Deadly Dining

Chapter 11

  Jodie Marshall

  The offices of Walker & Belcher Architects were in the Plaza of the Americas Building in downtown Dallas. Jodie watched a half dozen ice skaters practicing in the rink below as the glass elevator ascended. When she stepped out of the elevator she found herself in the firm’s waiting room. Mike Sutherland was already there talking to one of the receptionists. He smiled when he saw Jodie and motioned her over.

  “Jodie. This is Susie. If you need coffee or anything just ask her and she’ll get it for you.”

  “I’m fine, thanks,” Jodie replied.

  “You can bring me a coffee–black?” Mike said.

  “Sure,” Susie said. “Go on back. Joe’s in his office.”

  Mike smiled and escorted Jodie back to a spacious corner office with a huge glass table cluttered with plans, drawings and assorted drafting equipment. Jodie noticed photographs of several impressive buildings on the walls. She assumed Joe had designed them. Joe walked over and greeted them.

  “Jodie. This is Joe Belcher.”

  “Hi,” Jodie said and shook Joe’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  “Likewise. Have a seat.”

  Jodie sat on a white leather sofa and Mike sat down beside her. Joe went behind his desk and sat in his executive chair. Susie brought Mike his coffee and he set it on the end table next to him.

  “So, Jodie’s law firm wants to build their own building—maybe something like the Montfort property we just finished.”

  “Yes. I love that building,” Jodie said. “Something like that would be perfect for us.”

  “Mike said you have a two and a half million budget.”

  “Right. That’s as much as our banker said he’d be willing to loan us. We’re just in the planning stages right now. I was assigned the task of getting the numbers together to see if the project is feasible.”

  “Well, we can help you with that. Mike said you had property in Plano.”

  “Yes. We’ve found a lot there we liked. We haven’t bought it yet, but it’s in a perfect location. It’s about the same size as the Montfort lot.”

  “Okay, we’d be happy to work up a preliminary design and budget for you. Then if you decide to go forward we can develop the plans and specs necessary for the bidding package.”

  “What would it cost for that?” Jodie asked.

  “Our fee for the design and budget is usually $25,000 but since you’re a friend of Mike’s we’ll do it for $10,000.”

  “Wow,” Jodie said looking over at Mike. “It pays to know the right people.”

  “Yes, it does,” Belcher said. “Stick with Mike. You’re in good hands.”

  “Alright. It will probably be sixty to ninety days before we’re ready to get started.”

  “No problem. We’ll squeeze you in when you’re ready. Just let Mike know when the time comes. You can figure it will take us thirty days once you retain us and we get a check.”

  They stood up and shook hands. “It was a pleasure meeting you,” Jodie said as she started to walk out of his office. As she was leaving she noticed a replica of a construction project entitled Highland Corners. It appeared to be a condominium, movie theater complex and small shopping center. She stopped to look at it.

  “Is this a new project?” Jodie asked.

  “Yes.It’s one of Wilkinson’s projects. It’s still in the planning stages,” Joe replied. “They haven’t acquired all the property yet.”

  “Huh. . . . What happens if you can’t acquire it?” Jodie asked.

  Joe and Mike looked at each other knowingly. “Oh, that won’t be a problem,” Mike said. “The holdouts will come around eventually. They always do.”

  After the meeting with Belcher, Mike took Jodie to lunch. She felt guilty flirting with Mike now that she’d made a commitment to Carl, but didn’t figure she had a choice under the circumstances. She just hoped Mike wouldn’t get obsessed with her and start demanding a lot of her time. She didn’t have time for that nor did she want to cheat on Carl. But, just as she feared, the next day a dozen roses were delivered to her at the office.

  “Damn it,” she moaned as she read the note.

  Paula walked in and raised her eyebrows. “What’s up?” she asked.

  “Oh, my undercover work is getting complicated. Mike sent me flowers.”

  “Oh, no. What are you going to do?”

  “End it now. I think I found what you needed.”

  “Oh, really?”

  “Yes. There was a model of a proposed development called Highland Corners in Joe Belcher’s office.”

  “Right.”

  “So, Emilio’s restaurant sits right in the middle of it.”

  “Huh. So, they had a good motive to want Emilio’s restaurant to fail. They figured if things got bad he’d sell.”

  “Yes. When I asked Mike and Joe if they thought Tom Wilkinson would have any problem getting the holdouts to sell, they laughed.”

  “Good work, Jodie,” Paula said. “You’re right. You should end it with Mike now before things get out of hand.”

  Jodie nodded. “Right. Now all I have to do is think of a way to do it.”

  Paula smiled sympathetically and then left. After thinking about it for a few minutes she decided to use Carl as an excuse. She picked up the phone and dialed Mike’s number.

  “Mike. Thanks for the flowers.”

  “Oh, you got them. Good,” Mike said.

  “Listen. I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong idea, but I’m in a relationship. In fact, he’s moving into my apartment this weekend.”

  “Then tell him you’ve changed your mind.”

  “Well, I haven’t changed my mind. I want him to move in.”

  “Who is he?”

  Jodie sighed. This wasn’t going like she had hoped. She didn’t think it was any of Mike’s business who she was living with, but perhaps if he knew it was a cop he’d back off. “He’s a Plano cop.”

  “A cop? You’ve got to be kidding. You can do better than that, Jodie. Come on.”

  Jodie didn’t know what to say. “So, anyway. I hope we can still be friends.”

  “Yeah, right!” Mike said bitterly.

  “I’m sorry, Mike. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

  “No, you were just going to use me until you got what you wanted.”

  “That’s not true. You offered to help. You didn’t say your offer was conditioned on a relationship.”

  “Well, you’d have to be pretty stupid not to figure that out.”

  “Well, I guess I’m stupid then, because I just thought you were a nice guy.”

  “A nice guy. Boy, you did read me wrong.” He laughed. “You’ve messed with the wrong guy. You have no idea what you’re in for now,” Mike said and hung up.

  Jodie stared at the receiver a moment, swallowed hard, and then hung up. Well, that went well, she thought. Although she tried to shake it off she was out of sorts over the conversation all morning. Finally she went to see Stan about it.

  “I’m afraid I may be in trouble,” she said worriedly.

  “What happened?” Stan asked.

  “I broke it off with Mike since Paula said she had all the information she needed and he got all upset. He said I had messed with the wrong guy and was making a big mistake.”

  “Hmm. That doesn’t sound good. Do you think he is dangerous?”

  “I didn’t think so, but his tone changed dramatically when I told him I wasn’t interested in dating him. It was like he was a different guy. He became belligerent and even cursed at me.”

  “Well, perhaps I should call our security people and have them assign someone to you for a while.”

  “No. Actually, I’m dating a Plano cop now. I should be safe with him.”

  “Oh, really? Who is it?”

  “Carl Ross. He’s a rookie but he knows how to handle a gun.”

  “Well, he can’t be with you during the day.”

  “That’s true,” Jodie mused. “Okay, hire someone f
or me during the day but I should be alright at night with Carl with me.”

  “Sounds good. I’ll set it up to start at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow.”

  “Thanks, Stan. Sorry to be a bother.”

  Stan shrugged. “I’m billing it to our client. Don’t worry about it.”

  Jodie went back to her office feeling better. Looking at her watch she realized it was time for her to leave for Plano to meet with the two firemen who had responded to the robbery at the Jewelry Mart. She told Maria where she was going and headed for the parking garage. As she approached her car a man stepped out in front of her. She screamed and darted around the man. He gave her a menacing look but didn’t follow her. Breathing hard she fumbled to unlock her door. When she was finally inside and the door was locked she tried to relax but a hand suddenly slapped her side window hard causing her to nearly jump out of her skin. She started the car quickly, backed out of the parking space and peeled rubber without looking back. She didn’t relax until she was several blocks away and couldn’t see anyone following her.

  She wondered who the man was who had confronted her. Was their near collision intentional or just a simple mishap? Had she overreacted? Who had slapped her side window? Was it the same man she’d nearly collided with? Her heart was still beating fast and she could feel that her face was flushed. When she got to the fire station for her interview she used their phone and called Carl. When she told him what had happened he told her to come to the station when she was done. After she had composed herself she met the two witnesses in the recreation room.

  “Hi. I’m Jodie Marshall. Thanks for agreeing to talk with me.”

  “No problem,” a tall fireman with a mustache said.

  “So, you’re Paul Bennett?”

  “Yes.”

  Jodie looked over at the other man who was short with a receding hairline. “And you must be Burt Hawkins?”

  “Yes,” Burt said.

  “Okay. Well you two apparently responded to a 9-1-1 call to the Jewelry Mart a few weeks back.”

  “Yes, we did,” Paul said.

  “So, Paul. Why don’t you tell me what you remember.”

  “Okay. Well, there was one police cruiser on the scene when we arrived. Two police officers were in the store and had the situation pretty much under control. I saw one man, Michael Mahoney, on the ground with his wrists tied behind his back. Herbert Stein was sitting in a chair holding a rag over the bullet wound in his leg. We immediately started working on Stein. We took his vitals and called them in. They said to make sure the bleeding had stopped and then get him to Plano Medical Center as quickly as possible.”

  “How serious was the wound?”

  “It was a flesh wound. He wasn’t in any mortal danger.”

  “Did you look around the vault room where you found him?”

  “Yes.”

  “What did you see?”

  “Well, it appeared there had been a scuffle. Chairs were overturned and papers were scattered all over the floor.”

  “Did you get a look at the vault?”

  “Uh huh. It was open.”

  “It was open?” Jodie questioned.

  “Yes and it looked like the contents had been removed.”

  “Oh, really? Did you see the contents anywhere?”

  “No. I figured the thief cleaned it out and the police had taken it as evidence.”

  “No. I don’t think so,” Jodie replied. “Mahoney said he was taken down before Stein got the vault open.”

  “So, Stein must have opened it after Larson took Mahoney down,” Paul said.

  “Apparently,” Jodie agreed.

  Jodie didn’t know what to make of this new information. She wondered why Stein would have opened the vault after the robbery was effectively over. Was he afraid the police might want to look inside, so he opened it while they were busy and moved the contents somewhere the police wouldn’t be looking? She figured he could have run the contents out to his car and stuck it in the trunk.

  Jodie questioned Burt Hawkins but he didn’t have anything new to add, so she left the fire station and went to the police station to see Carl. He came out to meet her when she pulled up. She told him in more detail about her run-in with the man or men in the parking garage.

  “So, have you ever seen this guy before?”

  Jodie shook her head. “No. Never. I don’t think he works in our office building.”

  “Did the guy you almost collided with come over and slap your window or was it someone else?”

  “I’m not sure. I didn’t get a good look at him. When it happened, all I could think about was getting the hell out of there.”

  “Well. That was the smart thing to do. Could your friend Mike be responsible?”

  “I don’t know. He was pretty angry when I told him I was with you.”

  “What made him think you’d be interested in him?”

  “Well, I had to flirt with him a bit to get the information I needed.”

  Carl shook his head. “I don’t like this undercover work. It’s too dangerous.”

  “I know. I shouldn’t have to do it anymore.”

  Jodie hung around the police station until Carl got off his shift. Then she followed him to her apartment. When they approached her front door they noticed it was ajar. Carl immediately drew his weapon and motioned for Jodie to stay back. Jodie did as she was told and Carl nudged the door open with his foot. He went inside room by room but found no one inside.

  “Clear,” he finally yelled.

  Jodie walked through the front door and gasped when she saw the place had been ransacked. “Oh, my God!”

  Carl walked in from the kitchen and shrugged. “Boy you really pissed somebody off. Check and see if they took anything.”

  “I wonder what they were looking for,” Jodie asked.

  “Do you keep any of your work files here?” Carl asked.

  “No. I might bring a file home to work on but I never leave them here.”

  “Well, is anything missing?”

  Jodie went room by room and surveyed her belongings. “If it was a thief I’m sure he is extremely disappointed. I don’t have anything worth stealing.”

  “This may just be a message. They know where you live and can get to you whenever they want.”

  Jodie sighed. “Shit! What have I done?”

  “Well, if they wanted to hurt you they could have done it in the parking garage. I think they are just trying to rattle you. You’ll be safe if I’m with you and if you have your bodyguard close by at all times during the day. Promise me you won’t go anywhere without him.”

  “I promise,” Jodie said earnestly.

  Jodie and Carl spent the next hour cleaning up the apartment and making sure it was secure, then they went out to dinner. Jodie was pretty sure Mike was responsible for what had happened to her that day but wasn’t sure what it meant. Was Mike just pissed off because she rejected him or had he figured out she was after information about Tom Wilkinson? She hoped it was rejection. He’d get over that soon enough, but if he knew what she was really up to then she was in serious trouble.