Have I forgotten a birthday?Evie had twin boys. No, their birthday wasn’t for a couple of months.
Guilt rolled over her in a heavy wave. Though she and Evie had been close in the past, they didn’t talk often lately, and that was generally Lainie’s fault. She remembered that it was Evie’s anniversary month. Forthe first time since Evie had married Stan Moffit, they had the money to take a nice trip. Lainie had heard that her sister was over the moon. Evie probably called from Hawaii to gush with excitement over the trip.
Why else would she be calling while they were on vacation? Worry dissipated.
I’ll call her when I’m done here.
She dried off, dressed, and started a pot of coffee. Just as she picked up the phone, it buzzed with an incoming call. She read the caller ID, hoping it was Evie. It wasn’t. It was Stan Moffit, her brother-in-law.
Lainie’s mind sputtered, Stan and Evie should be happily vacationing. Lainie and Stan would never be described as close.
Uneasiness spread. He was not one of her favorite people. That he was reaching out could not be good news.
Reluctantly, she answered. “Stan?”
“Lainie, Lainie.” He sucked in a breath as if he were sobbing. He was outside, in the background she could hear wind buffeting the phone.
“What is it?”
“It’s Evie, Evie, she’s gone. Lainie, she’s gone.”
She’s gone.
The phone went cold in her hand. “What do you mean?”
“Dead, Lainie, dead. I lost her yesterday.”
Dead.
When that word registered, it was as if the world fell away from her feet. Lainie felt herself falling, with no bottom in sight.
CHAPTER 5
Ben sat in an interview room with Hank Bucshon. The little man wore federal prison duds: gray khakis and a gray shirt with gray slippers. Since he’d not yet been arraigned, he’d not yet been assigned a public defender.
“Thank you for talking to me, Mr. Bucshon.”
He shrugged. “Thanks for getting me here. Much better than County.”
“I need to make sure that you understand your rights. You signed a Miranda waiver in Long Beach. Do you understand what that means?”
“Yeah, I’ll answer questions. As long as I can stay here, I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”
“You work for Dallas Vine, correct?”
“Yeah, I do side gigs for him.”
“We’re interested in what you do for him at Sudsy Place, the car wash. Do you know it?”
“Yeah, I know it. I deliver messages, mostly to Raphael. He’s Vine’s main dude at the car wash.”
“Do you ever interact with Efren Gomez?”
“The other detail guy?” He shook his head. “I seen him, but we don’t talk.”
“When was the last time you saw him?”
Bucshon scratched the two-day growth of beard on his chin. “The last time I picked up a message, last Wednesday.”
