The Master Plan (2009) (28 page)

The next morning, Dana woke up with an idea that must
have surfaced while she was sleeping. It was a sudden melding of information. A man wearing an Arizona Cardinals hat
had been seen in the pool hall the night Lucas Porter died
and someone with a similar hat had been seen going up to
John Hunter's apartment. The bank manager that had been
engaged to Sarah Turner had moved to Arizona after the
trial. It was the kind of idea that would keep nagging at her
all day if she didn't check into it immediately.

Bruno had to work and she was in charge of entertaining
his mother. They were having an early lunch at Rose Marie's
Tea Room and then going shopping for groceries so Angie
could make her famous spaghetti sauce.

Before they parted the night before, Angie had invited
Greg and Marianne to have dinner with them and since
Bruno's apartment was too small to accommodate six people for dinner, they were now going to have dinner at Dana's
apartment.

Dana called the office and Marianne answered. "I've got
an off-the-wall idea," she said. "Can you look on your computer and see what the requirements are to sell real estate in
Arizona? I know that some states require agents to be fingerprinted and I need to know if Arizona is one of them."

"Sure. Hold on," Marianne said.

Within a few minutes, she came back on the line. "Arizona does require all agents to be fingerprinted before issuing licenses to them."

"Good. Now I'll have to beg Bruno for a favor."

"And I thought you would just enjoy your day off," Marianne said.

"I will if I can talk Bruno into cooperating"

Marianne laughed. "If he doesn't do it, threaten to tell
his mother."

"Good idea."

"I'll see you for dinner tonight. Are you sure I can't
bring something?"

"Just Greg."

"Okay."

Dana poured herself a cup of coffee and dialed Bruno's
direct number at the station. "Homicide, Detective O'Brien"

Dana hung up on him and dialed Bruno's cell phone. "Did
you ditch my mama already?" he said when he answered.

"We're going to lunch at eleven and then I'll take her grocery shopping. They're predicting snow for this afternoon so
I want to get the running around done early. Where are you?"

"I'm on my way to talk to Tony Hunter's ex-girlfriend. One of his golfing buddies gave me her name but she's been
out of town until yesterday."

"I need you to do me a favor," Dana said.

"Here we go again."

Ignoring his sarcasm, Dana continued. "Can your lab
guys access any fingerprint databases in Arizona?"

"It depends"

"I did some checking and found out that real estate agents
in Arizona have to be fingerprinted. That's the database I
want the lab to run that fingerprint on the anonymous letter
through"

"Why?"

"Just an idea I woke up with this morning. Will you ask
them to do that, please?"

"Who are you hoping it will belong to?"

"Stuart Hollingsworth."

"Who's he?"

"Bruno, can you please just ask the lab to do it as soon as
possible. If it turns out to be Hollingsworth, I'll give you all
the information I've gathered on him."

"Why can't you tell me now?"

"Because I'm picking your mother up for lunch at eleven
and I have to shower and get dressed."

"It's only eight thirty."

"Should I call Troy Kimball and ask him to get it done?"

"I think you've communicated with Kimball quite enough,
sweetheart. Louis says his case has weakened thanks to you"

"I'm only trying to get at the truth," Dana said impatiently.
"Are you going to call in a favor at the lab for me or not?"

"I'll do it, but if your hunch is wrong, you'll have to make
it up to me"

"I will. Thanks. I've got to go. Love you," Dana said all
in one breath and then clicked off the phone.

Lunch at Rose Marie's Tea Room was lovely. Angie was
full of questions about Dana's parents and seemed excited by
the prospect of going to the farm to meet them.

"I just hope the weather cooperates," Dana said. "Although if the roads get iced over, we may still be able to go
down on the train. I do that sometimes."

"Is your mother expecting us at a certain time?"

"No. I just said I'd give her a few hours' notice. My mother
always has an abundance of food in the freezer and can whip
up a dinner in the blink of an eye"

"Al said she is a very good cook. Does she make much
pasta?"

"Very seldom and it can't compare to yours. Bruno says
your recipe is so secret it's locked in a vault."

Angie laughed. "Today you will help me prepare the sauce
and you will learn the secrets"

"Really?" Dana was both surprised and flattered. "I'd
love that "

"Good. My daughters never wanted to learn and someone in the family has to know how to do it "

Dana smiled at her. Every chance she got, Angie put in a
plug for Dana and Bruno to marry. Dana was getting used to
it, and had to admit the way she took their eventual union for
granted was like she was giving Dana her stamp of approval
as a future daughter-in-law.

They finished lunch and Angie went to the ladies' room
while Dana took care of the bill. As she collected her change,
her cell phone rang.

"Hi, sweets," Bruno said. "How was lunch?"

"Very nice. How did your interview go?"

"I didn't learn much. The girlfriend claims she only dated
Hunter a few times and thought he was too weird and secretive, so she stopped seeing him."

"If only Casey had done the same," Dana said.

"I agree, but the reason I'm calling is to tell you that your
hunch was right on. The fingerprint matched up with an Arizona real estate agent name Stuart G. Hollingsworth. Now
who is he and which one of my cases is he involved in?"

"He was engaged to Sarah Turner and was the assistant
manager of the bank the Hunter brothers robbed. His name
turned up in the trial transcripts" Angie returned to Dana's
side. "Your mom and I are leaving now to do the grocery
shopping. I'll tell you everything I know later, but see if you
can trace this guy's whereabouts now. I think he may be important."

Angie realized that Dana was talking to her son and
wanted to say hello. She told him that she was going to teach
Dana how to make her spaghetti sauce. "She will watch and
write down what I do," Angie said. "The recipe is in my
head" Angie said good-bye to Bruno and turned to Dana.
"My son is speechless."

Dana laughed and they hurried out the door to the car. It
was starting to snow and the flakes were big and wet.

The streets were starting to get coated with the new fallen
snow, so Dana had to drive with extra caution. She decided
to shop at the Sunflower Market because it was on the way
to her apartment.

The parking lot was crowded so Dana had to park down
at the end in front of a vacant store. The empty store had been a pet shop that had moved to a bigger location a few
months earlier. Dana had once fallen in love with a darling
puppy in their window, but had decided against buying him
because she wasn't home enough to take proper care of
a dog.

Since Angie was not familiar with the layout of the market and Dana usually only came in there to pick up things
from the deli, their shopping took longer than expected.

As they made their way down the aisles, they encountered the store manager. Ron Morgan remembered Dana and
greeted her. She introduced him to Angie and then they
continued on their way.

"We must get fresh garlic and onions from the produce
section," Angie said absently. "What about ensalada?"

"We need that too," Dana replied.

When they got to the produce department, Dana went to
the lettuce bin to search for a firm head, leaving Angie to
choose a proper onion.

Dana turned around when she heard Angie shout.
"George! I don't believe it. What are you doing here?"

Bruno's mom had George trapped in one of her enthusiastic hugs. Dana hurried over to them.

"I assume you two know each other?"

"Of course. We used to live next door to each other in the
old neighborhood," Angie said, letting go of George who
looked very confused. "George, meet my future daughter-inlaw, Dana Sloan. Dana, this is George Hollingsworth."

Dana was stunned, but tried to hide it. "George and I know
each other, Angie. He's the most helpful person in the store"

"George," Angie said. "I haven't seen you since your father's funeral. You were living in Arizona then"

"That was a long time ago. I'm surprised you recognized
me."

"You look just like your father, God rest his soul. That's
how I knew it was you."

George nodded. "Right. So, how have you been?"

"Very good. Listen, I'm cooking dinner tonight and you
should come" She turned to Dana. "We can fit one more?"

"Of course," Dana said, wondering if George was related to Stuart Hollingsworth.

"Oh, thank you, but I can't. I have other plans."

"Well, I'll be in town for a week. We must get together.
Give me your number and I'll call you"

"I don't have a phone, Mrs. Bruno, but you can call me
here at the store. I'm sure Miss Sloan has the number."

"Yes, I do."

"Good. I'll call you and we'll have lunch or dinner and
catch up," Angie said. "What a wonderful thing to run into
you like this. Wait until I tell my son. He's a homicide detective here in Crescent Hills, you know."

"No, I didn't know that," George replied. Although Angie
didn't seem to notice, his discomfort was obvious.

"We'd better get going, Angie," Dana said. "The snow is
getting worse."

Within a few minutes, Angie and Dana were in the checkout line. "George Hollingsworth is from Chicago?" Dana
said trying to sound casual. "Do you know if he's related to
a man named Stuart Hollingsworth?"

"He is Stuart Hollingsworth, but his father was also Stuart
so we always called the son by his middle name, George."

"I see," Dana said slowly as she remembered the bank
manager's name in the court transcripts was Stuart G. Hollingsworth. She would have pulled out her cell phone
and called Bruno immediately, but she didn't want to upset
Angie by letting her know that her long-lost friend was a
suspect in a homicide.

With their groceries bagged and stacked in the grocery
cart, Angie and Dana left the store. Dana pushed the cart
down the sidewalk toward the far end of the parking lot
where her blue Mustang was parked.

"You'd better hold on to the cart, Angie," Dana said. "This
walkway is getting slippery."

"It is snowing harder, soon the streets may be a mess"

"It's okay, we're heading home now to start cooking,"
Dana said.

Dana had her cell phone in her hand. She was trying to
decide if she should call Bruno as soon as she got into the
car, or wait until she got home so she could find a way to
speak to him privately about Hollingsworth.

While he could be perfectly innocent, the fact that he had
lived in the state of Arizona where the Cardinals played, had
sent an anonymous letter to the paper claiming to have killed
Lucas Porter, and had a motive to kill both Tony and John
Hunter was too much to ignore. The man had to be picked up
and questioned.

Dana opened the trunk of her car and she and Angie
started loading the groceries inside. They had the bags all
stacked neatly inside when George Hollingsworth came out
of the empty store and approached them.

"Close the trunk and move away from it," he said softly.
"Don't make me shoot you"

Bruno stomped up the stairs to Dana's apartment expecting to discover the wonderful aroma of his mother's
spaghetti sauce permeating the hallway. He had finished up
at the station a little early and had come over to see if he
could help his two favorite women with dinner.

He rang the doorbell insistently like he always did, but the
apartment was quiet and no one came to the door. He rang the
bell a few more times and knocked as well, still no answer.

Thinking maybe they were in the kitchen at the back of the
apartment and couldn't hear him at the door, Bruno trudged
down the stairs again.

The snow was already a few inches deep so Bruno walked
carefully around the building to the back and climbed those
stairs. The back windows were covered with wrought-iron
security bars and Dana had hung some heavy curtains over
the windows to hide them so Bruno couldn't see inside the kitchen. However, he could tell that there were no lights on
in the apartment.

Bruno pulled out his cell phone and dialed Dana's cell
number. He got an out-of-service signal, so he clicked off and
dialed her home number. He could hear the phone ringing
from inside her apartment and listened to it ring five times
before he got the answering device.

"Where are they?" he mumbled to himself as he went
back down the stairs to the front of the building again.