The Master Plan (2009) (24 page)

"Did Sarah's involvement in the robbery or her relationship with the bank manager come out at the trial?"

Mary Lou looked at her. "No one knew about it except me and the boys and Sarah. They might have told their
lawyer, but he was one of those public defenders who didn't
know which end was up. Same kind of jerk that landed me
in here"

"Did you testify at the trial?"

"I had to, but I don't remember what I said. It was a long
time ago and I was scared the boys might get off and come
after me."

"For turning them into the police? Did you get a reward?"

"What makes you think it was me who turned them in?"

"Wasn't it?"

Mary Lou grinned. "Yeah, it was. To tell the truth, I wasn't
really after the reward money, it was peanuts. It was the bank
loot I wanted, but I underestimated the boys. After they killed
Sarah they hid the money somewhere and would never tell
anyone, not me, not the cops, nobody, where it was. If Tony
got out of prison two years ago, he probably got to it first and
spent it all."

"All but about thirty thousand dollars," Dana told her.

"In that case, maybe Johnny killed him."

"I don't think so," Dana said. "I'm working on the assumption that the two murders are connected. Do you know
anything else about the bank manager Sarah was dating?"

"No. He was supposedly home sick the day of the robbery,
so I don't know if they even called him to testify. I've always
wondered if the real plan wasn't for Sarah to get the money
from Johnny and Tony and run off with her boyfriend."

"What makes you think that?"

"I don't know," she said with a shrug. "Like I said, I wasn't
real close with Sarah. I guess I just knew that she thought John and Tony were dummies and she could get them to do
the dirty work and she'd reap the rewards"

"What about Clyde Hunter? John and Tony's father?"

"He was so drunk most of the time he didn't know what
they were up to. He didn't even come to the trial"

"Is there anyone else you can think of that might have
had a reason to want John and Tony dead? Relatives of
Sarah's maybe?"

"Just me, but as you can see, I got an iron-clad alibi."

"You seem like a smart woman," Dana said. "How'd you
end up in here?"

"My boss was such an idiot, he made it easy for me to
steal from him. The problem was I got greedy and started
taking more and more. Greed is a dangerous thing."

"Yes, it is," Dana agreed.

"Well, the good thing about doing a white-collar crime is
that you get sent to a place like this. Me and Martha Stewart got that in common"

A voice came over a loud speaker announcing that visiting hours would be over soon. Mary Lou called out for one
of the guards to come over to them.

"My friend, here, wants to donate to my commissary
fund," she told him. "I need a slip from you"

The guard pulled a pad and pen from his shirt pocket.
Mary Lou explained that Dana had to sign the slip and give
the money to the guard, who would then put it in Mary Lou's
account.

"How much are you donating?" the guard asked Dana.

"Forty dollars," Dana said, pulling two twenties from her
purse and handing it to him.

"Thanks," Mary Lou said.

"Here's my card, Mary Lou," Dana said handing it to
her. "Let me know if you think of anything else."

"You got the whole story, girlie. There isn't any more to
tell."

Casey was already at the Aztec Club when Dana arrived.
She was seated in a booth toward the back, away from the
main lights of the restaurant and the television set that hung
on the wall behind the bar area.

"How are you doing?" Dana asked as she slid into the
booth across from her friend.

"I'm getting better," Casey replied. "I arranged for a funeral home here to cremate-" She stopped. It was obviously still hard for Casey to say his name. "The man here
was very nice and helpful. He will transfer the ashes here to
a crematorium he knows in Chicago that will take care of
John. Their ashes will be interred in the same niche at a
Chicago cemetery. There will be no services and I won't have
to do anything but pay the bills"

"I think that's probably for the best," Dana told her.
"You've done all you can now for both of them and you have
to start thinking of yourself again and moving forward."

"Sure," Casey said with a forced smile. "I'm going to do
that."

Casey's appearance was better than it had been in the office yesterday. She had fixed her hair and applied makeup
so that her pale features had some color. The outfit she
wore was one that Marianne had helped her pick out too.

"You look good, Casey," Dana said sincerely. "That's the
first step toward recovery."

"Thanks. So, tell me about your appointment in Chicago.
I'm assuming it had something to do with one of the murders."

"Actually, it had to do with both of them. I went to the
Illinois Correctional Facility for Women to visit a woman
who knew the Hunter brothers at the time of the bank robbery."

"Who was she?"

"She was John's girlfriend at the time. They were hiding
out at her family home and she was the one who turned them
into the police."

"Did she tell you why?"

"Yes. Let's order some food and I'll tell you the whole
story."

Dana signaled for the waitress and they ordered dinner
salads, roast-beef sandwiches, and soft drinks. Then Dana
related her experience with Mary Lou that afternoon and
told Casey everything she had learned from the woman.

"That doesn't really confirm our theory that someone
from their past killed them for revenge."

"No, but it doesn't rule it out, either. Greg picked up the
trial transcripts for me today and maybe something will turn
up in there"

"Well, this sounds awful," Casey said, "but the fact that
Sarah Turner actually masterminded the robbery and might
have been planning to take off with all the money makes
me feel a little better. At least I can tell myself that Tony
didn't murder an innocent person in cold blood."

"True" Dana didn't say that robbing a bank and then
shooting your accomplice was still pretty bad. It all stemmed
from greed, as Mary Lou said earlier, a dangerous thing.

"I'm going to use the balance of the stolen money to pay
off the loan that Carmen, Cathy, and I took out to make me
look wealthy. Making that payment every month would just
remind me of how stupid I was to take part in a scheme like
that. I'm also going to quit the country club. To tell you the
truth, I didn't really enjoy going there all that much"

By the time they had finished eating, Dana felt that Casey
was going to be all right. Unfortunately, that was just about
the time that Jack O'Brien came into the Aztec Club.

Casey saw him first. "Oh, no. Jack O'Brien just walked in.
I hope he doesn't see us"

Dana agreed, but both of them were disappointed when
O'Brien came directly to their table.

"Hello, ladies," he said pleasantly. "I hope you're not planning another one of those master plans."

"Get lost, Jack," Dana told him bluntly.

"I guess you're still mad because I called Bruno and told
him you were at a murder scene"

"No. I just don't like you," she said with a smile.

Jack turned to Casey. "How about you, Mrs. Hunter? Do
you dislike me too?"

"I don't know you well enough for that," Casey said.

"Well, guess what? I'm working on the murder of your husband and you're going to get to know me pretty well. In
fact, I may become your worst nightmare."

"Let's go, Casey," Dana said, standing up and grabbing
her coat. O'Brien was blocking their way. "Get out of the
way, Jack, or I'll start screaming."

Jack laughed and backed away, putting his hands in the
air as a sign of surrender. "Sorry. I didn't mean to upset you,
Dana. I'll see you around"

Dana and Casey hurried past him and went out the door
to the parking lot next door where their windshields had
become frosted in the cold night air.

"He thinks I killed Tony," Casey said when they reached
her car.

"Bruno is the lead detective on the case, and he knows
you didn't, so don't let O'Brien worry you"

"I'll try not to, but these days everything upsets me"

"I know," Dana said, giving her a hug. "But it will get better."

"Thanks for being such a good friend," Casey said as
she used her credit card to scrape frost off her windshield.

"It works both ways," Dana said. "Be careful going home."

Dana hurried over to her car, got in and started the engine, then turned on the defroster. While she waited for the
windshield to clear, she got out her cell phone and dialed
Bruno's number.

"Hi, sweetheart," he said with a warmth in his voice that
took the chill out of the air. "Where are you?"

"I'm in the parking of the Aztec Club waiting for my car
window to defrost. I had dinner with Casey and your partner O'Brien came in and upset both of us "

"What did he do?" Bruno asked with an edge to his voice.

"First he accused us of plotting another master plan, a
very sore subject with Casey, and then he accused her of
killing her husband."

"I'll have a talk with him tomorrow," Bruno said.

"He was just spouting off, wasn't he?" Dana asked. "You
know that Casey couldn't kill anyone."

Bruno sighed. "What about those two girlfriends of hers?"

"What about them?"

"Do you think they could have had something to do with
Tony's death?"

"Is that one of Jack's theories?"

"Yes, but I'm afraid the way he tells it, it makes sense."

"That's ridiculous," Dana said angrily. "You can't possibly believe that"

"I don't believe it, but I can't stop O'Brien from doublechecking everyone's alibi."

"I am so sorry I called you," Dana said. She clicked off
the telephone and then turned it off so Bruno couldn't call
her back.

Her windshield had cleared. The car engine had warmed,
and Dana was hot. She put the car in gear and drove out of the
lot and headed toward her apartment, muttering to herself.

While she understood that Bruno had to do his job, she
was now frightened that Casey and her friends could be facing the same type of situation that had landed Judy Porter
and Teddy Larson in jail.

Dana parked her car and quickly ran up the stairs to her
apartment. The telephone was ringing, but Dana ignored it
thinking it was Bruno. She really had to invest in caller ID.

After shedding her coat and scarf and hanging everything
neatly in the closet, Dana checked for phone messages. There were none. Whoever had been calling when she came
through the door had just hung up.

Dana went into the kitchen and made herself a cup of
herbal tea. Then she picked up the phone and called the one
person in her life who could always cheer her up, her mom.

No matter what time of the day or night she called her
mother, Linda Sloan always sounded like hearing from
Dana was the best thing that happened all day.

"You sound down, honey," her mom said after they had
exchanged a few words.

"It's been a rough few weeks," Dana said and then proceeded to explain all that had happened with Casey.

"Poor Casey. She must be devastated," Linda said.

"She was doing better until Detective Jack O'Brien
showed up tonight and gave us a hard time. He thinks Casey
and her friends murdered Tony Hunter."

"That's just stupid," Linda said. "What does Bruno think?"

"Bruno said he can't stop O'Brien from double-checking
their alibis. He made me so mad, I hung up on him."

"I'm sure he didn't mean to upset you, dear," her mom
said.

"He never means to upset me," Dana retorted. "But he
does it all the time ""

"And you never upset him?" her mother asked.

Dana couldn't help smiling. "Okay, you're right. I upset
him too."

"Every couple has their ups and downs," Linda said. "It's
your ability to forgive and forget that's important. I forgive
your father at least three times a day."

Dana laughed. "Dad is a prince and you know it."

They talked awhile longer and Dana got updated on all that was going on in the farming community and in the lives
of her brothers and their families. "When are coming to
visit?" her mom finally asked. "We miss you"

"Actually Bruno's mother is coming here next week and
we were thinking of bringing her to the farm to meet my
family "

"Oh, that would be wonderful. I'd love to meet her."

"What would be a good time for you and dad?"

"Anytime you can make it, Dana. Just give me a few
hours' notice."

Dana promised she would and they said their good-byes.
Dana hung up the phone and it rang immediately.

Since the chat with her mom had improved her disposition she answered the phone even though she thought it was
Bruno. It wasn't.