“He’s not really complicated. A con man for sure. Loves money and pretty women, but I’m not certain he has the nerve or the smarts to be in very deep.”
Knowing Vine, the way Ben knew Vine, he couldn’t imagine anyone working for him being a straight arrow. For all he knew, Moffit was simply being used by Vine, kind of a useful-idiot scenario.
Ben gazed out at the ocean as he drove, wishing for a moment that he were here on vacation, maybe with a female friend, and with Efren and his wife. Ben loved the water and wished he could get in at some point. But that wasn’t possible. Right now, all he could do was pray for the entire family of Evangeline Moffit.
CHAPTER 11
Lainie paddled along the curve of the bay. It was very shallow in spots, and she could see the coral. She was careful not to hit it with her paddle or the kayak. It was also murky in spots. It didn’t seem like a good place to snorkel. However, as she got farther out, the water cleared up some and she understood why this was a snorkel spot.
Above her, the sound of a helicopter droned. Off to her left zoomed a Jet Ski. Lainie concentrated on her paddling. Toward the center of the bay, the water was much deeper. She saw some bright-yellow tang and other colorful fish she couldn’t identify. She paddled to Evie’s last-known location. Lainie could see the coastline, and the trail paved with crushed white coral she’d walked on yesterday. It ran along the coast down in the direction where the Hilton hotel stood.
She stopped paddling when she felt she had reached the right spot. The pain she felt at that moment was like a sharp knife rammed into her insides and twisted. She and Evie were born only eighteen months apart, and they were close. At least they had been close, up until the last few years. They’d drifted. Or rather Lainie had moved away. Evie had stayed the same sweet, steady person she’d always been.
Sara had told Lainie that it was not God who had moved.
But how do I move back?
Her failing faith started with that traffic stop fifteen years ago. When Dallas Vine got off with a slap on the wrist, Lainie knew with every fiber of her soul that he’d murdered the woman in the back seat of his car, so she’d focused her anger on God.
How could he let this murderer just walk out of jail and continue his life?
Her early years consisted of an easy, uncluttered life. Lainie became a cop with a lot of naivete to overcome. Beck’s voice came back to her loud and clear.
“You’re not in Sunday school anymore, Jensen. Take off those rose-colored glasses and get skeptical. Everyone lies to the police. Everyone. If you can’t accept that and work with it, find another job because you won’t be any good at this one, and you might get yourself or someone else killed.”
Lainie clenched her fists as memories surfaced. When she had been new to the uniform, she was on fire for the Lord, an involved church member, and very close to Evie.
Seeing gross injustice firsthand, she felt as though God had let her down. She could see that clearly now.
God betrayed me so I walked away.
A lot of Christians on the force attended a weekly Bible study called Iron Sharpens Iron. Lainie hadn’t attended in a long while. The officers who did go were good people, accountability partners, steadfast—like Lainie used to be. Beck had often led those meetings. As long as he was on the job, she went. But then he left, and Vine happened, and in her mind’s eye, Lainie could see her faith crashing and burning.
Then she’d met Glen. He was another excuse to stay away from church and God. It didn’t matter that he was married. It wasn’t Glen who had changed her; she’d been drifting before they started flirting. While the relationship never crossed any physical boundaries, it crossed emotional ones. She flirted and considered more. Because she’d drifted, nothing anchored her anymore.
When Evie met Stan, Lainie never saw the attraction. She never believed he was a Christian. Evie, someone who always had such a level head, was totally taken in by the guy.
“You can’t judge his heart, Lainie. He’s good to me.”
Did Lainie stop going to church completely because of Stan and seeing what a jerk he had been to Evie? Lainie’s heart had left the church long before her physical body stopped going.
Evie was the good girl, she never missed church, she was involved in everything good, yet she married a man who was not a good husband. He was selfish and prideful from what Lainie had seen. He claimed to be a Christian but often acted any way but Christian.
Her dislike of Stan was no excuse. Vine’s plea deal was no excuse. She couldn’t blame anything or anyone but herself.
Tears began to fill her eyes as the weight of all the lost time settled on her soul. She could have spent precious moments with Evie; they could have been so much closer. The loss hit her like a knee strike to the chin.
Floating in the bay, paddle resting across her knees, Lainie let the tears fall. “Evie, Evie, I’m so sorry.”
At one point the Jet Ski slowed at a location off to the right. It was outside the boundary she’d been given by the kiosk worker, but she paddled that way.
Her father’s request echoed in her mind.“Be less cop and more sister.”She couldn’t be angry with her dad for asking, but neither could she shut off the instincts screaming inside her that something wasn’t right.
She paddled the kayak around so she could see the shore. After a minute, she made out Detective Yamada speaking with her father. Stan was off to the left a little bit, on the phone. Lainie hoped he was talking to the boys or her mom.
Realizing how much anger swelled inside as she thought about Stan, Lainie knew she had a problem. She sighed, then prayed for help and vowed to be more objective when it came to her brother-in-law.
Lainie paddled back around as the helicopter completed another sweep. The Jet Skis had also continued their survey. Her hour was almost up, and with intense pain and sadness, Lainie conceded that her sister wasn’t here and the ocean was not going to tell her where she was.
