“All right, as far as flights go. I’m wiped out emotionally.” Lainie took a deep breath. She’d tell her father first about Stan’s betrayal. Then they could both break it to the rest of the family.
“We all are glad you’re back.” He patted her knee.
Lainie gripped his hand. “I have something to tell you, Dad.”
Lainie told him everything she knew about the supposed shark attack on her sister. The words flowed out like a waterfall, and he didn’t interrupt.
When they reached residential Long Beach, her father pulled over to the curb before they arrived home, then turned to face her. “Do you know what you’re saying?” His face was pale, and a muscle in his jaw twitched with tension.
“I do, Dad. And before you say it’s just because I don’t like Stan, the FBI is all over it. They’ve already contacted the LBPD. Stan most certainly will be taken in for questioning.”
He took several deep breaths. “I can’t... I can’t. This is just too much.” Tears pooled in his eyes. “What will we tell the boys? That their father is a monster?”
“The boys are still with you, aren’t they? That’s what Mom said.”
“They are. Stan is planning for a memorial...” His voice broke.
“There’s another person involved—this woman, Crystal Benton. He’s obviously been having an affair with her.” Lainie stopped when her father closed his eyes and rested his head on the steering wheel.
“I can hardly take this. It will kill your mother.”
Lainie’s throat tightened. She agreed and dreaded telling her mother. This nightmare just kept getting worse.
As it turned out, Lainie didn’t have to tell her mother. Detective Robert Shea and his partner Hugh Collins pulled up at the same time she andher father arrived at the house. Both men were great investigators. They were an odd couple for sure. Shea resembled the quintessential rumpled detective. Even his freshly pressed suit looked slept in. Collins, on the other hand, was all spit and polish. His nickname wasGQ. Still, they worked well together and had the highest case-closure rate in homicide. Lainie guessed that they had something to say about Stan.
“Lainie,” Shea and Collins approached, and Shea greeted her. “You’re back.”
“Just got in. What brings you here?”
“We’re searching for your brother-in-law. He wasn’t at his house or at the car wash.”
“I think he went downtown to plan a memorial.” Lainie cast a glance at her father, whose face was creased in consternation.
Dad nodded. “He wants to have a memorial for Evie on theQueen Mary.”
“We planned to pick him up and bring him in for questioning and hopefully get his consent to search. If he refuses, we’ll get a judge to sign a warrant to search his home and place of business.”
Lainie nodded. This was what she expected. They had enough circumstantial evidence to justify a warrant.
Just then the front door opened, and her mother stepped out. “Jim, Lainie? Why are you standing out here, and who are they?”
“They’re detectives, Mom.” Lainie swallowed. “Bobby, can you fill my mom in on the latest developments?”
She felt like a coward deferring to him, but this situation was too close. The news about Stan would destroy her mom, and Lainie couldn’t be the one to do that.
CHAPTER 23
Watching Archie and her mother try to comprehend what everyone believed Stan had done was painful. Lainie sat in the living room with them while Bobby Shea explained the status of Evie’s investigation.
She heard some information she didn’t know. Gail Boyce had been reinterviewed by the detectives in Hawaii, and they found a connection to Benton. Boyce was shown a picture of Crystal Benton, and it jogged her memory. The woman had been in the store, had chatted with Boyce, been extra friendly, and taken a business card. In fact, during the questioning, Boyce also found her checkbook missing. She rarely wrote checks, so she hadn’t noticed when it went missing, but she thought maybe Benton had taken it and that’s where she’d gotten her home address.
Lainie thought about that. If it were true, it showed quite a bit of premeditation. However, it probably couldn’t be proven unless Benton was caught with the checkbook in her possession.
The best lie was one with a shade of truth in it. When Benton gave the name, it was a real name, a real address, making her story more believable at first blush. She didn’t know the lie would be uncovered so quickly.
While Shea laid out the intricacies of the investigation, Lainie’s father stayed out in the backyard with the boys. After Bobby finished, Mom turned to her.
“Lainie, I can’t believe what I’m hearing. I just can’t believe it. You think Stan murdered your sister?”
