Murder at the Grill (Cold Creek Book 3)

by Christa Nardi

  “Hi. This is Sheridan Hendley and I work with Mr. Cohn, Zoe’s attorney. Who is this?” I paused and waited for a response.

  “It’s Kay.”

  “Kay, I appreciate you find Jebediah’s death upsetting, but can I speak with your brother Harrison, or Jason if they’re around? I’d like to verify some facts with them.”

  “Well, I guess, hold on.”

  The drone of music filled the void while I waited. And waited. After about 10 minutes I called back. When Kay answered, I prompted, “Kay, we were disconnected. Were you able to get Jason or Harrison to take my call?”

  “My grandfather said we aren’t to talk to you.” With that she hung up. I was still puzzling on it when Brett arrived.

  CHAPTER 18

  I was up early the next day. Brett suggested a breakfast date and I agreed. Of course, we ate at the Grill, but kept conversation with Rebekah to a minimum. Kay wasn’t around and I didn’t bother to ask about Harrison or Jason.

  When I arrived at Marty’s office, his admin greeted me warmly and showed me into the inner sanctum. Marty looked tired, bags under his eyes and lines across his forehead. He smiled and waved me into a seat. With only a few minutes, he suggested we follow the same format as with Dawn.

  I’d never met Jason or Louisa Baxter and was nervous. When Jason stomped in, I didn’t relax any. I’m not an expert at football, but “linebacker” or “defensive end” came to mind. His size alone was intimidating. Any resemblance to Colbert ended there. When Jason spoke, his voice was loud and deep, his tone angry. By way of temperament, his personality was a close match to Dawn.

  “Mr. Cohn, let’s get this over with shall we? I have a busy day.” He took a seat. He looked at his wife, pointed to a seat and she sat.

  By no means petite, Louisa was overshadowed by his presence. She was dressed in slacks and a top, perfectly matched. Her hair looked like she had just come from the beauty shop, not a hair out of place. Physically, she was together. Her pursed lips and clenched hands told a different story.

  “Mr. Baxter, Mrs. Baxter. Thank you for coming in today. Can I get you some coffee or water?” Marty extended his hand to Jason but Jason didn’t even acknowledge it.

  “Like I said, Mr. Cohn, ask what you want to ask, and we will be on our way,” Jason demanded.

  “I don’t believe either of you are acquainted with Dr. Sheridan Hendley. She is assisting with Mrs. Gruen’s, your daughter’s, defense.” Marty looked from them to me and I smiled at both of them. Neither responded. Marty continued with his explanation of trying to prepare the defense and address ahead of time anything that could affect the trial.

  “With that in mind Mr. Baxter, could you tell us what you remember of how Jebediah came to be in Cold Creek and working for you? Did you post an ad for a bookkeeper or business manager?”

  “That was years ago. Doesn’t matter now.” He huffed and leaned forward, his wife watching him intently.

  Marty cleared his throat. “Mr. Baxter, when Mr. Bergner asks these questions – and he will ask them I’m sure – you will need to answer them. So let’s try again. How did you come to hire Jebediah Gruen?”

  Mr. Baxter’s face turned red and his nostrils flared like a bull about to charge. Louisa placed a hand on his arm and he jerked it away. He exhaled before he answered, “I met Jebediah at a convention. We talked about the restaurant. It wasn’t much back then. He had a spark, talked a good game, and had accounting sense. I invited him to come see what he thought, mentioned Zoe was single.”

  He left unsaid “and the rest is history” but that was the elephant in the room.

  “So how did it happen that Jebediah left without a trace four years later?”

  Mr. Baxter shifted in his chair, face flaming again. “I told him he had to leave or I would have him arrested. He agreed to turn over his shares in the restaurant and never come back. He left.”

  When Mr. Baxter did not volunteer any information, Marty asked, “So what were you going to have him arrested for, Mr. Baxter?”

  “It was a threat. It worked.”

  “Mr. Baxter, I don’t think you understand that you will have to answer these questions. Here or in court. If I have suspicions, I am sure Mr. Bergner does as well. You are not protecting Zoe by not answering.” Marty’s tone had an added bite to it this time.

  “He stole money. Is that sufficient?”

  “I understand that was not determined until after he left and you took over the books. I’ll ask again. What caused you to threaten him with arrest?”

  “I don’t recall.” As Mr. Baxter said this, he leaned back, clasped his hands in his lap and did not yield.

  “If I point out that he was already married when he married Zoe, does that help your memory, Mr. Baxter?”

  He jerked out of his chair with a grunt and then sat down again. Louisa began to cry. I pushed a box of tissues in her direction.

  “I gather that jogged your memory. Shall I jog it a little more? Or will you tell me why Cathryn doesn’t ever go to the Grill or why you don’t serve seafood at family gatherings when she’s at home?”

  With that, Louisa wailed and shook in her chair. Mr. Baxter reached over to her, his arm around her shoulder. This was the first sign of warmth I’d seen from him.

  “I wanted to kill him then. I settled for removing him from our lives.”

  “But he came back. Do you have any idea why?”

  “He’d written to Dawn recently and Trevor intercepted the letter. He gave it to me. Aside from declaring his love, he said he’d lost his job and needed a new one. He wanted to know if she had succeeded in keeping seafood out of the restaurant.”

  “Was Dawn in touch with him all these years, hoping he would come back? Did he know he was Cathryn’s father? Did he contact Dawn because she was most likely to help him?” I blurted these out and then waited for the explosion.

  Mr. Baxter finally looked at me, eyebrows raised. It was like the fact I talked surprised him.

  “When he left, the agreement was no contact with anyone. Dawn agreed as did everyone else. I believe he was going for the weak link. Zoe wanted nothing to do with him so Dawn was his only hope.”

  “Mr. Baxter, did you have any contact with Jebediah while he was in town?”

  “No, I did not. I stopped at the restaurant to see how things were going, but never interacted with the ba–,” he caught himself, then finished the sentence, “man.”

  “Mrs. Baxter, same question.”

  She’d stopped sobbing and glanced at her husband before answering. “I spoke to him on the phone. I told him what I thought of him and that he would not get a cent from us.”

  Mr. Baxter turned to her, his mouth open and shook his head. “When?”

  “He called after Mrs. Peabody’s call. He wanted money. Blackmail, plain and simple.”

  Mr. Baxter shook his head again. As if that was the end of the story, he stood and looked to Marty. He put his hand under Louisa’s arm and she stood.

  “Why did you tell Kay, Harrison, and Jason not to talk to me?”

  “We’re through. Your job is to protect the innocent here, Cohn. You’d better do that.”

  He pulled Louisa with him and they left.

  Marty and I debriefed. Unfortunately, all the meeting had done was confirm what we already knew or suspected.

  I was still driving the rental and as I looked at the four flat tires, I suspected the rental company was not going to be thrilled with my call. My first call though was to Hirsch. He said not to touch anything so I didn’t. I stood back and called to tell Marty. Marty and Hirsch arrived at my car about the same time.

  “So what happened here, Sheridan?”

  “I was here for a meeting with Mr. Cohn and I got here about 8 o’clock. When I came out and found my car – well, the rental car – here with flat tires I called you.” I gestured toward the car.

  “Have you touched anything?”

  I shook my head and he asked, “Do you remember closing and
locking the driver’s door?”

  I followed his gaze and the door was not completely closed.

  “It was closed and locked. I’m sure of it. The remote lock wouldn’t work if the door wasn’t closed all the way.”

  “I need to ask this. Who were you meeting with this morning? Just the two of you?”

  I deferred to Marty to answer and he did. “Chief, we met with Jason and Louisa Baxter. They arrived about five minutes after Sheridan. I don’t think it was more than a few minutes after they left that Sheridan left.”

  He and Hirsch both looked at me, and I nodded my agreement.

  “Okay if I get the paperwork out of the car to call the rental company?” I needed to get to work eventually.

  “Afraid not. At least not until we have the car checked.” He turned away from us and muttered into his collar. I took pictures of the door and the tires. Hirsch took pictures as well. Another cruiser pulled up and Officer Matthews got out.

  As Officer Matthews approached the car door, he demanded, “Did you unlock the door Dr. Hendley?”

  “Well, I pushed the remote to unlock it but I didn’t touch it or try to open it.”

  He walked around to the passenger side and tried that door. It was still locked and he motioned for me to unlock it. He opened the door and started to lean in. He shrieked, let out a few expletives, slammed the door and jumped back.

  “Matthews!”

  “Uh, sorry Dr. Hendley. Chief, you need to get animal control here. There’s a beauty of a copperhead in there.”

  I took a step back and was glad to see I wasn’t the only one who did that. Marty’s jaw dropped and he stared at me, speechless. Hirsch took a few tentative steps toward the car. He looked in the front window and jerked back.

  “Copperhead alright and very much alive. I assume you don’t have a pet copperhead?”

  I shook my head. He looked from Matthews to Marty to me.

  “Looks like there’s a sack in the back seat. Is it yours Sheridan?”

  I shook my head again slowly. He nodded.

  “The way I see it, whoever it was, they put the sack with the snake in it on the back seat. Probably figured you’d see the tires, get in the car to call for a tow, never look in the back seat or notice the sack. You’d sit there and wait for the tow. Guess they were being considerate to others. Didn’t want you driving when the snake showed up.”

  I knew my mouth was moving but no words were coming out. If he hadn’t told me not to touch anything, I would have done just what he described. I finally squeaked out, “Now what?”

  “I’ll call for animal control and they can deal with snake. Then we dust for prints on the door and sack. In the meantime, do you want Matthews to take you to your office or home or what?”

  I looked at my watch. I was at a loss. “Office, I guess. You’ll call when the car is available so I can switch out rentals?”

  “Will do.”

  Marty shook his head and scowled at the rental car. “I’ll check in with you later, Sheridan. Be careful.”

  I nodded, not sure what I could add. I looked at Officer Matthews. He tilted his head toward his cruiser and we were on our way.

  I’d barely sat down and Kim barreled in, eyes wide. “Sheridan, Marty just told me about the car and the snake! What’s going on?”

  I shrugged. “Obviously I am asking too many questions or the wrong questions.” It occurred to me that possibly I had the answer, but hadn’t yet connected the dots.

  “What are you going to do for a car? I can give you a ride home or where ever to get a new rental. I’m done teaching for the day.”

  “Uh, Kim, would you be willing to come with me for a meeting? I hate to ask this given all that’s happened. In the paper this morning, I read something about the young Jason Baxter organizing a baseball team for kids in the park at noon. Could you come to the park with me? I want to see if I can get him to talk to me away from the Grill. I don’t think anything else will happen.”

  “Of course. I can’t imagine whoever is behind these problems will know my car or expect us to be at the park.” Her smile and excitement were supportive.

  “It’s a public place and I’m sure there will be other people there.” Kim nodded and I added, “So let’s leave about quarter to 12?”

  “That’ll work. Come by and get me when you’re ready.”

  As she walked out the door, she turned and with eyebrows raised asked, “You call Brett yet?”

  I exhaled and shook my head. “Later.”

  I had a lot to do, so I tried to push away any thoughts about that snake and get some work done. I am not fond of snakes and especially poisonous ones. My mind, however, wasn’t willing to let go of the murder, snake or no snake. There were lots of people with motive to kill Jebediah and most of them had been in the kitchen and had the opportunity to tamper with his food. And Ryder Colbert, where did he fit in?

  My phone rang and interrupted my thoughts. I expected it to be the unknown “Private” caller, but it was T&J’s and my car was ready. Good news. After the park, I’d ask Kim to take me over there. I’d still have to deal with the rental, but maybe I wouldn’t have to drive it. I shuddered as I thought of the snake again.

  As if on cue, my phone rang again. “Hi Sheridan. Dr. Hendley. Chief Hirsch here. What is the plan for the rental car and tires? We’re about through with the car.”

  Groan. “I’m not sure. I’ve been avoiding calling the rental company. Guess there’s no time like the present.”

  I disconnected and pulled up the rental company number. I was not looking forward to making this call. Perhaps I could blame it on the car. It was supposed to be sophisticated enough to park itself, why couldn’t it let anyone know someone had broken in or that there was a living thing, like a snake, inside?

  “Hello. This is Sheridan Hendley. I have one of your rental cars.”

  “Let me pull that up. Yes, that rental is until tomorrow. Will you need a ride back to your home or office or do you need to extend the time period?”

  “The good news is that my car is ready today, so I won’t need the rental once I pick up my car.”

  “Oh, so you’ll need a ride to the dealership or repair shop?”

  “There’s a slight hitch. Someone slashed the tires. There is a police report. I need to know how to handle this.” I had the sinking feeling that I’d have to call my insurance company again.

  “Ma’am, you said there was a police report? We’ll need a copy of that. You’ll need to contact your insurance agency. I will have to check to find out the acceptable replacement tires. Is this the best number for you?”

  I hung up and called my insurance agent. He tensed up when I mentioned the vandalism, this time to the rental. He instructed me to get a copy of the police report and the receipt for the tires. Usually a friendly guy, his terse tone made me wonder how soon I’d be getting a notification of cancelled insurance.

  CHAPTER 19

  Kim and I drove to Central Park. It was a beautiful day with a refreshing breeze. We got lucky and she found a space in the parking lot that we’d be able to see from the playground and picnic tables. Also, it was a short walk and with the high noon heat, that was a bonus.

  “Do you know what he looks like, Sher?”

  “I found an old picture, but I’m not sure how much help that is. The playground is usually mothers or nannies and young kids. So I guess we look for a youngish man with a clipboard? If he’s trying to set up something and sign up kids, he’d need to write down their names, right? See anyone that fits that description?”

  We both looked around and in unison whispered, “There!” A man, college age, blew on a whistle and was surrounded by a group of boys and one girl in no time. The blonde hair and chiseled facial features were similar to the Facebook photo. If not Jason, this man could be a long lost brother.

  We made our way to a picnic table nearby and sat down. He must have sensed me studying him, and he turned in our direction. His eyes met mine br
iefly. A few minutes later, the team was running drills and he was walking in our direction.

  “Jason?”

  “Dr. Hendley, right? You are persistent.”

  I nodded. “This is Kim Pennzel. She’s my colleague.”

  “What did you want to know?” he asked without sitting, his attention split between the kids and us.

  “Jason, I’m trying to get a picture of the Baxter family and how the restaurant is managed. Can you tell me your perspective?”

  “Not sure how it helps, but okay. Is there something specific?”

  “Rebekah mentioned that you were thinking about a culinary program?” Hopefully, talking about his future would warm him up a little. Maybe he’d even sit down.

  He smiled before answering. “Culinary Institute of Virginia College would be my dream, but…” He looked away and yelled to the players to set up pitch and catch drills.

  “What’s stopping you?” Kim asked.

  “The Grill. The family business. My grandfather. Money. Take your pick.” His mouth turned down and his shoulders slumped.

  “So you’re not going to school? I thought Rebekah…”

  He put his hand up and I stopped. “I will take some courses at a community college program. Short leash.”

  “Your grandfather that powerful in your family?”

  “Grandpa? He’s a tyrant. Has to control everything and everyone. He’s demanding and my father is too weak, too used to doing everything the way the old man wants.”

  When he didn’t add anything for a few seconds, I asked, “What about your grandmother?”

  “When he isn’t around, she’s able to hold her own. She at least will tell us we did a good job, but not Grampa. But she won’t say anything to him or contradict him. My Dad’s like her, but he jokes around a lot to break the tension. Grandma’s a good person, wouldn’t hurt a fly.” His eyes softened as he made this last statement.

  Again he stopped. Again, I prompted. “Your mother?”

  He looked away, his jaw working. Even his eyes were cold. “My mother is more like Grandpa. More interested in the bottom line, the payoff, and being in control.”