“Can’t you tell by my demeanor?”
“Wednesday, right?”
“Right.”
It is Wednesday Story Day again, and last week Andrew and Larry discovered two phone calls made from Ned’s cell to Janice. The calls were brief but did prove they contacted each other at the time of Rafferty’s death. Of course, evidence of a conspiracy to commit murder will take more than two brief phone calls. Larry believes the two met and probably out of town. So he and Andrew are going to start with the airlines to see if any bookings have been made. Let’s get back to Larry’s office to check on the status.
“Here is your latte. Find anything?”
“Oh, man. There have to be thousands of reservations.”
“You centered on the few days before Rafferty’s murder?”
“I am. The problem is Boston has about 16,000 flights leaving every month. Some domestic and some foreign. So far no hits on Ned or Janice.”
“Could they be using false names?”
“Yeah, of course. That only makes the job tougher.”
“How about phone numbers? Don’t you have to give your phone number when you make a reservation?”
“Most airlines require it.”
“Search by phone number then.”
“This could take a while. The ticket database is huge and slow as hell.”
“Give it a try.”
“Done.”
“What’s it doing?”
“That annoying pinwheel.”
“Well, it is processing. Did you put in a date range as another filter?”
“Yup. We need to be patient.”
“Not your finest virtue.”
“Yeah, I know. Where’d you get this Latte?”
“Around the corner. “
“Sammy’s place?”
“Yes.”
“I should have known. Sammy’s is a sandwich shop, not a coffee house.”
“What? It’s no good.”
“No, it is good.”
“What’s the beef?”
“Just thought you would work harder for the latte is all. Hold on the search is finished.”
“What’s it say?”
“No matches to your search.”
“Crap.”
“We have to think a little bit about this.”
“How about a private plane?”
“Yeah, we can check to see if Ned has one or at least can lease one. I’m thinking about a little lower tech.”
“Lower tech? what do you mean.”
“Like around South Lake Tahoe. Maybe canvass some of the hotels.”
“So you think they went to South Lake Tahoe? You think the chief can help?”
“I’m not sure but trying to find a match in all this data is almost impossible. I think we leave the chief out of this. He has a Barney Fife vibe.”
“So do a search on the private plane front first. Then if nothing it looks like a road trip.”
“What do you mean? All we have to do is call the hotels.”
“And broadcast to everyone in South Lake Tahoe that we are trying to get information of Ned and Janice.”
“Yeah, so what?”
“I think they had help in this and we ought to keep it on the down low.”
“Man, Andrew you are sounding paranoid.”
“Oh yeah. I have lived this long for a reason. Let me mention one name to you.”
“Okay shoot.”
“Cortez.
”Okay, I get it. Let me do the search then if nothing we’ll get some flights to South Lake Tahoe.”
“Reno.”
“Huh?”
“Gotta fly into Reno.”
“Okay then. Reno.”
