CHAPTER 35
Lainie closed the door to the interview and almost collapsed in the hallway.
“You okay, Lainie?” Shea and Ben hurried toward her.
“No, I’m not. I’m angry. He is so cavalier about my sister.” For a few seconds, she leaned against the wall, bent over a bit, hands on her knees.
“Yeah, but I believe him. He doesn’t have the chops to be the bad guy here,” Ben said. “But why claim he just talked to Benton? We know that’s not possible. I do think he was lying to you about not knowing anything regarding Efren.”
Lainie straightened up as she got her balance back. “I got that feeling as well. I’m not sure why he would lie about Efren. If he didn’t kill him, he might know who did. Why protect them?”
“Maybe a couple more nights in jail will loosen his tongue.”
“Maybe. Stan certainly isn’t going to like county lockup. The only place we might get more answers is with Benton, if she ever wakes up. She had Evie’s jewelry. She must know something about where Evie is. You heard him blame Vine for Evie’s disappearance.”
“I did,” Shea said.
“Can we put any pressure on Vine? Kidnapping Evie sounds like something he would do.”
“I agree with you, it sounds exactly like something he would do. But you know as well as I do, it’s Stan’s word against Vine’s. And right now, all the evidence points to Stan.”
“Vine still needs to be interrogated.”
“You know that won’t happen,” Ben said. “Vine is not stupid. He’ll hide behind his attorneys, and they’ll say that Stan is obviously trying to deflect blame. With all the evidence in the car, that’s a plausible argument for him to use. There is no incentive at all for Vine to talk to us. We have no leverage. Right now, his fingerprints aren’t on anything; the only prints we have are Stan’s.”
Lainie closed her eyes and leaned back against the wall.
“I know that, and I hate it. He always seems to hold the winning hand. If he did take Evie...” She couldn’t finish the thought; it was too dark. She changed gears. “Benton’s still alive. If Vine knows that, she could be in trouble.”
“If Vine is the one who put her in the hospital, you would be right,” Shea said. “So far, there have been no problems.”
“Is there any kind of guard on her?”
“I asked and was told that since she’s in CCU, no one can get to see her without doctor approval. Since she’s not in custody for anything and the two guys she was with are dead, no guard.”
“I was going to come back to work tomorrow. Now I think I’ll wait. You don’t mind if I hang out at St. Bernardine, do you?”
“Not at all. But don’t do it on your own time. I think we can get the chief to sign off on an out-of-city assignment. This case has a lot of moving parts. And Crystal Benton is an important part of this investigation.”
As Ben had listened to the interview, he thought Lainie did as well as she could considering the circumstances. His impression of Stan was that he was a narcissistic personality. Clearly all he cared about washow everything was affecting him. It really galled Ben how he pretended not to know who Efren was. Efren had been to his house for dinner, sat with his wife and kids. Why lie so blatantly about barely knowing him unless he was hiding something? Ben wanted a crack at Moffit. He wanted to shake him and get the truth.
Yet there was always the chance that Stan really knew nothing of substance. Bucshon was certainly no help. Mark had postulated that very thing after the meeting with the ASAC. Packard was convinced that they’d caught their man.
“There was a pile of evidence in the trunk of his car. It looks as if you men were on the right track, just shadowing the wrong criminal. We are going to work with LBPD on finding out what happened to Agent Gomez. We have no reason to believe that he was taken out of state.”
“I can’t believe this,” Ben said to Mark after Packard left. “Stan Moffit a criminal mastermind?”
“I’m blindsided as well. Nothing Efren ever reported would have led us to reach that conclusion. I only hope all the evidence will convince me as much as it convinced Packard.”
Ben reread the criminal complaint against Moffit. Perhaps Benton and Vine found the perfect fall guy. Taking all the evidence at face value, one would have to conclude that Vine wasn’t the one trafficking people, laundering money, and kidnapping Evangeline. It was Stan Moffit.
“I’ve got some paperwork to take care of,” Mark said. “Call Shea and ask about talking to Moffit.”
That was how Ben had ended up at LBPD. He wanted to talk to Moffit, but the man made it clear he’d only talk to Lainie. In spite of her best efforts, he didn’t say much of what Ben wanted to hear.
CHAPTER 36
The chief approved Lainie’s return to work. He also greenlighted her idea to go back to San Bernardino to keep an eye on Benton. He also had some good news for her.
