“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.
CHAPTER 61
“You’re cleared from me to return to work,” Reynolds told Lainie after the interview finished. “It’s now up to the medical doctor to sign off on your arm.” He handed her back her duty weapon.
“Thanks.” She took the gun and left his office knowing that the workers’ comp doctor would probably not sign off on her return until the stitches were out. She didn’t want to wait that long. Could she persuade him to let her return with some conditions? Like no field work, something like that?
She checked in at her office. Mike was out on a call. She sat at her desk to leave him a note and listen to her voicemail. Fifteen were waiting for her.
She pulled out her message pad and a pen and listened. A couple were from the local DA, asking about a case; some were from old victims whom she’d helped, offering condolences about her sister. Some were wrong numbers, and then there was a message from Callen West. From the time stamp, he’d called the office after trying her on her cell.
“Detective Jensen, I’d like an interview with you about Dallas Vine. I understand you just shot two of his employees, one of whom is now deceased. It was my understanding that you were ordered years ago to stay away from him. Is this a vendetta on your part? I believe that this is a valid question, and I would like your side of the incident.”
He left his phone number, and Lainie stared at the phone in amazement that he could believe the shooting the other night was a vendetta on her part.
She remembered Ben asking if West had some connection to the Daphne Sparks case. Frowning, she tried to think. It had to be impossible. West was too young.
Lainie logged on to the computer and pulled up a file she hadn’t pulled up in years. Of course, she had to click a reason for wanting to view the file, and she chose “for investigation.”
“Lord, I hope this doesn’t get me in trouble,” she prayed under her breath. Soon, the file on the death of Daphne Sparks showed up on her screen.
She skipped her report on finding the body because she remembered it so well, even after all this time, and went straight to the reports filed by the handling investigators. Both were gone now. One died only a few years into retirement; the other died last year, if she remembered right, so there was no way for her to talk to either of them.
They were respected and seasoned investigators in their day, and Lainie had no reason to doubt that they had done their best to find Daphne’s killer. She began reading through the interviews. The original investigators had talked to everyone they could down in the harbor where Daphne worked. They also interviewed everyone who worked at the Barn and everyone who worked with Dallas Vine.
Lainie really didn’t know what she was looking for. Callen West would not have been interviewed in any capacity regarding the crime. All the reading brought back so many memories of that time. All the frustration she’d felt back then resurfaced almost fresh.
Her phone rang. She picked it up and nearly fell out of her chair. It was Beck. Search forgotten, she answered. “Hey, stranger.”
“Lainie, sorry I took so long to get back to you. I’ve been in the backcountry for three weeks. Only got back yesterday. It took me awhile to catch up on newsy things. I saw a story about your shooting. Are you all right?”
Relaxing in the chair, Lainie filled him in on everything that had happened. It felt great to talk to her old, trusted mentor.
“You did good, kid. I told you when you’re trained right, your training will save you. When do you go back to work?”
“I hope soon. They’ll probably make me wait until after the stitches are out. I just got finished with Dr. Reynolds. I’m sitting here in the office going back over the Sparks file.”
“Are you hoping that when you get Vine in custody, you’ll be able to revisit that case?”
“Wouldn’t that be great? No. Right now I’m not sure what I’m doing. It’s Callen West, a local young reporter who hates cops. He wrote a story about the shooting and brought up the Vine case. He seems to be insinuating that I’m violating the settlement to go after Vine. Not sure why he brought up such an old case.”
“West, you say?”
“Yeah, why? There is no way you would know him.”
“I remember a reporter named Avery West. He was retired by the time you joined the force. He got beat up during the riots and wrote a book about how evil cops are.”
There had been city-wide riots when Lainie was in high school. She remembered watching them unfold on TV. Buildings were torched. In some instances, cops went toe to toe with rioters. The National Guard had been called up to calm things down.
“Cops beat him up?” Lainie asked.
“No, rioters did. He blamed the police for not acting fast enough to save him. It was pure chaos that night; I was there. He was covering the chaos when the rioters jumped him. By the time we got to him, he was barely breathing. I think he lost an eye, had some other injuries. Probably has no bearing on your case. The name just jogged my memory. I felt sorry for the guy. You’ll figure it out; I have faith.”
