A Baked Ham Read Online Free PDF

said.
    “Trust me, it was real
enough.   Evidently, Benny got a little
handsy with my grandmother, and understandably, Moose wasn’t too happy about
it.”
    “That was just the way Benny
was,” Garret said.   “I told him
repeatedly that his overfamiliarity would get him in trouble some day.   Moose shouldn’t have been so upset with him,
though.   Benny was mostly harmless.   He certainly didn’t deserve to die that way.”
    “Let’s get one thing
straight.   My grandfather was angry with
Benny, but he didn’t kill him.   Moose did
not murder your lead actor,” I said, fighting to keep my voice calm.   “You can take my word on it.”
    “I never said that he did,”
Garret answered quickly.  
    “Maybe not, but the implication
was there.   I’ll say it to you, and to
anyone else who needs to hear it; anybody who says that my grandfather killed
Benny Booth is a liar.”
    “I’m truly sorry if I made it
sound as if I thought he killed the man,” Garret said quickly.   “Don’t worry.   I’m sure that Sheriff Croft will find whoever did it eventually.”
    “Sure he will,” I said.   I wasn’t about to tell the director that
Moose and I were going to do our best to solve the murder case ourselves, but
while I had Garret there, I wasn’t about to let him leave before he answered a
few questions for me.   “Speaking of
Benny, how did the two of you get along?”
    “Well, that’s complicated.   At times we were best friends,” Garret said.
    “And at other times?” I asked.
    “We fought like crazy,” Garret
admitted with a smile.   “You see, we had
artistic differences from time to time, and we each stood firm for what we
believed in.”
    “How bad did the fighting get?”
    “What do you mean?” he asked me.
    “Were punches ever thrown?”
    “Never,” he said, looking shocked
by the mere suggestion.   “Our
disagreements were part of our process.   There was never any personal
animosity involved.”
    “I’m sure there wasn’t,” I said,
though I wasn’t, not yet anyway.   “Do you
know anyone who might have had a real beef with Benny?”
    “I don’t want to spread gossip,”
the director said.
    “I don’t know if you’ve heard it
around town, but Moose and I have had a little success in the past tracking
down a killer or two.”
    “Oh, your reputation in the
community is the stuff legends are made of,” Garret said.
    “Well, strictly between the two
of us, we’ve been thinking about looking into Benny’s murder ourselves, and you
could help us a great deal if you have information that we’re not privy to
yet.”  
    The director seemed to think
about it for a few seconds, and then Garret said, “I’m sure that you’ve already
heard about his relationship with Sandra Hall.”
    “They had an actual
relationship?   I thought she was dating
someone else, a young brooding fellow who looks as though he just stepped out
of the pages of a fitness magazine.”
    “That would be Marcus Jackson,
but sometimes emotions get confused when actors are performing, especially when
the scenes call for assumed familiarity.   Benny liked to throw himself into his roles, and from what I saw
onstage, at least once Sandra didn’t seem to mind his attention.”
    “But I’m guessing that Marcus
did, didn’t he?”
    Garret frowned.   “I ordered a closed set for our rehearsals,
but Marcus snuck in, anyway.   When he saw
Benny kissing Sandra, all perfectly normal and a legitimate part of the scene,
he exploded from the back and tried to storm the stage.”
    “Did he do anything to Benny?” I
asked.
    “I’m certain that he would have,
if I hadn’t blocked his way.   I used to
do a little boxing as a kid, and Marcus never got past me.”   Garret seemed inordinately proud of his
accomplishments as a bouncer at the theater.
    “Did he happen to say anything as
you were ejecting him?” I asked.
    “As a matter of fact, he
threatened to make Benny pay for what he’d