Whodunit Did It, Book #1 of the Bader Trilogy - Ruth has two ideas.

Today’s excerpt is from Whodunit Did It, Book #1 of the Bader Trilogy.  Elmer, Ruth, his third ex-wife (and future fourth wife), and NCIS agent Greg Noonan head to Berlin on a NCIS executive jet.  They want to interview the fence who bought the stolen gems.  On the flight Ruth comes up with two ideas.   Enjoy and have a great day.

m.j.

 

“What about his disguises—any of them likely to be bought someplace?  Would he maybe have used his credit card to buy them—or had this Skeets guy buy them for him, using his credit card?”

Elmer looked at Greg as Greg looked at Elmer, who smiled, “Well, color me stupid.  We’ve got pictures of several different disguises he’s used.  We can put them all together, and hit all the shops selling that kind of stuff.  A lot of his disguises could have come from someplace like that.  We can worry about credit cards later—except in the case of Skeets.  I’ll give Reggie a call…have him go back to check Skeets’ credit card history to see.  It’ll probably come up dry, since I’ve a feeling ‘Whodunit’ would have taken care of buying the stuff himself.  Excellent point, Ruthie.  I knew you weren’t just a pretty face—right, Greg?”

“From where I sit, she’s one hell of a lot more than just a pretty face.  She sure as hell is that—with a great bod and great mind…if you don’t mind me saying so, Elmer.”

“He doesn’t,” joked Ruth, as all three laughed.

Elmer looked at Greg.  “Will my cell phone work up here?”

“In theory, but use the plane’s phone—it for sure does.  Oh, let me give you the number, so Reggie or whoever can call you here, if need be—just in case the cell phone doesn’t work.”

After getting the number, Elmer used the phone Greg had pointed to.  He soon had Reggie.  “Hi, Reg…got something for you to check out.”

“Before or after we check out the fifty-six hundred names on this list?”

“Before.  How’s that going?”

“Oh ,fine.  Alan is talking to himself…I’m not far behind.”

“Now take good care of my soon-to-be ex-brother-in-law.”

“What?  What are you talking about?”

“Well, if he’s marrying my ex-wife’s sister, that would make him my ex-brother-in-law.”

“You say so—what’ve you got?”

While Greg and Ruth were laughing at the absurdity of Elmer’s bit of logic, Elmer told Reggie about Ruth’s idea on costume shops or any other business that might sell disguises of any type.  When he finished, Reggie agreed.  “Yeah—good thought.  We’ll splice it in with what we’re doing, so we won’t go bonkers on your Sherman Oaks list.”

“Good idea.  One last thing.  Let me give you the phone number here on the plane, in case you need me while we’re in the air.”

For the remainder of the flight, Greg, Elmer, and Ruth took turns talking, then resting.  At one point, when Greg was thought to be asleep, Ruth whispered, “You know, El, I’ve never done it on a plane.”

Before Elmer could respond, Greg joked, “You two want me to go up to the cockpit to talk with the pilots for a while, I’ll be happy to.”

Ruth laughed, “Oops—thought you were asleep.”

“Obviously.”

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