Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide

Cliff is pleased to see that Fiedler is claiming his money in an obnoxious way at the racetrack so people recognize him. Cliff continues to place bets on one day and then give Fiedler tickets the next. He knows there are a lot of losing bets but hopes Fiedler will be the biggest loser.

Doria makes Laddie wait a long time in her living room while she changes into a bathing suit and puts her blouse back over it so she appears naked at first glance. She slowly makes a speech from the script for him and affectionately tousles his hair. When they leave 20 minutes later the guard sees him with clothes and hair mussed and Doria wearing what appears to be her underwear and shirt. She uses her lipreading class from McMasters and appears to say “I love you” to Laddie and calls loudly after him that she loved every minute of it, referring to a film they’d discussed inside. She then goes to the guard saying it isn’t what it appears, but Flood still plans to pass the information on to Kosta.

Fiedler has to wait for the lobby phone and lies badly to the doorman about why he uses it every morning. He is grumpy at Cliff/Amigo about having to take public phone calls.

Adele says she’s told a man coming to review the hospital that Gemma will sleep with him as he likes what Adele calls “exotic” women. When Gemma objects Adele threatens to reveal that Gemma killed her father.

Eddie Alderman, Fiedler’s equal at a competing airline manufacturer calls his head of security and friend Wes Trachter in to tell him he’s had an anonymous call (from Cliff) saying they will share page one of the new Woltan airplane designs. He must pick up the specs at the arboretum at precisely 6:45 in a trash can with the “t” peeling off. It will be in the pages of a Kansas City newspaper. Wes has secretly loved Eddie since the Korean War when they were comrades and advises him to go but notes that he’ll be there to make sure Eddie is safe.

Wes gets to the drop site early in a dirty car and disguises himself in the back seat with a view of the “rash” can. He sees Fiedler approach and put a newspaper in and remove a candy box at the top. Wes takes photos of Fiedler, his car, and his license plate. Eddie arrives a bit later, finds the Kansas paper, finds the plans, and leaves. No one sees Cliff sitting next to an old man on a bench appearing to share a boxed lunch a short distance away.

Back in the office, Eddie and Wes discuss that the plans appear to have a lethal flaw hinted at on the first page. They discuss the nature of the informant and the significance of the amount for the remainder of the plans, a puzzling $3333 with the last three dollars being silver ones. They think it’s a small amount of money for the information and decide to pay. Wes floats the idea of letting the flawed plane fly but to be ready to take advantage of Woltan’s disgrace when there are accidents, but Eddie declares he won’t help commit murder.

Kosta lets Laddie know he suspects Laddie had an affair with Doria and warns him off. He takes pills while they discuss and Leonid says the job is destroying his guts. Finney Flood sees a strangely dressed woman sitting randomly on the studio lot who he realizes is a man in bad disguise. The man says he’s a private detective and gives Flood a letter signed by Kosta and the studio lawyers saying he is assigned to catch Doria Maye in breach of the morality clause in her contract. He offers Flood money to help take some nighttime photos and Flood agrees, not having any clue the man disguised as a woman is actually Doria.

Wes Trachter shows Eddie a Woltan brochure that features Fiedler, who he recognizes as the person who dropped the plans. They speculate about why he’s doing it and determine to track the money they give him to see what he’s planning. Cliff sends Eddie a case in which to drop the money which is marked on the inside lid. He goes to a diving shed on a pier near Nags Head. He wears a diving mask while he pays for a locker rental and access to the men’s changing room but doesn’t intend to swim. At the appointed time, Alderman leaves the case with the money on the bench while Trachter watches from across the street. Cliff, in full scuba gear, picks up the case and leaves the envelope with the plans. They intend to follow Cliff once he leaves, but a large crowd of similarly dressed people suddenly emerge from the dive shop with tanks on, one of which holds the case. Wes asks someone with a clipboard what’s going on, and she says it’s Coastal Cleanup Day. All the divers go into the water, including the man with the briefcase. When he comes up, they ask him what he’s doing, and the diver complains that someone paid him a hundred dollars to take a case full of waterproof watches under to see how they perform, but once he got down there were no watches. Alderman sees the mark on the inside and recognizes the case, but then they notice a waterproof bag stapled inside and the diver is pleased to find an additional $300. He says he only met the man in full diving gear and can’t identify him. Meanwhile, Cliff changes into his usual clothes and leaves while talking nonchalantly to some tourists and drives to where Fiedler is heading.

Franky’s Lanes is a bowling alley in Nags Head where Fiedler goes to pick up a bag left by Amigo. He gets a case from the manager containing betting slips and a single bowling shoe to make it seem believable. He is annoyed at the mysterious pick up that is out of his way but then notices the tickets are all long shots and anticipates a large payout as he leaves. Cliff notes that the case now has Fiedler’s fingerprints. He goes back to the bowling alley dressed in his ridiculous disguise and pays the owner for holding the bag. He pays with the check made to “cash” which Fiedler gave to Liliana along with another 50 in cash.

While driving back, Fiedler calls an employee named Shari Dugan and tells her she is going on a date with him that night. He takes her to the racetrack to show off his earnings and is embarrassed when the delighted teller tells him they are losers. His grumpiness later scares Shari off, so the next morning he was furious when taking Amigo’s call. He insists Amigo come to his office in person and when Amigo asks for his half of the cash, he makes Fiedler repeat loud enough for the door attendant to hear “You’ll get your money!” (280).

Leonid Kosta likes to spend weekends at a beach house where he entertains hopeful actresses on Saturdays. The two times he had Doria Maye brought down, she made excuses about her period or migraines. She is planning a third trip and calls Kosta with a lie about visiting Tibetan businesspeople arriving Saturday morning to make sure he plans to be there Friday night.

Gemma finally understands what all the faculty at McMasters were worried about as Adele won’t go hiking with her. Adele is wrapped up in her new boyfriend and insists on being picked up, dropped off, and driving herself in Gemma’s rented convertible she’s obtained in hopes Adele will go on a trip with her. Gemma appreciates Dean Harrow’s philosophy of educating the entire student and not Daimler’s specialty theory because she realizes she will have to improvise her deletion.