by Carol Costa
"Hi, Dana," Lou said. "Where have you been hiding lately?"
"In my office, behind stacks of files."
"I heard about Casey. What a shocker. How's she doing?"
"She came back to work this morning. She said she wanted to keep busy, but I'm having her work with Bob so he can look out for her."
"You're a smart cookie," Lou said. "Bruno, when are you going to wake up and marry this girl?"
"She's the one who's dragging her feet," Bruno told her.
"Hmmm. Maybe she's even smarter than I thought" Lou softened the remark by giving Bruno a pat on his head like he was one of her sons. "Are you ready to order?"
Bruno ordered a club sandwich with french fries and Dana ordered a cup of chicken noodle soup and half a hamand-cheese sandwich. Lou made a fresh pot of soup every morning and the sandwiches she served were gigantic, so half was more than enough for Dana.
Lou went off to transfer their order to the kitchen and Bruno decided to get down to business. "Whose idea was it to stand me up and drive to Chicago last night?"
"Would you believe it was Sam's idea?" Dana said with mock sincerity.
"No. Sam probably just went along to keep you out of harm's way."
"Okay. Next question."
"I won't ask how you got Hunter's address. You always seem to find out what you want when you want it. So, you got Hunter's address and went to his apartment building, then what happened?"
Dana told Bruno the whole story including the part about the little boys on the second-floor landing and how she went back and talked to the child after Hunter was murdered and the shooter escaped out the window.
"He shot at you and Sam through the door?"
"Yes.
"And that didn't scare you?" Bruno asked sternly.
"Of course it scared me. Luckily we weren't standing in front of the door. The bullet went straight through it and lodged in the banister. That's when the big guy came out of his apartment to see what was going on."
"The big guy's name is Henry Lindbloom. The Chicago cops are going to pick him up for questioning"
"I don't think he knows anything that can help," Dana said. "He was just as shocked as we were at the shooting."
"We're waiting for Chicago to fax a report on the bullet that killed John Hunter. I want to see if they came from the same gun that killed Tony."
"If so, Casey will no longer be a suspect?"
"She's not one now, at least not as far as I'm concerned. I talked to her girlfriends last night and they swear she was with them until after eight p.m. and the M.E. says Hunter was killed earlier than that."
Dana nodded. "Besides that, the little boys saw a man go up to Hunter's apartment last night, not a woman."
"A man with a red bird on his hat? It was in the report Chicago faxed to me."
"Right"
"Not much to go on. I assume the Chicago guys will go back and question the kids again and other people in the building to see if they saw anything"
"I doubt if there are other witnesses," Dana said. "The hallways were pretty deserted, but someone could have been looking out the windows and saw the shooter running away. Or someone on the street may have seen him."
"The problem is that people in that neighborhood don't like to step forward with information for the police," Bruno replied.
One of the other waitresses came over and delivered their food and their conversation stopped while they both enjoyed the first few bites of their respective lunches.
"The two murders are obviously connected," Dana said after she had finished her soup.
"Obviously"
"It must have something to do with the bank robbery or the time they spent in prison. Henry Lindbloom said that John hadn't seen Tony yet"
"That doesn't mean that they hadn't been communicating."
"True. Casey didn't know anything about Tony's past until I told her on Saturday. Tony claimed he didn't have any family. However, he had golfing buddies and other friends at the country club; maybe he confided in one of them"
"Maybe. It's worth checking out" Bruno reached across the table and grabbed her hand. "When I say it's worth checking out, I mean that as the lead detective on the case, I'm going to check it out."
"Of course," Dana agreed.
"You're going to stay out of it."
Dana removed her hand from his grasp and changed the subject. "What's going on with Floyd Flannery? Are you going to release him again?"
"He's going to stay in jail until his assault trial. By showing up at Casey's apartment on Saturday, he violated the restraining order the Globe filed forbidding him to come near the newspaper office or anyone on your staff."
"I see, and the fact that he was in custody last night rules him out as a suspect in the Chicago murder."
"You didn't answer my question," Bruno said. "You are going to stay out of the Hunter murder cases, aren't you?"
Dana took the last bite of her sandwich and pushed her plate away. Bruno had already finished his lunch and the waitress came over and refilled his coffee cup. Dana passed on the refill and the girl went away again.
Finally, Dana spoke to Bruno again. "We'd have less conflicts in our relationship if you'd stop asking me questions like that. I'm a reporter and a trained investigator and I have a personal interest in the Hunter cases. And I'm not going to lie and say I'm leaving it alone."
"Do you want to have children when we get married?"
"What?"
"Just thought I'd ask a different question."
"We've already discussed the question of children and you know what we decided."
"Yeah, so as the future mother of my children do you understand why I'm concerned about you investigating murders?"
"Oh, my phone is ringing," Dana said, pulling the silent cell phone out her purse and answering it.
Bruno wasn't fooled. He picked up the lunch check and carried it up to the cashier's counter to pay. Dana stood up, put her coat and scarf on, and hurried out of the cafe.
Bruno caught up with her as she got into the revolving door at the Globe building. He squeezed into the section of the door Dana had entered.
"Who was on the phone?" he asked, putting his arm around her waist.
"I have to get back to my office," she told him. "And you probably have to check in at the station."
"Right. I'll call you later." Bruno bent down and kissed her on the cheek. "Remember the bambinos," he whispered in her ear.
Dana watched him leave the building and stand at the stoplight waiting to cross the street to the station. Then, she pulled off her scarf and unbuttoned her coat as she hurried toward the elevator that would take her up to her office.
Marianne was on the phone when Dana came through the door. "Hold on," she said. "She just walked in." Marianne put the caller on hold. "It's Bruno for you," she told Dana.
"Bruno? I just left him in the lobby." Marianne shrugged. Dana went into her office and pushed the button on the blinking line. "What is it?" she said into the phone.
"I just wanted to know if you missed me."
"You just wanted to know if I was really going to my office," Dana said. "Well, I'm here. Satisfied?"
"For the moment. I'll call you later."
"Good-bye, Bruno," Dana said and dropped the phone back into its cradle before he could respond.
Dana hung up her coat and scarf thinking how much she missed summer when she didn't have to bundle up to go outside and unbundle when she was inside. It wasted so much time.
Marianne came in carrying a few phone messages. "Nothing urgent," she said. "And now that you're back I'm going out to lunch. Do you want me to transfer the phones to the answering service?"
"Please," Dana replied. "Have you heard from Casey or Bob?"
"No. How did the hearing go?"
"As expected, but Kimball got the judge to set bail and Del put up their bonds"
"That was nice of him"
"He's a nice man. I'm going to do some computer rese
arch so close my door when you leave"
"Okay. I'll see you an hour or so"
Dana told Marianne to have a nice lunch and then scooted herself closer to the computer keyboard on her desk. She accessed the Internet, brought up the Chicago Sun-Times Web site, and logged into her account.
Dana searched the archives using the keywords "Anthony Hunter" and found 106 references. She began scanning the lead-ins to the articles and opened the one that said HOSTAGE TAKEN IN BANK ROBBERY. When the article appeared on the screen, Dana printed it out.
The next article Dana printed was the one that reported the discovery of the body of the female hostage in an alley several blocks from the bank where she'd been abducted. The woman's name was Sarah Turner and she was twentytwo years old.
SUSPECTS ARRESTED IN ROBBERY/MURDER reported how two brothers, John and Anthony Hunter, had been arrested at the home of John's girlfriend, Mary Lou Bandini. No address was given for Bandini. The article went on to say the arrest had resulted from an anonymous tip. The suspects had appeared in a lineup and the bank teller and other employees had positively identified the Hunter brothers as the bank robbers.
The articles in the archives traced the history of the trial, conviction, and sentencing, and Dana printed out all the articles that she needed and put them in chronological order.
By the time Marianne came back from lunch, Dana had made another copy of all the articles and placed them in another file. She handed the file to Marianne and asked her to label it and put it in a safe place.
"What do you want me to label it?" her secretary asked.
"Hunter Crime File," Dana responded.
"I read the story Sam ran about Tony Hunter's brother being murdered last night. It's so bizarre. I didn't mention it this morning because I didn't want to get Casey upset."
"I don't think Casey can be any more upset than she already is," Dana told her. "Maybe finding out how and why this happened will help her."
"What can I do to help?" Marianne asked.
Dana handed Marianne a slip of paper with the name Mary Lou Bandini written on it. "See if you can run a trace on this name. I want to know where she is now. She'd be in her late thirties or early forties"
Globe Investigations subscribed to several databases that could be used to get information on individuals, and Marianne was a whiz at doing research. She flipped her hand through her red tresses and sat down at her desk.
Dana went back to her office and called a friend of hers at the county recorder's office in Cook County, Illinois.
"Hi, Dana," Billy said when he picked up the phone.
Dana and Billy had gone to college together and Billy had married Dana's best friend, Trudy. Dana had been the maid of honor at their wedding.
"How's Trudy and the baby?" Dana asked.
"Both getting fat and sassy," Billy joked. "How are you and the brute getting along these days?"
Dana laughed. "The same as always."
"Bring him to dinner next weekend. We haven't seen you guys in a while."
"We can't come next weekend," Dana said. "Bruno's mother is coming here for a visit."
"Is that good or bad?"
"I'm not sure," Dana said honestly. "Listen, pal, I need a favor."
"Don't you always when you call me at work"
Dana laughed again. "Yes"
"What do you need?"
"I'm investigating two brothers named Hunter who committed a robbery and murder twenty-three years ago. They lived in Chicago, so I'm hoping they were born there in Cook County and you can get me some information off their birth certificates."
"Do you have birth dates?"
"I have the years, but not the months or days"
"Okay, give me what you got."
Dana read off the ages of Anthony and John Hunter at the time they committed the robbery and murdered the hostage. She told Billy she needed the names of their parents and needed to know if the parents had any other children. She also needed to know if there were death certificates on file for the parents.
"I'll try to get back to you in the morning," Billy said. "Hunter's a pretty common name so it may take longer."
Dana thanked him and hung up. Although the information she was seeking on the Hunter family was public record, there were new restrictions on obtaining that information because of the problems with identity theft that had become rampant in the last few years. Getting the information through Billy saved Dana a lot of time and red tape.
With her investigation on the Hunter murders begun, Dana decided to go through the mail Marianne had stacked on her desk. Monday's mail always included the letters that had come in on Saturday, but thankfully there were only a few new cases that needed to be assigned.
There were also two letters in the mail from readers who had been cheated by Flannery's garage thanking Globe Investigations for looking into the matter and exposing Floyd's unethical business practices.
Dana placed the letters aside for Bob and Casey to read as they had done the work on the case. She buzzed Marianne and asked if she already made copies of these letters for the file they had on Flannery.
"Yes, I did. In fact I made two copies, one for the file that went to our attorneys and another for the duplicate file I have here"
"I don't know why I asked," Dana said. "You're always a step ahead of me"
Marianne laughed. "Most of the time I'm running to catch up with you. By the way, I heard that Flannery showed up at Casey's apartment on Saturday and now he's back in jail."
"Right. Apparently our lawyers got a restraining order against him that he violated by showing up at Casey's. Bruno said he'll be in jail until the assault case goes to trial."
"Will we all have to testify?" Marianne asked.
"Of course. You're the one he actually assaulted."
"I still can't get over how Bob floored the guy. Bob may look like a big fluffy marshmallow but he's really a tough guy." The conversation, like many Dana and Marianne had when they were in the office alone, was taking place over the intercom. That way they could keep working while they talked. "Oh, hold on, Dana. I'm getting some results from my search on Mary Lou Bandini."
"I'll be right out," Dana said. She had sorted through all the mail and picked up two of the reader requests she thought Marianne could research and answer, and carried them out to the reception area.
The printer connected to Marianne's computer was cranking out the information that appeared on the screen.
Dana waited for it to finish and grabbed the paper out of the printer. "Mary Lou Bandini is in prison for embezzlement," Dana said reading the print out. "This is too crazy."
"She's serving her second year of a five-year sentence."
"Call the prison and find out when visiting hours are and what I have to do to get permission to see her," Dana said. "Also, see if you can get transcripts from the Hunters' trial. That may give me more information than the newspaper articles."
"Greg is going back to Chicago tomorrow. I can ask him to go to the courthouse and get copies of the transcripts. It'll be faster than waiting for them to send them to us"
"I don't want to inconvenience him, but if he's willing to do it, I'll pay for his gas and food"
"I'll call him now and ask him," Marianne offered.
"Thanks. I'm going to go up to the newsroom and see Sam. I want to share some of this information with him"
Dana only spent about ten minutes with her editor. The newsroom was especially hectic that day and Sam was harried. However, Sam approved of Dana's activities and promised the paper would back her efforts.
The afternoon had passed quickly and it was close to four when Dana returned from her quick meeting with Sam. Bob and Casey showed up a few minutes later.
"We solved all four cases," Bob said proudly. "For some reason, people were very friendly and cooperative today."
"Great," Dana said. "Get your reports done and I'll look at them before I leave tonight."
"Don't you want me to te
ll you the details?" Bob asked. "Some of them are quite amusing"
"Don't believe him, Dana," Casey said. "All four were elderly people who have been scammed by unethical companies or individuals. It was all quite sad"
"You didn't think the guy that tried to buy a potbellied stove and got a potbellied pig instead was hilarious?"
"No. He was just dumb, and I felt sorry for the pig"
Casey suddenly looked like she might burst into tears. Dana stepped between her two investigators. "Bob, do you think you can handle the paperwork on your own? I need to discuss some things with Casey."
Both Casey and Bob had state-of-the-art laptop computers in which to input their stories. The laptops enabled them to type up their reports and if needed e-mail them straight to the newsroom for inclusion in the next edition of the Globe. Casey always carried her computer with her. Bob always left his at home, giving him a good excuse to go there to work.
"Don't mind at all," Bob replied cheerfully. "I'll get them done tonight and e-mail copies to all of you. None of them are front-page material, but I can condense all four into one report to warn other consumers to beware."
"Perfect," Dana said.
Casey had already left the reception area to take a seat in Dana's office. Marianne had just gotten a return call from Greg.
"Greg says he'll be glad to do it," Marianne said. "He'll bring them straight here when he comes back tomorrow."
"Wonderful. He is a great guy."
"I know it," Marianne said.
"And she owes her happiness to Bob's matchmaking service," Bob told them.
Dana and Marianne both rolled their eyes at him. Bob laughed and left the office with the day's files under his arm.
Dana joined Casey inside her private office and closed the door so they could speak privately. Casey was sitting in one of the chairs in front of Dana's desk staring at the gray skies through the window behind the desk. Her face looked as dark as the clouds that threatened to dump more snow on Crescent Hills.
"How are you doing?" Dana asked, leaning on the front of the desk to talk to Casey.
