Thirty-Four and a Half Predicaments: Rose Gardner Mystery #7 (26 page)

“How do you know Gloria?” Dirk asked after he’d had another drink. Judging from the empty bottles, this was his fourth beer of the day. His second in about fifteen minutes. How high was his alcohol tolerance? The fact he was drinking his fourth beer before one in the afternoon was pretty suggestive.

“She’s my friend’s mother. All these years later, she still loves to gossip about the bookkeeper there.”

“Dora,” he chuckled. “She gave people something to talk about.”

“Yeah, Gloria says she carried on with several guys while she was there.”

“Several, you say?” He took another shot. “I only know about her and Henry. And the guy on my line.”

“Henry?” I asked. “Was he her boss?”

I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and saw someone emerging from the back. My chest constricted when I realized it was Jed. He cast his gaze around the room and landed on our party of three. A look of uncertainty crossed his face, but he quickly recovered and ignored me, heading over to take a seat behind the bar.

Just keep going.

Dirk was oblivious to it all. “Yeah, Henry Buchanan. Everyone knew they were doing the horizontal mambo.”

I snapped my fingers and pointed at him. “Dirk. You must be Dirk Picklebie, right?”

He tensed and his smile faded. “Why you askin’?”

I grinned and held up my beer. “Gloria talks nonstop about Dirk Picklebie. She had a huge crush on you.”

He stood up straighter, grinning from ear to ear. “You don’t say.”

“She says you were a supervisor at Atchison.”

A smug grin lifted his mouth. “I was. I was made supervisor less than a year after I started working on the line. Only a few months before the fire.”

“When I asked her what they made, she said she didn’t rightly understand all the details, but it was some kind of rivet for tractors.”

“Yeah, all kinds of metal pieces. They fit John Deere tractors and such. But the summer before the fire we switched mid-stream to producin’ some hush-hush parts.”

“Oh really?” I asked. “Do you know what they were?”

“They didn’t give us too many details, but I heard Dora telling one of my linemen they were components for airplane parts.” He leaned closer and I got a whiff of cigarettes mixed with BO. I fought the urge to wave my hand in front of my face.

“Airplane parts. Who for?”

His smile wavered and a strange look skated across his face. Crappy doodles, I’d gotten to him. He knew. A war waged in his eyes—his desire to impress me versus his self-protective drive to keep it to himself. I decided to switch topics.

“Why’d you have to hear it second-hand from Dora? It seems like someone as important as you would have known about it.”

“There were all kinds of hush-hush things goin’ on toward the end. She and Buchanan were the only ones who knew about it all. I think she was trying to impress Gardner by telling him. Gloria said Dora and Buchanan had been fighting in his office, so we figured she was on the prowl for her next man before she cut Henry loose. Hell, he was twice her age anyway. Everyone knew what she was after, but Henry would never have left his wife.”

My heart sank and I realized that while I’d been telling Neely Kate I was keeping an open mind, I had never for a minute thought it possible Dora had carried on an affair with Henry Buchanan. Despite the suggestive journal entries. But here was a second person who believed it to be true. Yet, I knew from first-hand experience that you couldn’t believe everything you heard, no matter how many people agreed on it. I needed more proof.

The smug expression on Dirk Picklebie’s face only confirmed that he knew more than he was telling. I just needed to appeal to his conceited side.

“You must have been quite young,” I said. “You don’t look a day over forty now.” I winked. “I thought they had child labor laws back then.” I took another sip of my beer and glanced at the bar. Jed was on the phone now, but his gaze was glued on me. The usual friendliness he showed me wasn’t there. He looked pissed. Could he really believe I was flirting with Dirk?

Dirk laughed and preened, flexing his biceps. I could practically feel Neely Kate’s disgust rolling off her as she took another shot, sending a striped ball just about as far from any of the pockets as was possible on the table.

“I’m a few years older than that, but I was a young supervisor back then and a lot of men resented it.” He winked. “But sometimes it helps who and
what
you know, if you catch my drift.” He finished his beer and I glanced at the bartender, who threw his hands up in the air before he went to grab another.

“You don’t say,” I said with interest. This could be the break we needed.

“Your turn,” Dirk said, motioning to the table, and I noticed his feet were stumbling a bit. Thank God. We were finally getting somewhere.

The bartender brought over Dirk’s new drink and handed it to him. “Can I get you ladies anything else?”

I shook my head, but Neely Kate said, “Yeah, bring me another.”

Raising my eyebrows, I gave her a look, but she didn’t respond. Neely Kate rarely drank, and I’d never seen her drink this early.

I purposely missed my shot and waited for Dirk to put down his beer. “So why do
you
think the plant changed to producing plane parts mid-stream?”

He shrugged as he circled the table. “The place had started losing profits and ol’ Henry was talkin’ layoffs, but I heard we got an influx of cash that summer. Because of the new parts.”

“Is that common?” I asked. “Would a plant get paid in advance for something like that?”

“The whole thing was fishy from the beginnin’ and bein’ the smart man I am, I started diggin’.” He leered at me and winked.

I gave him a coy smile. “And bein’ the smart man you are, I’m sure you got to the bottom of it.” I leaned forward. “Out of curiosity, what did you find out?”

He hesitated before turning his attention to the table. “We sure got a nasty wet and cold spell, huh? I hear it might snow this weekend.”

The fact that he was resorting to weather talk meant we’d definitely struck a nerve, and a deep one at that.

Neely Kate caught my eye as he leaned over and sank the last ball. He stood and grinned. “And that, ladies, is how it’s done. How about another game?”

Jed brought over Neely Kate’s beer, but she’d never seen him before, so she didn’t give him a second glance. No longer hiding his interest, he took a seat at a nearby high-top table close to the back door.

I was the only one who seemed to notice.

Neely Kate took a sip of her drink and leaned her hip into the table. “Sure. Just you and me. How about a little wager?”

Dirk’s eyes lit up and he rubbed his thumb against his fingertip. “A wager, you say? What kind of wager?”

She moved closer to him and lowered her voice. “Dirk, you’re such a captivating man. Worldly, mature, a quick thinker. Just the kind of guy I’m interested in. How about if you win, I’ll pay you fifty bucks.”

Dirk laughed. “Why are you wantin’ to throw your money away like that?”

She put her hand on his chest and her fingers crawled up to his neck. “Maybe I’m feelin’ lucky.” She batted her eyelashes. “And if I win, you’ll give me what I want.” Her innuendo was pretty doggone clear and the way his eyes lit up told me he was falling for it hook, line, and sinker.

He swallowed. “So I win either way, huh?”

She just gave him a coy grin. Little did he know that Neely Kate’s idea of a prize wasn’t anywhere near the same as his.

“Fifty bucks, huh?” He took a long drag of his beer and set it on the table before grabbing the rack. “Well, if you’re sure… I’ll even let you go first.”

She fluttered her eyelashes. “You really are a gentleman. Deal.”

He set up the table and she moved to the end, cue stick in hand. She lowered over the table and all pretense of being a dumb blonde was gone. She lined up her shot and the balls scattered, two solid colors slamming into pockets. She spun around and flashed him a look of surprise. “Well, would you look at that? Look what I did, Rose!”

I didn’t have to fake my surprise. I’d had no idea she could play pool. “Oh, my word! Dirk, you’re an amazing teacher!”

Dirk suddenly seemed less confident.

Neely Kate flashed him a smile, then proceeded to sink two more balls before missing a shot. “Your turn, sweetie.”

Dirk picked up his cue stick and stumbled around the table to take his shot. He stood up grumbling after just barely missing the pocket. “Something’s wrong with the table.”

“There’s nothin’ wrong with the table,” Jed said in a low tone from his seat.

Dirk lifted his hands. “Okay, okay. Maybe I had a bit too much to drink.” He didn’t seem surprised to see Jed. Maybe he sat out here quite a bit.

Neely Kate gave Jed a glance, then turned toward Dirk. “A deal’s a deal. Besides, I’ve had two myself.” Sure enough, her bottle was empty. She turned to Jed again. “Could you trouble yourself to get me another, sugar?”

Jed looked at me, catching me by surprise. He must have noticed she was getting sauced. I nodded. I’d tell her no, but I worried she’d raise a fuss. Besides, she was a grown woman capable of making her own decisions, even if this one seemed like a bad one.

Jed headed for the bar as Neely Kate studied the table, lined up her cue, and sunk another ball. By the time he came back to deliver her drink, she had one solid ball on the table compared to Dirk’s three striped ones. She put it into the side hole and said, “Eight ball, right corner pocket.” Then she proceeded to do just that. “Now I get what I want. Sit down in that chair over there and answer some questions.”

“You cheated,” Dirk shouted, his face beet red. He clenched his pool stick in his fist and he looked like he was considering using it for something other than shooting pool.

Jed was at the table in seconds. “We take accusations of cheating very seriously, Dirk. Be careful of your words.
And
your actions.”

“She played me,” he whined.

Jed put his hands on his hips and eyed Neely Kate up and down. “The lady can’t help it if you’re a fool, Picklebie. Now sit your ass down and pay up.”

He shook his head. “Betting on a pool game’s illegal in Fenton County.”

Jed’s eyes darkened. “Like that ever stopped you before. Sit.” His voice boomed, drawing the attention of the two teenage boys who had clearly skipped school and were still playing at a table toward the front of the room.

Dirk sat on a stool at a high-top table, bracing himself as he swayed back and forth like a sheet hung to dry in the wind.

There were only two stools at the table, so I pushed Neely Kate onto the other. I was about to go grab a third when Jed dragged one over for me. His eyes searched mine and I knew he was hoping for some sort of explanation. Finally he said, “I’ll be sitting over here, makin’ sure there’s not any trouble.”

I nodded, then sat on the stool and turned to Dirk, whose eyes were half closed. “Look, Mr. Picklebie. I promise we’re not tryin’ to bamboozle you. I only want some answers. That’s all.”

“Fine,” he huffed, obviously still sore at Neely Kate’s deception.

“You said you started diggin’ into the switchin’ parts. What did you find out?”

Uncertainty filled his eyes. “I’m not sure I should be talkin’ about it. It was all pretty hush-hush back then, ya know?”

“But it was twenty-five years ago,” I said, lowering my voice. “Surely it’s no big deal to tell me now.”

“Why do you even want to know?” he grumbled.

“I’m just curious.”

He took a drink of his beer, refusing to look at me. “Curiosity killed the cat, you know.”

“Good thing I’m not a cat.”

He grimaced and scratched his head. “I don’t know. There was some big shot involved…one who’s still got a lot of power today. I don’t want him to find out I’m talkin’ about it. I don’t think he even knows who I am, and I want to keep it that way.”

“Who’s the big shot?” When he didn’t answer, I decided to try another tactic. The last thing I wanted to do was get him to shut down on us.

“You said the bookkeeper, Dora, was friendly with one of the linemen?” I asked. “Where did you overhear them talking?”

“In the break room on my floor. The office girls never came down there, so I wanted to see what was up.”

“You mean you were spyin’ on ’em,” Neely Kate said, but her words were slurred. “Didn’t the diary mention something about that?”

I shot her a look that was half worry and half irritation. My goal was to sweet-talk him, not piss him off.

I decided to focus on a name in the journal. “Do you remember a Bill that worked there?” I asked.

“There were several Bills.”

“Anyone higher up?”

He thought for a minute. “Nope. Bill Teeter was the janitor. He died of a heart attack a few years back. Bill Oliver worked on the line.”

“Do you know if Bill Oliver was a friend of Dora’s?”

He snorted. “No. Bill Oliver kept to himself. Never talked to anyone.”

“Do you know anything about the fire?” I asked. “How it started?”

He shifted in his seat, keeping his gaze glued to the tabletop. “No.”

I bent my head down to look him in the eye. “Come on. I’m sure you know
something
about the fire.”

He turned pale and his hands started to shake. “You need to stay out of this, missy. You’re stirring up shit that don’t need stirring.”

Neely Kate glared at him.

“Be that as it may, Mr. Picklebie,” I said. “I still want to know.”

His gaze darted from Jed to the back door, as if gauging the likelihood he could make a safe getaway. Clearly coming to the conclusion that Jed would be on him like a bloodhound on a rabbit if he so much as tried, he shook his head and sighed. “It was mysterious. The police investigated, but they didn’t come up with nothing.”

“They’ve always been a bunch of incompetent fools,” Neely Kate muttered.

“They were sharp before the police chief, Bill Niedermier, died.”

“Wait,” I said. “Bill? When did he die?”

“A couple of days after the fire.” He shook his head. “A burglary. If the police chief ain’t safe in his own home, who is?”

I suspected Dirk was right about this whole Atchison mess being a big pile of dog doo. And it was turning out to be a whole lot more dangerous than I’d anticipated. But we were already here with a big ol’ shovel. I saw no reason to leave the job half done.