“I’m sorry. It was difficult and more than a little heartbreaking to see Stan. For both of us, really. He broke down and confessed so many things.” She paused, and Ben could see this was not easy for her.
“He told me a lot, but I know that you’re concerned the most about Efren. He admitted that he was not completely truthful when he talked to you, Lainie.”
“Not truthful how? With everything?”
“About Efren. He knew Efren well, and he liked him. But Crystal didn’t. She didn’t like him, and she didn’t trust him the whole time he worked at the car wash.”
“Did she say why?” Ben asked.
“She thought that he paid too much attention to everything; it bothered her. In her eyes detailers were stupid, only manual labor. Efren was too smart for his own good. It came to a head one Friday. She caught him snooping in one of the cars. He told her he found a loose handrest and was only fixing it.”
“Did Stan say exactly what Friday that was?”
“It was the Friday before the Hawaii trip. According to Stan, Crystal accused Efren of stealing something from the car he claimed he was fixing.”
“Did Stan witness this?” Ben asked.
“He heard Crystal confront Efren.”
“That same day?”
“Yes. It was after the car wash closed for the day. It was time to go home, and he came out of his office to raised voices—Crystal accusing Efren of something, and Efren denying it. Then Crystal’s driver, a guy they call Plug, beat him up.”
“Beat Efren up?”
Evie nodded. “Hit him from behind, knocked him to the ground, and began kicking him when he was down.” She closed her eyes and rubbed her hands together.
“Stan said Efren swore he didn’t know what they were talking about, that he didn’t have anything. Stan also says he tried to stop the beating; he pleaded with Crystal.”
“Did they stop?”
She shook her head. “Plug threatened him, said it was none of his business. Stan said even though he left the room, he kept listening, He heard Crystal say that she knew that Efren took the book.”
“The book?” Ben asked. “What book?”
“Stan didn’t know. And he heard Efren deny taking anything. Crystal was hysterical. Stan said he’d never seen or heard her so upset. From what he overheard, Crystal had taken a book from Vine. She wanted something from the book, and then she planned on getting it back to Vine before he knew it was gone. Because she couldn’t find the book, she was afraid Vine would find out it was gone before she could return it.” Evie paused and drank some water.
“Maybe they guessed he was listening because they both told him to leave, so he did. The next day at work, Efren didn’t show up and Stan was told not to ask questions.”
“Did Stan ever find out anything about the book?”
Evie shook her head. “Stan has no idea about the book. I believe him about that.” She swallowed. “He said that the next day, Raphael had to work hard to get the blood out of Crystal’s car.” She grabbed a Kleenex.
Ben blinked as emotion hit hard. Blood. Efren’s blood.
A feeling of deep loss emerged, then rising fury. They’d beaten his friend. More than anything he wanted to catch everyone involved.
Evie needed time to compose herself. She sobbed and her mother handed her another tissue.
“What happened to me was bad,” Evie said after a minute, a sob still in her voice. “But I’m here, alive. I have difficulty processing that Stan knew something bad had happened to Efren and never said anything.”
“Do you remember having your car washed and talking to Efren?”
“Washed? No.” She frowned. “Well, maybe vaguely. I used to get my car washed once a week. Efren always did the best job.”
“Do you remember meeting me for coffee?”
Evie rubbed at her temple. “I met you for coffee?”
