A Burned Out Baker: Classic Diner Mystery #7 (The Classic Diner Mysteries) (13 page)

“No,” Moose said as he took a gulp of air. “I’ll do it.”

It was one of the most courageous things I’d ever seen him do, and I’d watched him tackle an armed murderer before, so that was saying something.

“Do you want me to at least go in with you?” I offered.

“Tell you what. Why don’t you go relieve her at the register and send her out here to me.”

“Are you thinking she won’t yell at you in public?” I asked him.

“Victoria, I’ve never known any set of circumstances that would keep your grandmother from doing anything she had a mind to do when she was angry. I just don’t want anyone else to witness it if I can help it.”

“Okay, if you’re sure.”

He gave me a weak grin. “As a matter of fact, I’m not, so you’d better go get her before I lose my nerve.”

I touched his shoulder lightly. “Good luck.”

“I’m afraid that I’m going to need it.”

I waited to approach Martha inside until Gabriel Broome paid for his meal. Gabe nodded to me as he walked past, and my grandmother smiled brightly at me. “Victoria, I thought you already left when you didn’t come straight back in.” She looked behind me as she added, “Where’s your grandfather? Isn’t he with you?”

“He needs to talk to you outside,” I said gently.

A frown creased her face. “What’s he done now?”

“It’s not so much what he’s done as it is what he’s about to do,” I said.

“I don’t like the sound of that. Maybe you’d better tell me yourself.”

“I would, honestly, but he wants to do it himself.”

She took a step toward the door, and then she turned back to me. “Aren’t you coming?”

“No, ma’am. I’m going to watch the front until you get back.”

“Very well.” She walked outside grimly, and I took up my usual position behind the register. As I stood there, I reached up and patted the wooden moose my grandfather had carved for me when I’d been a little girl. He was the diner’s mascot, and I hoped that the luck he gave us extended to my grandfather outside.

He was going to need it.

Three minutes later, they walked back in together, though there was a noticeable distance between them. “Is everything okay?” I asked them.

“Why wouldn’t it be?” my grandmother asked with a forced smile.

“No reason at all,” I said quickly.

Moose shook his head, a clear signal that I should drop that particular line of questioning, but I didn’t see how I could do it. Normally I did my best to stay out of the personal lives of my family, but this was directly related to a murder Moose and I were investigating, so I didn’t feel as though I had any choice. “Martha, we have to do this.”

“I know that, dear,” she said. “That doesn’t mean that I have to like it, though, does it?”

“If it helps, I’m going to be right there the entire time,” I offered.

She patted my hand. “Don’t you worry another second about it. Why do you think I agreed to let your grandfather go in the first place? Just keep an eye on him, okay?”

“I promise,” I said as I kissed her cheek.

“Nobody needs to watch me, because I’m not going to do anything I shouldn’t do, okay?”

Martha turned and looked at him for a moment, and Moose quieted right down. She was the only person I’d ever met who could intimidate my grandfather into silence. It was a skill I wish I had myself sometimes, but I was pretty sure that if he were asked, Moose would say that he’d like the same ability to shut me up as well.

“Let’s go, Victoria,” Moose said.

“Can’t it wait until we’ve had lunch?” I asked. I was really getting hungry now, and Parker Ridge was a good forty-minute drive away.

“We can pick something up along the way,” Moose said. It was clear that he wanted to get out of there before Martha could change her mind.

“Nonsense,” she said. “It won’t take ten minutes, Moose. I know how intent you are on investigating this murder, but you both have to eat.”

“Fine,” he said as he pointed to a nearby booth. “Go ahead and sit down, Victoria. I’ll go back to the kitchen and talk to Greg.” Almost as an afterthought, he turned to Martha and asked, “Can I get something for you as well?”

“Thank you, but I’ll eat later,” she replied. There was just a hint of frost in it, but it was still enough to make my grandfather shiver a little.

Once he was gone, I spotted a slight smile on my grandmother’s face. “I doubt that you’re willing to admit it, but you’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Martha said, and the smile quickly disappeared.

“Okay. Got it. I understand.”

As my grandmother turned to go back to the register, she said softly to me, “Our men aren’t always as clever as they think they are.”

“To be fair, neither are we,” I said with a smile of my own.

“Of course you’re right,” Martha said as she returned to my station and started cashing out patrons. I knew that my grandmother was not a big fan of Judge Dixon, not after her suspicion that the two of them had dated before she’d married Moose. Still, she was a rational woman, so there’s no doubt in my mind that she knew the validity of our need to talk to the judge before we went off in search of her granddaughter. It was the right thing to do, especially if we ever wanted help from Judge Dixon in the future. Moose and I would have to tread lightly not to upset anyone we were about to question, but we couldn’t just ignore what Sandy had told Moose. If Natalie was indeed carrying Barry’s child, we needed to find out where she’d been the morning of the arson and murder.

“I hope you’re hungry,” Moose said to me as he walked out a few minutes later carrying two plates barely able to contain enormous hamburgers and generous handfuls of French fries.

“I can’t eat all of that,” I said as I stared at the mound of food on the plate he slid in front of me.

“Then throw out whatever you can’t hold,” Moose said. “I, for one, plan to eat every last bite.”

I glanced over at my grandmother, who was frowning at Moose’s plate. “Martha’s not very happy about your meal selection.”

My grandfather lowered his voice and hid his smile from her as he said, “That’s the beauty of her being angry with me. How much madder do you think she can get? I figured I’d indulge a little while the opportunity existed. After all, there’s no reason not to take advantage of the situation, is there?”

“You’re something else. You know that, don’t you?”

“I sure do,” he said, and then he took a big bite of his burger. “Man, your husband knows how to make a burger, doesn’t he?”

“These aren’t your creations?” I asked as I took a bite.

He shook his head. “No, ma’am. I wasn’t about to intrude on another man’s grill while he was cooking. It’s just not done, you know?”

“Not really,” I said. “Maybe it’s some kind of short-order cook etiquette I don’t know about.”

“You’d better believe it is,” Moose said, and then he took another bite, nearly sighing as he chewed and swallowed.

“If you eat all of that, you’ll never make it to Parker Ridge without falling asleep,” I said after I ate a few of the fries on my plate. Everything was delicious, but I wasn’t really all that surprised. My husband could take just about any ordinary fare and make it into something special.

“If I start to nod off, I’ll let you take the wheel,” he said.

“No thanks. If something happened while I was driving that precious truck of yours, I’d never hear the end of it. After all, you’ve finally got it just the way that you want it.”

“It’s true, but I trust you with my life, Victoria, so why wouldn’t I trust you with my truck?”

“Those are two very different things, and you know it,” I said. A Southern man’s truck was just about sacrosanct in his view, and I’d no sooner drive Greg’s old truck as I would bump him from the grill and try to take over his cooking duties in back.

Some things were simply not done.

Once, long ago when we’d first been married, I’d borrowed my husband’s truck to run to the bank when mine had been low on gas. I had his permission, but what I hadn’t realized at the time was how reluctantly it had been given. There was a short bridge I had to cross before I got to the bank, and I wasn’t used to driving up so high.

I hit one of the concrete posts.

It had kept me from going down into the small creek, and if I’d backed up, it might not have been so bad.

I panicked though, and muscled the truck on through, thinking that was the only way to get it unstuck.

That side panel was never the same, even after Greg had it repaired.

It was the first, and the last, time that I’d ever driven one of his vehicles, a hard-learned lesson.

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Moose said as he polished off his burger and took a halfhearted stab at some of the fries still waiting for him. Pushing his plate away, he asked me, “Are you ready to tackle Natalie’s grandmother now?”

“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” I said, taking one last bite, but still leaving half the burger on my plate. After all, I couldn’t afford to have both of us going into food comas.

“Then let’s go see the judge,” Moose said as he put our plates and glasses in a nearby bin.

“The judge won’t be free for five or ten minutes,” the uniformed bailiff said at the courthouse. “You can wait over there.”

“Sure thing, Lenny,” Moose said as we took our seats on an ancient oak bench in the hallway outside the judge’s chambers.

“What do you suppose she’s doing in there right now, deciding a difficult case’s final verdict?” I asked my grandfather softly.

“No, I’m willing to bet that she’s on her lunch hour,” Moose said as he glanced at his watch.

“I’d rather believe that she’s in there weighing her next decision,” I said.

“Suit yourself.”

Four minutes later, the judge’s door opened, and the bailiff walked into her chambers. He came out carrying a tray from the cafeteria a minute later, and Moose grinned at me. “Told you so.”

I started to stick my tongue out at him in jest when Lenny turned to us and said, “You can go in, but you only have three minutes.”

“We’ll take it,” Moose said, and we hurried into the tight room.

Judge Dixon looked surprised to see us. She was still in her robes, and she had an air of competence about her that suppressed most of her attractiveness, but not all of it. She was striking now even at her age, and I had to guess that she’d been lovely all of her life.

“What a surprise,” she said as she looked at us from behind her desk. “What brings you two here? I doubt that it’s a social call, since we just spoke so recently.”

“Trust me, this isn’t for fun, Holly,” Moose said.

Before my grandfather could speak again, she interrupted him. “Moose, you know I don’t stand on principle as a general rule, but if you could address me as judge while I’m robed and in my chambers, I’d greatly appreciate it. It’s not for me. It’s more out of respect for my office. Do you understand?”

“Completely,” Moose said. “Judge, is it true that your granddaughter is pregnant with Barry Jackson’s child?”

Holly was clearly stunned by my grandfather’s question, and I nearly elbowed Moose for his lack of grace. The question had hit her like a fist in the gut.

“That’s absurd on the face of it. I don’t know what you’re talking about. Tell me this instant, what have you heard?” she asked.

“That about sums it up, actually,” Moose said. “Hol…Judge, if it’s true, then that makes her a prime suspect in his murder.”

The judge started to stand, the anger clear on her face, but after a moment’s pause, she sat back down again, the fury now gone. It was an amazing thing to see, and I would have been in awe if I hadn’t been so directly involved with the transition. “I need you both to step outside for a moment while I look into this.”

“We need to…” Moose tried to say before I grabbed his arm and started pulling him outside.

“Take all of the time you need, Judge,” I said. “We’ll be waiting outside.”

“Thank you. Shut the door behind you, if you will.” It was clearly a command, an order that couldn’t be refused. I would hate to ever stand in front of her during a trial, especially if I were guilty. Shoot, I was ready to confess now, and I hadn’t even done anything.

The wait was considerably longer than the time Judge Dixon had promised us, but neither one of us was bound to complain. After a full ten minutes, the door opened again, and a robed finger beckoned us inside.

I didn’t like the look of that, and I tried to prepare myself for the worst.

“Have a seat,” the judge said, and Moose and I obeyed instantly. After we did as we were told, she moved back to her desk and faced us with a grim expression. “I just spoke with Natalie. She’ll be here in one hour.”

“We’d be happy to go there, Your Honor,” I said. “We don’t want to inconvenience her any more than is necessary.”

“This isn’t for anyone’s convenience,” she snapped. “Listen to what I’m about to tell you very carefully. You will not speak with my granddaughter unless I am present. Am I making myself understood?”

Moose frowned. “We’re not trying to make her our scapegoat. We’re just looking for the truth.”

“I’ve made my decision,” she said, giving Moose a look that expressed a lifetime of meaning. While I’d always thought that the judge still had a huge crush on my grandfather, she was protecting her own right now, and any fanciful thoughts she might have had about him were being subjugated by the instincts she was feeling about her granddaughter.

Moose started to reply when I tapped his leg lightly as I said, “Thank you, Judge. We’ll be back in an hour.”

My grandfather looked surprised by my total capitulation, but at least he waited until we were back outside of the judge’s chambers before he spoke.

“I can’t believe that you just caved in like that,” Moose said.

“Did you honestly think that there was anything either one of us could say to make things better once she’d made her decision?”

Moose thought about it for a moment, and then he finally shook his head. “No, it was pretty clear that Holly’s mind was already made up.”

“That’s what I thought,” I said.

“So, what do we do in the meantime, just sit out here and wait for Natalie to show up?”

I looked at my watch. “No, I think we should go back to the diner.”

“Didn’t you get enough to eat before?” Moose asked incredulously.

“Of course I did. I’m going back so I can give Martha a break.”

“What am I supposed to do while you’re ringing up checks?” he asked.

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe you could spend a little time with your wife,” I added with a smile.

“And get grilled about our meeting with Holly? No thanks. If I do that, I’m going to have to tell her that we’re coming back again, too.”

“She’s not that scary,” I said, chiding him a little.

“Says you,” Moose answered, but he still followed me out to his truck. When we got to the diner, he pulled up in front but didn’t shut off the engine. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Are you seriously not coming in with me?” I asked. “What am I supposed to tell Martha?”

“Tell her that I couldn’t make it,” he said.

I stayed right where I was. “You tell her yourself.”

“Victoria, that would kind of defeat the whole purpose of not going in, wouldn’t you say?”

I looked at him and tried my best not to grin as I asked my grandfather, “Are you really sure you want her to hear my interpretation of our earlier meeting?”

“But nothing happened,” Moose said.

“So you say,” I answered, now letting my grin show completely.

“Fine. You win.” He parked the truck in a spot near the door, and we both got out. “You’re more stubborn than I am; you know that, don’t you?”

“I don’t know that I’m more stubborn,” I said.

“If you don’t believe me, go ask your husband.”

“Moose, he’s been married to me long enough not to ever answer a loaded question like that.”

As we walked in, Moose said, “I should have known. He’s a smart man.”

Martha looked surprised to see us back so soon. “That was quick.”

“We have to go back in about an hour,” Moose said.

As he started to explain, Martha said, “Save it, Moose. There’s someone here to see you.”

“Who wants to see me?” he asked as he looked around the crowded diner.

“Actually, he’s here for Victoria, but he mentioned your name as well.”

“What’s this about?” I asked her as I scanned the room, too.

“He wouldn’t tell me. It’s the man in the three-piece suit over at that corner booth nursing a cup of coffee. I’d appreciate it if you’d see what he wants. He’s taking up one of our best booths.”

“I’ll talk to him,” I said as I walked toward him.

“I’ll come, too,” Moose said, and then he added apologetically to Martha, “Just in case.”

“Go on,” my grandmother said. “You and I will have plenty of time to talk later.”

It was clear that Moose didn’t like the sound of that, but at least for the moment, he’d won a temporary reprieve.

Now it was time to see what our visitor in the suit wanted from me.

“May I help you with something?” I asked the man as Moose and I approached his booth. I’d thought he was in his late fifties when his back had been to us, based on his thinning hair and his portly shape, but when I saw his youngish face, I lowered that estimate by half.

“Are you Victoria Nelson?”

Before I could reply, Moose stepped forward. “That depends on who’s asking.”

I gave him a nudge as I replied, “Please excuse my grandfather. Yes, I’m Victoria. And you are?”

He got out a business card and handed it to me. As Moose read over my shoulder, I saw that it said, “Thomas P. Graves; Holland, Sherman & Graves, Attorneys at Law.”

“You’re awfully young to be a partner in a law firm,” Moose said.

“That’s my father,” the attorney said. Was that a bit of a blush on his cheeks? He must have gotten the question a lot, and it appeared that he hadn’t found a way to easily answer it so far.

“What can we do for you, Junior?” Moose asked.

“Actually, I prefer Thomas, or simply Mr. Graves,” the attorney said.

“Yeah, well I prefer a steak cooked perfectly medium, a wife who doesn’t argue, and a fat wallet full of big bills, but the only one I get with any regularity is the first one on the list.”

“Martha is standing right over there listening to you, you know,” I said to Moose as I pointed at my grandmother.