by Carol Costa
Bob reached in his jacket pocket and pulled out his notebook. He flipped through a few pages and then tore two of them out and handed them to Dana. "That's Connors' address and home phone and what he told me about the guy at the bar."
"I'll have Marianne type it up and we can fax it over to Kimball's office. I'm sure he'll want to interview this guy himself and probably call him as a witness."
"What about the possibility that the guy at the bar is the same guy that killed John Hunter in Chicago?"
"Judy Porter says she's sure that Lucas didn't know either of the Hunter brothers so I don't see how it could be connected"
"It was a long shot," Bob replied. "Well, I'm going to get started on these new inquiries. The day is still young." Bob eased himself out of the chair as Marianne returned. "I'll see you and Greg for dinner tonight," he said to Marianne as he left.
"Right. See you later," she called after him.
"Dinner with the in-laws?" Dana asked with a grin.
"Yes. It's become a weekly thing," she replied.
"Nice. What did you get on Hollingsworth?"
"He left Chicago right after the trial and moved to Arizona, where he sold real estate and brokered mortgages. I called the real estate office and they said he retired a few years ago and they lost track of him."
"He doesn't seem like much of a suspect," Dana said. "Except he lived in Arizona where the Cardinals play, so he could have the team's hat."
"Him and thousands of other fans," Marianne said. "Now what?"
"Back to the transcripts to see if any other names turn up," Dana replied. "But first, I'd like you to type up the notes Bob made on the Porter case so we can fax the information to Kimball's office. I'll call and let them know it's coming."
By the beginning of the following week the weather had become unseasonably warm for the end of February.
Both Hunter brothers had been cremated and interred at a Chicago cemetery. Casey had hired a company to clean out Tony's apartment and pack up all the contents. The boxes and all the furniture were then donated to the Salvation Army. The money from the safe-deposit box along with a small amount of cash that had been found at Tony's apartment was used to pay off the loans the three Cs had taken out to put the master plan into action. There was less than a thousand dollars left after that and Casey gave it to Lucille as a donation for the new children's wing at the hospital.
Casey was back to work full time and since their caseload had suddenly increased, Dana was happy to have her.
"What are you wearing to the benefit tomorrow night?" Marianne asked Dana as they prepared to close up the office on Wednesday night.
"I'm going out now to look for a new dress," Dana told her. "It's been so busy this week, I haven't even had time to think about it. What are you wearing?"
"I don't know. Greg just came up with these tickets at the last minute. Maybe I should come shopping with you."
"That would be great. We can stop for dinner too, unless you have plans with Greg."
"He's working at the youth center tonight. Where's Bruno?"
"He drove to Chicago to pick up his mother."
"I can't wait to meet her. What do you think she'll wear?"
"Bruno said she'd wear a black dress. It seems that when Italian women lose their husbands, the widows wear black for the rest of their lives."
"I think that's pretty old-fashioned. Has she wom black every time you've seen her in the past?"
"I don't remember," Dana replied. "Mrs. Bruno is one of those women who is larger than life, and you get so caught up in listening to her that she could be wearing a potato sack and you wouldn't notice."
"So you like her?" Marianne asked.
"I do, but I also feel a bit lost when I'm with her. Come to think of it, sometimes I feel the same way about her son."
Marianne laughed. "Except when you're wrapping him around your little finger."
"Please," Dana said, rolling her hazel eyes. "If his mother weren't coming today, we wouldn't even be speaking to each other."
"Is he still upset about you helping Troy Kimball with the Porter case?"
"Yes. And I'm upset about his failure to get Jack O'Brien to back off of Casey and her friends. He's been hounding them so much, the guys Carmen and Cathy were dating split." "
"Well, since the master plan seems to have failed so miserably, they'll have to see if Bob can help them. He's still bugging Casey to go out with his mechanic friend."
I don't think Casey is ready to start dating again," Dana said with a note of sadness in her voice.
The telephone rang. Dana and Marianne both looked at it and then at each other. "Let it ring. The service will pick it up. You and I have some serious shopping to do"
The girls pulled on their coats and headed for the door.
Bruno got the answering machine at Dana's office and hung up without leaving a message. His five-year-old nephew, Ricky, was sitting on the sofa next to him.
"Who are you calling, Uncle Al?"
"My friend, Dana, but she wasn't there"
"Mommy says you're going to marry her."
"Maybe," Bruno said absently.
"Of course you're going to marry her." Angelina Bruno had stepped into the room wheeling her suitcase behind her. "She's the perfect girl for you."
"I don't think she shares that opinion," Bruno told her.
"She doesn't have to agree with my opinion, but I know a good match for you when I see one. She's the first girl you've ever dated that didn't just swoon over your big strong body and your handsome face and let you take charge of the relationship. Dana is a lovely girl and she probably has lots of good-looking men after her, but more importantly she is smart and secure and doesn't let you tell her what to do or how to live her life."
"That's for sure," Bruno replied.
"Are you arguing with her again?"
"Actually, I was calling her now to avoid an argument on one of my cases that she's insisted on butting into"
"I see. We'll discuss it in the car," Angelina said firmly, looking at Ricky who was listening to every word of their conversation. Her son was a homicide detective so all of his case involved some type of violence, and she didn't want Ricky to hear such things.
Bruno nodded. "What time are we going to dinner?"
"We should leave now. The reservations are for six and with traffic, it will take time for us to get there. Come on, Ricky. We have to get your jacket and hat on"
"I can do it myself, Grandma," Ricky said, sliding off the sofa and walking past her.
"I know you can, but Grandma likes to help you" Angelina followed her grandson into the extra bedroom.
Bruno took out his cell phone and dialed Dana's cell phone number. She answered on the third ring. "Hi, sweets. Did you leave the office early?"
"A little. Marianne and I decided to go shopping for something to wear to the charity dinner tomorrow night. Where are you?"
"At my mom's place. We're meeting my sisters and their husbands and kids for dinner. Then, mom and I will drive to Crescent Hills. I hope that cleaning crew did a good job on my apartment "
"I'm sure it's fine," Dana said. "Why did you call the office?"
"I wanted to tell you that one of the lab guys called me and said they did get a print off that letter. It's too large to be a woman's print, so I don't think it belongs to you or Marianne. Did Bob or any other man touch it?"
"No. Marianne is the only one who touched it when she took it out of the envelope and read it. After that we handled it like any piece of evidence."
"Good. I've got the lab running it through all the databases we can access. I'll let you know if we get any kind of match"
"Okay. Thanks. Enjoy your dinner and say hello to everyone for me"
"I will. By the way, my mother just told me that you are the perfect woman for me"
Considering the arguments they'd had lately, Dana wasn't sure how to respond to that. "Marianne is waving at me," she said. "I think she found some g
ood dresses on the sale rack. We can talk about that later with your mom"
Bruno laughed. "I'll hold you to it."
They said their good-byes and Bruno hung up just as Ricky and Angelina emerged from the bedroom. Both of them were dressed for the cold weather outside.
Bruno put on his coat and picked up his mother's suitcase.
"Where's your hat?" his mother asked.
"I don't need one. We'll be in the car."
"What did you do with the hat I bought you for Christmas?"
"I don't wear it because it makes me look like a roaring twenties gangster."
"You look like one anyway," Angelina said with a grin.
"Dana said the same thing," Bruno told her. "Have you two been plotting things behind my back?"
"Not yet"
"What's a gangster?" Ricky asked.
"Ask your mother," Bruno told him.
Judy Porter stood in front of her latest painting and studied it carefully. It needed something, but she wasn't sure what. Her mind was so muddled these days that she had a hard time deciding what to eat for breakfast. In the past, she had always been able to find peace and solace in her work. She understood now that it had been the way she had escaped from the cruel reality of life with Lucas.
Lucas had dominated her and made her believe that she was worthless. She stayed with him year after year because he had convinced her that she wouldn't be able to function without him.
"You're not smart enough to live on your own," Lucas had told her over and over. "You wouldn't be able to get yourself paintbrushes without me. There's no one in the world that loves you like I do. There's no one else who would take care of you like I do. Any other husband would expect you to go out and get a job to help with the bills. Where would your dreams of being a famous painter be then? Down the toilet, that's where," he'd say softly.
Judy believed him and the first weeks without Lucas to lean on were awful. She didn't know how to function without him, and then just when she found out that life without Lucas could be good, even wonderful, she had been arrested for his murder. The guilt washed over her again, so strong that she staggered away from the painting on the easel and went to sit down on the sofa again.
The guilt she felt wasn't so much for herself as it was for Teddy. Dear sweet Teddy had been her friend. He had nursed her bruises and helped her in so many little ways. Now because of her, he was in danger of losing his freedom.
Judy didn't know if she would be able to handle prison, but she was sure that someone like Teddy, with his soft blond looks, would be destroyed by prison life.
There was a knock on the door. Judy pushed herself up and went to see who was there. Teddy had installed a chain lock on her door so she could open it just enough to see who was standing in the hallway. All the publicity she had gotten made her sought after by reporters and curiosity seekers.
The chain was already in place so Judy opened the door a crack and saw Teddy standing in the hallway with a big smile on his face. "Let me in, Judy. I have good news."
Judy closed the door to disengage the chain and then opened it again to admit Teddy. He was dressed in his work clothes. Teddy had feared that he would lose his job when he was indicted for murder, but his boss believed in his innocence and kept him on. He even found work for Teddy to do in the office of the hardware store to keep him off the sales floor and away from public scrutiny.
"What's the news?" Judy asked impatiently.
"Hold on," he said. "My mom is coming over and I want to tell you both at the same time."
A soft rap on the door signaled the arrival of Sally Larson. Teddy let her in and instructed her and Judy to sit down on the worn sofa. Teddy stood in front of them, still grinning.
"Tell us already," his mom said.
"Okay. Here it is. You know I'm working in the office now, helping the bookkeeper, Maureen. She's got this fabulous computer system that tracks all the sales and the inventory and stuff. Anyway, today we were talking and I said the fact that the hammer that killed Lucas was one that we sold in our store looked real bad for us. Maureen asked what day Lucas was killed and I told her, so she does this search on the computer for that day and a few days prior to it and comes up with sales receipts for that particular hammer, and there was only one receipt for the day that Lucas disappeared. That hammer is not one of our best sellers." Teddy stopped and grinned again.
"Go on, Teddy," his mother prompted.
"Anyway, we looked at the receipt and it turns out Lucky sold the hammer. Lucky is one of those guys who talks to everyone. When the store is busy, Mr. Hillman always tells Lucky to sell more and talk less. So, Maureen calls Lucky into the office and shows him the receipt and asks him if he remembers anything about the customer that bought the hammer. And bingo! Lucky says he does because he asked the guy what he needed it for and the guy said some home repairs and Lucky told him he should buy a smaller hammer because the one he chose was too big for most jobs. The guy insisted that this was the hammer he wanted so Lucky sold it to him."
"I don't understand," Judy said. "How does that help us?"
"It helps because Lucky remembers that the guy was wearing a hat with an Arizona Cardinals logo and he asked him if he was from Arizona and the guy said he lived there for a while and used to go to the games."
"Is that a baseball team?" his mother asked.
"No," Judy said jumping to her feet. "It's a football team and Dana Sloan called me a few days ago and asked me if Lucas knew any Arizona Cardinal fans. Then she sent our lawyer some information on a guy her investigator talked to at the pool hall who remembered a guy in an Arizona Cardinals hat in the pool hall the night Lucas was killed."
"Oh my God," Sally said, catching some of Judy's excitement. "This could be very important. We have to call your lawyer right away."
"First I'm going to call Dana," Judy said.
Dana and Marianne were having dinner at Marsella's. Dana hadn't been there since the night she and Bruno had dinner with Casey and Tony. They were talking about how that dinner had led to them finding out about Tony's past when Judy Porter called.
The next morning, Dana went straight to her editor's office to fill him in on the new developments in the Porter case.
"If nothing else," Sam said after he heard the story, "it will allow Kimball to present reasonable doubt to the jury."
"Yes, and we still have the possibility of tracing the fingerprint on the anonymous letter to someone"
"I wouldn't put too much faith in that, Dana. Most letters like that come from cranks."
"I know that. We get them all the time, but with nothing else to go on in the case, I think it's worth checking out"
"You're right. Keep me posted."
Dana took the elevator up to her own office. Marianne was going through the morning mail and there appeared to be a lot of it.
"I'm sorry I said anything about it being slow," Marianne said. "Bruno called and wants you call him on his cell."
Dana hurried into her office and hung up her outer garments before sitting behind her desk and reaching for the phone.
"Good morning," she said when Bruno answered.
"Hi, sweets," he replied. "My mother wants to go to the mall this morning and look for a dress for the dinner tonight. You got any suggestions?"
"Marianne and I both found dresses at Terrell's but that may be a little young for her taste. Have her try Gordon's. My mom always goes there when she's in town. Can I say hello to her?"
"No. She's cleaning my kitchen."
"I thought the service did that yesterday."
"They did, but not to my mother's liking. Are you free for lunch?"
"I don't think I'm going to get lunch today," Dana said. "We've got stacks of regular mail and e-mails to go through and Marianne and I both want to leave early to get dressed for the big dinner tonight. It starts at seven you know."
"If you say so. Okay, we'll pick you up at six thirty."
"How was your dinner last night?"
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"My sisters are both turning into clones of my mom. They say the same things to their kids that ma used to say to us. It's uncanny."
"Anything turn up on that fingerprint yet?"
"No. I'll call you if I hear anything"
Bruno clicked off and Dana looked through the other phone messages Marianne had placed on her desk. One of them was from Troy Kimball and Dana decided to return the call before Bob and Casey came in for the staff meeting.
The dress that Dana purchased for the dinner at Ventana was a deep burgundy with a jeweled neckline and threequarter-length sleeves. It had tiny pleats that started just below the bodice and then fell gracefully to the hemline. Dana was grateful that all the snow had melted so she could wear the black stiletto heels that made her feel tall and slinky. She wore the simple strand of pearls that had been her mother's with the matching pearl earrings.
By the time Dana had put the finishing touches on her hair and makeup, her doorbell was ringing. She took a deep breath and went to answer it.
Bruno was standing in the hallway alone. He looked at her in the dress and motioned for her to spin around. When she did, he whistled his appreciation.
"You look spectacular," he said.
"Where's your mom?"
"In the car. She said she'll give you a proper hug when we get to the hotel, but I want to give you one now."
"Okay, but don't wrinkle the dress," Dana said.
Bruno pulled her into his arms and if the dress had not been made of a wrinkle-free fabric, the pleats would have been flattened. "Shopping with my mom all day was awful. Next time you take her."
Dana laughed. "I give you credit for taking her at all. My brothers refuse to take my mom and my dad only goes if she promises to cook his favorite dinner."
"I know, he told me. So, tomorrow night, my mom is making spaghetti for us"
Dana laughed again and extricated herself from Bruno's arms. "I'll get my coat"