Chapter 60
Ben returned to work stiff and sore but rested.
He was met with very good news. The little black book proved invaluable.
Analysts and agents had pored over the book, and the information already resulted in multiple arrests all over the country.
However, here in Long Beach, no one knew where Dallas Vine was.
“How’s the shoulder?” Mark asked.
Ben rolled his shoulders and tried not to wince. “I’m good. What’s new?”
“Just talked to Shea. Stan Moffit is angling for a plea. He wants to turn state’s evidence.”
“Does he have anything we can use?”
“Don’t know. Shea and Collins will talk to him. We, on the other hand, get to talk to Crystal Benton.”
Ben didn’t hide his surprise. “She’s able and she wants to talk?”
“Her surgery went well; they repaired what they could. There is no repairing her spine. The doctors at County General had approved a visit, and she didn’t argue.
The DA prepared an agreement that we will keep her in protective custody.
” Mark held up a document. “Her public defender will be at the hospital to witness her signature and the interview.”
“That’s all she’s asking for?” Ben asked.
“Yep. We’re heading up there now. You ready?”
“You bet.”
County General Hospital was a sprawling facility off the 5 freeway. It took a while for Mark and Ben to be admitted. There was ID verification, then they had to stow their weapons, and finally they were admitted to Benton’s floor.
Ben was curious about what they’d find. He’d been a bit shocked at her prognosis. Lainie’s bullet had severed her spinal cord. Would that injury make her more or less likely to talk with them truthfully? They were about to find out.
When they entered the room, Benton had just been served lunch.
Her bed was raised, so she was sitting up, but she wasn’t eating.
Her eyes were closed, and Ben thought for a minute that she was sleeping.
But when they reached the edge of her bed, she opened her eyes.
She appeared small and pale lying in the hospital bed, but there was light in her eyes.
They knew she was on pain meds, but the doctor said that she should be able to answer questions.
Before they spoke, a woman dressed in business attire came out of the restroom and identified herself as Benton’s attorney. “This is your show. My client has instructed me to butt out. I will be recording this interview.” She held up her phone.
“Not a problem,” Ben told her. “So will we.”
“Afternoon, Ms. Benton,” Mark spoke to her. “I’m Special Agent Mark Gentry and this is Agent Benjamin Isaacs.”
“Feds. I expected locals.”
“We are the ones with the protection agreement.” Mark set his briefcase down on a chair and took the form out, then handed it to the attorney.
She took a few minutes to read it, then moved Benton’s food to place it on the small table. “It’s what they promised, and what I advised against.”
“Doesn’t matter, I told you that. My life is over,” Benton said as she signed the paper. The attorney handed it back to Mark, who put it in his briefcase.
Mark turned back to Benton. “Do you feel up to answering questions now?”
“I know I’m facing local charges. I’m foggy on the federal ones.”
“Efren Gomez.”
Benton looked away and Mark continued. “The charges against you continue to shape up. You could help yourself out, though.”
“How? Gomez was a federal agent. You guys aren’t going to let me off on that. If you have the book, you have the key to everything.”
“Is that why you wanted the ledger?”
“Yeah, that’s why I took it in the first place,” Benton said. “It would have given me charge of the whole operation. You have it, you should know that.”
Mark advised her of her Miranda rights.
“I understand and I’ll talk to you. I’ve got nothing else to lose. It’ll take some getting used to, not feeling anything below the waist. I don’t want to worry about being knifed in prison. You guys will have to keep me safe.”
“As per the agreement, we will.”
“What happened to Efren?” Ben asked.
She sighed and toyed with her food. “I knew Stan never should have hired him. My instincts are usually spot-on.”
“You knew he was an agent when he was hired?” Ben asked.
“Not an agent. I just knew he didn’t fit in at the car wash.
Proving my suspicion, he ruined my plans.
I got Plug to steal the book. He’d hidden it in the SUV Raphael was supposed to detail.
Somehow, Efren got it first. I knew it was missing right away.
He wouldn’t tell me where he put it. Plug got a little overzealous. ”
“Where is Efren now?”
“Weighted, in Big Bear Lake, not sure exactly where. Plug took care of it.” She relayed the information coldly, dispassionately. Ben was sick to his stomach and let Mark continue.
“It’s easy to blame a dead guy.”
“Blame me. I don’t care. I’m going to need medical help for the rest of my life. Right now, there isn’t much I really care about.”
“What about Evangeline Moffit? Who abducted her? Was that you as well?”
She laughed a weak laugh. “No. Stan angered Dallas, that’s why he snatched Evie.
I was pretty much over Stan by then. At first he was useful.
He helped me in a lot of ways. I’d never kill over him; he wasn’t that important.
I’d spent months siphoning money; Dallas had no clue.
Mostly, I needed Stan because he was a convenient scapegoat if Dallas ever found out. ”
“None of the money would ever go to Stan?”
“I’d give him a hundred here and there.” She waved a hand dismissively. “He was easy to manipulate. Then he did something stupid.”
“What was that?”
“He took money that wasn’t his and then spent it all for a Hawaiian vacation.
Dallas put two and two together. Stan didn’t make that kind of money, and it was a blip on the radar.
Dallas saw the money was gone, and Stan might as well have put a sign on his chest: I did it. So he snatched Moffit’s wife.”
“Where did he take her?”
“Probably to his place in Big Bear. I hate that place. Not a decent restaurant in the whole dreary village.”
“You had nothing to do with the abduction of Evangeline Moffit?”
“No. No reason for me to lie about that. Why Dallas kept her alive, I have no idea. Maybe he’s getting soft in his old age.”
“If you had nothing to do with her abduction, why help Stan cover it up?”
“I keep telling you, I was desperate for the book. The longer it was out there, the sooner Dallas would discover it missing. My helping Stan pull off a con was a way to keep Dallas distracted.”
“How can that be true?” Ben tried to keep the anger out of his voice; he wasn’t sure if he’d succeeded. “Evangeline Moffit had your purse, your ID. If you had nothing to do with her abduction, how can you explain that?”
“That’s where my purse was?”
“You want us to believe that you didn’t know?”
“I didn’t. I had her passport—that was still in the house after Dallas grabbed her. Stan gave it to me. Maybe he knows more than I thought. Maybe he was trying to pin that on me.”
“There was an attempt on her life in the hospital,” Ben said.
“I had nothing to do with that.”
“Where were they going when they crashed?”
“That’s all Dallas. You guys have to believe me. I don’t care enough about Stan to get rid of his woman.”
Ben and Mark exchanged a glance. She sounded as if she was telling the truth, but nothing made sense.
“So, the trip to Hawaii, the wild story about the shark attack was simply a con to keep Vine engaged?”
“Yes. I was stalling for time. I wanted the book. Dallas hadn’t missed it at that point. Plug never got your man to tell us where it was. Plug destroyed Efren’s car searching for the ledger. Nothing.”
Ben froze as he realized what she was saying. Efren was probably tortured. He had a brief inkling at that minute of how hard it had been for Lainie to interview Stan. He swallowed and fought the anger that simmered. Benton kept talking.
“When I realized the shark thing was not going to pan out—Detective Jensen put a wrench in that—Plug had already gotten rid of Efren and his car. Then Dallas realized the book was gone. He called me and threatened me. What could I do? I planned to cut my losses and flee the country. But I couldn’t find my extra passports. ”
“You ransacked the car wash office.”
“Yeah, I guess Stan pulled one over on me. I knew there was a second safe, but I couldn’t find it.”
“Why kill the morning supervisor?”
“She got in the way.”
Ben wondered at how cold-blooded this woman was.
“Anyway, when I got back to Long Beach, I convinced Dallas he was wrong about me, that Stan was the problem. For a little while, he believed me.”
She laughed again. “Men are so easily manipulated. I told Stan to run, to make him look even guiltier while I kept trying to find the book.”
Ben found his voice. “Why did you shoot at me at the tow yard?”
She shook her head. “That was Plug being protective. He was shooting at Jensen. She messed up the whole shark attack. Sure surprised him when she clipped his helmet. She’s a good shot. I guess I can attest to that now.”
“Where is Dallas hiding?” Mark asked.
She gave a low, mirthless chuckle. “Dallas? I don’t know where he is. Plug’s dead, right?”
“Yes,” Ben said.
She shrugged and winced. “Then he knows Plug was with me. He knows I conned him. He’ll go somewhere I don’t know. All I can tell you is that Dallas is terrified to fly. He won’t be flying anywhere.”
“You’ve been with him for years and you don’t know where he’d hide?”
She closed her eyes. “If I were looking for him, I’d go to Big Bear or the cigar lounge.”
“The place in downtown Long Beach?” Ben asked.
“Yeah. That’s his second home. He has an apartment there. A secret room. I’ve never been there, but Plug used to talk about it. The house in Belmont Shore is my place really. Dallas never cared for it.”
“Smokey Dreams doesn’t strike me as a good hiding place,” Mark said.
“The staff is completely loyal to him. You go in during business hours, and they’ll never give him up.
I’ve heard that the place has been searched before, and you guys never found the room.
This is the problem I had with Dallas. He’s basically a cave dweller.
He doesn’t like to go anywhere, do anything. That’s why I hate Jensen.”
“Detective Jensen?”
“Yeah, the stiff who shot me. When she arrested Dallas fifteen years ago, she changed him. He used to be fun. We’d go to Vegas and take the yacht out on the water a lot.
The Havana was a great boat. I was furious when he got rid of it.
After that, he became a hermit. I was more a babysitter than a girlfriend. ”
“You stayed with him a long time.”
“Good money. But I got tired of the rut. I wanted to fleece him without having to face him. Plug and I would have left the country, and Dallas never would have found us. Stan and his sister-in-law messed all that up.”
“Why would Vine burn down her house? And Moffit’s house?”
“Well, the last conversation I had with him when he realized I took the book was a bit unhinged. He hates Jensen, hates Stan. I told him that it was possible Stan had the book, and he probably gave it to her. He went a little nuts. Guess he did a little payback.”
Ben bit his tongue and tried to beat back the disgust he felt for this woman. Efren was dead. An innocent working woman was dead. She didn’t even seem to care about her paramour. All she was concerned about was herself.
Lord, please help me to keep from strangling her.