The Master Plan (2009) (6 page)

"I'll check on her again tomorrow and keep you posted,"
Dana promised.

Del thanked her again and hung up.

Dana turned attention to the morning mail that had been
opened and sorted by Marianne. There were a few new cases
to assign to Bob or Casey. Thinking of Casey reminded Dana
of the other problem she had asked Bruno to help her with the night before. She reached for her phone and dialed Casey's
cell number.

Casey answered after four rings. "Hi, Dana," she said, reading the caller ID on her phone's message screen. "What's up?"

"Not much. I've been out of the office all morning working on something Sam asked me to look into, so I missed
you this morning when you checked in with Marianne."

"I just wanted to report that I took my car over to Flannery's Garage. They are supposed to do an oil change and a
lube job and call me when it's ready to pick up. So far, no
word from them"

"How are you getting around without a car?"

"Bob picked me up and we're working on a few other
things together. Did you need to talk to him?"

"No. Actually, I wanted to invite you and Tony to have din -
ner with Bruno and me tomorrow night at Marsella's."

"How nice," Casey replied with no hint of suspicion in
her voice. "I'll check with Tony and let you know."

"Great. Bruno's mom is coming to town this month, so I
want to get together with you before she gets here"

"Have you met her before?"

"A few times. She's quite the woman; I'm a little intimidated by her. What about Tony's mom? Do you get along
with her?"

"Tony doesn't have any family to speak of," Casey replied
carefully. "So, I guess I don't have to worry about getting
along with my in-laws."

"Well, that could be a plus," Dana told her. "Let me know
about dinner."

"I will," Casey said, but her voice had lost the upbeat tone
it had when they started the conversation.

Dana was sorry she had questioned Casey about Tony's
family. It had reminded Casey of the doubts about her fiance
that she had come to Dana with a few weeks earlier. At that
time, Casey said that Tony refused to talk about his family,
claiming that they didn't get along and had no contact with
one another. Now Dana wondered if he had changed his
story, denying the very existence of relatives to keep Casey
from asking more questions.

Dana reviewed the new cases that had come in the mail
that day. Fortunately, there were only two minor problems
and she assigned both of them to Bob.

Marianne just gave Dana the cases that needed a trained
investigator to handle. Many requests required simple research that could be handled by a phone call or an Internet
search. Marianne did most of that work herself or enlisted
the help of other departments in the newspaper. Then she
wrote up a report that Dana reviewed and approved before
it was sent out to the client.

A few such reports were also on Dana's desk. She read the
original requests from the clients and Marianne's reports on
the matters, signed off on them and walked out to the reception area to return them to her secretary.

"These are good, ready to go," Dana said. "Thank you.
Anything urgent in the e-mails today?"

"No," Marianne replied.

"Okay, then. I'm going to drive over to the Sunflower Market to try to talk to the manager and some of the other employees there" Dana had filled Marianne in on the case when
she returned to the office after lunch. "Did you get through to
the temp agency?"

"Yes. I talked to the office manager and she agreed to meet with you tomorrow morning. Here's her name and the address and phone number of the place."

Dana took the note Marianne held out to her and slipped
it into the purse she already had slung over her shoulder.
"If anyone is looking for me, have them call my cell phone.
I probably won't be back in the office today."

With her coat and scarf over her arm, Dana left the office
and headed for the elevator. When she got down to the
Globe's lobby, her cell phone was ringing.

Dana fished the phone out of her purse and answered it.
"Dana Sloan"

"Hi, Dana" It was Casey. "The garage just called me and
said that my car needs a brake job and a new water pump.
The repair bill would be over three hundred dollars."

"What did you tell them?"

"I said I would have to pick the car up today and bring it
back at the end of the week when I could arrange for a loaner
car to drive. Bob and I are on our way back there now. Bob
said it's still early enough to take it over to his friend, the honest mechanic, and have him check out the brakes and the water pump. I'll call you later."

"Thanks. I'm working on a case too, so I may not answer
my cell. If it's not too late, call Marianne and give her the
report. Otherwise, we'll talk in the morning"

"Sounds good," Casey replied. "Bob said this honest mechanic is one of the guys he's been wanting to fix me up with
and is glad I'm going to get to meet him before I tie the knot "

The call ended with Dana and Casey both laughing at
Bob's never-ending matchmaking efforts.

Sunflower Market was located between the newspaper
building and Dana's home. The store specialized in organic
produce, ethnic foods, a good variety of meat, cheeses, and
wines. Dana actually shopped there on a regular basis because Sunflower had a large selection of freshly prepared
and packaged foods ideal for people who didn't have time
to prepare their own meals.

As Dana passed by a large refrigerated case, she made a
mental note to pick up a few things she could stock in her
empty refrigerator and freezer.

"Hi, Miss Sloan," a man's voice called out. "Can I help
you find something?"

Dana looked across the case and saw George on the other
side of it, arranging packaged items in their proper order.
George sometimes bagged groceries and was always eager
to help the ladies carry their bags out to their cars. He was a middle-aged man with a head full of white-blond hair, faded
blue eyes, and a crooked smile.

"I'm looking for the manager, Ron Morgan," Dana said,
walking around the case to stand next to George.

"Today's his day off. Can someone else help you?"

"Actually, maybe you can. Do you remember a guy who
worked here named Lucas Porter?"

"Lucas is a creep. What do you want him for?"

"His wife asked me to try and find him. He's missing. I
never saw him here, but she told me he worked here."

"You never saw him because the boss kept him working in
the storeroom. That's where everyone starts out here. If you
do well in the storeroom, you get moved out into the store,
where you have contact with the customers. Lucas never got
to show his ugly face to the customers. He didn't last long.
Got fired after a month or so"

"How long ago was that?"

"I'm not sure, maybe a month ago now."

"Was that the last time you saw him?"

"I guess" George shrugged his shoulders. "When did he
go missing?"

"About a week ago. Is there anyone who works here that
Lucas hung out with or knew better than others?"

"I don't think so. No one liked him, but you can ask Jose.
He worked with him in the storeroom"

"Is he here now?"

"Yeah. Come on, I'll show you"

Dana followed George through the aisles that were beginning to get crowded with late-afternoon shoppers. He led her
through double swinging doors into a storeroom filled with
aisles of boxes and crates.

"Jose," George shouted. "Where are you?"

A short, stocky young man with black hair, a dark complexion, and a nicely trimmed mustache stepped out from behind a stack of boxes. "Here. What do you want? I was taking
a nap"

George laughed and introduced Jose to Dana. "She is looking for Lucas. Tell her what you know about him?"

With that George turned and hurried out of the storeroom.
Dana walked forward and held out her hand to Jose. He
looked at her warily and ignored her outstretched hand.

"I don't know anything about Lucas. He got fired last
month and I was glad to get rid of him."

"You haven't seen or heard from him since?"

"No.

"When he was working here, did he ever talk about his
personal life with you?"

"Told me his wife was an artist and they were going to
be rich soon"

"Anything else?"

"Yeah. He was always talking about the pool hall and how
he was good at hustling the suckers there"

"That would be the Pool Palace?"

"I don't remember. He talked a lot about how great he
was, but I mostly tuned him out."

"Did you ever see him outside of work?"

"Are you kidding? It was bad enough to see him here.
That's it, lady. I got a lot of things to do before I can go home
today and it's my little girl's birthday. I don't want to be late."

"I understand. Thank you for your help"

Dana hurried out of the storeroom and went back to
George, who was still working on the case of prepared foods.

"Jose help you any?" George asked.

"Not really. I'll still need to speak to the manager."

"Sure. You want me to tell Ron to call you?"

"Yes. I'd appreciate that." Dana opened her purse and
took out one of her business cards. She handed it to George
and he studied it.

"Well, how about that," George said with a smile. "All the
times I've seen you in here, I didn't know you were the Dana
Sloan that works for the Globe. I read your stories all the
time."

"Good. I'm glad to hear it. Just give Mr. Morgan my card
and tell him I'll call him or stop by again tomorrow. I'm going to be in and out of the office most of the day."

"Sure thing," George promised. "I'll tell him." He slipped
Dana's card into his shirt pocket.

"Thanks, George. I appreciate it."

Dana decided that the store was getting too crowded to do
any shopping. She would just have to see if Bruno could take
her to dinner tonight. Maybe he had talked to Detective Harrison and gotten some information for her on Lucas Porter.

Settling herself behind the wheel of her car, Dana glanced
at her watch. She had driven over to the Pool Palace after she
left Judy's apartment and found out that it didn't open for
business until four on weekdays. It was still too early to go
there. Her cell phone rang.

It was Bob. "Hey, boss, my friend checked out the car and
said there's nothing wrong with the brakes or the water
pump on the car Casey brought in to the other place. It looks
like the complaints we got were valid."

"Okay. Marianne has a file on the other complaints so
Casey can get more information for the article. If she can get it all put together this afternoon, we can run it in tomorrow's
edition."

"Okay. Oh, and Casey said to tell you that she and Tony
would love to have dinner with you and Bruno tomorrow
night. She'll talk to you about the time and dress code in the
morning."

"Where is she now?"

"Outside talking with Damien. He's got an old Corvette
he's refurbishing and Casey wanted to look at it. Too bad
she's engaged. I think Damien is interested in her."

Dana started singing the song from Fiddler on the Roof,
"Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match .. °"

"Bye, boss. See you tomorrow," Bob said, interrupting her
impromptu serenade.

Dana clicked off her phone and started the car engine.
Bob loved playing Cupid, maybe because he looked the part
with his blond curly hair and chubby cheeks. No one at the
newspaper had ever taken Bob's efforts seriously until Bob
had fixed Marianne up with his wife's brother, Greg.

Although their first date had ended with Greg chasing a
murder suspect down a dark alley, they had continued to date
and Dana suspected that Marianne might be the next person
in her office to announce her engagement.

Bob's success with Marianne and Greg had spread
throughout the newspaper staff and now people were seeking Bob out asking if he had any good prospects for them.

Dana pushed the speed-dial button for her office and Marianne answered. She filled Marianne in on her dismal results
at the grocery store.

"I still have to go the pool hall but it doesn't open until
four."

"That place has a bad reputation," Marianne told her. "I
hope you're not going there alone."

"I'm going to try to get Bruno to go with me, unofficially
of course, but I haven't heard from him today. He got called
out on a case last night, so he may be busy with that."

"Was it that gruesome one with the body they found in
the lake?"

"Probably. What do you know about it?"

"Just what was on the news at noon. They said the body
had been in the water for over a week and was in such bad
shape, it would take time to make an identification."

A chill passed over Dana. "I didn't catch the news,"
she said softly. She didn't voice her fears to Marianne, but
the secretary caught on anyway.