He glanced back at the construction plans and then focused on Earl Lancaster’s words:
The only way to justify that much concrete is if they built a full basement.
But as he’d also pointed out, why would David Katz have gone to the additional time, trouble, and expense for more storage area than he could possibly ever need? And if there was an underground room, it would have to be accessible somehow. There would have to be a door down there. And steps. And what would be down there?
Mary Lancaster called him back twenty minutes later.
“Long shower,” he grumbled.
“I had to dress and dry my hair too, and do it all with a friggin’ hangover,” she snapped. “Earl told me about your questions. Where are you headed with this?”
“I think there’s another room under the American Grill.”
“Why would that be?”
“I have no idea. But Earl couldn’t think of another reason why so much concrete would have been used. And maybe that’s why Rachel Katz hid the documents I found. That’s where the additional concrete was listed.”
“Meaning she knew about a possible underground room?”
“Katz told me that she and her husband met on a blind date. And six months later they were married. This wasafterthe American Grill opened.”
“So maybe she didn’t know about the underground room, then?”
“At least not at that point. And that might explain why they used tarps over the construction site and used outside contractors and rented equipment. They didn’t want anyone to know what they were doing.”
“And Fred Palmer told us that the equipment they rented was a lot more horsepower than was needed. But they might need all of that if they were going to remove enough dirt to make way for a full basement.”
“Right. Although I guess somewhere in the permitting process, they’d have to tell the folks in government about their plans and get approvals. Code compliance and inspections and all that. But I guess there’s also no law against having a basement underneath your restaurant.”
“But you would have to have a way to access it,” said Lancaster.
“A waitress at the restaurant told me some interesting things.” He quickly told her about the traineesand wait staff, the longtime manager, and the seemingly one-year turnover for all except the kitchen staff.
“Okay, this is just getting weirder and weirder,” noted Lancaster. “What is going on in this alleged room underneath the restaurant? Do you think it might be a drug operation?”
“If so, it’s certainly an odd one.”
“And that would mean that instead of an innocent citizen who was murdered for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, Katz was dirty. Maybe that’s what led to hisgetting killed.”
“That could certainly be the case if somebody wanted him out of the way.”
“But why kill the Richards family too?”
“Don Richards gave him the loan for the Grill. Maybe that ties in somehow.” He paused. “I wonder about something.”
“What?”
“I’m wondering if the loan was ever paid off,” said Decker.