The Master Plan (2009) (30 page)

Bruno yanked him out of the way and crashed into the room. Dana and Angie were sitting at the interview table.
Besides Jack, there were two uniformed cops in the room.
Everyone stopped laughing and turned to look at Bruno.

Dana and Angie both got up and ran into his arms. Tears
of relief were streaming down his face. "My God," he whispered. "I thought I'd lost you both"

"Dana saved my life," Angie told him.

"No," Dana protested. "Angie gets the credit."

Jack and the other officers had the good sense to leave the
room. After a few minutes, Bruno calmed down and was able
to release them from his suffocating embrace.

Dana and Angie sat down again and Bruno threw off his
coat and sat down across from them. He stared at their
faces, so beautiful, so alive.

"What happened?" he finally asked.

"Has anyone filled you in on Hollingsworth?" Dana
asked.

"Marianne did. Then I went to Sunflower and found out he
worked there and had disappeared at the same time you did.
I also found your cell phone smashed in the parking lot."

"Right," Dana said. "It turned out that your mother knows
George and told me his last name. I was unable to hide my
surprise and he realized that I had connected him to the
murders"

"Wait a minute" Bruno held up his hand. "My mother
knows this murderer?"

"We grew up in the same neighborhood," Angie said defensively. "He wasn't a murderer then, but I knew about the
robbery and his girlfriend being killed and he knew I would
tell Dana so he came after us. Oh, and I also happened to
mention that my son was a homicide detective."

"I was just about to call you when he came out of the vacant store and put a gun to our heads"

"We were putting the groceries in the trunk," Angie added.
"I saw Dana grab a can of tomato paste and slip it into her
pocket. So, I grabbed a can too. George was too busy smashing Dana's cell phone and waving his gun around to notice."
"

"He made us drive out into the country and pull off the
road," Dana continued. "He was going to shoot us both and
drive off in my car. He grabbed Angie first and put the gun to
her head. I pulled out the can of tomato paste and threw it as
hard as I could. It hit him in the face and threw him off balance. He dropped the gun and as he dove for it, your mother
took out a can of jumbo olives and knocked him out cold."

I saw where you pulled off the road. There was a lot of
blood," Bruno told them.

"George's," his mother said. "They took him to the hospital. I think he has a concussion."

"Maybe a fractured skull," Dana added. "Anyway, I got
the gun and held it on him, but he was unconscious. We
opened the trunk, transferred the groceries to the backseat
and then the two of us picked up George and dragged him
to the car and managed to lock him in the trunk"

"Then Dana turned the car around and we drove straight
to the police station. And here we are. Good thing it's so
cold outside, it will keep the groceries from spoiling"

Bruno looked at the two of them in disbelief. "So George
the friendly grocer you are always talking about killed Tony
Hunter."

"And John Hunter and Lucas Porter. Remember his fingerprint on the anonymous letter is what made it all fit together."

"Marianne told me he sold real estate in Arizona where
they have to be fingerprinted and that's where he became
an Arizona Cardinals fan. Louis told me about the witness
Bob found and about the salesman at the hardware store
who sold him the hammer. Why did he kill Porter?"

"Practice!" Dana and Angie said at the same time. Then
they looked at each other and hugged.

Dana and Angie's ordeal made the front page the next
morning, with Dana's byline, of course.

The spaghetti dinner took place that night with Casey as an
additional guest. As Angie said, the cold air kept the groceries
from spoiling. Dana was allowed to assist with the sauce, but
mostly she just watched Angie and wrote down everything
she did. When Angie started to add a half-handful of sugar to
the bubbling mixture, Dana made her stop, got the measuring
spoons, and figured out how much that was. Angie was delighted to have someone so interested in her secret recipe.

Once the sauce was simmering, Dana took Casey into
the bedroom for a private talk. She told her that the master
plan had actually saved her life. If Tony hadn't become so
angry about it and pushed her out of the apartment, George
would have shot her too.

"I can't believe it," Casey said. "George was such a
sweetheart "

Stuart G. Hollingsworth was still in the hospital recovering
from his head wound. The police had the gun he used to kill
Tony and John, so George confessed to everything, thereby
closing three homicide cases and forcing Louis Hildago to
drop all the charges against Judy Porter and Teddy Larson.

The spaghetti dinner was fabulous and everyone had a good time. Even Casey seemed to have fun, a sign that she
was going to be her old self again.

Early Sunday morning, Bruno, Dana, and Angie drove to
the Sloan farm. There in the country, the snow was kneedeep and perfect for snowball fights and building snowmen.
Several frosty characters were constructed with Bruno and
Dana's brothers supervising the little ones.

The women were all gathered in the kitchen. Linda and
Angelina were getting along like soul mates. Dana decided
to slip away to the den to visit with her dad.

Warren Sloan was sitting by the window watching the
men and the kids making the most of the winter wonderland.

Dana came over and perched on the arm of the chair, kissing her dad on top of his bald head. "It's good to be home,"
she said.

"From what I read in the paper, you and Angie had a very
close call. When are you going to stop being a lady gangbuster and settle down, daughter?" her dad asked.

"You've been talking to Bruno again," Dana said.

"Yes. You two scared him so bad, he's thinking about
quitting the force"

"He always says that, but he doesn't mean it."

"I think he'd do it in a heartbeat if he thought it would
keep you safe"

"I don't do what I do because Bruno is a cop," Dana
said. "I was doing it before I met him."

"And you're going to keep on doing it?"

"Yes. My staff and I help a lot of people."

"Okay," he agreed. "As long as you're happy."

Dana gazed out the window at Bruno. The little ones were all chasing him with snowballs in their hands. Bruno ran in
a circle for a few minutes and then let the kids catch him.
They howled with laughter when he fell to the ground and
they were able to cover him with snow.

"Remember the bambinos," Dana said softly.

"What was that?" her dad asked.

"A promise that's part of my master plan," she replied
with a distant smile.