Deadly Dining

Chapter 10

  Stan Turner

  Stan walked briskly to his car and got in. As he was driving north on Central Expressway he wondered what he would do if Sammy was still outside banging on the door. Somehow he doubted that would be the case. Either the police would be there or Sammy and his friends would be inside confronting Ram. As he approached the grocery store he saw a police car parked in front. He parked behind it and ran inside. Ram and his wife were talking to a police officer.

  “Hi,” Stan said to the officer. “I’m Stan Turner, Ram’s attorney.”

  “Hello, Mr. Turner.”

  “Are you alright, Ram?” Stan asked.

  “Yes. Officer Barnes got here just in time. Sammy left when he heard the siren.”

  “That’s good,” Stan replied. “Sorry we had to bother you, officer. There is an automatic stay prohibiting Sammy from trying to collect his debt or taking any action to impede the operation of the business, but he apparently doesn’t respect our judicial system.”

  “Right. Well, if he comes back, just call 9-1-1 again.”

  “He probably won’t, but just as a precaution I’m going to file a contempt motion tomorrow. Maybe the judge can convince him to obey the court’s orders.”

  “Alright. I’m going to leave then,” the officer said finishing up something he was writing in a notebook.

  “Thanks again, officer,” Ram said.

  After the officer had left, Stan shook his head. “Where’s your wife?”

  “I told her to go in the back room and lock the door.”

  Stan laughed. “Well, you better go tell her the coast is clear.”

  Ram nodded and walked to the back of the store. A few moments later she came out holding a baby.

  “This is my wife Melakea and our son Fershad,” Ram said.

  Stan looked at the baby and then smiled at Melakea. “You have a beautiful baby.”

  “Thank you,” she said beaming. “He has been a real blessing.”

  “So, what are we going to do about Sammy?” Ram asked worriedly.

  Stan sighed. “Well, I’ll file the motion first thing in the morning, but it will be a week or two before it is heard. In the meantime you may have to hire some security to protect the store.”

  “I can’t afford that,” Ram complained.

  “I know, but it will be just a few days. I can recommend someone.”

  “You should do it,” Melakea said. “I don’t want Sammy hurting you or the baby.”

  “Alright. If that’s what you recommend.”

  Stan called Bassettt Security and arranged for someone to be at the store during its regular business hours for the next week. Then he went back to his office and prepared the contempt motion. He told Maria to file it and arrange for service on Sammy. When he was done he went to have lunch with Bingo Besch who had called to say he had information on the employees at Wilkinson Properties. They met at Sonny Bryan’s Barbeque in Richardson, went through the line and found an empty table.

  “So, I checked into the two names you gave me.”

  “Thank you. Did you learn anything new?”

  “Well, you were right. Both these guys used to be connected to a Chicago crime family. It supposedly broke up about three years ago when the Justice Department successfully convicted its boss and most of its Chicago leadership. Benjamin Jamison and Christopher Hunt handled the families’ money laundering which was located in New York, so they escaped prosecution. They moved to Dallas two years ago and apparently found new clients to keep their money laundering business afloat.”

  “I hope it’s not a Mexican drug cartel?” Stan said.

  Besch laughed. “No. I don’t think so. The mob and the cartels don’t usually get along.”

  “Well, I have Jodie snooping around Wilkinson Properties to see if she can find out anything, but I suppose I should pull her off that assignment. It’s probably too dangerous.”

  Besch nodded. “Much too dangerous.”

  “What about the box of rat poison and the shoe box?”

  “What about them?”

  “Did the police dust them for prints?”

  “I’m sure they did.”

  “So, whose prints were found on them?”

  “I can’t say. You’ll have to get that from the prosecutor.”

  Stan nodded. “If there are unidentified prints on either of them you should check for a match with Jamison and Hunt.”

  “I’ll pass on your recommendation to my boss.”

  Stan sighed. “And he’ll talk to Rutledge about it and it won’t happen.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “So, how can we prove these goons killed the three diners at Emilio’s?” Stan asked.

  Besch pulled out two photographs from his coat pocket. “You could start by showing these pictures around to everyone who was at the restaurant that night. If we could place either one of these guys at the restaurant I think I could convince my lieutenant to assign me or somebody else to investigate your theory.”

  Stan took the photos and nodded. He picked up the one of Jamison and studied it. Jamison had a thin face and eyes that were set deeply into his skull so that they were always in shadow. Stan thought there was a look of insanity in his smile.

  “No problem. I’ll run over there this afternoon and take care of it.”

  After lunch Stan drove down to the Highland Park Cafeteria where he had tracked Raul Marcus. Stan chuckled as he remembered Emilio telling him about Raul dropping the salad bowl and then scooping the salad up off the ground and putting it into another bowl. He didn’t think Marcus had sufficient motive to kill anyone over his termination from Emilio’s, but he couldn’t ignore the possibility. Marcus led Stan out to a patio area where he said they’d have more privacy.

  “I understand you were terminated from Emilio’s.”

  “Yeah and it’s been a bitch getting a new job without being able to get a decent reference.”

  “Well, do you blame Emilio? What you did was pretty stupid.”

  Marcus shrugged. “I guess, but I was just trying to save Emilio some time and money. Produce is expensive not to mention the labor cost of doing another day’s setup.”

  “No. You were hoping that nobody had seen your carelessness and you could avoid getting your ass chewed.”

  He smiled. “Well, there’s that too.”

  Stan shook his head. “So, where were you the night of the murders?”

  “I was working here. You can verify it with my supervisor.”

  Stan nodded. “I figured as much. Do you have any idea who might have been angry enough at Emilio or Ricardo to do this?”

  “Not really. It doesn’t make much sense unless somebody was angry at all of them.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, you don’t usually murder someone by mistake.”

  “So, you think the killer wanted to kill all of the victims.”

  “Maybe.”

  Stan nodded. “Well, that certainly is something to think about. I appreciate your cooperation.”

  Stan thought about what Marcus had said on his way to Emilio’s but for the life of him couldn’t see why someone would want all of them dead. To make that connection he’d need a lot more information about the victims. Fortunately, there was one survivor, Sandy Richmond, so that would be a good place to start.

  When he got to the restaurant he showed Emilio the pictures of the three men. Emilio confirmed that one of the men had been by the restaurant to deliver the sales offer to him, but he didn’t remember seeing him on the night of the murder.

  “You don’t mind if I walk around and show these pictures to your employees do you?”

  “No. Go ahead. I’m usually in the office or at home at that time of night, so I may not have seen them even if they were here.”

  Stan took the photos first to the kitchen staff and then to the waiters but no one remembered seeing any of them on the night of the murders. Stan was just about to leave when Julie Marks walked i
n. She was a hostess and had been on duty on the night of the murders.

  “Sure. I saw this guy,” she said pointing to Christopher Hunt’s photo.

  “Was he a customer?”

  “Yes. He came in with a woman and he was seated about two tables away from where the customers died.”

  “Hmm,” Stan said thoughtfully. “Maybe he wanted to see the results of his handiwork–confirm that the job had been done.”

  Julie shrugged. “Maybe. He and his date left right after it happened. Of course, a lot of people did.”

  “Right. It could just be a coincidence.”

  Stan went back to Emilio’s office, called Besch and told him what he had found out. Besch told him he’d pass on the information to his superiors and see if they were impressed enough to launch an investigation. Stan thanked him but knew it was unlikely to be enough. Unfortunately, he didn’t know what else he could do to get them to act.

  When Stan got back to the office he went to Paula’s office to tell her what he had found out. He told her what Besch had reported to him about Christopher Hunt and that Julie had seen him at the restaurant on the night of the murders.

  “That’s very interesting. It sure makes you wonder if Tom Wilkinson wasn’t behind the murders.”

  “Yes, it does,” Stan agreed. “It will play well to the jury.”

  “Well, I’ve come up with another suspect too.”

  “Really?”

  Paula told Stan about her visit to Richmond Investments and her meeting with Richmond’s son.

  “Apparently a Walter Satterwhite bought into a dry hole and lost his retirement fund. He was extremely upset and filed several complaints to various authorities but none of them thought Richmond had done anything wrong. But that just made Satterwhite more angry and he confronted Richmond at his office and actually threatened to kill him.”

  “I don’t know if it is a good idea to pitch more than one alternative theory to the jury,” Stan said. “They may think we are just speculating and don’t seriously believe either theory.”

  “Right. We’ll probably go with the theory that makes more sense.”

  “Or the one that the available evidence supports.”

  Paula nodded. “Right. We’ll just have to play it by ear.”

  “Oh, Besch says we should pull Jodie off her undercover assignment.”

  “Yes. I was thinking the same thing now that we know the mob is involved. She’s not in right now. I’ll tell her first thing in the morning.”

  On his way back to his office Stan asked Maria if she’d been able to file the motion for contempt and set it for hearing. He was surprised when she said it had been filed and set for hearing the next morning.

  “Wow! How did you pull that off?” Stan asked.

  “When I told Margie, the court clerk, about Sammy’s visit to the store she was shocked, I think. So, when I asked her for a hearing date she asked if you could do it in the morning since there had been a cancellation.”

  “Well, the only problem is we have to get Sammy served with the motion.”

  Maria smiled. “Already done. The process server went right out there after I delivered the notice to him and caught him as he was leaving to go home.”

  “Great. Was Ram happy when you told him?”

  “He was glad that we got a quick hearing, but I think he is a little nervous about testifying.”

  “Well, all he has to do is tell the judge what happened, so I think he can handle it.”

  “That’s what I told him.”

  “Thank you, Maria. Excellent job as usual,” Stan said and went back to his office.

  The next morning he met Ram in the lobby of the Earle Cabell Federal Building. He took him to the cafeteria and they drank a cup of coffee while they prepared for the hearing. Ten minutes before the hearing they went up to the courtroom and took a seat in the gallery. They watched the door for Sammy but he hadn’t arrived by the time the judge entered the courtroom. After the court had handled several uncontested matters Ram’s case was called and the judge asked for appearances.

  Stan stood up. “Stan Turner for the debtor-in-possession,” Stan said.

  The middle-aged Hispanic judge looked down at her docket sheet then glanced around the courtroom. “So, where is Saman Keashkear?”

  Stan looked around the courtroom. “I don’t see him, Your Honor.”

  “Bailiff, see if Mr. Keashkear is in the hallway.”

  The bailiff nodded, went out into the hallway and called Sammy’s name. There was no response so he came back in and reported that Mr. Keashkear had not responded.

  “Very well, Mr. Turner. Let’s see, you have filed a motion for contempt. How is Mr. Keashkear in contempt?”

  Stan explained to the judge what had happened, so the judge told Stan to put his client on the stand to make a record. When he was done the judge made an entry on her docket sheet.

  “Very well. What kind of relief are you looking for, Mr. Turner?”

  “I’d like the court to find Mr. Keashkear in contempt and fine him a reasonable amount to deter him from violating the automatic stay in the future and I’d like my attorney’s fees which through court today amount to five hours at $250 per hour.”

  “Very well, I find Saman Keashkear in contempt of this court for violating the automatic stay, fine him $3,000 and award the movant $1,250.00 attorney’s fees, plus costs of court.”

  “Thank you, Your Honor,” Stan said. “May we be excused?”

  “I’ll need an order from you reflective of the court’s ruling within 10 days.”

  “Yes, Your Honor.”

  “You’re excused,” the judge said and looked down at her docket sheet. “Henderson - Motion to Lift Stay.”

  Stan turned and left the courtroom with Ram at his heels. When they were out in the hall Stan noticed that Ram had a troubled look on his face.

  “What’s wrong?” Stan asked.

  “Sammy is going to be very upset when he finds out he has to pay $4,250.00.”

  Stan shrugged. “Well, maybe if it costs him a few bucks he’ll have more respect for the court.”

  Ram nodded but looked skeptical. Stan wondered if there was anything else he could do to protect Ram and his family, but he didn’t know what it would be. He just prayed Sammy wouldn’t be so foolish as to violate the court’s order a second time.