Chapter 66
Ben took the stairs two at a time to the homicide office, bursting in breathless, halfway hoping he’d see Lainie there and that this was all a false alarm.
She wasn’t there.
“You haven’t found Lainie?” Ben asked Shea. The distress on his face gave Ben an answer he didn’t want.
“I was hoping she’d be with you. When was the last time you talked to her?”
“Yesterday, when we left here.” Ben shoved his hands in his pockets and struggled to maintain his composure. He was worried and a little scared for Lainie. Those emotions would cloud his judgment. He needed to maintain a professional detachment in spite of his feelings.
Could he?
“She sent me a text last night, telling me that her sister remembered being on a boat,” Shea said. “She asked me to check into Vine’s yacht.”
“Did you?”
“I did. He sold the yacht about ten years ago. It’s a dead end.”
“Did you talk to Evie and see if there was more to that memory?”
Shea nodded. “She couldn’t elaborate. Did Lainie indicate that she was going somewhere, talking to someone?”
“No, but something happened when she got to her car.” Ben told them about Callen West.
“West?” Shea frowned and turned to his computer. Tapping keys, he pulled up a document. “Vine sold his yacht to an Avery West. He any relation to Callen?”
“It’s his uncle. Do you know where he keeps the boat?”
“Alamitos Bay Marina.”
“Let’s go and check out the boat.”
They took two cars, Ben followed Shea and Collins across town to Alamitos Bay Marina.
Once they arrived at the marina, Shea made an interesting observation. “West’s slip is right across the bay from Vine’s house on Appian Way.” He pointed across the water.
The slip belonging to West was at the end of the dock. Ben followed. As they approached, he could see that the slip was empty. An old man was sitting on the dock.
“That’s Avery West,” Shea said. “I saw his picture in the file.” They walked up on the man.
“Mr. West, Long Beach Police. Where is your boat?”
The old man looked up at Shea. His vacant expression was not unlike someone who was lost in the confusion of Alzheimer’s. One eye was gone; there was simply an empty socket. He feared they would get nothing useful from the man.
“Mr. West, can you hear me?”
“I hear you.”
The words were clear. Ben had hope now that he’d be able to talk to them. “Where’s the boat?”
“He took it.”
“Who took it?”
“Dallas. He’s going to kill that woman.”
Detective Collins radioed for the police boat, and Ben called the Coast Guard. Cementing Ben’s fear, Avery West had said that Vine had taken Lainie aboard his boat and planned to dump her out in the ocean.
“He don’t have anything left to lose,” West said. “He says that she ruined his life. He wants revenge. I tried to talk him out of it, but he’s set.”
“Has he been living on your boat?”
West nodded. “He came to me a couple of weeks ago, said Crystal had betrayed him, and he had nowhere else to go. I owed him.”
“Why do you owe him?”
West said nothing.
“Don’t you talk, Uncle. Don’t say anything without a lawyer.”
Ben turned to see Callen West jogging toward them.
“What do you have to do with this?” Ben stepped between Avery and Callen.
“I’m protecting my uncle.”
“Your uncle is protecting a murderer.”
“Dallas Vine is not a murderer. He’s helped my family my whole life. He’s a good man, and you people are trying to frame him. You guys have him cornered. He’s reacting, but he’s not a killer.”
“Callen, Dallas Vine kidnapped a police officer. If you know something that will help us rescue her, now is the time.”
“What? You’re crazy, he would—”
“He would.” Avery stood. “It’s time for all the lies to stop.”
“Uncle, don’t talk.”
“Quiet, I need to talk. I should have talked a long time ago. He’s gonna take her far out, somewhere between here and Catalina, and dump her. It’s a fast boat. You need to hurry if you’re going to stop him.”
Just then the police boat zoomed into the marina.
Ben knew that their jurisdiction ended where the harbor ended. They needed the Coast Guard, but would they get to Lainie in time?
He turned to Shea. “Your boat can’t leave the harbor because of jurisdiction issues, but can it get me to the Coast Guard boat before it leaves the harbor?”
“I’ll ask.” Shea pulled out his radio. After a short conversation, Shea apprised them of the situation. “They’ll take you on board.”
Ben then turned to Avery. “Is there more you want to tell me?”
West began to talk.
Ben listened, amazed at what he was hearing, soaking it all in until the police boat arrived and took him on board.
The Coast Guard Base Los Angeles/Long Beach was located at Terminal Island, so the guard did not have far to go.
When the police boat reached the harbor mouth, the Coast Guard cutter waited.
The 175-foot ship was impressive, and the sight invigorated Ben with hope.
In a few minutes he was on the deck, bracing against the wind, and they motored into open ocean.
He was glad to be on the ship and moving forward, but he felt useless. Yeah, Catalina was only twenty-six miles away as the crow flew, but finding Vine and his craft between here and there could prove difficult in the open sea.
There was nothing he could do but pray that they found Vine’s boat in time.