The Master Plan (2009) (7 page)

"Oh, wow. Maybe the corpse is Lucas Porter."

"Maybe. I'd better call Bruno and check on Judy Porter.
If she heard that news broadcast, she could be hysterical."

Dana hung up with Marianne and dialed Judy Porter's
number. The phone rang several times and was finally picked
up by an answering machine.

Dana disconnected without leaving a message and dialed
Bruno's cell phone number.

"Detective Bruno."

"Hi. I think the victim from your call last night may be
the missing husband I'm looking for."

"Who is this?" Bruno said gruffly. "I don't answer questions from anonymous callers"

"If you don't recognize my voice by now, our relationship is in big trouble."

"Hello, Dana," Bruno said with a chuckle. "How can I
help you?"

Dana sighed. "I've spent the day working with and for
Judy Porter. I just tried to call her and got her answering machine. Could that be because she's at the morgue viewing the
body you fished out of the lake last night?"

"Actually, she was here. She's on her way to the hospital
now."

"Oh, no. It was her husband and she collapsed."

"I'm afraid so"

"Why didn't you call me?" Dana asked, not trying to
hide her irritation.

"I was just going to dial your number when my cell phone
rang. I'm still at the morgue. We called the paramedics for her
and as they were wheeling her off, she asked me to call you.
How about if I meet you at the hospital?"

"Fine," Dana said, still upset with him. "Good-bye."

Crescent Hills Memorial Hospital was located on the
other side of the downtown area. With the afternoon traffic picking up, it took Dana almost thirty minutes to get
there.

She parked near the emergency room entrance and hurried
inside. Bruno was at the check-in counter laughing with the
pretty blonde on duty there. His laughter stopped abruptly
when Dana walked up next to him.

"How is she?" Dana asked.

"I don't know. She's being checked out now. How are
you?"

"Just peachy," Dana replied sarcastically. The pretty
blonde had the good sense to ignore them and busy herself
with some paperwork.

Bruno took Dana's arm and walked her away from the
counter. "Are you jealous?" he whispered with a huge grin.

`Bruno, if I got jealous every time some girl flirted with you, or you flirted with some girl, I'd be in a straightjacket
by now."

"I get jealous when you flirt," Bruno said losing the grin.

"The only guy I ever flirt with is you"

"Promise?"

"Tell me about Lucas Porter. Marianne heard a news report and she said the body was in such bad shape it would
take days to identify it."

"It might have, but you know that whenever we find an
unidentified corpse we check with missing persons. I did that
this morning and Lucas' sheet came up along with a few others. The clincher was a tattoo on his chest that was still visible despite the time he spent in the water."

"So, you brought Judy Porter to the morgue to identify
him."

"Right. She zeroed in on the wedding ring he was wearing. It matched hers and she passed out. Not that I blame the
poor girl. His appearance is going to give me nightmares."

Dana let out a deep breath and sat down in the nearest
chair. "Do you think it was an accidental drowning?"

"Maybe"

"Do you suspect foul play?" Dana asked urgently.

"Maybe."

"And maybe I'll speak to you again sometime this century," Dana told him, rising to her feet again.

Bruno grabbed her arm as she tried to move away from
him. "Nothing has been determined yet. The autopsy is set
for tomorrow afternoon."

"Bruno, you've been working homicide long enough to
look at the victim and the circumstances of the case and have
an educated opinion. What is it in this case?"

"Off the record?"

"Of course," she promised.

"My educated guess is that someone beat the life out of
him and dumped him in the lake, probably off the Manheim
Bridge where the water is too deep to freeze."

"Thank you," Dana said, allowing herself to lean into him.
He put his strong arms around her and held her close while
she tried to deal with the information he had just given her.

"Excuse me," a tired voice said. "I'm looking for Detective Bruno"

Bruno let go of Dana and they both turned to see a young
doctor dressed in hospital greens standing behind them.

"That's me," Bruno said, walking toward the doctor.

"Mrs. Porter has been sedated and moved to a regular
room. She's in shock, so we'll keep her overnight for observation. Does she have family to be notified?

"I don't think so, but I'll check on that. I'm a friend. Can
I see her?" Dana asked.

"Not tonight. I should have said, she's been heavily sedated. Are you Dana Sloan?"

"Yes"

"I'm a fan," he said with a smile. "You're much prettier
than your byline photo."

Bruno grunted. Dana thanked him for the compliment.

They agreed that Dana would return in the morning to
see Judy Porter and she and Bruno left the hospital.

Bruno walked Dana to her car. "I didn't get lunch today.
You want to go to dinner?"

"Don't you have to report back to the station?"

"I can call in," Bruno said. "Where do you want to go?"

"I don't care," Dana said. "Sandwiches or pizza is fine
with me"

"Okay. I'll follow you back to your place so you can leave
your car. We can go to that cafe you like around the corner
from you."

"Fine"

Dana unlocked her car and started to slide into the driver's
seat. "Hey," Bruno said. "You're really upset about this, aren't
you?"

Dana nodded. "I don't even know the guy and what's
more, from what I found out about him today, I don't even
like him. But I'm really worried about Judy Porter. The girl
is going to be totally on her own now and I don't know if she
can handle it."

"Well," Bruno said softly, "she won't be totally alone,
will she? If I know you, and I think I do, you're going to be
right by her side, helping her stabilize her life."

Dana nodded again. "I'm going to try to do that."

"That's fine," Bruno said. "Just promise me you'll leave
the investigation into her husband's death up to me."

"I'll see you at my place," Dana said, sliding into the car
and pulling the car door closed.

Bruno stood outside shaking his head at her through the
car window. "Here we go again," he said to himself as Dana
started her car and drove away.

By the next morning, the news that Lucas Porter was a
homicide victim was reported in the Globe and announced
in the morning radio and television news broadcasts.

When Bruno called the station to report in, he was told
that the coroner's preliminary findings confirmed that Lucas
was a victim of foul play. He was also told that the reporters
who hung around the station and the morgue hoping to pick
up newsworthy items were already working on their stories.
This meant that Dana didn't have to keep the assessment
that Bruno had given her at the hospital off the record any
longer. It also meant Bruno couldn't blame her for leaking the
story.

Dana called the temporary agency and spoke to the office manager, a woman named Catherine Jankowich. She told
her she would stop by before noon to talk to her. Dana also
called Ron Morgan at the Sunflower Market and told him
she would be by after noon to talk to him.

"The police have already been here," Morgan said. "I
told them everything I know about the guy."

"That's good, but I'd still like to speak to you," Dana told
him.

"George tells me you're a customer here, so I'll be glad
to talk to you anytime," he said cordially.

The weather was still bitterly cold, so Dana dressed in layers. She wore a light blue sweater under a navy blue pantsuit
and her ankle-high boots with the plush lining. Since her
apartment building didn't provide covered parking, she left
early to warm up her car and scrape off the frosty coating of
ice that had settled on her windshield overnight.

Dana arrived at the hospital, found out what room Judy
Porter was in, and went to see her. The artist was sitting up
in bed, staring into space. Her face was as white as the hospital gown she wore.

Judy didn't notice Dana's presence in the room until she
spoke to her. "Hi, Judy. How are you doing today?"

The girl turned and looked at Dana, she shook her head
but didn't speak.

"I'm so sorry about Lucas," Dana said softly.

Judy nodded.

"Is there anyone I can call for you? Did Lucas have any
family that should be notified?"

"I was his only family," she whispered. "And he was my
only family."

"What about friends?"

"I don't know. My head feels like it's filled with water. I
can't think."

"I understand. Has the doctor been in to see you this
morning?"

"Yes. He said I had to go home. Are you here to take me
home?"

"Yes. I'd be glad to take you home. Is there someone I
can call to stay with you today?"

"My neighbor, Sally, called me early when she heard the
news on the radio. She said she'd help me out."

"Good. I called Del last night and he said he'd be home
tomorrow and he'd come to see you"

"Del?"

"Del Pitman, from the gallery," Dana explained.

"Oh, God," Judy said as her eyes filled with tears. "Del
will want me to finish the paintings, won't he?"

"Not right away," Dana told her. "When I told him about
Lucas, Del said he would postpone your showing."

Judy nodded and swiped at her tears with the sleeve of her
hospital gown. "He's going to lose lots of money, isn't he?"

"He'll lose some," Dana agreed.

"I can't believe this is happening," she said. "The police
told me last night that Lucas had an accident, but this moming Sally told me the news reports said he was murdered.
They're going to think I killed him."

"No, Judy. I don't think the police will suspect you."
Even as she said it, Dana realized that the police might very
well suspect Judy Porter. It was standard procedure when
someone died to look closely at the person's spouse. And
given the fact that Lucas Porter had abused the girl probably
for years, Judy had a motive.

"You can't let them arrest me," Judy said. "I didn't do it.
Please promise me you'll find out who really killed Lucas,
so I don't go to jail."

Judy's tears were flowing freely now and Dana was afraid that the girl was going to get hysterical or go into shock
again. "Listen to me, Judy," Dana said sternly. "You've got to
pull yourself together. I can't help you unless you start
thinking and acting rationally."

The artist looked at Dana and stopped crying. "There
were lots of times when I thought about killing Lucas," she
said. "But I didn't do it. I swear I didn't. You've got to believe me."

"I believe you, Judy."

"And you'll help me?"

"Yes. I promise"

An hour or so later, Dana drove Judy back to her apartment. Her neighbor, Sally Larson, a middle-aged woman
who lived down the hall from Judy, came over a few minutes
after they arrived. She introduced herself to Dana and took
charge of Judy. She seemed to have a motherly interest in the
artist, so Dana felt confident that Judy was in good hands.

Dana was about to leave when there was knock on the
door.

"That's probably Teddy," Sally said, brushing past Dana
to open the door. "He's been worried sick about Judy."

Teddy turned out to be a very blond, very nice-looking
young man in his early twenties. He was dressed in khaki
pants and a shirt with Brown's Hardware embroidered across
the left pocket. He went straight to Judy and took her hands
in his.

"I'm so sorry about Lucas. Are you okay?"

"No," Judy said as tears misted her light blue eyes again.

"I can't stay long. I'm on my lunch break, but I wanted
to see you and see if there was anything I could do for you"