“So all the work was done with nonlocal people?”
“Far as I know. Well, I take that back. The excavation work was done by Fred Palmer, he’s local.”
“Excavation?”
“Yeah, for the foundation and everything. That can involve some heavy equipment. Katz may not have wanted to truck that in.”
“Palmer still around?”
“Oh yeah, I got his number. I use him on projects. He’s a good guy. Does first-rate work.” Earl gave him the contact info.
“Thanks. Do you remember the construction work going on for the Grill?”
“Yeah, I’d drive by it every once in a while.”
“Anything strike you as unusual about it?”
“Well, they had a high fence and security around the place.”
“That’s not unusual at a construction site, is it? I mean it’s to keep people out and stop theft of equipment and materials.”
“Yeah, but they had it there from day one. Before they had any materials on site. And you can’t really steal a ten-ton piece of equipment and drive it off down the street.” He paused. “And they tarped everything.”
“What do you mean?”
“They covered everything up.”
“You mean so no one could see in?”
“Right. I thought that was strange.”
At that moment, apparently Mary Lancaster snatched the phone from her husband. “Why all this interest in the American Grill?”
“Just a theory.”
“What’s your theory?”
“I’m still forming it. But I think we made a mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“By commencing our investigation at the point of the murders.”
“Where else should we have started it?”
“Why did David Katz choose to come to Burlington, Ohio? Or did someone else make that decision for him?”