“Being prepped for surgery, last communication I received.” He waved his hand around. “All this over a book?”
“I think so. Ben—ah, Agent Isaacs—thought so. The guy I shot yelled out that he wanted the book, right before he opened fire. Neither one of us can come up with another reason as to why Benton would ambush us like this.”
“I’m interested to see what is in that book.”
You and me both,Lainie thought. But right now all she wanted to do was go home, clean up, and head to bed. After the adrenaline and shock wore off, exhaustion hit her like a bulldozer. Relieved that she and Ben were okay, Lainie could leave the examination of the book to Shea and Collins.
“We’re ready to go,” one of the medics told the chief.
“By all means. Lainie, this will be considered an on-duty injury. I’ll send a sergeant after you to take an IOD report.”
Lainie relaxed on the gurney, wishing that she could talk to Ben. He never came back to tell her what he’d found out about the driver. His boss had arrived and now he was deep in conversation with him near Ben’s car, which was completely totaled. With all the bullet holes, it was a miracle Ben had not been struck. She figured he’d be at the scene for a while.
Homicide detectives had taken Lainie’s gun, again. They promised to have it back soon. The protocol was in place to be certain the gun had not been modified in any way and that Lainie loaded it with department-approved ammo.
“We know that you’re good, Lainie, but we still have to take it,” Shea had said.
They’d also recovered her fanny pack and Evie’s Bible from Ben’s vehicle and gave them to her. Those items rested on her lap.
The medics hoisted her up into the van, and shortly after they were on their way to the hospital.
Ben watched as the paramedic van with Lainie in it pulled away. He was thankful that they were both okay and regretted that he’d not been able to speak with Lainie before she left. The dead guy’s ID said that he was Peter Ludwig Grant. Vine’s bodyguard, Plug.
“Wow, when you say crash, you don’t mess around. You even derailed a train.” Mark had arrived to give Ben a ride home. He stood and stared at the wreckage of Ben’s car entangled with the Blue Line train. A tow truck had only just arrived to remove the vehicle. He turned to Ben. “You’re lucky you’re okay.”
“I realize that. Don’t know about luck. Lainie had a part in saving my bacon, and I feel like there was some divine intervention.” As destroyed as his car was, they should both be dead. His collarbone was not broken, just bruised and strained.
Mark put a hand on his right shoulder. “After you finish talking with the locals, you can take me home in the company car, and this will be your ride until you get yours sorted out, okay? That is, if you are okay to drive.”
Ben nodded. “As long as no one else tries to run me into a train, I’ll be fine.”
Just then Chief Mackall walked up. “Agent Isaacs?”
“Yes, sir?”
“Are you certain those two people were after this book?” He held up the evidence bag, and it had been grazed by bullets.
“Yes, sir, that’s what the guy was yelling for.”
The chief held the book out to Ben. “The evidence bag was destroyed when we recovered it from your car, and gunfire damaged the lock. Can you tell me how any of this would be relevant to a police investigation?”
Ben took the book and opened it, viewing the pages in the glare of emergency lighting. The first page began, “Dear Lord” and then continued with a prayer for husband and children. He flipped through more pages—they were all prayers, for various and sundry things. He flipped to the front again, but there was no name to indicate who the book belonged to, just prayers and Bible verses.
This did not belong to Dallas Vine.
Jaw slack, he looked up at the chief. “We didn’t open it. We assumed that this would be the evidence. If I’d have known, I would have tossed this out of the car and let the guy take it.”
Mackall shook his head. “Well, let’s hope the woman comes out of surgery alive and talking. We still have that.” He was called back to his people by the homicide detective who had arrived on-scene.
Ben turned to Mark. “I don’t know what to say. Why would Efren hide a prayer book?”
Mark just shrugged.
Ben felt as if he’d been hit by the train all over again.
He phoned Lainie while Mark drove, gratified when she answered. He let her know the dead man’s identity and heard from her that her injury was not serious.
“In all the excitement, the evidence bag opened. Guess what?”
