Chapter Fourteen #3
“Both of them were old-timers. You know, the old families that go way back and thought they ran the town. They didn’t like the changes in the restaurant.
At the time, I wondered if they had gotten together to try to force my compliance.
Stuart Parker was alive at the time. He died about two years after the incident. ”
Harlow barely remembered the man. He had been difficult, to say the least, even to his children and grandchildren.
He would often sit in a chair in the park and yell at the kids for playing ball too close to him after he deliberately sat where they played.
He enjoyed causing trouble. He liked scenes, especially when he had an audience.
The bank was his favorite place to throw a temper tantrum.
The moment he entered, the tellers did their best to go on a break.
He thought nothing of berating them loudly and publicly.
But his family was one of the founding families in Knightly, and he had a great deal of money, so he often got away with his antics.
“He’s deceased, so he isn’t, obviously, going to be the one who vandalized your restaurant,” Mary pointed out. “Who is the other one?”
“He’s deceased as well. Jacob Landry didn’t like the newer business plan. He had nothing to do with my business, but he tried to hold up the permits. He came in often and complained about the new menu.”
Alek hesitated and then snuck a quick peek at Shabina and then Rainier.
Harlow’s heart dropped. She found herself tucking her hand into the crook of Sam’s arm even as she stepped closer to Shabina.
She should have known Rainier would understand that look, and he’d shelter his wife.
His arms slid around her, and he pulled her tight into his body.
“He didn’t like the menu because he knew Shabina had helped me with it,” Alek said with great reluctance. “He had a real problem with women he perceived as foreigners, which was odd because his wife was from Chile.”
There was a short silence. Harlow studied Shabina. She didn’t look surprised or even upset. She rubbed her chin on Rainier’s arm, where it was locked around her. In fact, she looked up at him and smiled.
“He’s dead, Rainier. I wasn’t the only woman he disliked and targeted.”
“His son seems to be following in his footsteps,” Rainier said. “Shabina has a restraining order against him, Mary, so if he were to come into the restaurant while she’s here, he would have to leave.”
Mary raised her eyebrow at Alek. “Has Bale given you trouble over that restraining order?”
“He did come and talk to me several times, pointing out he had been born and raised here, and he should have priority over Shabina and be able to come in. I told him I had to follow the law. His uncle, Rafferty, came in to try to persuade me to allow Bale in when Shabina was here, or ask her to leave when he came in. There was no way I was going to do that. Bale didn’t lose his temper, but Rafferty did. ”
“Were Bale and his father close?” Rainier asked.
When she thought about it, she’d never seen Bale and his father together.
People in Knightly talked about the family because they were one of the oldest, and Bale’s father had tremendous influence.
She’d just assumed they were close because his mother had left when he was a young child.
She believed he had chosen to stay with his father over going with his mother.
Was that the truth? No one seemed to know the answer to that any more than she did.
Alek suddenly snapped his fingers, drawing her attention. “Does it have to be restaurant related?”
“Do you mean a conflict between you and someone else?” Mary said. “That’s the point, Alek. An enemy is an enemy, no matter the cause.”
“There was a confrontation recently. It wasn’t about menus or paying bills or anything at all to do with the restaurant.
I’ve had the same neighbors for over ten years.
Carly and Rhonda Simmons, sisters living in the same house together.
They fight like cats and dogs all the time.
Rhonda likes to drink, and Carly likes to smoke pot.
That’s not my business, but once they get messed up, the two will have both verbal and physical altercations, sometimes in their house or backyard, and sometimes in their front yard. ”
“I remember hearing about an incident,” Mary said. “You called 911, but Alek, you weren’t the only one. It’s a wonderful neighborhood with the exception of those two.”
“What happened?” Harlow asked.
“A couple of weeks ago, the sisters got into a fight in the front yard, throwing things at each other, punching, rolling around like crazy fighters, pulling hair and screeching. My kids were outside, and my wife tried to shoo them in before it got too far out of hand, but they’re kids.
Early teens. They didn’t want to go into the house.
They thought it was hilarious to see two grown women acting like wrestlers. ”
“I can see the appeal to young teens,” Sam acknowledged. “Especially boys.”
“I have three of them,” Alek said. “At first, the women were just rolling around like usual, and then all hell broke loose. Carly pulled out a little pistol and started shooting at everything that moved and into the air. Real bullets. She was screaming and rolling around on the lawn and firing the gun in every direction. Molly, my wife, threw the kids to the ground and tried to lie across them to keep them safe.”
“Alek,” Harlow said, a little shocked. Carly and Rhonda had a reputation for fighting at rodeos and karaoke nights.
They’d been kicked out of bingo for fighting.
They were quite funny and pleasant until they drank or got high.
They only fought each other and seemed to make up fast, so no one thought too much about it.
They were considered harmless eccentrics. But not if they started shooting guns.
“They sobered up fast when the cops hauled them to jail,” Alek said.
“But they were very upset with me. I didn’t hesitate to tell the truth—that I had called the cops on them.
Carly had a weapon, and she could have killed someone.
I’m not going to tolerate her shooting guns in a drunken state around my children.
That led to a nasty verbal altercation between us.
She came over the next day with Rhonda and apologized profusely. ”
“When they apologize, it’s always quite sincere,” Shabina said.
Harlow thought of the mask she often wore in front of others. And Guadalupe. She seemed quite sincere, but she was acting.
“Do you have to question them?” Alek asked.
“If they believe I’ve implicated them in this mess, they aren’t going to be very forgiving.
I live next door to them. I wouldn’t want them angry and holding grudges.
They’re actually nice people, until they drink or smoke.
And they’ve always kept their antics between each other.
This was the first time they used a weapon and endangered anyone else. ”