A FRAME OF MIND
CHAPTER TEN: MISTRESSES OF DISGUISE
There were things that were needed to be done. First, Anne had to return home for a quick change and a chance to personally reassure Sharon everything was all right, (at least for the moment), Jason needed to return home, and Tina needed to be cleared. Jason dropped the women off at the Mac Clarey house, where they stopped long enough for Anne to trade her shorts for slacks and to introduce Tina to Sharon and Mike. From there, they took the envelope to the police Internal Affairs division and told Tina's story. The startled investigator told the group they were smart to bring the envelope in unopened. He took them to the nearest TV set, which was connected to a VCR. After viewing the tape, his surprise became understandable. It showed Tina taking the envelope from Lisa.
"We think there might not be any cash in there," Anne said.
The investigator asked Raelene and Tina to stray in the room while he, Drea and Anne took the envelope to the outer office. He ordered everybody to gather around and to bring a camcorder. "This will be proof the envelope was sealed before we opened it," he explained.
With the camera rolling, he opened the envelope. Inside was nothing but news paper, cut to the same dimensions as dollar bills. "Who made that tape?" Anne asked.
"Lou Parnell and Jill Blaine," the investigator replied.
When Tina and Raelene rejoined Drea and Anne, the four discussed the turn of events. "Could they be responsible for all this?" Tina wondered.
"But for what reason?" Drea wondered.
"Raelene, didn't you go through the police academy with Jill Blaine?" Anne asked.
"Yes, and she has been passed up for promotion a couple times," Raelene confirmed.
"Professional jealousy as a motive. That's a new one."
"Remember, we don't have any proof," Drea cautioned.
"It's something we ought to look into. They've referred to this 'Boss Lady' once or twice, no name. She could be the one."
"Problem is," Tina said. "I won't be formally reinstated for another two or three days."
"At least you will be reinstated," Raelene said. "I'll need to be cleared first."
"You will," Anne said.
Tina turned her attention to Drea and Anne. "I can't thank the two of you enough for what you've done for me."
"All part of the job," Drea said.
"We can't forget there's a dead woman behind all of this," Anne said.
Raelene and Tina were returned to their respective homes. On the way back to Anne's Drea remarked "We should start looking into disguises."
"I agree," Anne said. "You have all that stuff at your place?"
"Sure. We can bring it over to yours. We should give Cindy a buzz and see if she can help us out."
"Doesn't she have an appointment with Doctor Dawson?"
"That's why we need to make the call. Use my cell phone."
"Okay. She's probably home by now."
Anne made the call and talked briefly with Cindy. "We can get started early," Anne said after breaking the connection. "Her appointment isn't until the afternoon."
The next morning, Anne was surprised to see a Ferrari pulling into the driveway. She went outside to see Drea removing several bags. "It doesn't make sense for use to disguise ourselves then drive our own vehicles," she explained. "So I borrowed Alicia's car."
Tina pulled into the drive, so the whole group went up to Anne's bedroom, where Sharon joined them."
"Changing your face is the easy part," Sharon said.
"Yeah, disguising your butt is the problem," Anne remarked.
The four removed various items from the bags. Wigs, eyeglasses, a make-up kit, and a few items Drea was reluctant to divulge. "I'll surprise you," she said and walked to the bathroom, which was next to Anne's room.
Anne had a mirrored desk. She sat down in front of the mirror and pondered briefly. "How about stealing a page from Glenda Chafee's book," she said referring to her and Drea's arch foe. The demure librarian look."
Sharon and Cindy formed Anne's hair into a bun and the detective selected a pair of frames with window glass. "The frames are too thick," she decided after some thought. "Jack always says somebody who looks too much something probably isn't."
Anne rummaged through the frames and found a couple wire rims that looked promising. She set them aside for future use and tried on several wigs. One that looked especially promising got a second look. "I'll go with this one,"
"Good choice," Sharon said.
Cindy agreed. "You look good as a blonde, Anne," she said.
"Yes," Anne said, "I can actually feel my I.Q. dropping."
"I heard that!" Drea said.
Moments later, Drea rejoined the others. She'd stripped to the waist and had on towel around her shoulders and another around her head.
"What's the surprise?" Anne asked.
Drea removed the towel from her head and revealed her hair dyed a rusty red. Her companions were stunned. "Tired of blonde jokes?" Anne asked.
"It'll grow out," Drea said.
"If it doesn't you'd better load up on peroxide," Sharon remarked.
While the dye dried out, Drea rummaged around one of the bags and came up with a padded bra. She put it on and put her blouse back on over it. Next, she stepped out of her skirt and took a pair of slacks from the bag. The slacks had been modified with inner pouches to accept thin strips of flexible latex. She put two strips in each pouch and slid on the slacks. In less than half an hour, Drea had gone from a tall, athletic blonde to a tall curvy red head.
Anne surveyed the charge and approved of it. "It works," She said. "Do you have a pair of falsies in there? I'll just look like another blonde bimbo who had implants."
"You're really pushing it with these blonde cracks," Drea said.
Anne was right about one thing though, the falsies had the effect of making her look like one of thousands of blondes in Southern California who had breast augmentation. Sunglasses would hide the fact her brows were brown. Like implants, the sunglasses were nothing out of the ordinary.
Drea and Anne went to the house where, not surprisingly, they found nobody home and everything locked up. They were unsure of how well their disguises would go over. At a distance they would not pose much of a problem. Up close, it was a different matter. They hoped that at short range, the disguises would at least cause their foes to hesitate.
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Lisa Sand was an angry woman. The evenings humiliation at the hands Anne made her hate the detective even more. To her, Anne was some pious bitch, little more than a glorified voyeur made respectable by her connections to the police department. That was of little concern as the day wore on with little or no sign of her or Drea. It had become too dangerous for Lisa to check their homes, which their quarry was unlikely to be at midday. Had they gone to ground? One more think the Boss Lady would not care to hear. Though, Lisa figured, she must hear it. To Lisa's surprise, The Boss Lady dismissed it. "I planned on just this contingency," she said. "I know just how to bring them out of hiding."
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Cindy's appointment with Doctor Dawson went smoothly. According to the psychologist, Cindy had tremendous strength of a character. The fact no nightmares came from the danger Cindy faced, showed this. "It is as if you have subconsciously prepared yourself for such an eventuality," Doctor Dawson said. "The fact your friends came to your aid so quickly also helped. Everything came out right, so your mind is at ease."
Cindy thanked Doctor Dawson at the end of the session and returned to the basement parking garage. She was about to unlock her car when a voice called out "Cindy Lee?"
Cindy turned to face the speaker and saw Jill Blaine and Lou Parnell. "Yes?" she said.
"You are under arrest for obstruction of justice," Blaine said. She read the Miranda warning as Parnell subjected Cindy to a token search before applying the handcuffs. Cindy was livid, but held her tongue. As Jack and Drea had stressed to her, the best thing to say when being arrested was nothing.
Cindy was taken to an unmarked police car and driven out of the garage. It took several minutes for the shock to wear and the anger to subside. As it did so, something struck her as being wrong. After more thinking it hit her: suspects were never taken in by plain clothes officers in unmarked cars. It was always by uniformed officers in squad cars. The reality hit her so hard she blurted it out loud. "This isn't an arrest, it's a kidnapping."
Parnell and Blaine were surprised, but said nothing. They drove further and turned into an alleyway. The duo got out and pulled Cindy from the back seat. Blaine pulled a strip of duct tape off a roll and placed it over Cindy's mouth. While she wound the tap around Cindy's ankles, Parnell opened the truck lid. With out a word, Cindy was lifted up and placed inside. All protests were muffled as the trunk lid was closed.