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Chapter62
ON HIS BEDat the Residence Inn, Decker laid out all the construction plans for the American Grill that David Katz had built about fifteen years ago. The plans seemed pretty normal for such a restaurant buildout, but he didn’t recognize the name of the architect set forth on the plans. In fact, the address of the business showed that it was from out of state.
He called Lancaster. She was at home. He asked her to put Earl on.
“What’s up, Amos?” said the man when he got on the phone.
“Got some construction-related questions for you.”
Earl seemed relieved that the questions were not of a more personal nature. “Okay, shoot.”
“You remember the American Grill project?”
“The Katzes’ restaurant?”
“Right.”
“Yeah. I mean, I didn’t work on it, but I remember it going up.”
“Did you try to work on it?”
“I didn’t have my GC license back then, but I had my finish carpentry business. I put in a bid to do some of the interior work. Didn’t get it.”
“Do you know who the GC was?”
“Funny thing you mention that. I didn’t know the GC. Nobody did, because Katz used a company from out of town. Hell, out of state, I think.”
“What, you mean the workers too?”
“Yeah. Nobody local that I know worked on that project.”
“Why would he have done it that way? Wouldn’t it have been more costly?”
“Well, you’d think so. Bringing guys in like that, they have to live and eat somewhere. Guys who live here, we just go home at night. So, yeah, you’d have to pay more.”
“Was there no capacity back then? Did hehaveto go out of state?”
“Hell no. That was one of the slackest periods I can remember. Everyone was looking for work. When they rejected my proposal, I even went around to Katz’s office to see if there was anything else I could do. Mary and I hadn’t been married all that long and we wanted to have a family. I was trying to build up my business. And Katz had blown into town with a lot of money and ambition and I was anxious to get on that train.”
“And what happened when you met with him?”
“I didn’t actually meet with him. I met with one of his people. Forget the name. He told me in not such polite terms that Mr. Katz had his own crew. Well, that pissed me off a little bit. I mean, why ask for proposals from local people if you’re going to use your own crew?”
“What did that guy say?”
“I gotta tell you, Decker, I’m no wallflower. I’m a big, strong guy, but this guy scared the bejesus out of me just the way he was looking at me.”
“Can you describe him? I know it’s been a long time.”
“No, I can. That’s the sort of impression he made on me. He was about my height and weight. Dark hair, dark eyes, and, I don’t mean this to sound un-PC or anything, but, well, he just didn’t seem to be American. At least not in my mind.”
“Did he have an accent?”
“Not that I could tell, but I’m not real good about picking up on things like that.”
“So you left it there?”
“What else could I do? I couldn’t force the guy to use me.”
