Diane Davidson - The Grilling Season

“Beatrice Waxman.”

“She called her Battleaxe Woman. Battleaxe Woman wouldn’t help ReeAnn learn the filing.”

“Filing?”

“Filing, filing claims, something. But the person ReeAnn really hated big-time was this Craig lady with the HMO. Suz Craig. Some hotshot veep, right?”

“A vice-president, yes.” Macguire shook his head, remembering. “Well, Tom might want to get somebody from the department to talk to ReeAnn about Ms. Craig. ReeAnn was trying to work on billing with the HMO, and Ms. Craig drove her crazy. I’m telling you, I don’t know why, but ReeAnn really hated that Craig woman’s guts.”

8

From our front porch I watched thin, sweatsuit-clad Macguire lope painfully down the sidewalk after Arch, who had changed into too-large green Bermuda shorts and a faded green T-shirt-both garments left behind by Julian. With his short arms outstretched and his glasses slipping down his wrinkled nose, Arch tugged unsuccessfully on Jake’s’ leash. The bloodhound’s long tawny legs lunged briskly down the pavement. When the unlikely trio spun past the corner store in the direction of John Richard’s office, I wearily turned to go back to my kitchen. Your dad’s under arrest. Despite Marla’s beliefs to the contrary, no amount of walking was going to make that better.

At the front door I was brought up short by the security system panel that had been installed two summers previously. Back then, after almost four years of being on my own, I’d begun to go out again. To go out occasionally. To go out occasionally with men. And just when I’d thought John Richard had mended his ways, his behavior suddenly became a problem. Why should I have been surprised? He hadn’t liked the idea of me dating. To demonstrate his opposition to my new social life, he’d threatened a reduction in child support – through his lawyer, of course – and then had taken to driving slowly past our house. Well, I’d been a psych major in college; I knew passive-aggressive behavior when I saw it. Amid the Jerk’s protests of uninvolvement – l never went near your place, bitch – I’d gotten the system, both for deterrent and for actual security. And by and large, the system had done the trick.

This morning John Richard Korman had once again been utterly adamant concerning his innocence. But we weren’t talking about cruising past someone’s house or making financial threats. Still, he’d almost convinced me he hadn’t killed Suz Craig. At least for a brief moment, I’d suspended disbelief and accepted his story. Now, of course, I was equally certain he’d been lying. They’d mixed it up, he’d said. John Richard Korman always had an explanation ready for losing his temper and beating the living daylights out of whatever woman was offending him. People couldn’t change that much in two years. People couldn’t change that much in a lifetime. I made a mental note to ask Tom if Suz Craig’s house had a security system.

I was about to punch the panel buttons when a sheriff’s department car pulled up in front of the house. Two women got out-Sergeant Beiner and a uniformed woman I didn’t recognize. I nodded and waved. Of course. Sergeant Beiner had said she’d be coming over later. I would have to answer more questions. Well, maybe they could tell me a thing or two.

Sergeant Beiner’s step was spry as she strode up our sidewalk. Her high, feathered top of blond-gray hair shook when she asked me how I was doing. When I said I was passable, she smiled briefly, showing slender, yellow teeth, and asked if she could run a few more things by me.

“Deputy Irving will take notes.”

Deputy Irving, a curly-haired brunette with a plump face and a uniform that pulled tightly around her midsection, nodded. Deputy Irving was under thirty, with no wedding ring.

“I’m sure you know the questions,” Sergeant Beiner began in a soothing, apologetic tone. When she smiled, her face wrinkled pleasantly. “Down at the department, we’re aware of your record of detection.”

“Thanks,” I replied. “I want to help.”

“We also remember that you managed to break somebody out of jail once. Somebody who was innocent, as it turned out.”

“You have nothing to worry about this time,” I assured her. “Would you like some coffee? I’ve had the equivalent of about sixteen cups today, I think. One more can’t hurt.”

Both women shook their heads. I invited them to be seated on the porch chairs. When the three of us were settled, Deputy Irving dutifully pulled out her notebook and recorded my name and address. Again I told the sergeant about spotting Suz Craig in the ditch by her home around a quarter to seven and about phoning for medical help.

“Did you suspect she was dead?” Sergeant Beiner asked mildly.

I looked away. “Yes. But I know the drill too, Sergeant Beiner. That’s why I phoned EMS.”

“A woman on the street named Lynn Tollifer saw you through her front window. She didn’t know why you went back to Schulz’s car after starting up the street. She figured you were calling about vandalism. Mrs. Tollifer said she couldn’t see the ditch from her window. See the body, you know.”

“My friend Marla Korman got a call from Lynn about Suz, and Lynn said her son told her about Suz …” I paused. “You don’t think vandals had anything to do with…”

Sergeant Beiner shrugged. “You were there for the arrest.” It wasn’t a question. She regarded me with the same calm manner that infused her voice. “Of course you’ve got somebody to vouch for your whereabouts during the night.” That wasn’t a question, either.

“Tom can vouch for me. He came in at midnight. What exactly did Lynn’s son see?”

Sergeant Beiner gave me the same wrinkle-faced smile she had when she arrived at the house. “How well did you know Suz Craig?”

I tried not to envision the pale corpse in the ditch when Suz’s name was mentioned. Impossible. “I catered for her once,” I replied. “And of course she was my ex-husband’s girlfriend. His current girlfriend. Or at least one of them,” I added. Deputy Irving scribbled away. “I’m not sure if he had other girlfriends, but he might have. His secretary, ReeAnn Collins, might know. She keeps his calendar. Plus, it’s possible ReeAnn might have been seeing John Richard herself.”

When asked, I spelled ReeAnn’s name for them.

Sergeant Beiner rocked back in her chair.

“How long ago did you cater this event for Ms. Craig?”

“Little less than a month. July tenth, I think. No, wait, the eleventh. It was a Friday, and the group of people had all been visiting for a week at the Denver office of the AstuteCare HMO. ACHMO.”

“What group of people?”

“Human Resources. That’s what one of them told me. ACHMO is based in Minneapolis and that’s where the team was from.”

“Did any of them talk to you?” I thought back. Steamed trout, vegetable frittata, coleslaw, wild rice salad with porcini mushrooms, fruit cup, chocolate truffles. Everyone had seemed to be in a good mood. “They were happy. Suz seemed pleased, too, with all her landscaping underway. She was pointing out the plants that were being put in as part of a landscaping project. I think it was being done by Aspen Meadow Nursery.”

A look passed between the two officers. Sergeant Beiner regarded me with pursed lips, then said, “Suz Craig fired Aspen Meadow Nursery. By all accounts, she was pretty hard to work for.”

“Really? Well, I think she fired the nursery because one of her department heads fell down the stone steps. He sprained his ankle, and she mentioned she was going to fire her landscapers.” I paused. “Actually, I’m surprised. She seemed so excited about their work.”

“Was Suz Craig a demanding client when you catered for her?” Beiner wanted to know.