Emotion bubbled up and Lainie felt sad, tired, and angry all in a swirl. She turned away. “I don’t have a body to bury.”
Ben cleared his throat. “I’m seeing things in this office that make Stan appear like a real bad actor. Efren never hinted that there was this kind of activity going on here. Fake IDs, offshore accounts. Efren had no inkling. He made friends with Stan. Is the man capable of all this?”
“A week ago, I would have said no. Now, I don’t know what to make of everything.” Thankful for the change of subject, Lainie felther control return, and she turned back to Ben. “Everything here says he was involved with Crystal Benton. Did Efren see that?”
Ben shook his head. “Efren believed that the relationship between Benton and Stan was purely professional. She had a good head for numbers and was as ruthless as Vine. He didn’t think Stan was her type.”
“Her type being?”
“Powerful mover, the boss of things, lots of money. Efren saw Stan as a family man. He talked about his boys a lot. Whatever your brother-in-law did, whatever he is, he loved his kids. It made an impression on Efren.”
Lainie considered his words. “If there was one positive comment I can make about Stan, it would be that he does love the boys. It’s hard for me to be charitable about anything else. Have you heard any more about Efren?”
Lainie didn’t miss the pain that flashed across Ben’s face. “I hit a nerve.”
“It’s not you.” He clenched and unclenched his fists, then relaxed. “We found his car. Stripped and dumped in the desert.”
“I’m so sorry, Ben. Just the car?”
“Yeah. I’m heading to the impound lot to check it out. Hoping that Efren left some kind of clue in the car—” He stopped. “Crazy, huh?”
She shook her head. “You guys are friends, partners. I’d try to leave a clue, if I could. Do you mind if I tag along?”
Ben raised his eyebrows. “Why?”
“I got nothing else to do. At least until Stan and Benton turn up. And I believe Efren and Evie’s disappearance are linked in some manner. I won’t get in the way.”
“I’m not worried about that. Follow me over?”
“Lead the way.”
CHAPTER 27
Lainie could hear the pain and fear in Ben’s voice when he had told her about the discovery of his partner’s vehicle. It was a clear sign that Efren was dead. He didn’t want to say it or think it, she bet, any more than she wanted to admit that Evie was gone. The knowledge made Lainie feel connected to Ben. In reality, they were both in the same place, both grieving a loss they couldn’t prove.
Pain would hit them both like a freight train when proof arrived, and Lainie dreaded that day.
“Why did they bring the car to Long Beach?” Lainie asked when they exited the car wash.
“It’s temporary, until it can be moved to our lab to be processed, though I doubt that will happen.”
“Why?”
“From the picture I saw, it was picked clean, like a body decimated by vultures. Maybe it was left in the desert to make sure any evidence was destroyed.”
She followed Ben to the impound lot. The tow yard was north of downtown, on the border with Signal Hill, on Willow Street. Years ago, when Lainie was a rookie, she’d worked many overtime shifts at the yard when there were lien sales. She knew the lot well.
Lainie considered the mystery of Efren’s disappearance as she drove. There were too many mysteries in her life at the moment. The biggest one she couldn’t solve blared in her mind ever since she’d learned who her brother-in-law worked for.
Why did everything in her life circle back to Dallas Vine?
In so many ways that traffic stop fifteen years ago had defined her career. It destroyed her faith in the system, and in part her faith in God. It shredded her idealism. It made her more cautious. The fact that now, so many years later, Vine could touch her life so destructively defied logic.
She hadn’t had a chance to process the loss of her sister when his evil name burst into the drama. Everything here had to be connected—Ben’s partner’s disappearance, Evie’s disappearance, and the murder of Taylor Abbott. For the life of her, Lainie couldn’t see how Stan fit in with all this. She considered herself a good judge of character. She missed the boat where Stan was concerned. He was annoying, prideful, and always boasting about himself. She never saw him as dangerous. It still rattled her brain that he worked for Vine.
Vine.
She would never stop wishing that they’d been able to convict him all those years ago. After he sued her for harassment, Lainie had been ordered to stay away from him, and she followed orders. She’d been forced to admit to herself that she had been obsessed and the obsession was not affecting him; it was only affecting her, and in a negative way. So she backed off, but she never stopped paying attention to what he was doing. Every time he came under the scrutiny of law enforcement, she prayed that he’d finally receive the justice he deserved.
