“Hey, shut the door—I’ve got the AC on,” Fish said, checking his watch.
Bear obeyed and got into the car. There’s no coincidence here, he told himself.
They picked up Mrs. Foster at the small apartment building that had once been their temporary home. “You sure I should come along?” she queried as she settled herself inside the car. “After all, Mrs. Brier doesn’t know me at all.”
“We’ll just have to rectify that,” Fish said easily.
When they reached the Briers’ home, he took the lead in introducing Jean to Mrs. Foster.
“I’ve often heard Bear speak about you,” Jean said. She was looking much better this morning.
“And I’ve heard him talk a lot about you,” Mrs. Foster laughed.
“Would you like some tea? Coffee?”
“Coffee would be wonderful,” Mrs. Foster said, and Fish concurred as well. Jean and Rose took tea. Bear accepted a cup, but drank it standing.
“I’d like to start by going to the banquet hall right away,” he said. “Anyone else want to come?”
“I’ll come,” Rose volunteered.
“I think Bear and I should go alone,” Fish contradicted his brother, and glanced perfunctorily at the redheaded girl. “Sorry, Rose.”
“Rose, I’d rather you came with me anyhow,” Jean said, seeing Rose’s crestfallen face. “I’m going to the nursing home where Blanche volunteered to see if I can find anything out from the people that she visited. There are a lot of residents in that home, and if you help me, it will take less time.”
“I could go with you too, if you want,” Mrs. Foster said.
“That would be wonderful,” Jean said. “Bear—my car’s still in the shop. Could you give us a ride over?”
“Sure thing.”
After dropping off the women at the nursing home, Bear and his brother crossed the Throg’s Neck Bridge to get to Blanche’s workplace. Reflections, Bear remembered, was a rather expensive banquet hall set on a choice piece of Long Island real estate. He had taken Blanche there once. They parked the car and approached the massive building, which had been built in the 1920’s. They could see stained glass windows on the largest hall, which had turrets like a castle.
“I’d forgotten how much it resembles a church,” Bear said.
“A place to worship food?” Fish asked.
Bear chuckled. “Who knows?”
They walked through the gated doors and into the reception area. There was no one at the receptionist’s desk, but several waiters were chatting at a station further down the carpeted hall. Bear approached them, and a tall girl with a big frizzy ponytail came over to the desk.
“Can I help you?” She was Italian, and spoke with a characteristic Bronx accent.
Bear introduced himself and asked if he could speak to the manager.
“Mr. Scarlotti? Sure, I’ll get him,” the girl said, giving him a strange look, and disappeared through a side door. The other staff looked at them curiously, but didn’t come over.
A woman in a caterer’s uniform came into the reception area, wheeling a coat rack of costumes. All of them were black and white, and some of them were fantastical, sequined and bejeweled.
“What are those for?” Bear asked her as she stood, looking out the glass doors to the street.
“These? These were for a masquerade ball we had this past weekend,” the woman said, and rolled her eyes slightly. She was about thirty, with a mop of curly black hair, thickly-mascaraed lashes, and wore pale purple lipstick.
“Looks like it was pretty fancy,” Bear commented. Normally he wouldn’t be this chatty, but he wanted to find out any information that he could about Blanche.
“They’re a pretty fancy client,” she said shortly, folding her arms.
“Are they rentals?” Fish indicated the costumes.
“Bought,” the woman said flatly. “Just for this one event.”
“Wow! Somebody must have money to burn.”
“Their CEO doesn’t spare much expense on their parties. They do a lot of their events here. It’s good for us,” she added positively.
“So what are they going to do with the costumes now?”
“They told us to pitch them. But I called one of the local theatres to see if they can use them. They’re sending a guy to pick them up.”
“I see,” Bear paused. “Did you know Blanche Brier, who worked here?”
“Yeah, she was our receptionist,” the woman said. “One of the more dependable ones.” She looked at them a bit warily. “You friends of hers?”
“Yes,” said Bear. “Actually, we’re here looking for her. She’s been missing since Saturday night. Her family is pretty concerned.”
“Missing?” the woman repeated, her eyes suddenly widening. “For real?”
Bear nodded. The woman pursed her lips, opened her mouth, and then closed it again, apparently trying to decide whether or not to say more.
“I know she was fired,” Bear said quietly. “And I heard from the police that they think she stole some money. But that just doesn’t sound like the Blanche I know. So I want to find out what’s going on.”
“Did you ask a manager?” the woman asked.
Fish nodded. “We’re waiting for him.”
“You’re not going to get much out of Scarlotti,” she warned. “He’s always watching out for the company reputation.” She added, “My name’s Assunta. I worked with Blanche. She was a good girl. Real nice to work with.”
“Did you see her on Saturday?” Bear asked.
Assunta nodded. “She worked as the receptionist for the masquerade ball. This one.” She jerked her heads towards the costumes. “For the Mirror Corporation. It was a fundraiser, though if you ask me, it was more of an excuse for a tax-deductible bash than to help anyone out.”
“And there was money missing afterwards?”
She nodded. “I happen to know something about that. The guests had paid so much money per ticket in order to come. Fundraiser, you know. I think it was three hundred dollars or something. The corporation who was hosting the banquet had their staff count up the tickets during the dinner, and then the CEO of the corporation matched the donation in cash.” She raised her eyebrows significantly.
“Cash,” Bear repeated. “That’s strange. Why would they do that? It’s difficult to get a tax deduction on a cash donation, especially a large one.”
“Fifteen thousand nine hundred dollars,” the lady said positively. “The CEO had it up there, in hundred-dollar bills during the presentation ceremony. Like some kind of gangster stash.”
“And how did it get stolen?”
Assunta rolled her eyes again. “They did the presentation halfway through the banquet, and the research foundation who was getting the donation wasn’t exactly ready to keep track of a huge pile of hundred dollar bills. So they asked us to put it in our safe. And we did.”
“And it was stolen from the safe?”
The woman nodded. “If it got there. Less than an hour afterwards the word went round that the cash was missing. The research corporation wants us to make up the difference now, and Mirror Corp. is being no help whatsoever.”
Bear paused. “So how did Blanche turn up as a suspect?”
Assunta shook her head. “Apparently the CEO asked her to take it to the back because she was the receptionist. So there was a window of time where Blanche had access to it. And Blanche left work early. I saw her before she left, when the money went missing, and she said she had handed off the bag to Scarlotti just as she was told. She was going home early because she had a headache. But I don’t believe she stole that money, not for a minute. Neither does most of the staff. But the management—the ones who have to come up with the lost sixteen thousand dollars to reimburse the research foundation—they’re not so sure.”
She looked over her shoulder as a short Italian man bustled into the room. Bear turned to meet him.
“Can I help you?” the manager asked, with a glance at Assu
nta that clearly implied privacy. Assunta turned away and looked out the doors of the hall.
“We’re friends of Blanche Brier,” Bear began.
“She was terminated on Saturday night,” the manager said, his small eyes cool.
“She’s also been missing since Saturday night,” Bear said with some warmth. “We’ve been trying to find out some trace of her whereabouts.”
“That’s not surprising she’s missing, since the police have been looking for her as well,” Scarlotti said a bit acidly. “But if you do find her, you can tell her that the search has been called off. They found the money yesterday.”
Bear stared. “They found the money?”
“The Mirror Corporation gave the serial numbers of the bills to the police. Apparently the bills turned up in the hands of two young punks. They were surprisingly inexperienced, and ended up trying to pass the money off to an undercover cop. The hoodlums got away, but the police recovered the money. Highly unusual, but pretty fortunate.”
“Does this mean that Blanche can get her job back?” Bear asked steadily.
The manager eyed him suspiciously and shrugged. “That will still have to be decided. It’s still not clear how the money left this hall and got into the hands of the punks.” He glanced at his watch. “It’s a matter for the police to investigate. You should direct your questions to them. Have a nice day,” With a nod, he turned and opened the door for them, only to have a young man with long hair pop in from outside.
“Hi, I’m from the Clothesline Theatre,” he said brightly. “I’m here to pick up some costumes?”
“Oh, that’s right,” the manager looked about him, and Assunta stepped forward, indicating the rack.
“They’re right here,” she said.
“Fantastic! Listen, while I’m here, can I ask you to buy an ad in our upcoming winter program book?”
“That’s his department,” Assunta indicated Mr. Scarlotti, and she walked out the door into the parking lot. Bear and Fish followed her out, while the young man talked animatedly to the manager, thanking him profusely.
“Well!” she said, going around the shady side of the building and pulling out a pack of cigarettes. “That’s good news! So maybe the police won’t be looking for Blanche after all.”
“Let’s hope not,” Bear said.
The woman shook her head as she lit her cigarette. “The research foundation won’t care. They’ve got their money back. And I’m sure the management will just want the whole thing to blow over. They’re probably just happy they don’t have to shell out sixteen thousand dollars.” She looked at the brothers. “Smoke?”
“No thanks. Listen, I heard that someone found drugs in Blanche’s backpack,” Bear said. “Do you know anything about that?”
She shook her head. “I hadn’t heard that.” She glanced around. “If you ask me, it’s those cetriolos—sorry—who work at the Mirror Corporation who use drugs. You watch some of the people at their parties, dancing like maniacs, and you’d swear they were getting high. But I can’t see Blanche doing that. She’s just not the type.”
“Another thing,” Bear said. “Do you know if Blanche was being followed by anyone?”
The woman looked puzzled. “I don’t know about that, either. But I didn’t hang out with her much. Let me ask one of the younger girls.” She held her cigarette out, and pulled open a door that was marked KITCHEN. “Rita!” she yelled.
“Yeah,” the tall girl with the big ponytail whom Bear had talked to before came outside. “Hey. Ciggie break?” She glanced at Bear and Fish, and her eyes went back to Bear. “You know, I was going to tell you that you look familiar.”
“Do I?” Bear exchanged looks with his brother. “I haven’t been here in a while.”
“You’re Blanche’s boyfriend, aren’t you?”
Bear nodded, and she grinned.
“I saw your picture. Plus I served you that one time when you and her came here together. You don’t remember. That’s okay.”
“She’s missing,” Assunta said soberly. “Since Saturday.”
“You’re joking,” Rita said slowly. “Right?”
“I wish I were,” Bear said.
Obviously shaken, Rita lit a cigarette and looked at Bear, her brow furrowed. Bear briefly told the two waitresses about seeing Blanche at the airport, and how she had vanished.
“He wants to know if anyone was following Blanche,” Assunta said.
“The stalker, you mean?” Rita asked.
Bear’s heart skipped. “You mean you saw him?”
“No, but I know who you’re talking about. Blanche told me about him.” Rita blew the smoke from her cigarette out of one side of her mouth politely. “The last few weeks, Blanche had been kind of jumpy when she was at work. She kept looking over her shoulder, makin’ me nervous too, so I yelled at her. I said, ‘So who’s after you, Brier?’ So she says to me, ‘you ever see this guy following me when I come into work?’ I hadn’t, and I said, ‘What’s he look like?’ She said he was a big tall guy, built like a bull. ‘Might just be my imagination,’ she said.”
“You said you’ve never seen him?”
“No! But I sure as heck have been looking for him since she told me that. Especially when we left the hall together late at night. We’d both be looking over our shoulders until we got to the train station, and I would yell at her, ‘Share the fear, why don’t you?’ She knew I was teasing. But I watched her back. I never saw the big guy, though.”
Assunta was staring, her eyes were getting wider. “You said a big guy who looked like a bull?” she said slowly. “Oh man, this is too freaky.”
“What?” everyone demanded.
She crushed out her cigarette and paused before she spoke. “I saw him in the banquet hall on Saturday night.”
“Where?” Rita almost shrieked.
Assunta was low key now. “In the service hallway,” she said. “Big tall guy. Bigger than you,” she nodded to Bear. “With dark hair and a kind of flat nose. I was going back to the workroom to get my lighter, and I saw him. I thought he was one of the guests who’d gotten lost looking for the men’s room or something. So I asked him if I could help. He wasn’t too friendly. I sort of directed him back to the party area. But, you know, in those dark corridors, I wasn’t going to exactly try to force him to go there if he didn’t want to. I went into the workroom, got my stuff out, and when I came back, he was gone.”
“Was that before or after Blanche left?” Bear asked.
Assunta put her head to one side. “I’m not sure. It was right around the time the money was missing, come to think of it. I shoulda mentioned that to someone. But Blanche’s name was being floated right away as the one who snatched the money, so I forgot it. Besides, there were so many people there, and he was nowhere near the office where the safe was.”
“You need to tell Scarlotti that,” Rita insisted. “It’s makin’ me hyper-mad that they tried to stick this mess on her.” She turned to Bear fearfully. “So you think that he got her?”
Bear shook his head, even though he winced at the thought. “No. We know she’s still alive. Plus, I think I saw that man myself today. If he was looking to hurt Blanche in some way, and if he’d succeeded, he’d lie low. My guess is that he doesn’t know where she is, so he’s still looking for her.”
Rita shook her head in disbelief. “Take me for a ride,” she said. “This is freaky. You know, she said she thought that someone had been in her house, too.”
“And she was right,” Fish murmured. “She’s been right about everything so far.”
Another waitress put her head out the door and hissed, “Hey, you two. Scarlotti’s looking for you. Get on back in here.”
“Got to go,” Assunta said, quickly stubbing out her cigarette. “Look, I’m telling the police what I know about this, okay?”
“That would be great,” Bear said. “They need all the help they can get.”
“Let me know if you need any more help. I’m always he
re. Just call. Good luck.” She vanished inside.
“Same here,” Rita said, pulling one last drag on her cigarette. “You want my phone number at home just in case?”
“Not a bad idea,” Bear said, and scribbled it down on his calendar when she told it to him. He wrote down Fish’s cell phone number on another sheet and handed it to her. “Here’s my cell phone number if you need to call us. Thanks again, Rita.”
“You mean, my cell phone number,” Fish corrected him after the waitress had left. “You need to get your own phone.”
“Yeah, maybe later on,” Bear said distractedly.
Fish changed the subject as they walked back to the car. “So we’ve got a suspect. Not a very nice one, either.”
“I can’t believe no one took her more seriously,” Bear said angrily, then fell silent. If only I had been here, I would have.
“Well, for whatever reason, she never elaborated on this to her mom and Rose or you,” Fish said. “Fortunately for us, she mentioned it to her co-workers.”
“We need to find out if she told anyone else,” Bear said. “Maybe Jean and Rose can find that out from the nursing home folks she visited.”
They got into the car, and Fish said brightly, “At least there’s some good news. I’m going to make a guess that the older waitress is right—the police aren’t going to pursue Blanche as a suspect in the burglary now that they’ve recovered the money.”
Bear drummed his fingers on the dashboard. “Right. But that means that whoever was trying to set her up to be arrested is going to find that out soon, if they haven’t already.” His mind was on the big man.
“We’re assuming, aren’t we, that the same person who stole the money and planted the drugs in her backpack here also planted the drugs in our apartment to implicate us?” Fish asked as he drove out of the parking lot. “How do we even know that we were meant to be framed? What if it was just a botched attempt to frame Blanche?”