Dinner Together

Happy Monday! Let’s look in on Ben and Janelle as they dine at Thorn’s Restaurant.

Chapter Fifteen

Ben couldn’t recall when he’d had a more pleasant dinner. And it wasn’t the food.

“More coffee, sir?” The waitress held out a glass coffee pot.

He shook his head. “I’m fine, thanks.” In fact, he was more than fine. He glanced across the table at Janelle. They had spent the past hour making small talk, mainly discussing her family. He learned about her older sister, who had a husband and three kids, and Janelle’s dad, the private investigator. When Ben offered to say grace over their meal, he was pleased to discover that Janelle was also a Christian.

The dinner crowd was thinning out at Thorn’s Restaurant. Most of the families with children were gone. He and Janelle had finished their dessert, but he didn’t want to leave.

Janelle rested her elbows on the table, folding her hands under her chin. “I’ve told you about my family, but I haven’t heard much about yours.”

Ben gazed into her green eyes. “It’s not a pretty story—not pretty at all.” Unlike her.

“You mean, with your dad’s murder?”

“No, I mean the whole Thorne clan—my grandparents, dad, uncles, aunt.” Ben picked up his spoon. “The only good thing about our family is my mom. She became a Christian when I was little and raised me in church, but my dad wouldn’t have anything to do with Christianity.” He huffed out a breath. “He made her suffer for it.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Janelle put her hands in her lap. “I don’t remember my mom. She died soon after I was born. Dad always said he would marry again but he never did. Sherry and I took good care of him.”

“I bet you did.” Ben was almost jealous. “Probably spoiled him rotten.”

“Sherry spoiled him more that I did. She has this instinct to protect people, which she gets from Dad—he’s really overprotective. He has definite ideas of what I should and should not do.” She shrugged. “But he’s a good dad.”

“Mine wasn’t.” Ben stirred his coffee. “I tried to stay out of his way. Dad was one mean dude—with lots of enemies. That’s why I don’t know who killed him. Could have been anyone.”

Janelle took the notebook from her purse. “Let’s narrow down the suspects.”

Ben studied her as she opened the notebook and wrote something on a clean page. In spite of the morbid subject, he smiled to himself. He really liked this girl.

Would it be wrong to date one of his employees?  

She glanced up. “If we can put the clues together, we can at least narrow down the suspects.”

“I’ve already told Sheriff Horton everything I know, and he can’t solve it.”

“He must be overlooking something.” Janelle’s eyes met his. “You’re not a suspect, are you, Ben? I mean, uh, you’ve been the one to inherit everything from your father, right?”

Only debts. “Actually, on that Friday I left the office early. My church had a men’s retreat in the Ozarks over the weekend. I came back as soon as I heard about the murder.”

Janelle scribbled on the paper. “Was there anyone else at the office who was not a suspect?”

“Marie Flanders, the receptionist. She left work before I did that day because her daughter went into labor, so she drove her to the hospital. The baby was born about the time of the murder. Marie quit her job as soon as she found out.”

Janelle nodded as she wrote. “How about Elliot?”

“No alibi. He said he was at home asleep.”

“Helga?”

“She spent the evening at home by herself.”

“How about Corrine?” Janelle looked up.

“She lives in St. Louis but spent quite a bit of time with my dad. She wasn’t here that day but the scent of her perfume was strongly present in Dad’s office when his body was found.” Ben leaned back in his chair. “Corrine says she was framed.”

“Of course.” Janelle scrawled across the paper. “Any other suspects?”

“Well…” Ben’s mind touched on his dad’s gambling buddies, all the women he wooed and dumped, the jealous husbands of those women… “No one I know of.”

“Who was the last person to see him alive?”
         “Howard Chapman.”

“The guy who’s out of town right now?”

Ben nodded. “He doesn’t have a good alibi either. He says he was at the Mall until it closed, but no one can vouch for his presence.”

“I haven’t met him yet.”

“He should be back tomorrow. Kind of a quirky person, but I like Howard.” Ben paused. “Dad and Howard had a big argument that afternoon. It lasted about two hours, and Helga and Uncle Elliot both heard it. When Howard left, Dad locked the door from the inside of his office and turned the deadbolt. By that time, both Helga and Elliot were gone.”

Janelle looked puzzled. “Your dad’s office has a deadbolt lock?”

“Uh, yeah.” Ben felt his face warm up. Janelle would never understand what a bad character his dad was. “Anyway, Helga came in for something on Saturday morning and noticed his light was on. She tried to unlock the door to turn off the light—she was upset because it was on all night, and the company would have to pay a higher electric bill—but the deadbolt was locked, so she called Uncle Elliot. They broke down the door and found Dad slumped in his chair.” He looked away as a wave of sadness washed over him.

“And that bra was wrapped around his neck?”

Ben nodded. “But there were no fingerprints anywhere, and the sheriff can’t figure out how the murderer got into the room.”

“Or how he got out­­, actually—since the door was bolted from the inside.”

“Right.” Ben grit his teeth as he watched Janelle write down the information. This was impossible. They would never find the murderer, no matter how much they discussed the case.

* * *

Until tomorrow, God bless!