks. Can you think of a reason why someone would attack you like that?”

“Hell, I don’t know. It’s got to be connected to what happened to Victor. It must have something to do with those workers he made me hire. Like I said, I’m just waiting for the mob to show up and maybe they did last night.”

“But? I hear a
but
?”

“But if it was the same person or persons Victor was doing business with, wouldn’t they say something like,
you don’t know who you’re dealing with
, or,
you better hire them back
? Isn’t that what happens on those crime shows? They give you a warning.”

“Yeah, maybe,” I said. “Tell me something. What did Victor have over you that made you bring on unskilled, undocumented workers? The bad work they were doing was costing you a fortune. Why’d you agree to that?”

The rocker made a continuous soft squeak as Gary rocked back and forth, the ice in his glass gently swaying with the movement. “Victor and I go way back. Way, way back to another time when we were pretty stupid. We got in some trouble, and then came here and sorted our lives out. He threatened to let, well, certain things come to light if I didn’t play along.”

“Why was he doing it in the first place?”

Gary smirked. “What do you think? Money. He got paid a lot of money. In cash. These people are coming here and paying everything they have for the promise of something better. Victor got a cut for every person he placed. And I got the promise that he would keep our past mistakes quiet. As far as I could tell, he was fulfilling his end of the bargain with the guys he was in business with, so why would they want to kill him? With him gone, one of their pipelines is now closed. And it’s closed for good, because if they come after me and offer me the same deal, I’ll turn them down and close the business if I have to. Are you sure your sister didn’t kill him in some jealous rage?”

I laughed. “I’m positive.”

“And yet you’re still nosing around,” Gary said with a wicked smile, but at least he wasn’t looking at my breasts.

“I’m like a dog with a bone. I’m not giving up until I find out who killed Victor, and maybe more importantly, at least for Maddi, I want to find out if he killed Jenna. But what about you? Why didn’t you just tell him to take a hike? I have another confession. I know what your secret is, Gary Miller, and if it ever came out it would have been just as detrimental to Victor as it would have been to you. You should have called his bluff.”

Gary’s shock at my knowing his secret subsided and he shrugged. “I didn’t want my wife to find out. She’s a good person and has always had a lot of faith in me, handing over the reins of her family’s business like she did. I’ve kept my past hidden from her. I told her I liked the business end and not the construction work. I figured I’d never get a contractor’s license again, and the truth is I didn’t even want to try, so that was easy to get away from. I actually liked the administrative end of things, and this way I get to make sure that we never use inferior products again and hopefully no one gets hurt. Or killed. But the main thing is I didn’t want to lose my wife’s respect.”

A woman impeccably dressed in a pair of linen slacks in a soft cream with a russet-colored linen blouse, which matched perfectly with her head of lush auburn hair, stepped onto the porch and put a tray of what looked like three large iced teas, down on a small table next to my chair.

“Oh, Gary, you silly, silly man. I’ve known everything all along.”

Gary jumped up quickly and grabbed at his side, obviously in pain.

“Sit down, dear, you should be resting and probably not drinking. Give me that glass.” She put the almost empty glass on a window ledge and got Gary seated again in the rocker, and then turned to me and extended her hand. “I’m Gail Hachmeister. Nice to meet you. Please, help yourself to a tea.”

“Thank you. And it’s nice to meet you as well. I’m Alex Harris. I’ve been looking into Victor Sanjari’s murder and helping his late wife’s sister through some things.”

“Yes, I caught some of your conversation before I came out onto the porch. Are you a private detective, Alex?”

I laughed. “Not exactly.” I explained how I did have the help of an investigator and how over the last couple of years I had helped the police solve several murders.

“Ah, a modern day Nancy Drew,” Gail Hachmeister said, with what I thought was a tinge of awe.

“Gail, what are you saying? What do you know?” Gary asked his wife.

“Gary, do you think I would have ever married you and put the business in your hands if I hadn’t checked you out first?” She turned to me. “Women have to be so careful these days.”

“But then why did you marry me and give me the position with the company?” Gary asked and looked truly mystified.

“Because everyone deserves a second chance and I was in love with you. You weren’t like anyone I had ever met. You see, Alex, I was an only child and my father doted on me. I was very sheltered and then I met Gary. I was older, but only in years. Being coddled for so long made me rather immature in certain ways, but we seemed to hit it off, and Gary certainly had a, well, I’m not sure how to describe it. A vibe, maybe. An undercurrent that I found very exciting.”

“And did you know about the Eastern Europeans?” Gary asked his wife.

Gail reached a hand up to a gold earring and fingered it while she looked at her husband. “Not exactly, but I had a feeling something was going on because you looked so stressed, dear. And it seemed to me like you’d been seeing more of Victor than usual, and that could never be a good thing. I must say I’m not surprised.”

When she mentioned Victor, she seemed to tense.

“Did you like Victor, Gail?” I asked then.

“Gary, like I said before, always had an electric vibe. A bit dangerous, perhaps, but I knew at the center of him was a good man. Most of the time.” She looked at her husband and winked, then turned her attention back to me. “I never felt that with Victor. I never felt at his core was a good, decent man, and he treated his wife appallingly. We have a huge Christmas party each year and Victor and Jenna of course always came. I remember once I wanted to show her the remodel of our master suite, and she went over to tell Victor she was going upstairs. He grabbed her arm and squeezed it hard and said that they were leaving. And that was that. He dragged her out. She was very embarrassed, I could tell, and I remember wishing that she would just leave him once and for all, or at least smack him across the face. I detest bullies. All I can say is thank God the man didn’t drink because he would have made a horrible drunk and most likely ruined several of our parties over the years.”

“Do you have any thoughts on who killed Victor and who attacked your husband last night?” I asked Gail.

“I would imagine a man like Victor had acquired a number of enemies over the years, and if he was working with people who brought illegal workers into the country, well, it goes without saying that these are unsavory people. As for who attacked my husband,” Gail reached over and patted Gary’s hand, “it had to be the same person who killed Victor. I don’t see how it could be anyone else. Do you, dear?” Gail asked Gary with what I thought was a taunting tone.