The Master Plan (2009) (25 page)

"Dana? It's Casey. I hope I'm not calling too late."

"No problem. I just got off the phone with my mom."

"I'm worried about Carmen and Cathy. Bruno was really
cool when he questioned them, but if O'Brien starts hassling them, I don't know how they'll take it."

"It may not come to that," Dana assured her. "The Chicago
police are running a ballistics test on the bullets fired at
John's apartment. If it matches with the tests run on the bullet from Tony's apartment, it will confirm that the murders
are related, and there is a witness that saw a man go up to
Hunter's apartment right before Sam and I got there"

"Didn't you say the witness was a child?"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean we can discount what he
saw."

"Does Bruno believe that?"

"I don't know, but I spoke with him after we left the Aztec Club and told him that O'Brien was giving us a hard
time. I think he'll talk to Jack and convince him to wait for
the ballistics report"

"Which could make O'Brien think that we murdered both
brothers," Casey replied.

"Casey," Dana said firmly. "You've been through the worst
kind of traumas and your emotions are totally raw. You've
dealt with Jack O'Brien before and you know that he's ninety
percent smoke and mirrors, so don't give so much weight to
what he said tonight. I think he was just showing off."

Casey sighed. "You're right. Every little thing that happens throws me into a panic these days"

"And whatever happens, we'll deal with it together."

"Thanks, Dana. That's why I called you. I can always
count on you to make me feel better."

The call ended with Dana thinking that maybe some of
her mother's ability to cheer and comfort others had rubbed
off on her.

Her doorbell rang several times in a row. There was only
one person who leaned on the bell that way. Dana went to
let Bruno in.

"I
did talk to one guy who said the pool hall was usually
frequented by the same people every night, but on the night
that Lucas Porter disappeared there was a guy in there that
he had never seen before," Bob told Dana over lunch the
next day. "He also said he thought the guy left about the
same time that Porter left."

"Did he give you a description?"

"Not one that will help much," Bob replied. "Medium
height, medium build, didn't get a good look at his face because he stayed at the bar the whole time with his head down.
He did say the guy was dressed in black and kept his hat on
the whole time."

Casey had called to say she wouldn't be in until the afternoon. Dana wondered if she hadn't been up most of the
night worrying about Jack O'Brien and his accusations.

Marianne had gone out to lunch with her friends from
the circulation department. Bob and Dana had ordered sandwiches from the coffee shop in the lobby of the building. Bob had been out looking into a new case that had
come into the Globe via e-mail late the previous afternoon,
and this was the first chance he and Dana had to talk about
the Porter case.

Dana finished chewing a piece of the tuna-fish sandwich
she had ordered and looked at Bob quizzically. "What kind
of hat?"

"A black cap with an Arizona Cardinals logo on it."

Dana thought about that for a moment and suddenly remembered what the football team's logo was. "The Arizona Cardinals' logo is a red bird, a cardinal."

"That's right."
"

"Oh, my," Dana said, dropping her sandwich onto the
paper plate on her desk. "The little boy who saw the man
go up to Hunter's apartment said the man was wearing a
black hat with red bird on it"

"No kidding?"

I guess it could just be a coincidence, but most of the
people here and in Chicago are Bears fans. They wouldn't
be caught dead in a Cardinals hat"

"That could mean the murder of Lucas Porter and John
Hunter are connected"

"Do you think it's possible that they even knew each
other?"

"It's a long shot, but worth asking Judy Porter about. I'll
call her after lunch," Dana said. "How come the guy you
talked to yesterday didn't offer this information the last time
you went in there?"

"He wasn't there that afternoon" Bob looked at his notes.
"His name is Walter Connors. He works at some computer store and sometimes has to work until nine. Yesterday was
his day off"

"What about the bartender? Did he remember the guy
with the Cardinals hat?"

"He's the owner of the place and says he doesn't remember anyone like that. To be honest, I think he drinks more
than any of his customers so he probably wouldn't remember if Michael Jordan came in that night"

The telephone rang and Dana picked it up. "Globe Investigations."

"What are you doing for lunch?" Bruno asked.

"Bob and I ordered sandwiches. We had some cases to
talk over."

"I won't ask which ones," he said.

"Thank you," Dana replied.

"I just called to tell you we got the ballistics report from
Chicago. It matches our report, so both of the Hunters were
killed with bullets from the same gun. Now all we have to do
is find the person who owns the gun"

"Did you talk to O'Brien?"

"Yes, and I told him everything you told me to tell him."

"I doubt that, but now that you have the ballistics report,
he has to admit that Casey and her friends are no longer
suspects in either case."

"That would be a big concession for O'Brien."

"Bruno, Sam and I were at John Hunter's murder scene.
He was killed by a man"

"You told me that last night and you told me to tell O'Brien
that, so I did. I'll call you later, love ""

Bruno hung up. Dana turned her attention back to Bob,
telling him about the results of the two ballistics reports.

"I take it that didn't convince O'Brien to lay off Casey
and her girlfriends."

"I guess not, but I don't have time to worry about him
now."

"What about the anonymous letter we got in the Porter
case. Did Bruno run it through the lab?"

"He said he took it over there personally, but it's not a
priority so it may be a while before we get any results. He
did say he talked to Louis Hildago about it and he laughed
like a loon."

"What about Troy Kimball? Does he know about it?"

"I don't know. I guess we should have sent him a copy, but
I didn't want to take a chance of messing it up by putting it in
the copier. I'll call him right after I talk to Judy Porter."

Bob stood up. "I'm going back to the three places where
Porter worked to ask some more questions, unless something else came in here that I have to check out."

"No. All the other requests that came in today can be handled by Marianne except for one" Dana picked up a letter.
"I'm saving this one for Casey."

Bob took it and scanned it. "Aaron Bloomfield's cat is
missing again. You're right. Casey will want to handle this
one."

Aaron Bloomfield contacted Globe Investigations every
few weeks or so. He was ninety-six years old and had outlived all of his relatives. Each time he wrote, either Casey
or Bob would pay him a visit. Aaron always said his cat
was missing, but Aaron lived in a nursing home and didn't
have a cat. His real problem was that he was lonesome and
wanted someone to listen to his stories about being a stuntman for the movies and dating all the beautiful actresses.

Marianne returned from lunch and Casey came in a short
time later. Casey was soon on her way to visit Aaron Bloomfield. She offered to stop back at the office when she was
done to see if any other cases had come in.

"Whatever comes in this afternoon can be dealt with tomorrow," Dana told her. "Spend as much time with Aaron
as you'd like."

Marianne was amazed to find out that Bruno had been
the only phone call that had come in while she was at
lunch. "It's really been slow," she told Dana.

"Thank goodness," Dana replied. "I have two phone calls
to make and then I want to get back to the trial transcripts
Greg delivered."

"It won't take me too long to take care of the research I
have," Marianne said. "I'll be glad to help you when I'm
done."

"I'll be glad to have you help me," Dana said. "Most of
this stuff is so boring, I have to read it standing up so I don't
nod off."

Marianne turned to her computer and her research and
Dana went to her desk to make her phone calls. Judy's voice
reflected the stress that she was under, but she said that she
was happy to hear from Dana and even happier to hear that
Bob was looking into the case again. However, Judy said
she didn't know anyone who might wear an Arizona Cardinals hat and then admitted that she didn't know what their
logo looked like anyway. She was positive that Lucas didn't
know either of the Hunter brothers.

Troy Kimball was out of his office, but Dana left a message with his secretary about the anonymous letter her office had received.

With the phone calls done, Dana picked up the trial transcripts again.

After failing to come up with any new information at the
temp office or the two temporary places of employment
where Lucas Porter had worked before his death, Bob decided to stop by the Sunflower Market and see if he could
talk to the manager or Porter's coworker in the stockroom.

The store was busy and the manager said he didn't have
time to talk. "Besides, I told that curly headed woman everything I know about Lucas Porter." Just then, his name was announced over the loud speaker. "Another crisis," he muttered
as he hurried away from Bob.

Bob strolled over to the bakery case and bought two
chocolate chip cookies to boost his morale and his energy
level. He munched on the cookies as he made his way back
to the stockroom to see if he could find Jose.

The only one in the stockroom was George, who was
loading some cartons onto a cart. Like everyone else who
shopped at Sunflower Market, Bob knew George.

"Hey, George," Bob said. "I'm looking for Jose. Is he
here?"

George looked up. "He called in sick today. In fact several people called in sick so we're shorthanded."

"That's why the manager was so harried," Bob said.

"I guess. Can I help you with something?"

"Maybe. I know Dana talked to you a few weeks ago
about Lucas Porter. Anything you forgot to tell her about
him?"

"He beat up his wife. I guess that's why she killed him"

"How did you know he abused his wife?"

"Lucas brought her in here to shop once a week. He always acted real nice with her, but you'd have to be blind
not to notice the bruises the girl had on her."

Bob nodded. "Anything else you can tell me?"

"That cookie you're eating has three hundred calories."

"For one cookie?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well, I guess that's why it tastes so good. See you,
George."

Bob returned to the office to find both Dana and Marianne reading the trial transcripts.

I came up with zero on the Porter case today," Bob told
them. "How are you guys doing?"

"I never knew that people could talk so much without really saying anything," Marianne said.

"Must be all females you're reading about," Bob quipped.

Both girls refused to give him the satisfaction of a reply.
"We had some new inquiries come in via e-mail," Dana said.
"Here's the printouts on the ones that will need looking into."

Bob took the pages she handed him and settled himself
into the other chair by her desk. "By the way, I went past Flannery's Garage and the building is for sale."

"He probably has to sell it to pay his legal fees," Dana
said absently. "So you didn't learn anything new about
Porter's case today?"

"Just that George thinks Mrs. Porter killed her husband
because he was abusing her."

"Hey," Marianne said suddenly. "Here's a reference to that
bank manager. His name is Stuart Hollingsworth. It's testimony that Sarah Turner's father was giving."

"What does it say?" Dana asked.

"He said, `My daughter was engaged to the manager there,
Stu Hollingsworth. I'm sure that's why she was in the bank
that day. She didn't know he had called in sick that day.'
And then the lawyer said, `Are you referring to the assistant
manager, Stuart G. Hollingsworth?' and Turner said that was
him."

"Okay, at least now we have a name. What else did it say
about him?"

"That was it. The father just talked about how beautiful
and sweet his daughter was. He started crying and the judge
excused him"

"Do you want me to run Hollingsworth through my database programs?"

"Please."

Marianne got up and went back to her desk. Dana looked
at Bob, who was waiting patiently to be noticed. "So, all
we've come up with so far is the guy in the Cardinals hat?"

Bob nodded. "I also learned that the chocolate chip cookies at Sunflower bakery have three hundred calories each"

"Who told you that?"

"George, of course. He's the only one who would talk to
me today. The manager said he was too busy, and that Jose
who works in the stockroom with Porter was out sick."