Lainie fought frustration and had to clench her teeth. “How about from the beginning.”
He rubbed his forehead. “It started with the car wash job. I found out that a lot more was going on there than just washing cars. A lot of money came through the place. I wasn’t supposed to ask questions. Crystal is Vine’s accountant. When I told her I thought something illegal was going on, she seduced me.”
Lainie worked hard not to let the admission of infidelity anger her more than he always had. An overtly angry interview was rarely a good one.
“What was happening that worried you?”
“Money I couldn’t account for, but Crystal made everything jibe. And there were messages—cars would come in that were directed to Raphael, my detail guy. One time I saw him remove a door panel and remove money and paperwork. When I asked him about it, he told me to talk to Crystal.”
“Raphael Diaz?”
“Yeah.”
Raphael had been the front passenger in Benton’s vehicle. He was dead, no way to talk to him.
“You were the boss. Why didn’t you make him tell you?”
“I wasn’t really the boss. I had to run everything by Crystal. Like I said, for a while lust blinded me.” His face scrunched in pain. “It sounds awful, doesn’t it?”
Lainie said nothing and waited for Stan to continue.
“I didn’t know it at the time, but I think she did it to keep me quiet about the money. I admit it, I was weak. I fell. I thought...” His voice trailed off as if he was trying to collect his thoughts.
Lainie worked hard to keep her features blank. Stan was disgusting.
“Then she explained to me how easy it would be to take a little bit of that cash. So easy that Vine would never know it was gone. There was so much money. It was right there for the taking, so we took it. We were skimming off the top. Padding an offshore bank account. At first it was a game and so exhilarating. For the first time in my life, I had money, lots of it. She played me—I, ah...”
“You were having an affair and stealing. Is that supposed to help me believe that you aren’t also a killer?” Without giving him a chance to respond, she went for the throat.
“You took out a four-million-dollar life insurance policy on Evie.”
He sat back as if slapped. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He licked his lips. “That was Crystal’s idea,” he said in a whisper.
Lainie blinked, realizing that all he was going to do was deflect.She backtracked. “You haven’t gotten to Evie yet. How does she fit into this mess?”
“Crystal made all these promises. It just sounded easy, so different. We were only taking money from a criminal. That’s how I justified it.”
“Why did Vine take Evie?”
“I’m getting there.”
“You knew the entire time you worked with him that Vine was a criminal, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t. Not at first. Crystal hired me. I’ve never met Vine. I had questions. Crystal walked me through the money trail and his name came up. She talked me into believing that he deserved to be stolen from, and we’d never be caught. I admit that it was wrong, all of it. I strayed, cheated on Evie. Crystal kept stringing me along.”
He leaned forward as far as the table would allow. His voice took on a pleading tone. “I was ready to break it off. I realized at some level she was only using me. That’s why I planned the trip to Hawaii. I was going to come clean with Evie and ask her to forgive me. I did not hurt Evie. I did not hurt anyone.”
He paused, looking lost and dejected to Lainie. Like a child who’d just been embarrassed in a room full of peers.
“If Crystal knew how to access Vine’s money, why did she need you?”
“I didn’t think about that until I was arrested. It was part of the con. In retrospect, we were a team at first. She stole from Vine but used me as a cover. She made it sound as if she needed me and that Vine would never miss the money. When he found out about the missing money, he only blamed me. Crystal was able to keep herself out of it. Because he thought I was the thief, he took Evie. He told me if I gave the money back, he’d give me Evie back.”
“I don’t get it. How would faking a shark attack, making everyone believe that Evie was dead, get her back?”
He tried to talk with his hands, and all that did was make the cuffs clink on the desk.
“With Evie gone, I was desperate, grasping at straws. The only person I could go to was Crystal.”
