Deadly Dining

Chapter 14

  Jodie Marshall

  Jodie had trouble concentrating after the events of the previous day. She couldn’t help but wonder if Mike was finished with her or had he just begun making her life miserable. Having Brandon around was a comfort but also an annoyance. She wasn’t used to somebody following her around. It made her nervous, self-conscious and was a constant reminder that someone was out there with an unknown agenda. After a while she managed to refocus and consider what next to do in the Larson case. She’d talked to just about everyone except the plaintiff, Herbert Stein. She decided it was time to schedule his deposition, so she picked up the phone to call his attorney, Robert Goldberg.

  “Deposition? You don’t want to try to settle the case first before everybody wastes a lot of time and money,” Goldberg said.

  “Well, your client could drop the case and then there wouldn’t be any more time and expense wasted.”

  “Your client shot Herb for godsakes. You want him to just forget that?”

  “Yes. That was an accident and from what I have elicited from witnesses your client ran into the line of fire. Had he just sat tight instead of trying to flee, he wouldn’t have been injured.”

  “Yeah. That’s easy for you to say. You weren’t standing next to a couple of maniacs fighting over a gun.”

  “Maniac? My client was trying to stop a robbery. You’d think your client would be a tiny bit grateful.”

  “Grateful. He’d have been grateful if your client would have minded his own business.”

  Jodie sighed. “Okay. So, he wouldn’t have minded losing the contents of his vault.”

  “You ever heard of insurance, Jodie? That’s why you buy it so you don’t have to put your life at risk by resisting an armed robber.”

  “Whatever. I need to take your client’s deposition. When would be a good time?”

  “I don’t know. I’ll have to confer with Herb and get back with you.”

  “Fine. But I’m not going to wait too long. Get me a date in the next 30 days, and I’m going to need the items listed in our request for production delivered to me ten days before the deposition.”

  “Well. I’ll look into it.”

  “This is your lawsuit. If it’s too much trouble to prosecute it why don’t you just dismiss it?”

  “It’s not going away, darling, so don’t get your panties in a wad. I’ll get you your production and a depo date in due time.”

  Jodie said goodbye and hung up. She couldn’t believe Goldberg’s attitude. She could tell working with him was going to be a nightmare and she’d end up having to file motions to compel to get any discovery out of him. But that just made her more determined to win and to make Stein and Goldberg pay for their arrogance.

  Jodie thought about Goldberg’s comment about insurance. She wondered if Stein had filed a claim. That could be why he emptied his vault immediately after Mahoney was arrested but before the detectives had a chance to inventory it. She wondered how she could find out if he had filed a claim. She decided to ask Stan about it since he had friends in the insurance business. She got up and went to his office. He looked up at her expectantly when she walked in.

  “Got a minute?” Jodie asked.

  “Sure. What’s up?”

  “Immediately after our client stopped the robbery at the Jewelry Mart and before the police got there, Herbert Stein opened the vault and removed everything in it.”

  “Right. I remember,” Stan said.

  “Well, I’ve been trying to figure out why he did that and I had an idea.”

  “What’s that?”

  “What if he filed an insurance claim? What if he claimed Michael Mahoney stole whatever was in the vault?”

  “But Mahoney was arrested and nothing was found on him.”

  “I know, but how would the insurance company know that?”

  “They would assign an adjuster and he’d investigate the claim. He’d look at the police report and maybe even talk to witnesses.”

  “Hmm,” Jodie said. “I’ll have to add insurance claims to my production list.”

  “If you like, I know a guy who can look into it. I doubt Stein would have filed a claim, though since the robbery was thwarted.”

  “Well. If you don’t mind, I’m not going to feel comfortable about the facts until I figure out why he emptied his vault. There had to be a reason.”

  Stan picked up the phone and called Larry Johnson at Sentry Insurance Investigators. “Hey, Stan. How are you?”

  “Fine.”

  “It’s been a while. How’s law practice?”

  “Can’t complain. . . .You still handle everybody’s life insurance investigations?”

  “Not all, but a lot of them.”

  “How about property and casualty claims?”

  “Sure. We handle just about everything in the DFW area.”

  “Good. Have you done any investigations on the Jewelry Mart in Plano? The owner’s name is Herbert Stein. They recently had an armed robbery.”

  “Let me see if I can pull up the name,” Larry said. There was a moment of silence. “Nothing recent. There have been several claims in the past, though.”

  “Hmm. Tell me about the old claims?”

  “Well, I’m afraid I can’t do that, but I’m sure you can subpoena those records.”

  “Right. Can you at least tell me what insurance companies were involved?”

  “Ah, well. You didn’t hear this from me, but a lot of people use Travelers and Old Republic.”

  “Really? I didn’t know that. Thanks, Larry. I owe you.”

  “My wife and I need to update our wills. We haven’t looked at them since you did them for us years ago.”

  “Well, come see me. The update’s on the house.”

  “Thanks. I’ll make an appointment.”

  Stan hung up and looked at Jodie. “No luck. He apparently hasn’t filed a claim lately.”

  “What was that about Travelers and Old Republic?”

  “Oh, when you take Stein’s deposition ask him if he has any insurance with Travelers or Old Republic. Then ask him if he’s filed any claims on those policies in the last five years.”

  “His attorney will claim it’s irrelevant,” Jodie said, “and instruct him not to answer.”

  “Maybe, unless he’s not paying attention. Wear something sexy. It might distract him.”

  Jodie laughed. “Yeah. Right. But I might be able to trick him into making it relevant. If I ask him if he has ever filed a fraudulent insurance claim and he denies it, then I would have the right to see the old claims to impeach his testimony.”

  “That’s good, Jodie,” Stan said. “That might actually work.”

  “Okay. Thanks for your help, Stan,” Jodie said. “I’m getting hungry. I think I’ll find Brandon and go to lunch. He’s probably pretty bored sitting out in the waiting room.”

  “I bet he is. Enjoy your lunch.”

  Jodie went back to her office to drop off her legal pad and then went to the waiting room and told Brandon she wanted to go to lunch. He jumped up eagerly.

  “Where you want to go?”

  “You like Japanese. I haven’t been to Benihana’s lately.”

  “Sure. Let’s go.”

  They walked out of the office to the elevator banks and pushed the down button.

  “So, have you had any good assignments lately?” Jodie asked.

  “No. Everything I have done lately has been pretty boring. Standing in bank lobbies, sitting at information desks or doing skip traces.”

  The bell rang, the elevator door opened and they got in.

  “Well, I guess Stan filled you in on what’s going on with me.”

  “Yes. He said you pissed off some bad people.”

  Jodie nodded. “I was trying to get information on Wilkinson Properties. Apparently they are a money laundering operation for somebody, we don’t know exactly who it is.”

  The elevator door opened on the bottom floor and they got out and started w
alking toward the parking garage. When they got to where Jodie had thought she’d parked her BMW another car was in the spot.

  “I don’t understand this,” Jodie said. “I’m sure I parked right here this morning.”

  Brandon looked around nervously. “Well, maybe you’re mistaken. Let’s look around a bit. Maybe you parked it somewhere else.”

  Jodie shrugged and started walking along the row of cars. When they had circled the entire first floor of the parking garage Jodie shook her head.

  “I can’t believe this. Somebody stole my car!”

  “Okay. We better call the police,” Brandon advised.

  Brandon got out his cell phone and made the call. After he reported the theft he hung up. “They are sending a squad car by right now,” he reported.

  “You should call building security too. They may have video footage.”

  “Right,” Brandon said and put a call into his office. After a brief conversation he hung up. “My office is contacting them.”

  A few moments later a squad car drove by slowly. Brandon waved to get the officer’s attention. Two officers got out to take the report and a few minutes later building security joined them.

  “I parked my car right here this morning and now it’s gone,” Jodie complained.

  “What kind of car was it?” the officer asked.

  “A 1997 BMW 328i,” Jodie replied.

  “Color?”

  “Maroon?”

  “License?”

  “J-O-D-I-E. It’s a personalized plate, cost me an extra fifty bucks.”

  “If you want to come upstairs we’ve got security footage that you can review. I’m sure whoever stole the vehicle will be on it.”

  “Let me call this in first,” the officer said as he walked over to his squad car. A few minutes later he returned and they all started walking toward the building’s entrance. As they were walking the officer’s radio chirped. He picked it up and pushed receive.

  “Maroon 1997 BMW 328i, license plate J-O-D-I-E reported stolen,” the dispatcher said.

  “If it’s on the road we’ll find it,” the officer said.

  “You mean if it’s not already in a chop shop,” Brandon interjected.

  The officer shrugged. “True, but it may not have been professionals. It could be some kids just taking a joyride.”

  “I doubt kids would come into a high security parking garage to steal a car for a joyride,” Jodie said.

  “So, do you have any idea who might have stolen it?” the officer asked.

  “I have my suspicions as to who’s behind it. I doubt I could prove it, though.”

  “Who would that be?”

  Jodie told the officer about Mike and his threats.

  “I can have a detective talk to him.”

  “No, not without some solid proof linking him to it,” Jodie replied.

  When they got to the building management office the security officer led them to a small room with all the building’s security monitors. Someone had already brought up the appropriate tapes and flagged the event.

  “Okay. Here’s the footage. Let’s take a look,” he said as he pushed the play button.

  An image immediately appeared of the parking garage and Jodie’s car. A man in jeans, long sleeve denim shirt and sunglasses rushed up with a thin metal strip of metal. Unfortunately he kept his back to the camera so his face wasn’t visible. After just a few seconds he had the car door opened and jumped inside. Seconds later the car moved slowly out of the parking space and rolled out of view.

  “Well, that was a big help,” Jodie moaned.

  The security officer shrugged. “Sorry, Jodie. We can keep cars out of the parking garage but not people on foot.”

  Jodie nodded. “It’s not your fault.”

  “Alright. I’ve got what I need,” the officer said. “A detective will contact you in a few days to update you on the investigation.”

  Jodie and Brandon decided to skip Benihana’s and went to the building café for a sandwich. When she got back to her office she called her insurance agent and reported the theft. When she got home Carl met her at the door.

  “I couldn’t believe it when I heard the report of your car stolen. I wouldn’t have made the connection if the license plate hadn’t made it obvious that it was you.”

  “That bastard had my car stolen! Can you believe it?”

  Carl sighed heavily. “You’re probably right, but we could never prove it.”

  “I know, but when is this going to stop? What does he think all this will accomplish?”

  “He’s just trying to scare you and distract you from your investigation.”

  “Well, he doesn’t know me very well. The more someone harasses me the more determined I become to find the truth.”

  Carl put his arm around Jodie. “I’m sorry, honey. I know how much you loved that car.”

  Jodie shook her head and they embraced.

  “Come in the kitchen. You’ll feel better after you’ve eaten.”

  “Yeah. I’m starving. All I had for lunch was a lousy sandwich and I didn’t even feel like eating it.”

  “I know.”

  While they were eating Jodie updated Carl on the day’s events. Carl was a great listener and Jodie appreciated that. She told him about her phone call with Robert Goldberg.

  “What an asshole,” Carl commented.

  “Really. . . . Can you check on your computer and find out when Stein was robbed in the past?”

  “Sure. The police reports are public records.”

  “Good. I’m anxious to see what’s in them.”

  “What are you hoping to find out?”

  “Maybe some insight as to what was in the vault that Stein didn’t want the police to find.”

  “I doubt you’ll find that in the report.”

  “Maybe not, but you never know. It can’t hurt to look.”

  “No. You’re right about that. . . . Once we get the reports I can talk to the detectives that worked the cases too. They might have some insight into Mr. Stein’s operation.”

  “Good. That would be great.”

  After dinner Jodie settled down with Carl on the sofa and they watched TV. But she couldn’t concentrate on the current episode of The Practice as her mind kept wandering to Mike and the real time drama going on in her own life. She wondered what he had in store for her next and how long it would be before someone got hurt.