Gin Mill Grill

by Marja McGraw

“No, I don’t.” His tone managed to add a period of great proportions to the end of his reply. “Things are escalating. I’m back in the game.”

  “I love you,” I said. And I did, with all my heart. My own little Pookie Bear wasn’t about to let me fend for myself on this case.

  ~ * ~

  On Monday Pete drove in to work with me. He didn’t seem up to par, but he was definitely on the mend.

  We brought Bubba and Clementine with us. I’d told Eloise I’d bring them to the speakeasy to meet Butch.

  Stanley and Felicity came in late. She swore whatever was wrong with her had cleared up, and she thought it might have been food poisoning.

  I had my doubts, but I took her word for it.

  Once they were settled, I said, “Let me tell you what happened after you left yesterday.”

  They listened intently, and when I described how Water Boy made me feel and how unnerving he was, Stanley seemed angry and Felicity’s mouth hung open.

  Interestingly, Bubba pulled his bulk up and growled. Maybe it was my tone of voice.

  “Close your mouth, Fel. No matter how creepy he was, he’s just an old man after all is said and done.”

  Pete wasn’t having it. “Don’t downplay him or underestimate him. I saw the look on your face when you described him, and Rick told me what his impression was, too. He may be old, but this is a man to be reckoned with.”

  Felicity excused herself and disappeared into the restroom.

  “Is she really okay?” I asked, glancing at Stanley.

  He smiled. “She’s fine, but I’ll ask her if she wants to go home. I think your description of this Water Boy fellow may have frightened her.”

  “Just as well,” I said. “We all need to keep our guard up.”

  I turned to Pete.

  “I want to speak to Marcus again. My gut feeling is that he’s holding something back. He may know more than he’s letting on.”

  “Your gut feeling, huh?”

  “You know you trust me,” I said. “I’m often right.”

  He pulled a tissue from a box I’d left on his desk and blew his nose, which was loud and distracting. I had a feeling that was his way of avoiding any discussion.

  “Also, I’m meeting Eloise at the gin mill this morning. I want to look it over again. We may have missed something. I know more now, so I can look at it in a different light.”

  “You already told me you’re meeting Eloise. I’m going with you,” Pete said. “I want another look, too.”

  Felicity had rejoined us. “We want to go along.”

  “Are you sure you’re up to it?” I asked.

  She nodded.

  Eloise and I hadn’t settled on a time, so I gave her a call. She said she’d be there in ten minutes and I replied that we’d be there in fifteen. I warned her to be on the lookout for scary looking strangers.

  I could still picture Water Boy’s eyes in my mind.

  We loaded the dogs into the Jeep and our friends followed us in their own car.

  Fifteen minutes later I was knocking on a locked door. Maybe Eloise was finally taking my warnings seriously.

  She didn’t answer and I knocked again.

  I heard a whistle behind me.

  “Sorry it took me so long,” Eloise said. “I had trouble getting Butch in the car. He really hates that car.”

  Bubba and Butch were staring at each other. Clem was standing behind Bubba, watching. For a change, both dogs had leashes on.

  We watched and we waited.

  I knew Bubba would be friendly, but would Butch?

  Clem moved beside me and licked my ankle. It didn’t seem to bother her that she was actually licking my jeans. She was nervous.

  The two male dogs stepped forward and sniffed each other’s behinds before returning to their people. Couldn’t they just shake paws like people shake hands?

  “It’s okay, Bubba,” I said.

  “You’re a good boy, Butch,” Eloise said.

  I guess those were the right things to say because both dogs behaved.

  Eloise unlocked the door and we walked inside. She opened the old curtains that hung on the windows and let some light in before turning on the inside lights.

  “You can almost hear the sound of the crowd in here, can’t you? Maybe if we listen close enough we’ll hear Loretta singing one of her torch songs.” Apparently our client had a flare for the dramatic, or maybe it was whimsy.

  I shook my head. She had me half convinced that I could hear voices.

  Her words didn’t seem to have the same effect on Pete. “Okay, let’s spread out and take a closer look at things. Now that we know more of the story, maybe something will jump out at us.” He still sounded very stuffy.

  Eloise and I decided to start in the back room.

  I noticed the satchel of money was gone. Big surprise there. Not really. “The police took the bag of money as evidence, I guess. I wonder why no one has questioned where that money came from or why it was here.”

  Eloise shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe it was profit from the speakeasy.”

  “That would have been a lot of profit,” I said.

  Clementine started barking, which set the other dogs off. With the building as empty as it was, the noise echoed.

  “What’s wrong with them?” Eloise headed out front to see what was going on.

  I followed.

  The dogs had someone backed into a corner.

  Chapter Thirty-three

  “Call your dogs off.” Water Boy’s younger friend stood quite stiff and still. “I’m not here to hurt anybody. Bruce sent me to see what’s going on. That’s all.”

  Bubba had stopped barking and sat in front of the intruder, grinning, but he wasn’t acting friendly. Maybe this time he really was baring his teeth.

  Butch, on the other hand, sat down and growled, deep in his throat.

  “Why would he care?” I asked. “He said he didn’t have anything to do with the murders.”

  The man gave me what he probably thought was an intimidating look.

  I simply glanced at the dogs. There was something about this man they didn’t like. Therefore, I didn’t trust him.

  I knew Pete had walked up behind me because he sneezed. “This isn’t Water Boy. He’s too young.”

  “This is Charlie, Bruce Brown’s sidekick,” I said.

  “He doesn’t look scary to me,” Felicity said from behind me.

  Apparently everyone was joining in.

  As if on cue, the front door opened again and Water Boy walked in.

  Butch stood up and growled at him.

  The old man glanced down at the dog and the dog cowered. What was it about this guy? Something about the eyes, and a general attitude.

  Bubba stood and walked toward our newest visitor.

  He gave my dog a look, but Bubba ignored it and sauntered over to sniff the man’s shoes.

  Looking back at me and then at the man, Bubba planted himself between the two of us, and grinned. I almost felt like he was issuing a dare. Just try to get past me, he seemed to say.

  They had a brief, but poignant, stare-down. The old man blinked first, then shrugged it off.

  “Okay,” I said, “what’s this all about? If you’re not guilty, then why are you taking such an interest?”

  “Let’s just say I have a vested interest in this matter,” he replied, glancing from face to face.

  His gaze stopped at Eloise.

  “You look familiar.” He studied her.

  She appeared quite uncomfortable and called to her dog. “Come here, Butch.”

  He obliged and sat down next to her.

  “You’re related to the Glossers, aren’t you? There’s a resemblance.”

  Apparently she’d gotten over her initial discomfort. “I’m Archie Glosser’s daughter. Got a problem with that?”

  This was turning out to be quite an interesting morning.

  “Little Archie?” That’s all he said before he stared directly into her
eyes.

  She flinched.

  “Okay, pal, that’s enough,” Pete said. “What do you want with us? I think it would be best if you just left. And take your friend with you.”

  “But I’m not ready to leave.” His voice was flat and just as scary as his eyes.

  “Yes, you are, sir.” Stanley was taking a stand, but I noticed his voice was at a higher pitch than normal.

  Water Boy’s eyes shifted to Felicity. There was something akin to a smile on his face, but it seemed to have trouble reaching his lips.

  She stepped behind Stanley and Pete, who stood next to each other.

  Charlie had vacated the corner and stood behind Water Boy.

  Enough was enough.

  “What is this?” I asked, filling my voice with as much disgust as I could. “A standoff? Did you come in here for old time’s sake? What do you want?”

  “Let’s just call it old time’s sake,” the old man said. “I used to spend a lot of time in here. I was the lackey, but that’s all changed. I did all the grunt work – and then I didn’t.”

  This time that evil grin reached his lips.

  “I knew all the players, and I knew their secrets. There’s something to be said for walking softly and listening carefully. It can be very lucrative.”

  “You really do know what happened, don’t you?” I asked.

  “I can fix that,” Pete said, pulling out his cell phone. “I know someone who wants to talk to you.”

  Water Boy stared deeply into Pete’s eyes. “Put that thing away. I’m not talking to anyone. You call the cops, and I’ll make sure you’ll be very, very sorry.”

  He turned those evil eyes in my direction.

  “Don’t test me,” he said. “I may be old, but I haven’t lost my touch yet.”

  He turned around and walked into Charlie, knocking him out of the way, before shoving open the door and leaving the building.

  Charlie started to follow him out, with Bubba on his heels.

  Bubba barked that deep baritone bark of his and nudged Charlie’s behind, as though to hurry him along.

  Charlie threw the door open and ran outside as fast as he could.

  My pooch walked over and looked at me as though asking, I did good, right?

  I patted him and gave him a kiss on the top of his head. “You’re a good boy, Bubba.”

  “You were right, Sandi,” Felicity said. “He’s really scary. He looked at me and I wanted to curl up into a little ball and hide.”

  Everyone started talking at once.

  Bubba and Butch sniffed each other again and wandered off to lie in front of the door, with Clem practically attaching herself to my big lug.

  Pete whistled to get our attention. “Okay, think about what he said. He said he knew what happened and knowing had made it lucrative. I’m thinking blackmail. There’s only one man I can think of who might be able to pay blackmail for this many years.”

  “Rusty,” I said. “I thought about that. But why? And why did he hit Loretta? Or maybe I’m wrong about that. Maybe Water Boy hit her. He’s a big man and from what I learned he was a big kid, so he could have done some real damage.”

  Eloise was taking everything in. “Okay, so he said it was lucrative. Maybe he meant it could have been lucrative. What about the money we found in the back room? Maybe he’s looking for that.”

  “I don’t care what he’s looking for,” Felicity said. “He’s scary and I don’t want to cross paths with him again. When he looked at me I felt like he was mentally drilling a hole right down to my very soul.”

  I turned to Stanley. “Stan, I’d like you to do as much research as possible on Bruce Brown. See if you can dig up anything useful. There’s something about that man that’s just not right. And he knows things. I want to know those things, too.”

  “I’ll get right on that, or I will as soon as I return to the office.”

  He turned to Pete.

  “Since Felicity is spending time at the office, I’d like permission to start keeping the door locked. I didn’t like the way he looked at her. He made me feel like he was scrutinizing a tiny insect.”

  “Speaking of which…” Eloise stepped over the dogs and locked the front door.

  “Maybe it’s just because I’ve been sick, but I have to admit that the old man is… off. I don’t know. He’s scary. I can see why the mob, or a gang, or whoever it was used his talents. I just wish I knew what those talents were.”

  “I think he was a hit man,” Eloise said.

  “Maybe he broke people’s knees when they didn’t pay their debts,” Felicity said.

  “Or maybe he just looks weird and he never hurt anyone,” I added, sounding hopeful.

  All eyes turned to me. Pete shook his head. “I heard he was an enforcer.”

  “Where’d you hear that?” I asked.

  “Rick.”

  “Oh.” If he heard it from Rick, it was probably true.

  “What now?” Stanley asked.

  “Let’s get back to work and give this place a thorough inspection. See if we missed something. Whatever you were doing before we were so rudely interrupted, get back to it,” I said.

  Eloise and I returned to the back room. She brought in a large trash can she’d left in the front of the speakeasy. “I thought while we’re at it I can start getting rid of some of these bottles.” She picked up a bottle of old booze and shook it before throwing it in the trash.

  “Be careful,” I said. “That stuff was potent. I’d hate to have one of the bottles explode, or break, or whatever.”

  She shrugged and threw another bottle in the trash can.

  In the meantime, I began looking through the rest of the room, concentrating on two places; where the satchel of money had sat and where Loretta’s body was found.

  “Sandi,” Eloise called, “come here, please. I may have found something, but I’m not sure what.”

  When I reached her side, she held a tin can with a removable lid.

  “I thought you should see this before I open it,” she said. “There are a few of these that were behind the bottles, like someone wanted them out of sight.”

  I took the can from her and tried to pull the lid off. It was stuck.

  “I’ll go get a screwdriver,” I said. “I’m pretty sure some of Pete’s tools are still here.”

  I left her and returned shortly with screwdriver in hand, and began to work at taking the lid off the can.

  It finally popped off and the contents spilled out on the floor.

  Eloise sucked in her breath.

  “Look at all that moola.” There was wonder in her voice.

  “I wonder if all the other cans are full of money, too,” I said.

  We reached back and pulled all the cans to the front of the shelf.

  “I wonder if I get to keep it,” Eloise said.

  Chapter Thirty-four

  “I‘ll bet every one of these cans is full of money,” I said.

  Clementine wandered in, apparently to see what we were doing, and she picked up some bills and ran out of the room.

  It didn’t take long for the rest of our troop to show up to see what was going on. The sight of money will always inspire curiosity.

  Stanley had retrieved the bills that Clem took and he handed them to me.

  “What’s going on?” Pete asked.

  “Eloise found these cans behind the whiskey bottles. We opened one and it was full of money. I’ll bet the others cans are full, too.” I reached up and pulled another one off the shelf.

  Pete took it from my hands. “I wonder why Rick didn’t see these.”

  “Why would he?” I asked. “He was looking into an old murder, not bottles of hooch, and the cans were hidden at the back of the shelf.”

  “I’m surprised they didn’t confiscate all of the bottles. I guess he was too tied up with current cases and left them for us to clean up.” Pete seemed to feel the need to stick up for his friend.

  He opened the can he took fro
m me and, yes, it was full of money. Old, surprisingly crisp, bills.

  Before long everyone had grabbed a can and opened it. The money was piling up on the shelf.

  I walked out of the room and glanced toward the door. Thankfully, the dogs were still guarding it, so I returned to the bank. Uh, supply room?

  My husband and friends were throwing bottles into the trash can to see if there were more cans behind them. The room began to stink when some of them broke.

  “Pete, would you mind taking the trash can outside? The smell in here is overwhelming.”

  “I’ll put it behind the building so it won’t bother the other store owners.” He tipped the can back onto its wheels and rolled it outside. I heard him call to Bubba to come along. Water Boy must have made him more nervous than I thought.

  He returned wheeling an empty trash can, and he was coughing.

  “Just put the money in this one,” he said.

  We each picked up a stack of bills and threw them in the trash can.

  Eloise was grinning. “This is kind of fun.”

  “It is, isn’t it?” Felicity was smiling, too. “What a way to spend the morning.”

  “It’s mine, isn’t it?” our client asked.

  “I already called Rick,” Pete said, coughing. “We’ll have to ask him about it. I don’t think it directly links to the murders, so I doubt if he… Not for me to say.”

  “Pete,” I suggested, “why don’t you go out front and sit down for a while. You’re coughing – “

  “I’m fine.” He sounded almost defiant, so I closed my mouth.

  “I wonder where it came from,” Stanley said, throwing a fistful of cash into the can.

  Pete coughed and I handed him a tissue before excusing myself and searching my purse for a cough drop.

  When I returned he glanced at each of us and the next time he coughed he covered his mouth and nose with the tissue.

  Eloise stopped and looked around the room. “Funny, but Archie used to say Horace and Harley were skinflints. They told everyone they didn’t make that much off of the speakeasy, and yet…” She seemed to be thinking it over. “I’ll bet they were socking it away for the future because they figured that Prohibition wouldn’t last forever.”

  “That makes sense,” Felicity said. “Maybe they were into gambling, too. That could be lucrative. Maybe they took bets here.”