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His office was devoid of anything personal. A desk. A couple chairs. A bookcase. It was as if he didn’t intend to stay long. He was a slim little man wearing rimless glasses. His hair was shoe-polish black and thinning. I placed him in his fifties. Partially Asian.
“Very nice to finally meet you,” he said to Ranger.
Ranger nodded. “Mutual. And this is my associate, Miss Plum.”
“Of course,” Soon said. “She’s already spent some time here at the plant. What would you like to discuss?”
“Tomorrow we’ll have completed all installations and will be moving into a maintenance and monitoring mode. Since Mr. Bogart isn’t on-site I wanted to make sure you were comfortable with the new system.”
“Absolutely,” Soon said. “I appreciate that you’ve taken the time to introduce yourself. This is an awkward time for Bogart Ice Cream. And it’s especially difficult since Mr. Bogart has taken a leave of absence.”
“I wasn’t aware that he was on leave,” Ranger said. “Have you heard from him?”
“No,” Soon said. “I was trying to make it sound better than I fear it is.” He passed a paper to Ranger. “I intended to take care of this business tomorrow, but since you’ve stopped by this is an excellent opportunity. Now that we have the system installed I think we would be better served to manage it in-house. I’m going to bring in my own security specialists and techs. I’ve done this in past positions, and I find it to be more economical and sometimes more efficient.”
“Was this discussed with Mr. Bogart?”
“Most certainly. We were finalizing our hires when he suddenly disappeared.”
“He’d made it clear to me that I was to keep my men in place.”
“Unfortunately he isn’t here to substantiate that. We will make final payment to you when you present your itemized bill for installation plus consulting fees.”
Ranger smiled. “I wish you the best of luck. I’m sure Mr. Bogart will make a speedy return from his leave of absence.”
“We can only hope,” Soon said.
We were silent walking through the building. We buckled into Ranger’s Cayenne, and he called his office. “I want a full report on Jeff Soon. I want it stat. Get me the name of the primary on the Bogart investigation and get me permission to walk through Bogart’s house.”
He put the Cayenne in gear and drove out of the lot.
“You didn’t see that one coming,” I said.
“No, but it’s beginning to pull together. I have to spend some time at my desk. I’m going to drop you at your car and we’ll pick this up later tonight. I’ll send you a text when I’m leaving the building.”
It was a little after five o’clock when we got to the office, and the lights were out. My car was parked at the curb. Its doors were locked, but Lula had placed the keys in our usual hiding spot on top of the left rear wheel. I had no plans to see Morelli, so I drove to my parents’ house to mooch dinner.
My grandmother opened the door for me. Her hair was red and she was wearing black Pilates pants and a Harley-Davidson T-shirt.
“What do you think?” she asked me.
“I like the red. It’s pretty.”
And it was pretty, but it was going to take some time for me to get used to seeing it on Grandma.
“I wanted a new look,” Grandma said. “Bertie gave me the T-shirt.”
“How’s it going with Bertie?”
“It’s going real good, but I’m not sure how long it’s going to last. There’s a lot of maintenance you gotta do to keep up with a relationship. There’s tweezing and shaving and moisturizing. Plus you gotta pretend you haven’t already heard his jokes. And I think I might be getting a rash down there from riding on his motorcycle. I don’t know if I’m cut out to be a biker chick.”
“Is that Stephanie?” my mother yelled from the kitchen. “Is she staying for dinner? Tell her we’re having meatloaf and mashed potatoes.”
“I’m staying!” I yelled back.
My father was in his chair, watching television. I passed him on my way to the kitchen, and he grunted at me. “The news is terrible,” he said. “Every day it gets worse. I don’t know why I watch.”
“Is Bertie coming to dinner?” I asked Grandma.
