Edge of Truth

Chapter 34

Stan’s head was down on the table when Lainie stepped into the room. He raised his head as she closed the door behind her, and she thought she saw light come into his eyes.

“Lainie, thank God. How are the boys?”

That question surprised and disarmed her a bit. She swallowed. “They’re fine, with Mom and Dad.”

Stan seemed visibly relieved. “Please tell them I didn’t do what I’m being accused of.”

“How can I tell them that, Stan?” She stood at the table.

His eyes widened. “What do you mean? You know me. I’m not a killer.”

“Do I know you?” She pulled the chair out and sat. “Where’s Evie?”

He leaned back in his chair and stared at her saying nothing.

“Detective Shea advised you of your rights, didn’t he? Do you understand them?”

“Yeah, I understand. I don’t want a lawyer. I’ll talk to you. You have to believe that I am innocent.”

“Why didn’t you answer my question about Evie?”

“I didn’t hurt Evie.”

“That’s not what I asked. Where is she?”

He put his head down on the table again. “I thought you of all people would believe me.”

“What’s to believe?” She fought to keep emotion out of her voice. “You haven’t answered any of my questions. You told Detective Shea you wanted to talk to me. I’m leaving if all you want to do is lie to me.”

“He’ll kill me.” He spoke so low she barely heard him.

“Who?”

“You know who.”

“Say it.”

He raised his head. “Vine took her.”

Lainie lost her voice for a moment. Her heartbeat pounded in her ears, and her mouth went dry.

When she could speak, she lowered her voice. “What do you mean?”

“I know I haven’t been—” His voice broke, and he took a couple of minutes to compose himself. “I know I wasn’t the best husband. I cheated, okay? I admit it. I was conned.”

“What does that have to do with Evie? Did Vine con you?”

“Crystal. She made it sound so easy.”

“You’re talking in circles, not completing thoughts. Just tell me what happened to Evie.”

“I don’t know where to start.”

Lainie fought frustration and had to clench her teeth. “How about from the beginning.”

He rubbed his forehead. “It started with the car wash job. I found out that a lot more was going on there than just washing cars. A lot of money came through the place. I wasn’t supposed to ask questions.

Crystal is Vine’s accountant. When I told her I thought something illegal was going on, she seduced me. ”

Lainie worked hard not to let the admission of infidelity anger her more than he always had. An overtly angry interview was rarely a good one.

“What was happening that worried you?”

“Money I couldn’t account for, but Crystal made everything jibe. And there were messages—cars would come in that were directed to Raphael, my detail guy. One time I saw him remove a door panel and remove money and paperwork. When I asked him about it, he told me to talk to Crystal.”

“Raphael Diaz?”

“Yeah.”

Raphael had been the front passenger in Benton’s vehicle. He was dead, no way to talk to him.

“You were the boss. Why didn’t you make him tell you?”

“I wasn’t really the boss. I had to run everything by Crystal. Like I said, for a while lust blinded me.” His face scrunched in pain. “It sounds awful, doesn’t it?”

Lainie said nothing and waited for Stan to continue.

“I didn’t know it at the time, but I think she did it to keep me quiet about the money. I admit it, I was weak. I fell. I thought . . .” His voice trailed off as if he was trying to collect his thoughts.

Lainie worked hard to keep her features blank. Stan was disgusting.

“Then she explained to me how easy it would be to take a little bit of that cash. So easy that Vine would never know it was gone. There was so much money. It was right there for the taking, so we took it. We were skimming off the top. Padding an offshore bank account. At first it was a game and so exhilarating. For the first time in my life, I had money, lots of it. She played me—I, ah . . .”

“You were having an affair and stealing. Is that supposed to help me believe that you aren’t also a killer?” Without giving him a chance to respond, she went for the throat.

“You took out a four-million-dollar life insurance policy on Evie.”

He sat back as if slapped. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He licked his lips. “That was Crystal’s idea,” he said in a whisper.

Lainie blinked, realizing that all he was going to do was deflect. She backtracked. “You haven’t gotten to Evie yet. How does she fit into this mess?”

“Crystal made all these promises. It just sounded easy, so different. We were only taking money from a criminal. That’s how I justified it.”

“Why did Vine take Evie?”

“I’m getting there.”

“You knew the entire time you worked with him that Vine was a criminal, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t. Not at first. Crystal hired me.

I’ve never met Vine. I had questions. Crystal walked me through the money trail and his name came up.

She talked me into believing that he deserved to be stolen from, and we’d never be caught.

I admit that it was wrong, all of it. I strayed, cheated on Evie. Crystal kept stringing me along.”

He leaned forward as far as the table would allow.

His voice took on a pleading tone. “I was ready to break it off. I realized at some level she was only using me. That’s why I planned the trip to Hawaii.

I was going to come clean with Evie and ask her to forgive me.

I did not hurt Evie. I did not hurt anyone. ”

He paused, looking lost and dejected to Lainie. Like a child who’d just been embarrassed in a room full of peers.

“If Crystal knew how to access Vine’s money, why did she need you?”

“I didn’t think about that until I was arrested.

It was part of the con. In retrospect, we were a team at first. She stole from Vine but used me as a cover.

She made it sound as if she needed me and that Vine would never miss the money.

When he found out about the missing money, he only blamed me.

Crystal was able to keep herself out of it.

Because he thought I was the thief, he took Evie.

He told me if I gave the money back, he’d give me Evie back. ”

“I don’t get it. How would faking a shark attack, making everyone believe that Evie was dead, get her back?”

He tried to talk with his hands, and all that did was make the cuffs clink on the desk.

“With Evie gone, I was desperate, grasping at straws. The only person I could go to was Crystal.”

“You could have come to me or gone to the police.”

“Hindsight is twenty-twenty. Crystal said we could stall Vine, promise him his money plus interest. She swore that it was only money he wanted; he wouldn’t hurt Evie.” Stan began to cry.

“Crystal came up with the life insurance scam? It still makes no sense. How would that play out if you got the money pretending Evie was dead and Evie suddenly appeared alive and well?”

He avoided her gaze, tears streaming down his face. “Don’t you understand? Like I said, I was desperate. All I wanted was Evie back. When she was back and safe, I planned to cross those bridges when I got to them.”

The explanation didn’t make sense to Lainie. Was Stan really that naive?

“When exactly did Vine take Evie?” It was hard to keep the fury out of her voice. Lainie fought the urge to stand and bang the table. Beneath the table her hands were tight fists.

Stan took several deep breaths. “He took her on the Tuesday before we were to leave for Hawaii. That’s why I took the boys to Mom and Pops’ house early. I was a mess. Crystal kept me from losing it completely.”

“Why didn’t you call the police if that monster took your wife?” Jaw tight, she barely kept her cool. The thought of an evil man like Vine having anything to do with Evie came close to making Lainie grab Stan by the neck.

“Because he said he’d kill her. And I stole money—they would have arrested me!”

Lainie nearly launched herself at Stan. She prayed for restraint.

This was why detectives didn’t investigate crimes concerning their families.

It’s too close—they couldn’t be objective and get the answers they needed.

Lainie needed answers. She took a deep breath.

“Did Crystal go with you to Hawaii, pretending to be Evie?”

Stan gave a slight nod. “None of this was my idea. I’ve been played and manipulated.

The trip was planned and paid for. Crystal said we could use it to our advantage.

Extra money so we didn’t have to give back what we stole.

She said we could have it both ways. I could get Evie back and we could still fool Vine. ”

Lainie worked to control her breathing, and her anger percolated anew. She’d known that this interview would be hard—she had no idea it would be this hard.

“If it was her idea, you certainly worked hard to sell it. Your phone call to me, to my father. What have you told the boys?”

His head jerked up. “What can I tell them? Crystal insisted that it would work. I wanted it to work with all my heart. I want Evie to be okay.”

“You had to know that you wouldn’t get the money right away.”

“Crystal said that if I claimed a hardship because of the boys, they’d give me the money faster. Then it all went wrong. When you came to Hawaii and I could tell that you didn’t believe me, I panicked. I almost told the truth. I told her you weren’t fooled and asked her what to do about it.”

“What did she say?”

“She told me to man up. Stick with the story. You had no proof of anything; nobody did.” He closed his eyes for a second, then rubbed his chin. When he opened his eyes, he continued. “She insisted that the plan was perfect—if I kept my nerve.”

“She tried to run me over.”

“I had nothing to do with that. I was angry because of it. Crystal left Hawaii after that. The last words she said to me were that she was sorry she’d wasted so much time on me and that I was on my own. I asked her if Evie was still alive.”

“What did she say?”

“She laughed.”

Lainie ran a hand down her face. He had so many chances to come forward and tell them about her sister. Instead, he was only concerned about saving his own skin.

“What about Evie? Has Vine contacted you about Evie since you got back? Where is my sister?”

“I don’t know. I tried to call Vine; he won’t take my calls. I don’t have the money. I don’t have access to the accounts. Crystal has cut me out of everything. She left enough evidence so I’d be arrested for everything. Now she’s gone and I’m in jail.”

“I suppose that you had nothing to do with Ms. Abbott, the day shift supervisor who was murdered in your office.”

“I haven’t been back to my office since I returned from Hawaii.”

“You told my parents the other day that you were going to work.”

“I didn’t go. I was trying to find Crystal. I even sat outside Vine’s house for a bit, went to his cigar club. I never found either of them.”

Lainie leaned back. Stan sniffled; tears dried on his face.

“All you’re concerned about is the money. I’m concerned about my sister.”

“I don’t know where she is. If I did, I would have gone to get her. I just don’t know.”

The last sentence came out like a whine. Lainie wanted to get up and run to where Vine was and squeeze answers from him. But there was more information she needed to get from Stan. “What happened to Efren?”

“Efren?”

“Don’t be stupid. He worked at the car wash. He was undercover FBI.”

He dropped his head and covered his eyes. “FBI? He just detailed cars. I don’t know what you mean. Has something happened to him?” His cloying tone was disingenuous.

“He’s missing.”

He shrugged. “Crystal didn’t say anything to me about him.”

“You have his badge and gun.”

Stan shook his head. “I don’t know how that got in my car. Maybe Crystal put it there. Maybe she knows where he is. If she knew that he was FBI, she probably killed him. Crystal is evil. Now I’m her fall guy.”

“She’s in the hospital.”

“What?”

“Coma. She was in a car accident.”

“No. I just spoke to her.”

“When?”

“Yesterday. She warned me that the cops were after me. She told me to run and not stop or the boys would be in danger. I didn’t know where to go. I got as far as Ventura.”

That took Lainie by surprise. They knew for a fact that Benton hadn’t been talking to anyone for at least three days.

Why would he lie about it? Then she recalled training she’d had on artificial intelligence.

It would be a simple thing for Vine or anyone to fake a phone call using AI.

Telling Stan to run away and try to hide would certainly make him appear guilty.

There was no doubt in her mind that Stan was guilty of a lot. But of being a criminal mastermind? As angry as she was with him, she still couldn’t see that.

“The paperwork in your car indicates that you were behind all of this. That you sent money to two hit men to kill Martin Straight a couple of months ago. Nothing in there incriminates Crystal.”

His face screwed up in distress and his voice squeaked. “Straight? What motive would I have to kill him? They’re framing me. Come on, Lainie. Do you really think that I’m such a monster?”

“My sister is gone, Stan, and you are more concerned about what has happened to you than where she is or what’s happened to her. I wouldn’t put anything past you. At least have the decency to tell me where her body is so my family can have some closure.”

He raised his voice. “I had nothing to do with what happened to Evie, I swear. I had an affair with a liar, I admit that, but that’s all I’m guilty of.” Tears fell anew.

She stared at him for a few minutes, bile rising in her throat.

“What about all the stuff we found in the safe at your office? Money, IDs, and paperwork for offshore bank accounts?”

“All Crystal’s idea.” Then he seemed to perk up a bit. “You found all of that?”

“Yeah, we did.”

“The bathroom floor safe. That was the only thing I did on my own. Right before I left for Hawaii, I set it up.” A slight smile emerged.

“At least I put one thing over on Crystal. The money was in case we had to flee from Vine. She pretended that we would flee together. But when he took Evie, no way I could leave. I love my boys; I couldn’t lose them as well.

Crystal made it sound like the shark attack would work.

I really thought that would save Evie and solve all my problems.”

“All your problems?” Disgusted, Lainie stood. “I suggest you lawyer up. The evidence all points to you. Not Crystal, not Vine.”

The expression on his face was so lost, so perplexed, Lainie almost felt sorry for him.

Almost.