Chapter 22
Lainie found while she talked to Isaacs about Vine, she felt her balance returning.
Anything to take her mind off of explaining to her parents what she now believed Stan had done to Evie.
Chatting with the agent made the time in the air zoom by.
By the time the pilot made the announcement that they were preparing to land, Lainie almost felt like her old self—almost.
“Take care, Detective Jensen,” Isaacs said when the plane arrived in Long Beach and stopped at the gate, and he stood to pull his carry-on and then Lainie’s down from the overhead bin. “I have to hurry. Got a text my ride is already here.”
“Thanks, and it’s Lainie.” She unbuckled her seat belt but stayed seated for a minute. “I hope the next time we speak it will be about positive developments.”
“Count on it, Lainie, and I’m Ben.” He turned and headed for the exit.
She stood and let the person in the window seat out before she entered the aisle to disembark the plane. By the time she exited the terminal at baggage claim, she’d lost sight of Isaacs.
Outside baggage claim, she quickly caught sight of her dad’s car and waved her arm. He pushed through the traffic, and Lainie hopped in the passenger seat.
“How was the flight?” her father asked as he pulled away from the curb.
“All right, as far as flights go. I’m wiped out emotionally.” Lainie took a deep breath. She’d tell her father first about Stan’s betrayal. Then they could both break it to the rest of the family.
“We all are glad you’re back.” He patted her knee.
Lainie gripped his hand. “I have something to tell you, Dad.”
Lainie told him everything she knew about the supposed shark attack on her sister. The words flowed out like a waterfall, and he didn’t interrupt.
When they reached residential Long Beach, her father pulled over to the curb before they arrived home, then turned to face her. “Do you know what you’re saying?” His face was pale, and a muscle in his jaw twitched with tension.
“I do, Dad. And before you say it’s just because I don’t like Stan, the FBI is all over it. They’ve already contacted the LBPD. Stan most certainly will be taken in for questioning.”
He took several deep breaths. “I can’t . . . I can’t. This is just too much.” Tears pooled in his eyes. “What will we tell the boys? That their father is a monster?”
“The boys are still with you, aren’t they? That’s what Mom said.”
“They are. Stan is planning for a memorial . . .” His voice broke.
“There’s another person involved—this woman, Crystal Benton. He’s obviously been having an affair with her.” Lainie stopped when her father closed his eyes and rested his head on the steering wheel.
“I can hardly take this. It will kill your mother.”
Lainie’s throat tightened. She agreed and dreaded telling her mother. This nightmare just kept getting worse.
As it turned out, Lainie didn’t have to tell her mother.
Detective Robert Shea and his partner Hugh Collins pulled up at the same time she and her father arrived at the house.
Both men were great investigators. They were an odd couple for sure.
Shea resembled the quintessential rumpled detective.
Even his freshly pressed suit looked slept in.
Collins, on the other hand, was all spit and polish.
His nickname was GQ. Still, they worked well together and had the highest case-closure rate in homicide.
Lainie guessed that they had something to say about Stan.
“Lainie,” Shea and Collins approached, and Shea greeted her. “You’re back.”
“Just got in. What brings you here?”
“We’re searching for your brother-in-law. He wasn’t at his house or at the car wash.”
“I think he went downtown to plan a memorial.” Lainie cast a glance at her father, whose face was creased in consternation.
Dad nodded. “He wants to have a memorial for Evie on the Queen Mary.”
“We planned to pick him up and bring him in for questioning and hopefully get his consent to search. If he refuses, we’ll get a judge to sign a warrant to search his home and place of business.”
Lainie nodded. This was what she expected. They had enough circumstantial evidence to justify a warrant.
Just then the front door opened, and her mother stepped out. “Jim, Lainie? Why are you standing out here, and who are they?”
“They’re detectives, Mom.” Lainie swallowed. “Bobby, can you fill my mom in on the latest developments?”
She felt like a coward deferring to him, but this situation was too close. The news about Stan would destroy her mom, and Lainie couldn’t be the one to do that.