A Grand Plan

by Ann Roberts

  “How many times would you say she came in?”

  “Several.”

  Molly didn’t seem to notice the shift in her demeanor and that she’d stuck her hands in her front pockets. She’d put up her wall and they would get nothing.

  Ari peered into the case and pointed at some cupcakes. “Are those carrot cupcakes?” When Kacie smiled and nodded, she gushed, “Lorraine said those are the best! May I please have a half dozen for the office staff?”

  “You’ll have to hide them from Lorraine,” Kacie said jokingly. She unfolded a pink box and gently deposited the six cupcakes. Ari glanced at Molly who’d pursed her lips and was tapping her foot. She’d positioned herself at the end of the case and was clearly uninterested in any of Kacie’s baked goods. Ari sidled up next to her and looped their arms together. She gave her a hard stare that suggested she play along and pulled her to the middle of the case. She pointed at something on the bottom shelf.

  “Look, those are red velvet. Your favorite, right?” Before she could answer, Ari said, “Kacie, can we have two, please?”

  “These are my favorites too,” Kacie said, retrieving them from the case. The smile had returned by the time she held out the treats.

  Ari immediately took a bite and Molly followed her lead. “Hmm,” she said. “I think this is my new favorite dessert. Do you cater?”

  “We do. We just need the appropriate amount of notice.”

  “I’ll remember that,” she said between bites.

  “Can I have another one?” Molly asked. She was holding the empty paper wrapper, red velvet crumbs at the left corner of her mouth. Ari brushed away the evidence, allowing her fingers to linger on her jaw.

  Kacie laughed and handed her another cupcake. “You know, Ms. Wonders came in here pretty regularly, at least two or three times a week. She’d buy one of my mini lemon meringue pies and a cup of coffee and sit at that table right there.”

  She pointed to a square table next to the front picture window. Ari went and sat in the chair. She had a clear view of the Roosevelt, Grand and Fifteenth Avenue intersection, as well as the Bali Hi across the street.

  “The last time she came by was a little over a week ago.”

  Instead of reaching for her notepad, Molly just nodded and ate.

  “She just stared out the window and made notes in a notebook. Other customers came in and out, and after about forty minutes, she gathered her things quickly and ran out the door.”

  “Any idea what caught her attention?” Ari asked.

  She looked out the window and eventually settled her gaze on the makeshift parking lot across the street. “Maybe it had something to do with the gym.”

  “Why do you suppose?” Molly asked kindly.

  “Because of the time. She was here around four, and between four and six that parking lot across the street fills up with guys going to the boxing gym, a lot of guys. I decided to keep the bakery open an extra two hours because so many of them want a little treat after their workout.”

  “So you think she might’ve seen somebody going to the gym?”

  She nodded. “I’m almost positive. You know how you don’t remember the little things until you think about them?” She stood quietly for a while and then said, “When she ran out, I stopped refilling the case and watched her through the window. It was so sudden and abrupt the way she left. I thought maybe there’d been a car accident or something. But then she went across the street into the parking lot and started walking between the cars. I went back to what I was doing. I just thought she was being nosy. She had a tendency to do that, so we were all used to it.”

  “Do you think she was looking for a specific car?” Ari asked.

  “Maybe.”

  Molly dropped the wrappers in the trash. “Any of the council members come in here a lot?”

  “Oh, sure. Sebastian comes in with different people. I see him with Lev or Crosby sometimes. Even Brooke comes by, but she only buys cupcakes.”

  “Ever see Ms. Wonders around when they were here?”

  Kacie looked out the window and shook her head. “I’m not sure.”

  They paid for the baked goods and strolled around the corner to the gym. Molly stared glumly at the ground and when they reached the front door, Ari held it closed.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Molly sighed and looked away. “I’m not good at this PI thing. I don’t read people the way you do. If you hadn’t been there to talk to Kacie, I never would’ve found out anything.”

  “That’s not true.”

  “Yes, it is,” she insisted. “I’m used to flashing my badge and getting my way. This is about persuasion. Not my strong suit.”

  Ari held her tongue until Molly stared at her, clearly wanting the truth. “Yes, you need to work on your people skills, but you’re a great investigator and far better than me at putting pieces together. That’s why we make a good team.”

  A little smile crept onto her face. “Thanks.” Two burly guys exited the gym and once they’d passed, she said, “I’m also somewhat distracted right now, knowing you’re not wearing any underwear.”

  “I guess you’ll just have to try to stay focused,” Ari said, pleased that Molly’s gaze lingered on the area below her waist.

  “I’d kiss you right now,” she said, “but I don’t want to start a fight.”

  “I agree. No more fighting.” She held up the promotional flyer Kacie had given her and said, “Now we have three different possibilities for pie day. Maybe she was talking about eating lemon meringue pie.” She sighed. “We really need to find that journal.”

  Ari squeezed her shoulder. “We will. Let’s go find out if anyone from the council is a member of the gym.”

  The pungent odor of sweat greeted them when they entered. A large Hispanic man behind the front counter held a clipboard. He barely looked up. “Can I help you?”

  Ari nodded at Molly to take the lead and craft the cover story. She waited until the man stopped writing before she said, “I’m training for a triathlon and I’m looking to join a gym. I heard boxing was great exercise.”

  “It is,” he agreed. He produced a membership form that looked as if it had seen a few too many runs on the copy machine. “You need to fill this out. First and last month’s membership dues. We don’t have a lot of rules. It ain’t fancy and you treat everybody with respect. That’s it.”

  “Great,” she said, nodding. “I heard a few of the First Friday Council members come here.”

  He nodded. “They all do. Even Brooke. She’s got a great right hook.” He touched his jaw to imply he was speaking from personal experience.

  “This is a terrific old building,” Ari said admiringly. “I love the windows. Are all of the shops connected? Could somebody literally walk through a door and be in the bar?”

  He laughed. “I’m sure a lot of people wish they could do that, but no, they’re all separated.” He pointed at the form and said to Molly, “So do you want to pay for that today or come back later?”

  “Uh, I’ll take this with me,” she said.

  Shouts erupted from across the room. They turned to the boxing ring where one fighter was pummeling another until a crushing blow sent the weaker opponent to the mat.

  The winning boxer pulled the other up from the mat. After they tapped gloves, they both removed their headgear. Standing in the ring was Yoli with Drew Sachs.

  Chapter Eighteen

  As much as Molly wanted to stop smoking, it wasn’t going to happen just because Ari offered her underwear. She checked her watch and stubbed out her cigarette. It was six fifty-five, and Dr. Yee was expecting her at seven for their weekly appointment, but she didn’t get out of the truck. She needed to keep the appointment and talk about her sexy afternoon with Ari and breaking up with Yoli, but she desperately wanted to get to Southwest Realty and process some ideas with Ari.

  Telling herself Ari could wait, she hopped out of the cab and went inside.

  They started with their pe
rfunctory check-in questions that Dr. Yee always asked about her cravings, her temper and her general mental well-being. She’d just explained her epiphany about Yoli when her phone buzzed. Dr. Yee frowned.

  “Sorry. It’s Ari.” She silenced the ringer and set the phone in front of her.

  “Continue,” Dr. Yee said. “You broke up with Yoli. Was this unexpected?”

  “Yes and no. I mean we were fighting a lot and we couldn’t agree about the company’s leadership.”

  “But Yoli is not in charge, correct?”

  “Well, no, but she was second-in-command. She was the one who brought in most of the team.”

  “So she earned the right to help you make decisions?”

  “Yeah. In some ways she knows more about security than I do.”

  “How did the breakup occur?”

  She shifted in her chair uncomfortably. Realizing she was biting her nails, she pulled her hand away from her mouth. “Well, I guess she sort of caught us…”

  Dr. Yee cocked her head. “What does that mean?”

  “I kissed Ari,” she said slowly. “Well, it was a lot more than kissing.”

  Dr. Yee waited patiently, but when Molly didn’t say anything else, she asked, “Did she walk in on you?”

  “No, well kinda…”

  “I don’t understand. What happened?”

  “We were fooling around and Yoli FaceTimed me. I took the call but Ari was still undressed. It was very distracting and I think she figured it out.”

  The phone buzzed again and she looked down. Whatever Ari wanted to tell her was important. She looked up at Dr. Yee, prepared for her wrath, but she looked thoughtful.

  “It’s Ari?”

  She nodded.

  “Answer it.”

  She grabbed the phone and turned away. “Hey.”

  “Hey, did you hear?”

  “Hear what? I’m at my therapy appointment.”

  “Oh my God!” she exclaimed. “I’m so sorry. I forgot that was today.”

  “What do you need to tell me?”

  “I’ll be fast. Jane says the word on RoRo is Chynna Grove’s getting released. Her story about just arriving at Scrabble was true. She’d been in Prescott with Crosby Brunell and they’d stopped in Black Canyon City for gas. He’d paid with cash so there was no receipt, but when the cops went to talk to the attendant, he remembered Chynna because of her blue bangs. And the security footage had a time stamp of four thirty. She’s in the clear. There’s no way she could’ve reached LGA, let alone kill, Ms. Wonders if she was in Black Canyon City at four thirty. She’s saying that she’d just picked up her car on RoRo and driven to Scrabble to water the plants when Lorraine and I saw her standing outside.”

  “Why the fuck didn’t he come forward sooner?” She glanced up at Dr. Yee, mortified by her foul language. Dr. Yee didn’t seem to care. She’d closed her eyes and appeared to be meditating.

  “According to Jane, Crosby was really worried it wouldn’t look good for a RoRo person to be dating someone from LGA. He thought it would hurt his standing with the community and the council.”

  She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “He does realize this is the twenty-first century?”

  “Yes, but it’s all about appearances.”

  “So whoever really killed Ms. Wonders is still out there, and that person tried to frame Chynna by calling in that anonymous tip.”

  “Why would anyone do that?”

  The answer came to her instantly. “Because the killer knew she threw the rock at the diner and knew Chynna was guilty of at least one of the acts of vandalism on LGA. He or she has Ms. Wonders’s notebook. It’s probably mentioned in there.”

  “Do you think that’s why she was killed with a rock?”

  “I don’t know,” Molly said, but she was certain there were some important details she was missing.

  She glanced up at Dr. Yee who offered a hard stare.

  “I’ll see you in a little while. I gotta go.”

  She hung up and turned her phone completely off. “There,” she said.

  “I want you to leave now,” Dr. Yee said plainly.

  She felt her throat tighten. “Leave and never come back? I’m sorry. From now on I won’t bring my phone inside—”

  “You misunderstand. I want you to leave for today. Go do what you need to do. That’s what’s most helpful right now. I will see you next week.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  “We’re starting over,” Molly announced as Ari entered the conference room at Southwest Realty. She erased all the circles and notations she’d drawn over the last two weeks and drew two new and enormous circles. She labeled one Roosevelt Row and the other Lower Grand Avenue. She plopped down next to Ari and they both stared at the mostly empty whiteboard wall. She reached over and took her hand. When their eyes met, a kiss was inevitable.

  With a kind expression Ari said, “You need to give me back my underwear.”

  She shrugged. “It’s just too much pressure right now. I’m sorry I taste terrible from cigarettes but I promise I’ll quit when this is over.”

  Ari kissed her again. “Fine. You can borrow the cheekinis on credit. Now, how are we starting over?”

  “You said something on the phone that made me think. You said this is about appearances, so much so that two people, Crosby and Chynna, are hiding their relationship. I don’t know if it’s serious or not, but he was willing to let her sit in jail rather than come forward immediately to free her. That tells me his reputation is more important to him.”

  “And Tony mentioned Ms. Wonders called him a traitor. Maybe it was because he was seeing Chynna.”

  She nodded. “So forget Ms. Wonders, forget the gang fight, the vandalized artwork, the smoke bomb and the rock—although we might loop back to that. Let’s just look at what we know about these areas. What do we know about RoRo?”

  “It’s the premier art community,” Ari replied.

  Molly jumped up and wrote her answer in the circle.

  “It carries LGA and perhaps LGA will pull resources from RoRo and make it financially vulnerable.”

  “LGA is a potential threat,” Molly summarized. “At least to some people. Why?”

  “If the Roosevelt Apartments don’t make it the area could suffer, but more importantly Sebastian King, Hamada Enterprises and this Allen Troshev and the TRIO group will lose a lot of money.”

  She added more information and whirled around. “But you didn’t answer my question. That doesn’t explain how LGA is a threat to the Row or the apartments. All the businesses die on Grand, right? Why would it be such a threat?”

  Ari thought about LGA, struggling to define its existence. She thought about the Stapley Building and Scrabble. Then it hit her. “The Bali Hi. If it succeeds, it will be a huge draw for artists and their followings.”

  “And that’s only if Tony Sanchez wins. Who’s his competition?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know.”

  Molly quickly punched in his number and put the phone on speaker when he answered. “Hi, Tony. You mentioned there’s another investor interested in the Bali Hi. Who is that?”

  “Well, it’s not just one. My source is telling me it’s two different groups. Hamada Enterprises and TRIO.”

  They exchanged a glance and Molly said, “That can’t be a coincidence.”

  Ari leaned into the phone. “Hey, Tony, it’s Ari. Would you mind telling us who your source is? I promise we’re not going to share it with anyone.”

  There was a pause and he finally said, “Well, I don’t want to get her in trouble or anything, but Margaret’s been keeping me in the loop. Lev is the one trying to fight off the other guys, but I guess they’re pretty determined. I really think I might lose. The family is starting to doubt my vision.” The dejection in his voice was apparent. “Is that all you need?”

  “Yeah, thanks Tony. We’ll keep our fingers crossed for you,” Molly said as she disconnected. She immediately hit Andre’s numb
er and it went to voice mail. “Call me back ASAP!” was all she said.

  Ari laughed. “That sounded like the old days.”

  She went to the wall and drew lines from RoRo and LGA to her list of investors: TRIO, Allen Troshev and Hamada Enterprises. She tapped the wall with the marker. “This is the connection. I think this is the center of the problem.”

  Her phone rang and she grinned. “Told you so.” They could barely hear Andre who seemed to be in a crowded room. “Do you know anything more about Hamada Enterprises or TRIO?”

  “No, your highness,” he snapped. “What I do know is that your friend, Nancy Hervog, has filed a lawsuit against the city for false arrest.”

  She gave a blank stare. “Who’s Nancy Hervog?”

  “Chynna Grove,” he shouted. “Remember? The anagram? That’s what people do when they don’t like their name or they own a place called Scrabble. They turn it into an anagram. Look, I’m sorry I’m so grumpy. Bad day all the way around. I heard Perkins and Flores just grabbed a homicide over in Maryvale. I wouldn’t hold my breath about catching your homeless lady’s killer unless something new turns up. Gotta go.”

  She tossed the phone on the table. “Shit.” She covered her face with her hands and moaned. “Ari, what are we going to do? There are too many suspects. We don’t have any idea who TRIO is.”

  “Yes, we do.”

  “What do you mean?”

  She went to the wall and stood in front of the list of investors. “To quote Andre, if you don’t like your name you make an anagram of it. But what if you wanted to hide your identity?” Next to Allen Troshev she wrote Lev Rosenthal.

  “Son of a bitch,” she said. “It’s him. He’s a part of TRIO. What an asshole! He’s playing both sides. He told Tony Sanchez he was trying to help him get the Bali Hi and all along he’s been working with a foreign investor to turn it into some sort of industrial campus.”

  “Yeah,” she said softly. “And dating Lorraine. She’s going to be devastated when she finds out he’s really against LGA.”

  “Okay, so let’s walk through this. Hamada and TRIO build the Roosevelt Apartments. It’s not as profitable as they hoped, and then the mayors announce they’re going to redevelop Grand Avenue.”