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Chapter63
FRED PALMERWAS INHIS SEVENTIES,overweight and bald, with a cheerful face and ruddy complexion. His office had one window, one desk with a chair, and two chairs fronting the desk. There were no pictures on the wall. No carpet underfoot.
He was leisurely turning the pages of a file on his desk while Decker and Lancaster sat impatiently across from him.
“Been in business nearly forty-five years,” he said.
“Right, you told us that. Have you found what you’re looking for?” asked Lancaster.
“Okay, here it is. Thought so. The American Grill. Don’t eat there myself. I’ve got acid reflux. Everything they serve gives me reflux.”
“And the construction? My husband said you worked on it.”
“Earl, now there’s a nice guy. Nice guy. You’re lucky, ma’am, to have him.”
“Yes, very. The file? You said you had it?”
Palmer planted a thick thumb down in the middle of the page. “Heavy equipment rental.”
“Rental?” said Decker. “Did you not do the work?”
“No, that’s whatrentalmeans.” Palmer laughed and gave Lancaster a funny look. “Can tell he doesn’t know shit about construction.”
“What sort of equipment?” asked Decker.
“Excavator, dump truck, front loader,bulldozer. It’s all there.” He tapped the file.
“How long did they rent it?”
Palmer looked over the page. “Says here two weeks.”
“Did you normally rent out equipment like that, or did you also typically do the work?”
Palmer sat back and closed the file. “We like to do the work, of course. But that was an odd project.”
“Why do you say that?” asked Decker.
“This Katz guy. Darren?”
“David,” corrected Decker.
“Right, David Katz. He later got murdered, you know.”
“Do tell,” said Lancaster, nearly rolling her eyes.
“Oh, yeah. Killed. Him and some others. Anyways, he came into town and got this loan and wanted to build this restaurant. Okay, fine. Lots of people here could have done that for him.”
“But he got a company from outside the area to do it,” said Decker. “We know that.”
“And he tarped things off and had really tight security around the construction area,” added Lancaster.
“Thatwasodd. I tried to get the work, but we got turned down. We were the biggest outfit back then. Still one of the biggest today. Surprised me, but it was his money.”
“Was that the only thing odd about it that you found?”asked Lancaster.
“Well, no.” He tapped the file. “That was.”
Lancaster looked confused. “You’ve lost me.”
