“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. TheHavanawas 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.”
