“Just tell me, Ben. Don’t beat around the bush.”
He broke the news as gently as he could. “There is no evidence on the car to tell us anything about Efren.” He could hear her breathing, but she didn’t say anything for about a minute.
“Thanks for staying on this.”
“I would never let it go. I will find him, Candy. He’s my partner—I will never turn my back on him.”
Grief or no grief, there would be no lazing around today. He dressed to head to the office and ordered an Uber. Today was the meeting with the assistant special agent in charge, and Ben wasn’t certain what was tobecome of the investigation. All he was certain about was that chances were slimmer and slimmer that Efren would come home safe.
Ben dreaded the meeting with the ASAC. Gunther Packard was known by the rank and file to be by the book. Ben had violated policy when he went to talk to Evangeline Moffit, and he was ready to accept the consequences. It was possible he’d be pulled from the case. He got to the office about 9:00, and he and Mark stepped into the conference room to wait for Packard. They completely reviewed all the information their six-month-long investigation had amassed. The boss was due at ten, but at five minutes till, they were told that he would be delayed.
Packard did not arrive until noon. When he did, he was surprisingly upbeat.
“Gentlemen, I recognize this meeting is difficult for you both.” He looked at Ben. “You can take time off if you need it, Agent Isaacs.”
“It’s really just a scratch, sir.”
Packard nodded. “I’m glad you’re okay. I’ve authorized two agents to assist LBPD in the investigation. On the other front, I’m very concerned about Agent Gomez.”
“As are we,” Mark said. “He is now more than a week overdue. One reason why we’d like to find Stan Moffit is the hope that he may know what happened to Efren.”
“I’m glad you brought that up. I do have some good news.”
Ben and Mark exchanged glances.
What good news?Ben wondered.
“I was on a conference call with Chief Mackall at Long Beach PD before I arrived here. They have apprehended Stan Moffit.”
“What?” Ben sat up in his chair.
“He was notified of the apprehension while I was speaking to him. I asked if I could relay the news to you. I was prepared to chastise you today, explain that I always thought concentrating on the car wash was the wrong play. However, evidence recovered inMoffit’s vehicle appears to indicate that he was the right person to focus on after all.”
“Sir?” Mark asked, looking as perplexed as Ben felt.
“Moffit was the SoCal guy helping in the human-smuggling operation with multistate contacts. Vine was a smoke screen. Your instincts were correct in wanting to speak to Moffit. He might be the one responsible for Agent Gomez’s disappearance.”
Lainie woke up to the sound of her phone vibrating on the nightstand next to her bed. She picked it up as it stopped. Squinting at the screen, she saw that she’d missed a call from her father.
She sat up and stretched. It was 9:00 a.m., and after all the tension of the day before, she was surprised that she had slept so long. Lainie stood, dragging her hands through her hair, trying to clear her head and wake up enough to call her father back.
After a few minutes, she redialed. “Dad, what’s up?”
“I was going to ask you the same thing. You’ve been a stranger. Do you have any news?”
Her family should know about Evie’s jewelry and Benton being in the hospital, though it didn’t answer any old questions. It just raised new ones.
“I do have some news. I’ll take a shower and come over. How are the boys?”
“They’re still asking about their father and mother. It’s getting a little harder to distract them. Archie has been a big help. How are you holding up?”
It took a second for Lainie to respond. How was she holding up? She felt as if she’d been running a marathon at a sprint. “I’m not sure. I haven’t had much time to think.” Ben’s comment that she hadn’t even had time to bury Evie replayed in her mind. Lainie wasn’t ready to saythat Evie needed to be buried. Where were her parents on that score? She hated to think about the conversation they would have to have.
“I understand that. Come on over and take a break for a bit.”
“I’ll be over in about half an hour.”
She set about making coffee and then hopped into the shower, trying to think only about the next thing and not about the difficult decisions that would need to be made in the future.
