Nailed: An Alex Harris Mystery (The Alex Harris Mysteries Book 8)

by Elaine Macko

  “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.”

  Chapter 45

  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.

  Gary ignored his wife’s gaze. “I have no idea who the hell was in the hall last night. Probably someone looking to rob the place. We do have a doctor’s office in the building. Maybe they thought they could find some drugs.”

  Gail nodded. “That’s right. There’s that psychiatri
st’s office on the second floor. I would imagine he might have drugs on hand, or at least a prescription pad a robber might want.”

  “If you’ll excuse me, I think I’m going to go lie down for a bit.” Gary got up, kissed his wife lightly on the cheek, and went into the house.

  “I best get going as well.” I started to get up, but Gail stopped me.

  “Alex, if you find out anything during the course of your investigation that could shed a less than glowing light on my husband, would you do me the kindness of letting me know? I do have a business image to protect.”

  “Is that all? I got the impression that you might have some idea of who attacked your husband.”

  Gail sat back in her wicker chair and sipped on her tea before answering. “No, I don’t know who attacked my husband, but I see things. I’m much older than Gary, and when men get to a certain age, they like the young ones, don’t they? I know my husband has, shall we say, a wandering eye. I’ve looked the other way telling myself that boys will be boys. I know he had a thing for Jenna Sanjari. She was a beautiful woman and kind and smart. I understood Gary’s desire, but luckily for me, she didn’t feel the same way about my husband, so I let him have his harmless little fantasy. But lately he’s been paying quite a bit of attention to a woman at our country club. Her husband doesn’t like it.”

  “And you think he’s the person who attacked Gary?”

  Gail ran a finger down the glass, letting the condensation drip onto her pants. “Probably not. He doesn’t really seem the type. Though he could have hired someone, I suppose.” She put the glass down and stood up. “I should let you go. You will keep me informed if you find out who did this to my husband?”

  “Of course. And here’s my card if you think of anything at all that might help catch Victor’s killer.”

  Chapter 46

  As long as I was in the neighborhood, I decided to stop at Whole Foods and pick up some things for a salad and find something for dinner. Salmon sounded good, but it was too hot to turn on the oven and I didn’t like it grilled.

  I started in the produce section choosing a couple of tomatoes and an avocado before moving over to the salad greens. While I debated between kale, spinach, or arugula, I thought back to my conversation with the Hachmeisters. I found it interesting that Gail had had Gary checked out prior to marrying him. I guess when lots of money is involved you have to cover all bases. I would never have that problem. At least I could be secure in knowing that John didn’t marry me for my money.

  I had too much on my mind to be able to make a decision on what kind of lettuce I wanted, so instead I made it easy and picked up a bag of mixed greens. I added a few more things to my cart from the produce section, including a watermelon, and headed toward the back where there was an assortment of already prepared items, while I continued thinking about Gail Hachmeister. If she had at one time hired a private detective to look into her husband’s background, there was a good chance that she would resort to the same method if she felt something amiss in their marriage. And with Gary’s wandering eye, I would imagine things were amiss quite often. I wondered if there was some national database of PIs were they stored the dirt they dug up on various individuals? I would have to ask Shirley.

  I also found it interesting that Gail stayed with Gary knowing full well about his numerous dalliances. And what about Jenna? Victor may not have hit her, but he had no problem grabbing her and pushing her around, and yet she put up with it. Maybe having a husband who arrested my sister and wanted to question my brother-in-law for murder wasn’t so bad. At least I always knew what he was up to.

  I found some fresh made baked polenta in a tomato sauce and filled a small container. Then I moved on to some Asian noodles and little spare ribs. I picked out a couple more things to round out my buffet, and then headed for the checkout line. I was eating an awful lot of sandwiches and prepared food lately, and couldn’t wait until the weather cooled down and I could make a big pot of stew or bake a roast.

  After paying for my groceries I headed my car back to the turnpike, but made a split second decision and instead turned towards Shirley’s house.

  “Do you mind if I put my stuff in your refrigerator?” I asked Shirley twenty minutes later.

  She held the front door open while my groceries and I entered her cool house.

  “No problem. I’m telling you, I’m going to do it,” Shirley said, as she led me back to her kitchen. “I think a sun room right off of here would be wonderful. I could sit here in the morning and look out on my kingdom.” Shirley looked off into her backyard.

  I had discovered a few months ago that Shirley was an avid gardener. As many times as I had been in her house, I had never seen the backyard. It was stunning. Lush and full of flowering plants, cobblestone paths, and a bird bath.

  “Wow! If my yard looked like this I’d want to stare at it all day, too.”

  “I just want a little sun room. Nothing too big. What do you think, shall we go see Ms. Cavanaugh tomorrow?”

  “I’m game.”

  “Good. Lemonade?”

  “Yes, please.”

  “What have you been up to today?” Shirley asked, while she poured our drinks and then put some crackers and slices of cheese on a plate.

  We carried it all into the living room and sat down.

  “I was over at the Hachmeisters’ home. Gary was attacked last night.”

  “Really? Do they know who did it?”

  I shook my head. “Nope. But the wife is interesting. She’s always known about his hidden past. She had him checked out before she married him. By the way, is there some sort of private investigator database or forum where you share all the dirt you find out about the people you’ve been hired to follow?”

  Shirley smiled. “You’re thinking of the FBI. They keep all the dirt they find in a special database. Why do you ask?”

  “I’m just wondering if Gail Hachmeister has continued her surveillance of her husband all these years. How can I find out?”

  “If you find the PI she used, he probably wouldn’t talk to you, and most likely he would let Mrs. Hachmeister know you were sniffing around. They live in Fairfield. Let me see if I can find out who she used. A couple of people come to mind. Alex, I can almost hear the gears grinding in your head. What are you thinking?”

  “If she’s been keeping an eye on him all this time, then she would know what he and Victor were up to with the illegal workers. She knew about their past troubles. What if she had enough of Victor leading her husband astray and killed him?”

  “And then attacked her husband last night?”

  “Well, as it turns out,” I said while munching on a cracker, “she wasn’t home. Gary said she was at some event. I never questioned her, but how hard would it be to leave early and drive by her husband’s office? She sees his car and sneaks in. Of course, his getting attacked could simply be a coincidence. But Gail would have a key to the building. I assume it must be locked after a certain hour and surely on weekends. John didn’t mention a broken lock or anything. I’ll have to ask him how the person got into the building.”

  Shirley gave me a crooked smile—one side of her mouth sloped down in a frown and the other side in a smirk. “And do you really believe in coincidences?”

  “No, I suppose not. Okay, so the same person for both things. And here’s another question. Was the attack on Gary meant to be just that, an attack, or would the perpetrator have killed him if the man from the other office hadn’t come out?”

  “Hmm. I have no idea.”

  “I don’t either, but my suspects list is growing by leaps and bounds.”

  “Go home, give your brain a rest, and leave the murder alone for a while. Tomorrow morning we’re going to see if we can get to the bottom of what the heck your brother-in-law is up to.”

  Chapter 47

  I took Shirley’s advice and went home. I changed my clothes, looked at the newspaper, and had just started on a salad when John walked in the back
door.

  “Need any help?” he asked.

  “Nope. We’re just having the salad, an assortment of things I picked up that don’t go together, and watermelon for dessert. I know, kind of weird, but who wants to cook?”

  “It sounds great and I’m starved. Just let me go upstairs and change my clothes.”

  Ten minutes later we sat down at the kitchen table. John put several pieces of the spare ribs on my plate, and then took some for himself. I reached for a large chunk of the polenta and took a bite. It was wonderful. I needed to try this recipe.

  “I finally talked to Michael today.”

  I stopped my fork midway to my mouth and put it back down. “You did! So, tell me. What the hell has he been up to?”

  “He wouldn’t tell me. I stopped by their house and Michael and I went out for a coffee. I asked him where he was on the night Victor Sanjari was killed. I told him that we knew he wasn’t at the office.”

  “John, you didn’t tell him that Sam’s been spying on him, did you?”

  “No. I tried to keep your sister out of the conversation. I figure that’s their personal business, but I did want to know where he was.”

  “And where was he?”

  “He wouldn’t tell me. All he said is that he was nowhere near Victor Sanjari, thought the guy was an ass, but would certainly never kill the man. He said that he and Sam had decided to give Victor a mourning period and then they would speak to him about Moshi’s behavior toward Kendall if it continued. And that was it. All he said is that he couldn’t talk about where he was or what he’s been up to, but he didn’t seem upset about anything either.”